Carotenoids, which are found at various levels in different banana cultivars, are important vitamin precursors for eye health. ###In a study published in American Chemical Society’s Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, researchers report a new understanding of how the fruit makes and stores the compound. ###Their findings could someday help in the development of banana varieties with enhanced health benefits.###Vitamin A deficiency is rampant in Africa and Southeast Asia, causing an estimated 250,000 to 500,000 children to become permanently blind each year, the researchers note. ###Even worse, half of those children die within a year of losing their sight. ###To combat vitamin A deficiency, other researchers have been investigating methods to boost carotenoids in bananas, because these compounds — which turn fruits and vegetables red, orange or yellow—are converted into vitamin A in the liver.###However, this approach has been hindered by naturalslim magicmaga lack of understanding of how bananas produce and store carotenoids. ###So Cara L. Mortimer and colleagues wanted to address this gap.###The researchers studied two zinc gluconate 30mlbanana varieties to find out why they make very different amounts of carotenoids. ###They found that the pale yellow, low-carotenoferrous gluconate 324 38 fe mgid Cavendish ferrous fumarate tablets in birth controlvariety produces more of an enzyme that breaks down carotenoids. ###In addition, the orange Asupina variety stashes its carotenoids in microscopic sacs during ripening, shifting the chemical equilibrium in the fruit so it can make even higher levels of these substances. ###The researchers say their work will provide insights for future developments in the biofortification and breeding of bananas that contain more carotenoids.###The authomagnesium glycinate and citrate togetherrs acknowledge funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Department for International Development (U.K.).