According to USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS), the breads, breakfast cereals and pastas of tomorrow might contain more-nutritious wheat flour thanks to recent research findings. The agency reports that ARS and university scientists have identified a gene that can increase the protein, iron and zinc content of wheat kernels.
A driving force behind this research is the fact that although nearly all Americans eat enough protein for good health, more than 36 million don’t consume enough zinc, and more than 15 million don’t consume enough iron. Recent research shows that a working version of a gene increases protein, iron and zinc in wheat kernels by about 15%.
The results of this research were recently reported in Science (see http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/314/5803/1213i). To read the full USDA-ARS report, see http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2006/061124.htm.
Research for this project has been conducted at ARS Western Regional Research Center in Albany, CA. Other collaborators included researchers from the University of California, Davis, and Haifa, Israel. The research was sponsored by USDA-ARS; USDA’s Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service; and the United States–Israel Binational Agricultural Research and Development Fund.
