Embargoed until: 00.01 am 6 September 2000 Potential for Improving the Health Benefits of Food
A major conference is being held this week (6-9 September) in Norwich, UK to discuss the possibilities for improving the nutritional benefits of plant foods. The conference is the culmination of a three-year European project funded under the EU's research programme (FAIR). The conference, organised jointly by the Institute of Food Research and the John Innes Centre, has attracted delegates from all over the world. It coincides with the launch of a fact sheet outlining the opportunities and challenges of applying new technologies to the topic. Conference co-ordinator, Dr David Lindsay, a Senior Visiting Scientist at the Institute of Food Research, comments "This conference will give scientists and a wider public an opportunity to debate issues that surround the application of plant genetic and food technological processes in improving food nutritional quality and health benefits." On September 6th, a workshop will discuss social, political and economic issues affecting plant genetic technologies. The views of developing countries will be considered alongside those of the UK, Europe and America. Chairman of the workshop is Lord Taverne QC, Liberal Democrat Spokesman on the Treasury in the House of Lords. Speaking in the House of Lords on 14 July this year, Lord Taverne said:- "How can we solve the enormous problem of improving agricultural productivity by conventional agriculture? That means using up marginal land, with economically and ecologically disastrous consequences. GM food production is an important part of the solution to the problem of feeding the world." The conference will continue with science papers that consider how food biotechnology might improve worldwide nutrition. Topics to be covered include:
The NEODIET factsheet details the agricultural advances made by
traditional methods. It also outlines ways that the nutritional value of
foods can be improved further, and how genetic engineering can help. The
factsheet contains examples of plant foods that have been modified for
nutritional benefit and describes the aims and outcomes of the NEODIET
project. Science Notes
There have been many claims about the nutritional value of organic foods, but are they really better than conventionally produced crops? Dr Kirsten Brandt and Dr Jens Peter Mølgaard, from the Institute of Agricultural Sciences in Denmark, have assessed our current knowledge. They will summarise research carried out to date and identify questions that still need to be answered. Low availability of plant nutrients elevates the levels of some plant defence compounds. So, organic food, from plants grown without synthetic fertilisers, should benefit people with a Western diet deficient in protective plant metabolites. However, to improve yields and reduce leaching, efficient methods for nutrient acquisition and retention are developed in organic agriculture, so organic fruits and vegetables become equivalent to conventional ones. To ensure that the cultivation system optimises nutrient quality, such interactions must be better understood and taken into account by scientists and growers.
Iron deficiency is the most prevalent nutrient deficiency world-wide, affecting 30% of the world population. Iron is well absorbed from meat in the diet, but poorly absorbed from plant foods. This is a particular problem in the developing world, where diets are typically low in meat. A research team at ETH Zurich in Switzerland have taken three complementary routes to improve the nutritional value of iron in rice, a staple food for a large part of the world. The group have doubled the iron content of the rice by adding an iron-carrying protein from red kidney beans. They then increased the expression of protein already present in rice that is rich in the amino acid cysteine. Cysteine-rich peptides help the body to absorb iron present in food. The third route was to add an enzyme, phytase, from the fungus Aspergillus fumigatus. This enzyme helps the body to break down the phytic acid in the rice. Phytic acid, which is only partly destroyed by cooking and digestion, binds to iron in the digestive system and prevents the body from absorbing it. The researchers, Dr Paola Lucca, Professor Richard Hurrell and Professor Ingo Potrykus, believe these advances have the potential to greatly improve the iron nutrition in rice-eating countries.
The nutritional and processing characteristics of cereals such as wheat are heavily dependent on the type and quantity of the proteins in the grain. Professor Bob Buchanan and colleagues at the University of Berkeley in California are attempting to improve the quality of wheat and barley. This is being done by increasing the abundance of a regulatory protein normally present in these and other plants. The protein, called thioredoxin, makes slight changes to the structure of sulphur-containing proteins such as those recovered in flour prepared from the grain. The modified proteins appear to have a higher nutritional value and are being tested to determine whether, like their counterparts treated in vitro with thioredoxin, they are less likely to cause allergic reactions. The thioredoxin research has also led to transgenic barley lines that show superior germination properties. This work is important for both developing and industrialised countries. The researchers hope to extend their work to other varieties of staple cereal crops. Notes for editors
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