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The original was posted on /r/worldnews by /u/fungussa on 2024-05-25 17:22:27+00:00.
The original was posted on /r/worldnews by /u/fungussa on 2024-05-25 17:22:27+00:00.
I’m guessing they chose rice not only because it is widely eaten throughout the world but also because it is eaten in large quantities. Plants are not a good source of vitamin A because, as the article mentions, they actually only contain a precursor called beta-carotene, which the body then needs to convert to vitamin A. Vitamin A from animal sources is absorbed far more efficiently as a result. If I recall correctly from my previous reading, animal-based sources are something like 20 times more efficient than plant-based ones, but if it’s in rice, which people eat three times a day, that will make a much bigger impact than a vegetable which is eaten more sporadically.
(I had to learn about this because I have mysteriously high vitamin A, which is also dangerous, so I need to avoid it. My doctors say, and my research agrees, that I only need to avoid animal sources of it because plant-based sources don’t contribute much vitamin A at all.)
Anyway, banning this is clearly more of the generic anti-GMO fearmongering nonsense. This rice is a boon to people who cannot get adequate levels of vitamin A through meat-based sources.