THE first in a strain of new ''super vegetables'' is ready for harvesting.
"Booster broccoli" - which scientists are calling the future of food - was derived from strains of the vegetable that are naturally high in antioxidants, and may help prevent heart disease, cancers and degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's.
Sprouting in long green rows from heavy soil at Werribee, west of Melbourne, the broccoli leads a crop of "all-natural" super vegetables boasting bolstered levels of vitamins and nutrients. They are being bred to help reduce risks of heart disease, cancers and diabetes, and to help weight control.
Scientists say a single bag of lettuce could one day contain many of our preventative health needs. Even fast-food diets will be catered for, with the CSIRO developing fat-free frankfurts and hamburger patties that taste as good and greasy as less healthy fare.
Capsicums with boosted levels of vitamins A, C and E, and tomatoes that could reduce risks of prostate cancer will be released in the next 12 months, says Vital Vegetables chairman John Said.
Supermarkets will soon stock a range of foods "boasting higher levels of goodness", to compensate for our time-poor diets, he said.
"Our lifestyles seem to get faster all the time. If you can get the recommended daily intake of fruits and vegetables through eating less, isn't that kind of the way we are going in the world these days," he said. "And here you're going to get more bang for your bite."
The CSIRO last month released two breakfast cereals containing BARLEYmax, a naturally-bred ''supergrain'' with the potential to reduce risks of colon and bowel cancers, heart disease, diabetes, stroke and to help weight control. The grain will be incorporated in bread, biscuits and pasta by 2012, says Dr Bruce Lee, director of the CSIRO's food futures research flagship. "The beauty of these types of foods is that you can add the wholegrain into the food - you are not forcing consumers to change their diet to something else," he said.
The CSIRO has adopted the same "mountain to Muhammad" approach to fast foods by focusing on making them better for you. Food tasters are busy in the CSIRO labs in Sydney, helping to develop fat-free sausages, hamburger patties and cheeses that retain the foods' attractive sensory properties.
"We all love the convenience of eating fast food, so if you can make fast food that's still convenient to eat but healthier for you that would be a positive thing for health," Dr Lee said. "But we're not talking about a pill that's going to change a person's health overnight."
Mark Lawrence, associate professor of public health and nutrition at Deakin University, says such an approach fails to address the underlying problem of poor eating habits.
"I have a real difficulty with the argument that you can have your cake and eat it too - what you are doing is rewarding poor dietary behaviour," he said.
"There's a certain arrogance in that we can keep tweaking foods and making them better. Booster broccoli and BARLEYmax are two of the better ones. But we have to keep 'superfoods' in perspective. They're not going to address the major public health nutrition challenges we're facing, such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease, and environmental sustainability."
A Choice study, released this month, of more than 100 varieties of cow's milk, found products boasting added calcium, vitamins and omega-3 fatty acids provided no significant health benefits compared with cheaper, generic versions.
Separate concerns have been raised over the spectre of so-called "Frankenstein foods", through genetic modification.
But Dr Rod Jones, team leader of plant physiology at Victoria's Department of Primary Industries, which is a member of the Vital Vegetables group, said the focus was on bolstering foods naturally. "It's all about enhancing the natural goodness within fruits and vegetables," he said.
More than a mouthful
BOOSTER BROCCOLI: (under the Vital Vegetables label) has at least 40 per cent more active antioxidants than standard varieties.
BARLEYmax: (under the Goodness Superfoods label, pictured) a CSIRO-developed ''supergrain'' with the potential to reduce the risk of colon and bowel cancers, heart disease, diabetes, stroke and help weight control. The wholegrains are low GI and a rich source of antioxidants, fibre and resistant starch.
FUTURE FOODS: Projects in development by the CSIRO include fat-free frankfurts, patties, cheeses and shortbreads that retain the sensory properties of less healthy versions. Over the next year, Vital Vegetables also plans to release capsicums with higher levels of vitamins A, C and E, and tomatoes and lettuces with increased levels of antioxidants.
Email a friend