Balanced Diet for the Poor: Vitamin A -rich maize

Maize is a staple food to the majority of the poor, but lack of capacity to purchase nutrient or obtain from direct sources such as legumes and fruits, means their dishes are short of other nutrients such as vitamins and some proteins. However this problem could soon be hisotry due to the discovery of a new strains of maize that could cut vitamin A deficiency among people in developing countries. Developed using traditional breeding methods, the vitamin-fortified maize could be introduced instead of maize modified by genetic engineering, a process that continues to face objections. A New report in this week in Nature Genetics (22 March) that Scientist at HarvestPlus have identified rare variations of a gene known as crtRB1, which occur only in maize plants from temperate regions. These result in much higher production — up to 18 fold — of beta-carotene, the precursor and main source of dietary vitamin A. Using natural plant breeding, the researchers have now introduced these variations into tropical maize strains that are commonly grown in developing countries. Although the research is still at initial stage, it is a break-through which will soon help poor families to meet some level of dietary requirements at a cheaper price. full document can be viewed at http://www.nature.com/ng/journal/v42/n4/full/ng.551.html)