New type of banana created

Australian scientists have managed to create bananas so rich in provitamin A that it’s quite likely that they might save the lives of hundreds of thousands of children dying as a consequence of the lack of this vitamin across the globe.

The new banana has an edible golden-orange part and it has been created by taking genes out of a special kind of banana originating in Papua New Guinea and very rich in provitamin A. The genes were combined by the scientists with the most common sort of Cavendish bananas.

Provitamins are substances containing very little or no vitamins, but able to be converted to vitamin carriers. Vitamin A contributes to vital functions in child growth and development, in the immune system, and is important for good vision.

The new, revolutionary banana has been developed for the past ten years at the Queensland University of Technology, and the research was funded by Bill Gates’ foundation.

– Over the years, we’ve been able to develop a banana that has achieved excellent provitamin A levels, hence the golden-orange rather than cream-colored flesh. Achieving these scientific results along with their publication, is a major milestone in our quest to deliver a more nutritional diet to some of the poorest subsistence communities in Africa. Our science works. We tried and tested hundreds of different genetic variations here in our lab and in field trials in Queensland until we got the best results – Professor James Dale, who led the research, said for Newsweek.

bananas

provitamin A

Papua New Guinea

Cavendish banana

Queensland University of Technology

Bill Gates foundation

James Dale