Page 20 - AWA Vol.42-No3

hOrTICulTure

Salad packs a healthy punch

to meet a growing Vitamin B12 need
Tablet based supplements are widely
available, however there are drawbacks:
they are easily forgotten and are less ef-
fective when taken without food because
the process of eating releases enzymes
required for nutrient absorption). Fur-
thermore, many people prefer not to take
supplements but to receive nutrients as
whole foods.
Given these constraints – and with a rise
in sustainable plant-based diets – there
is an urgent need for alternative, plant-
based sources of Vitamin B12.
One problem has been the prohibitive
cost of making Vitamin B12 commercially
due to its molecular complexity, which
A pioneering research-industry part- More broadly, the project offers a rapid, makes traditional chemical synthesis im-
nership has used advances in indoor cost-effective and sustainable solution to possible. Production requires a vast num-
farming technology to grow pea shoots the issue of hidden hunger. This is when ber of bacteria, making the vitamin the
fortified with Vitamin B12, opening an people receive enough calories but not most expensive on the market costing
exciting route to market for farmers and with the right mix of nutrients necessary up to £20,000 per kilogramme – which is
addressing a major public health need. to maintain good health. The term hidden one third of the price of gold. Currently,
hunger is also applied to nutritional defi- around 90 percent of the world’s B12 is
The partnership between the John Innes ciencies that may occur in some people
Centre and the Quadram Institute, based taking appetite suppressing drugs. produced in China.
at the Norwich Research Park, the Uni- In this project, the team used aeroponic
versity of Bristol, and indoor farm spe- Professor Antony Dodd, a group leader technology developed by LettUs Grow to
cialists LettUs Grow, harnessed the latest at the John Innes Centre and correspond- supply the roots of pea shoots with a Vita-
aeroponic techniques to successfully de- ing author of the study, said: “This novel min B12-fortified nutrient solution deliv-
liver the recommended daily allowance fortification method can be done at ex- ered within an aerosol.
(RDA) of Vitamin B12 within a 15-gram tremely low cost to growers as a way of Using this technology, a thin film of nu-
portion of pea shoots. providing consumers with a cost-effec-
tive way of supplementing their diet with trients forms on the roots, and the vitamin
The fortified salad crop not only ex- Vitamin B12 in a form that their body can is absorbed and taken up by the plant’s
ceeded expectations by delivering in ex- use.” nutrient transport system. During the
cess of the RDA of Vitamin B12 in a single eight-day cultivation period, plants were
serving of salad: the team also found that Vitamin B12, also known as cobalamin, supplied with the most widely available
the pea shoots maintained their shelf-life is an essential nutrient that plants do not and bioavailable form of B12, cyano-
make and which presents a nutritional
and the B12 content persisted through an insufficiency risk for people adopting cobalamin. Experiments on harvested
extended period of cold storage – ele- more vegetarian and vegan diets with- plants showed that the leaves accumu-
ments essential for the crop to succeed out supplementation. Symptoms of de- lated more than the quantity of B12 that is
commercially. necessary to deliver the RDA within 15g
ficiency can include anaemia, muscle of plant material.
Simulated human digestion experi- weakness, psychological, cognitive, and
ments carried out at Quadram Institute neurological problems. The aeroponic method enables control
confirmed that the fortified pea shoots The most structurally complex nutrient, over the application of expensive source
are accessible to digestion, meaning that Vitamin B12 is made exclusively by bac- vitamins, making production more effi-
not only has the crop been successfully teria. Humans acquire Vitamin B12 from cient and cost-effective for commercial
fortified with B12, but that this vital nutri- animal-based foods in their diet, includ- partners and consumers.
ent will likely be passed into the blood- ing fish, meat, poultry, eggs, milk, and The team estimated that the additional
stream of those eating it. other dairy products. cost associated with adding B12 into
bags of pea shoots (or in bags of salad
The research, which appears in Com- It is estimated that around 6% of the UK
munications Biology, offers a new com- population is B12 deficient and a further containing pea shoots) could be less
mercially viable approach for dietary 44% may have insufficient levels, al- than one penny (1p).
supplementation of vitamin and nutrient though many people do not realise they They are now investigating commer-
intake that is predicted to work not only are in nutritional deficit. Globally, B12 cial ways of delivering the product and
in pea shoots, but in other rapid-cycling insufficiency is common, particularly in adapting the technique so that it works
salad crops grown in indoor farming en- populations consuming low amounts of both in vertical farms and horticultural
vironments. animal-derived foods and in older adults. glasshouses.

18 Vol. 42 No. 3