Editor’s Note: This blog by geneticist Anastasia Bodnar evaluates whether the biotechnology industry’s nutrition-related claims about GM crops are true or not.
Do GMOs live up to the promises of the biotech industry? … [The claim here is] that “Biotech is helping to feed the world by: Developing crops with enhanced nutrition profiles that solve vitamin and nutrient deficiencies; Producing foods free of allergens … and Improving food and crop oil content to help improve cardiovascular health.”
Improving food and crop oil content to help improve cardiovascular health
Verdict: Promise not yet met.
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There is a genetically engineered soybean with an improved fatty acid profile on the market in the US: Monsanto’s Vistive Gold … Among other benefits, Vistive Gold oil results in fried foods with reduced saturated fat and almost zero trans fats. While Vistive Gold is available, not much of it is planted relative to other soybean varieties, and not much of this improved soybean oil is produced compared to unimproved oil.
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Developing crops with enhanced nutrition profiles
Verdict: Promise met. As the promise is phrased, the crops with enhanced nutrition profiles are under development, which is true … Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons that I won’t go into here, none of these are on the market yet.
Producing foods free of allergens
Verdict: Promise not yet met.
There have been a few reduced-allergen foods developed, including apple, soy, peanut, and milk. For a variety of reasons that I won’t go into here, none of these is on the market yet.
The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion, and analysis. Read full, original post: The Promise of GMOs: Nutrition
