Let them eat wood! (If the wood is starch)

for Percival Zhang, growing up in China meant learning how important a stable food supply was to avert disasters such as social unrest and famine.he became an associate professor of biosysystric engineering at Virginia Tech, he began to think about the risks of growing food because of the limited resources needed: land, water, seeds and fertilizer.on the other hand, many other plants on Earth are not so demanding.The trees, the shrubs, the grasses - they don't need special care, and in nature the amount of these non-food biomasses is more than 100 times the amount of starch we currently grow in the form of food," he told The Salt, a blog about food.he came up with the idea: What if we converted cellulose from such a large amount of biomass into edible starch, which accounts for 50-60% of human food? Perhaps this technology can reduce the environmental impact of agriculture while providing food to people.In a study he and colleagues published this spring in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Zhang explained his invention of a process that converts solid cellulose -- possibly from trees, grass, or crop residues, such as corn shells-- into carbohydrates called starch sugar.this process takes the form of synthetic biology, which breaks down cellulose into smaller units through enzymes and then reassents the molecules into starches. This means that the ultimate edible food - a powder that Zhang claims to have a sweet taste - is completely synthetic, but much like other complex carbohydrates such as corn starch.many more people like Zhang accept this seemingly absurd view. Even NASA space biologists are interested in converting the inedible parts of plants into food. They say astronauts also want to grow plants as food for long-term missions and make it easy to use cellulose from plants.also contains glucose, why not convert wood or corn shells directly into sugar? Zhang says he wants to design a healthier food that won't cause blood sugar levels to fluctuate.need a sugar that metabolizes slowly like starch so that people can keep their blood sugar levels almost constant, " he says. This is especially important considering that a modern diet high in sugar increases the risk of diabetes and other chronic diseases.company called Ingledion has developed a variety of foods using corn, cassava, wheat, potatoes and other ingredients that have been able to convert cellulose from genetically modified corn shells into food. But Zhang says his process is unique because he can use any type of biomass and convert it efficiently.the short term, he thinks the starch he invented could change the texture of other foods by acting as a low-calorie, easy-to-digest sugar coat. For example, Zhang says the powder he invented can be mixed into bread flour to wrap and fry chicken. But in the long run, as traditional agriculture faces tougher resource constraints, he hopes the technology will allow humans to start using cellulose as a food source., will we see starch made from wood or corn shells in the near future? It's unlikely - for now, production costs are too high. Although Zhang says he is confident that costs will be reduced, enzymes are particularly expensive and unstable.if the technology does eventually reach the market, it won't be the first time many of us have eaten foods made of cellulose. In fact, the food industry has pointed out that cellulose is not even needed to be converted into starch when it is consumed.products are generally used as processed food additives to improve viscosity and taste, and increase the volume of salad seasonings and ice cream products. But unlike Zhang's invention, this cellulose doesn't provide useful nutrients - it just travels through the body. A look at the list, edited by The Street.com, reveals that cellulose is a major ingredient in fast food and processed foods, including Wendy's burger shakes and KFC popcorn.as fat, cellulose also helps keep food moist, making it a common alternative to oil or butter in low-fat baked goods, according to the Mayo Clinic.