The Regional Research Laboratory (RRL), which conducted the study jointly with the ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad, and the Nutrition Foundation of India had found that unprocessed palmoil was rich in beta-carotene, an important Vitamin A source, Dr C Arumughan, scientist at the RRL said here.

The ICMR conducted the first such study in Hyderabad in 1988 at the request of SCIR, Thiruvananthapuram, the lead laboratory in developing indigenous post-harvest technology for oil palm. A pilot plant of the ICAR-Central Plantation Research Centre at Palode had already started producing limited quantities of edible grade red palmoil, he said.

The need for a `food-based' approach to combat Vitamin A deficiency instead of administering massive doses of the vitamin added credence to the studies, he saidadding a five gramme intake of Vitamin A each day would be enough to meet the requirements of older children. This had been demonstrated through multi-centre studies at four places in India. The Thiruvananthapuram study was carried out with the aid of the Vivekananda Kendra, Kanyakumari and involved feeding about 2,000 children in balwadis.

Dr Arumugham said beta carotene also protected against carcinogenesis due to its antioxidant properties.