“The soul, fortunately, has an interpreter – often an unconscious but still a faithful interpreter – in the eye,” wrote Charlotte Bronte in her famed Jane Eyre. Marcus Tullius Cicero had the same view when he said: “The face is a picture of the mind with the eyes as its interpreter.”
A survey was conducted on which is the most important among the five senses: sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch. It was found that their eyesight is the mode of perception they value – and fear losing – most.
Unknowingly, there are those who from nightblindness even at a younger age. This is true in the Philippines. A study was conducted in three provinces (Quezon, Northern Samar and Zamboanga del Sur) among 11,378 children between 6 and 83 months of age. Prevalence rate ranged from 1.6% to 4.4%.
Known in medical science as nyctalopia, nightblindness is a condition making it difficult or impossible to see in relatively low light. A symptom of several eye diseases, it may exist from birth or be caused by injury.
Oftentimes, nightblindness is triggered by vitamin A deficiency (VAD). “The vitamin A status of the Philippines is considered severe subclinical deficiency affecting children 6 months to 5 years (8.2%) and pregnant women (7.1%),” a report from the UN Food and Agriculture points out.
“Two forms of vitamin A are available in the human diet: preformed vitamin A and provitamin A carotenoids,” the Office of Dietary Supplements of the US National Institutes of Health.
Concentrations of preformed vitamin A are highest in liver and fish oils. Other sources of preformed vitamin A are milk and eggs, which also include some provitamin A. Most dietary provitamin A comes from leafy green vegetables, orange and yellow vegetables, tomato products, fruits, and some vegetable oils.
The top food sources of vitamin A include dairy products, liver, fish, and fortified cereals while the top sources of provitamin A include carrots, broccoli, cantaloupe, and squash.
Nightblindness is one of the first signs of VAD, which is common in poorer countries but rarely seen in more developed countries.
The Geneva-based World Health Organization (WHO) estimates between 250,000 to 500,000 children who become blind each year because of a lack of vitamin A in their diets. Not only that, about half of these children die within 12 months.
VAD also depresses the immune system, raising overall mortality among children from other causes such as diarrhea, measles, and pneumonia. For these diseases the additional toll is estimated at 1 million preventable deaths a year, or around 2,700 per day, mostly among children younger than 5.
The 8th National Nutrition Survey of the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) showed VAD remains a persistent public health issue in the Philippines. There was an increase of VAD incidence (among children ages 6 months – 5 years old) from 15.2% in 2008 to 20.4% in 2013.
“This is equivalent to 2.1 million children who are at risk of getting sick, blind, and even dying if left untreated,” Dr. Reynante L. Ordonio, a visionary young scientist working at the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice).
A number of Filipino pregnant and nursing mothers are also vitamin A deficient. “Vitamin D deficiency in pregnant women could preprogram babies to grow into obese children and adults,” according to study done by Keck School of Medicine of University of Southern California.
According to research published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2009, daily consumption of a cup of rice – about 150 grams uncooked weight – could supply half of the Recommended Daily Allowance of Vitamin A for an adult.
Balancing cereal-diets with vegetables and animal products is one approach used in some developing countries to address the vitamin A-deficiency. But results were frustrating. Vegetables and animal products are expensive and seasonal, subject to spoilage and transport facilities.
Experts see golden rice as one possible solution to the problem. “Make no mistake – this agricultural innovation is not a game-changer, it’s a life-changer Dr. Siang Hee Tan, Executive Director of CropLife Asia, a non-profit science-based organization.
Golden rice is a product of biotechnology, defined as “any technique that uses living organisms to make or modify a product, to improve plants or animals or to develop microorganisms for specific uses.”
In recent years, modern biotechnology—through genetic engineering—has been used to increase plant and animal food production, to diagnose disease, improve medical treatment, produce vaccines and other useful drugs and to help dispose of industrial wastes. This paved way to the buzzword, genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
In the case of golden rice, respected scientists Ingo Potrykus and Peter Beyer used a gene from daffodil and an ordinary microbe and introduced it to rice through genetic engineering. Using the same microbe and another gene from yellow corn, the second version of golden rice came into existence. The new form has been found to contain 20 times more beta carotene than the original one.
Golden rice had to go through a series of rigorous testing and regulatory procedures. To ensure that golden rice is safe for the environment and health, the planting materials used were subjected to confined field-testing in fenced and isolated areas for at least 2 cropping seasons in 3 different locations in the country.
“During the tests, any discrepancy or variation from the original variety in terms of appearance, and any unusual disease, pest, or weed incidence at the sites were carefully assessed,” Ordonio reports.
“Once the technology has passed the rest of the biosafety procedures, only then will it be approved by government for commercialization,” Ordonio adds. “Ultimately, we expect that golden rice will not only pass biosafety regulations but also be proven efficacious in fighting Vitamin A deficiency, the real reason for its conception.”
Golden rice has been promoted as a staple that can reduce the incidence of VAD in the Philippines. About 89% of Filipinos consume rice on a daily basis. Normally, rice plants produce beta-carotene in their green parts, but not the grain that people eat. Golden rice is genetically engineered to produce beta-carotene in the edible part of the plant.
The beta-carotene gives the golden color to the cereal (as well as to fruits and vegetables like squash, papaya and carrots). The body converts beta-carotene in golden rice to vitamin A as needed.
