GOLDEN RICE BETA CAROTENE DISAPPEARS FAST:

STUDY
Emran Hossain
New Age (Bangladesh), 27 June, 2019
http://www.newagebd.net/article/76674/golden-rice-beta-carotene-disappe
ars-fast-study

After studies have confirmed that vitamin A, converted from beta carotene, is very low
in genetically modified golden rice, new evidence shows that the rice can also not hold
the biochemical for long after harvest.

Rapid Loss of Beta Carotene in Golden Rice

According to new research published by Indian government scientists in the journal

Food Chemistry, Golden Rice can lose up to 84% of its beta carotene in six months
unless preserved in refrigerated conditions in vacuum packaging as paddy. The
degradation of beta carotene levels is faster with processing and is highest in polished
Golden Rice. High temperature and humidity also hasten degradation rates, the
research revealed. In addition, cooking can destroy up to 25% of beta carotene. These
new findings represent a blow to efforts to roll out the genetically modified Golden Rice,
which claims to be able to fight vitamin A deficiency among poor populations in the
developing world.

According to Indian research, 100 grams of best-quality Golden Rice can give 2,281
micrograms of beta carotene, roughly the amount found in almost all green leafy
vegetables. Other vegetables and fruits, such as carrots and mangoes, can provide
much more beta-carotene than Golden Rice. Furthermore, Golden Rice is only an
effective source of vitamin A when it is eaten with fat, which is required for converting
beta-carotene into vitamin A. The fat or oil that is required will however be hard to
afford for many of the targeted consumers of Golden Rice.

Item 2

GM GOLDEN RICE MUST BE VACUUM PACKED TO RETAIN BETA-CAROTENE

Claire Robinson, 6 June 2019

https://www.gmwatch.org/en/news/latest-news/18976

Beta-carotene is only a vitamin A precursor. Beta-carotene is converted to vitamin A,

predominantly in the intestines. But in order for beta-carotene to be effectively absorbed and
be converted, fat (e.g. butter or vegetable oil) must be present in the meal.
The people who are the claimed targets for GM golden rice are considered to be too
poor to buy any food apart from rice. How they are expected to find the money to buy
rice that has been vacuum packed at some expense, as well as butter or vegetable oil
to eat with it, has never been explained by advocates of this product.

- Given that beta-carotene in golden rice degrades rapidly without proper storage
and that vitamin A deficiency is prevalent among impoverished people, So how
can these individuals afford to buy vacuum-sealed rice as well as butter or
vegetable oil to eat with it when they struggle to afford basic food is already
apparent?

● a woman would need to eat 1084g golden rice per day to obtain her
recommended daily intake of vitamin A – and that’s only if the rice has not
degraded through storage.

In short, you’d have to eat a truckload of GM golden rice each day to get sufficient daily
beta-carotene to meet your daily requirement of vitamin A, and that’s when the golden
rice is freshly harvested, before the beta-carotene has had time to degrade.

Due to the decrease in beta-carotene, Robinson (2019) stated that to meet the
recommended daily intake of Vitamin A, each needs to consume 1.3 kg of cooked GMO
rice for men and 1 Kg for women. This may cause nutritional imbalances because this
will make the consumer rely on the rice without a proper diet considering that the
target consumers are from poor families.

Low beta-carotene levels at the start

The study found that beta-carotene levels in GM golden rice were low to begin with, at
7.13 to 22.81 µg/g. The highest level, 22.81 µg/g, translates to 2281 micrograms of
beta-carotene per 100g rice. That’s roughly equivalent to the lowest level of
beta-carotene found in leafy green vegetables (2199 μg/100g) in an analysis of
commonly eaten vegetables and fruits in India.

Most of the leafy green vegetables analyzed have far more beta-carotene – there’s
7753 μg/100g in edible amaranth. Carrots have about 8300 μg/100g. Some fruits can
have higher levels: Alphonso mango has up to 11789 μg/100g.
MASIPAG NATIONAL ADVOCAY
Yet, malnutrition is prevalent, particularly among children and women. This is not
simply because of the absence of an important nutrient or vitamin. It is caused by the
“lack of access to sufficient, nutritious and safe food” due to poverty, and changing food
production and consumption patterns

- MASIPAG suggests that instead of relying on Golden Rice, there are already safer
and more effective sources of essential nutrients, such as vitamin A, in
vegetables and fruits. They argue for promoting a diverse diet from natural
sources.
- the aforementioned beta-carotene degradation may result in toxic compounds
causing oxidative stress damage which might lead to cancer. Dr. David Schubert
of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, USA and Dr. Michael Antoniou of
King’s College London, state that “there have never been short nor, more
importantly, long-term safety testing in laboratory animals (of Golden Rice) and
this must be done for several generations in rats to determine if it causes birth
defects, which we consider a serious possibility.”