Opponents maintain that there are better ways to deal with vitamin A deficiency.

Because the problem there is just as severe, but it is more sinister, because vitamin D deficiency, from a lack of ultraviolet B radiation, is a major problem.

Dark skinned people may be less efficient at making vitamin D because melanin in the skin hinders vitamin D synthesis however, a recent study has found novel evidence that low vitamin D levels among Africans may be due to other reasons.

Over those 12 years, about eight million children worldwide died from vitamin A deficiency.

The 4.4 million Filipino kids with vitamin A deficiency might not mind so much.

Most physicians in North America and Europe never see a single case of vitamin A deficiency in their professional lifetimes.

Both are great deals. But golden rice would cost just 100 for every life saved from vitamin A deficiency.

Greenpeace calls golden rice a failure, because it has been in development for almost 20 years and has still not made any impact on the prevalence of vitamin A deficiency.

A study from the British medical journal The Lancet estimates that, in total, vitamin A deficiency kills 668,000 children under the age of five each year.

UNRWA also participated in a measles and vitamin A campaign, launched in collaboration with UNICEF and the Ministry of Health, during which 85,000 children below five years of age were vaccinated.

But it is not a sustainable solution to vitamin A deficiency.

Some, such as vitamin D, have hormone like functions as regulators of mineral metabolism, or regulators of cell and tissue growth and differentiation (such as some forms of vitamin A).

1. Micronutrient supplements for children (vitamin A and zinc)

Vitamin (B12) as a factor to cure the liver cancer (Not published).

Vitamin D deficiency creeps up on people, and causes all sorts of health problems to their bones, to their gradual decay of their immune systems, or loss of immune function, and probably some problems with their mood and health, their mental health.

Monitors won't give you Vitamin D but sunlight will...

Others function as antioxidants (e.g., vitamin E and sometimes vitamin C).

Physiology Factor X is synthesized in the liver and requires vitamin K for its synthesis.

In general, supplements containing all eight are referred to as a vitamin B complex.

For example, green vegetables typically contain vitamin A, dark orange and dark green vegetables contain vitamin C, and vegetables like broccoli and related plants contain iron and calcium.

Three billion people depend on rice as their staple food, with 10 at risk for vitamin A deficiency, which, according to the World Health Organization, causes 250,000 500,000 children to go blind each year.

Yet, despite the cost in human lives, anti GM campaigners from Greenpeace to Naomi Klein have derided efforts to use golden rice to avoid vitamin A deficiency.

It's very destructive, but it also catalyzes the production of vitamin D in the skin, vitamin D being a molecule that we very much need for our strong bones, the health of our immune system, and myriad other important functions in our bodies.

Pregnant or breastfeeding women should consult a doctor before taking a vitamin D supplement.

More than two thirds of children in least developed countries received vitamin A supplements.

True to form, Greenpeace is already protesting that the next golden rice guinea pigs might be Filipino children.

But, as Ingo Potrykus, the scientist who developed golden rice, has made clear, that failure is due almost entirely to relentless opposition to GM foods often by rich, well meaning Westerners far removed from the risks of actual vitamin A deficiency.

B12 that is to be used in these supplements is typically grown from vegan sources (such as bacteria).

Vitamin D The human body can synthesize vitamin D when skin is exposed to ultraviolet radiation from the sun.

UNICEF helped to mount extensive campaigns to immunize children against measles and provide vitamin A.

Within about 20 minutes of ultraviolet exposure in light skinned individuals (three to six times longer for pigmented skin), the concentrations of vitamin D precursors produced in the skin reach an equilibrium, and any further vitamin D produced is degraded.

Palmitate is attached to the alcohol form of vitamin A, retinol, to make vitamin A stable in milk.

The result of the assay was that the liver of the burbot has three to four times the potency in vitamin D, and four to 10 times in vitamin A, than good grades of cod liver oil.

Despite the phasing down of National Immunization Days, vitamin A supplementation coverage remained steady.

UNICEF also ensured that vitamin A was available in the affected areas, as well as in Kenya and the Darfur region of Sudan.

Opponents maintain that there are better ways to deal with vitamin A deficiency. In its latest statement, Greenpeace says that golden rice is neither needed nor necessary, and calls instead for supplementation and fortification, which are described as cost effective.

Supplementation programs costs 4,300 for every life they save in India, whereas fortification programs cost about 2,700 for each life saved. Both are great deals.

Expose yourself regularly to the sun or at least to natural light, to get sufficient vitamin D and prevent depression.

In the United Republic of Tanzania and Zambia, UNICEF successfully advocated for the inclusion of vitamin A in national planning frameworks and budgets.

Over 500 million capsules from the Micronutrient Initiative were supplied to 74 countries in 2004.

In June 2005, researcher Peter Beyer received funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to further improve golden rice by increasing the levels of or the bioavailability of pro vitamin A, vitamin E, iron, and zinc, and to improve protein quality through genetic modification.

He'd already smuggled vitamin C into the camp, and now he managed to get hold of supplies of marmite on the black market.

To be sure, handing out vitamin pills or adding vitamin A to staple products can make a difference.

For example, recent data show that even a moderate deficiency of Vitamin A results in higher mortality.

But it is not a sustainable solution to vitamin A deficiency. And, while it is cost effective, recent published estimates indicate that golden rice is much more so.