I've been saying for years that GM crops like "golden rice" were a stupid (though profitable for Big Ag) solution to vitamin A deficiency, and that growing crops naturally rich in vitamin A was a much more effective and sustainable solution. Now the International Potato Center is on the case From NPR's blog "The Salt":
""This potato is healthier," one of the sellers, Jaume Otavio Martin, tells me. "It has more vitamins. These are the sweet potatoes that people want to eat, now. That's why I grow them. They're more profitable." About a third of all the sweet potatoes in Mozambique, Andrade says, now are orange. Recently, scientists gathered evidence from Mozambique and Uganda that these vegetables are, in fact, improving people's lives. Children who are eating them do have more vitamin A in their blood. Based on other studies of the effects of vitamin A, nutritionists are confident that the boost is big enough to improve the health of those children."
Saving Lives In Africa With The Humble Sweet Potato : NPR (NPR.org)
In Africa, a nutrition success story: Swapping orange sweet potatoes for white ones is improving the health of children by boosting vitamin A levels. Researchers are now trying to duplicate their success with other crops.
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