In 2017, after a discussion with his friends on the health benefits of vitamin D, farmer and Padma Shri awardee Chintala Venkat Reddy was left with a question that followed him around for some time. If humans could synthesise vitamin D from the sun, why couldn’t plants? Could they in turn be used as a source of vitamin D as well?
“It was reasonable to wonder that if plants can process photosynthesis for survival, why couldn’t they produce vitamin D?” the 70-year-old from Secunderabad, Telangana, tells The Better India.
Vitamin D plays a significant role in the regulation and absorption of phosphorus and calcium in the body. It helps boost immunity and fight depression. Deficiency can cause tiredness, aches, bone and muscle pain and in severe cases, bone fractures. Apart from mushrooms, vitamin D is not found in plants.
Chintala’s answers were in a rice and wheat variety, infused with vitamin D through natural processes. His work has since been published in an…