Genetically Engineered Tomatoes, Transgenic Rice Bred to Combat Heart Attacks, Diabetes, Obesity
25 March 2013 From the U.S. to South Korea, industry professionals have been researching ways to address what Dr. Seung-Tshool Hong calls one of the most serious medical, social and economic problems worldwide: metabolic syndrome and related diseases.
Hong, a South Korean professor at Chonbuk National Unversity Medical School and his team of researchers have created a strain of rice, DJ526, enriched with resveratrol, a chemical found in red wine and dark chocolate that is hailed for its ability to combat the effects of obesity, diabetes, cancers and other ailments. The supplement, which according to the journal Science accounts for a $30 million business in the U.S., is said to rev up the body’s cellular defenses against life-threatening diseases.
The rice, which contains a biosynthetic gene cloned from a species of peanuts, has received an investment from the Rural Development Administration of Korea for a national project aiming to overcome health problems associated with the target diseases.
DJ526, according to the South Korean scientists, is as effective at treating metabolic syndrome and related diseases as typical pharmaceutical drugs. As medical care can be difficult to come by in many developing countries, Hong explains, DJ526 could provide a good alternative as it can be grown anywhere traditional rice can be.
The University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) is also taking on genetically engineered crops in order to better consumer health. In a recent announcement, UCLA said it has developed tomatoes that produce a peptide that mimics the actions of good cholesterol when consumed.
“This is one of the first examples of a peptide that acts like the main protein in good cholesterol and can be delivered by simply eating the plant,” said senior author Dr. Alan M. Fogelman, executive chair of the department of medicine and director of the atherosclerosis research unit at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. “There was no need to isolate or purify the peptide — it was fully active after the plant was eaten.”
The team, which chose the tomato due to the fact that it can be eaten without cooking, says that the peptides have the ability to prevent diet-induced atherosclerosis, the plaque-based disease of the arteries that can lead to heart attacks and strokes.
Get The Newsletter Today!
