By Alex Magdalen From Mashable

If bananas weren’t a super food before, these “super bananas” make a case for the fruit’s place among the nutritious elite.

Bananas genetically engineered to improve the nutrient-deficient lives of millions in Africa will soon be sent to the U.S. to start human trials, according to a release.

The human clinical trials will test the ability of the bananas, which are enriched with alpha and beta carotene, to increase vitamin A levels in humans. Alpha and beta carotene are converted to the vitamin by our bodies.

Super-Banana

A cross-section of the “super banana” shows the orange-colored interior due to the increased concentration of alpha and beta carotene.

Although the bananas look the same as regular ones on the outside, once peeled, their typically cream-colored center has a more orange color due to the increased level of the carotenes.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation backed the trials, providing nearly $10 million dollars to the Queensland University of Technology project, which is led by James Dale, a professor at the university in Brisbane, Australia. The bananas will be shipped to the U.S. to begin a six-week trial that is expected to produce results by the end of this year.

The super-banana project aims to address the growing consequences of vitamin A deficiency; 650,000 to 700,000 children worldwide die from the deficiency each year, Dale said in a statement. Although the Highland or East African banana is a staple food in the diet of East Africans, it contains low levels of micronutrients, particularly vitamin A and iron.

The project aims to have the super bananas growing in Uganda by 2020. If they are approved for cultivation in Uganda, Dale plans to expand the crop to other countries, including Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania and parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

IMAGE: FLICKR, SHARON MOLLERUS Bananas

IMAGE: NIH

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