Lettuce is one of the few vegetables with a low nutritional content. But the Hebrew University of Jerusalem is hoping to change that.
Professor Alexander Vainstein and his research team from the Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food, and Environment have created a lettuce with higher levels of vitamins and antioxidants.
They achieved these results by combining modifications in different biochemical pathways, which in turn boosted nutritional values of multiple vitamins and minerals simultaneously through one action.
The gene-editing technology used is called CRISPR, which stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats. This technology differs from traditional genetic modification (GMO) because it can make targeted changes without affecting the plant's genetic code, whereas GMO introduces foreign DNA.
The result of CRISPR was improved levels of ascorbic acid (vitamin C), zeaxanthin, and beta-carotene (provitamin A) in the lettuce without affecting the crop.
"Gene-editing provides us with an unprecedented ability to improve the nutritional quality of crops without altering their growth or yield," said Prof. Vainstein. "This study is an important step toward developing healthier food options that can help address widespread nutrient deficiencies in modern diets."
Upping the nutritional quality of basic food items is a win for everyone, regardless of dietary preference. It is especially important for those who are food insecure, as it means they have to eat less to get the needed nutrients to stay healthy.
Plants are an essential part of a healthy diet, and a fully plant-based diet is considered to be one of the healthiest for longevity, mental health, sleep, and performance. Plant-based diets also produce 75% less heat-trapping gases, use 75% less land, and cause 75% less water pollution, according to Yale Environment 360.
If more vegetables and other food items are engineered to increase their nutritional value, it would have a big impact on everything from the amount of land that is used for agriculture and pastureland to our overall health.
The more land that's utilized for plant-based options and other eco-friendly foods high in nutritional value, the more the food industry can reduce its carbon footprint.
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