Researchers at Nottingham Trent University have been successful in developing a novel – and natural – way of enriching potatoes with iron by engineering ‘nano-rust’ particles, which can be broken down into regular iron and absorbed by the crop.
The research team has been able to vastly increase the iron concentration of potatoes. And the uptake of iron upon consumption could be significantly higher than that achieved through iron supplements, or via the consumption of processed foods such as breakfast cereals, which only pass about 10% of available iron into the body.
The researchers have been able to fortify the potatoes with iron by covering the nano-rust particles in a stealth-like coating which ‘tricks’ the plantlets into absorbing the particles into the roots before breaking them down into iron.
They now plan to test if rice can be fortified with iron via the same process, which could potentially address iron deficiency in eastern diets.
Source: Nottingham Trent University
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