Oh goody, the future of calcium is soon approaching us in the form of carrots.  The Vegetable and Fruit Improvement Center at Texas A&M has thoughtfully created for us in their laboratory the genetically modified carrot.  This new carrot, possibly available in 3-5 years will likely have twice the amount of calcium than the "old" nature-produced carrots.  Of course the scientists don't know if the calcium will be bioavailable or absorbable by the body. 

This calls to mind the radioactive mutant carrot seeds found by Gilligan and his friends on the old TV show, Gilligan's island.  After planting the radioactive seeds the carrots came out with 4 roots instead of 1 and made MaryAnn have super vision after eating the super carrots.  Now I don't know if Mary Ann also glowed in the dark after consuming radioactive vegetables in the show but I for one would like my carrots just like nature intended with whatever nutrients they came with naturally.  I don't believe that we who truly know so very little about nutrient interactions can out design fruits and vegetables better than mother nature.  Higher calcium diets sound fine but what about the other nutrients in the carrot?  Will they be thrown out of balance when consumed?  Will eating these genetically modified carrots make us prone to some other disease in the future?  I hate to be dramatic but without having the whole picture in mind of how our bodies will be affected by genetically modifying our foods we may find out in 50 years that our short sightedness affected our public health much more dramatically than initially thought.