more genetically engineered veggies to hit the market

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On AOL news today:

 

Low-Carb Spud, Other " Designer " Veggies Coming Soon

 

Hillary Mayell

for National Geographic News

June 25, 2004

 

 

Purple carrots, low-carb potatoes, orange cauliflower, broccolini: So-

called designer vegetables have been making headlines of late.

Exotic colors, enhanced nutritional value, reduced calories, and

added health benefits have some nutritionists—weary of the uphill

struggle in a supersize fast food universe—hoping that designer

veggies will grab our attention and find a place in our diets.

 

 

 

Purple carrots, low-carb potatoes, orange cauliflower (above),

broccolini: So-called " designer " vegetables have been making

headlines of late.

 

Vegetable plants can be modified in the field through crossbreeding

and in the lab using genetic modification. For years, plant

scientists developing new varieties focused on farmers' needs. A

variety, be it fruit, vegetable, or grain, needed to be hardy,

prolific, and disease resistant. Flavor and good looks counted too.

 

Today plant scientists are also taking the consumer into account.

Extensive work is being done to create varieties that are pumped up

in vitamins and phytonutrients—the protective compounds in plants

that can strengthen the immune system, inhibit diseased cells, and

fight damage from radiation and ultraviolet light.

 

Up-and-Coming Veggie Superstars

 

In an Atkins-diet, low-carbohydrate-obsessed world, potatoes don't

show up on anyone's menu plan. That may change as HZPC, a Dutch seed-

development company, introduces its new low-carb potato to the

marketplace.

 

" The low-carb potato was actually chosen based on its appearance and

taste—it is smooth-skinned and bright, early maturing, and stores

well, " said Don Northcott, a marketing manager for HZPC. " The fact

that it has 25 to 30 percent less starch than the two varieties most

often found in the United States and Canada was a huge bonanza. "

 

Scientists at the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) in Beltsville,

Maryland, are working on a potato variety loaded with lutein, an

antioxidant that has benefits for eye, skin, and cardiovascular

health. Lutein is thought to help prevent macular degeneration, the

leading cause of blindness in the elderly.

 

" The most common source for lutein is from dark green leafy

vegetables like kale, collards, and spinach, " said Beverly

Clevidence, director of the Diet and Human Performance Laboratory of

the ARS. " People who don't like vegetables tend to hate those.

Potatoes are the most commonly consumed vegetable in the American

diet, so it would be a tremendous advantage to get lutein into

something frequently consumed. "

 

The " Spud-U-Lite, " as some are calling it, is expected in

southeastern U.S. stores in early 2005.

 

Carrots, loaded with beta-carotenes, are the most important source of

vitamin A for people in the United States, Africa, and Asia. Who knew

they'd only been orange for about 400 years? Researchers at the

University of Wisconsin are working to reintroduce red, purple, and

yellow carrots.

 

The purple carrots get their color from anthocyanins, which also

provide color to red potatoes, apples, and cranberries. Anthocyanins

are potent antioxidants.

 

The red carrots get their color from lycopene and beta carotene.

Lycopene is thought to prevent prostate cancer and other cancers.

 

Americans get roughly 85 percent of dietary lycopene from tomatoes,

and scientists at ARS are working constantly to increase tomatoes'

phytonutrient content.

 

From Lab to Market

 

The road from the laboratory to the marketplace is long. Developing

new varieties is not always a straightforward process and can take

years. HZPC has many agricultural specialists working to develop new

varieties, but it also supports about 120 hobbyists in the

Netherlands who spend their spare time in their backyards developing

potato varieties.

 

" They bring the plants to us, and we evaluate them, " Northcott

said. " It's kind of like hitting the lottery. If you're lucky and

come up with a variety with some tremendous merit, you might make

some money. " A hobbyist developed the low-carb potato.

 

Orange cauliflower, which contains approximately 25 times more

vitamin A than white cauliflower, started life as a mutant in a field

in Canada. Researchers started working to develop it in 1970, and

it's just now making its way to the marketplace.

 

Once seed companies have been persuaded to sell the seeds, and

farmers convinced to grow them, the veggies have one last hurdle: the

consumer. Nutrient-dense veggies don't always look like what we're

used to.

 

Sherry Tanumihardjo, a nutritionist at the University of Wisconsin,

has been working with seed companies and farmers and visiting farm

markets to promote the colorful carrots developed at the university.

 

" I think the market is going to be great, especially with the red

carrots, " Tanumihardjo said. " The color is beautiful, and they're

just as easy to work with as traditional orange carrots. The purple

carrots will probably require a little more work in terms of public

outreach. The purple color is water soluble, so it turns your hands

purple, " she said. " But it has a whole other range of compounds that

are important. "

 

In addition to farmer's markets, the orange cauliflower is showing up

in chichi restaurants and on the crudités platters of caterers

enamored with the unusual colors.

 

And perhaps someday that fast food french fry you're chomping will be

protecting you from blindness while it adds to your waistline.