Scientists are mustering their prowess in adding muscle to existing blackcurrants with a view to making them a storehouse of Vitamin-C , which will reflect in nutritive fruit beverages. The Scottish Crop Research Institute in Dundee has zeroed in on how Vitamin C is manufactured in the blackcurrant bushes, so that they could look at innovating the process for a better yield.
This study costing about £1.2m will endeavor to enhance the quality of fruit and vitamins by changing starch reserves on the plant. SCRI team leader Dr Robert Hancock said "Vitamin C is vital to tissue growth and repair and gives a big boost to the immune system, but because it dissolves in water the body cannot store it. We need to eat vitamin C-rich food every day, but people just do not get enough. Blackcurrants contain more vitamin C than oranges, so boosting that even further can only be a good thing."
