LettUs Grow, the Bristol-based pioneer in Advanced Aeroponics™ technology, announces the successful completion of a ground-breaking research project that enables commercial-scale fortification of salad crops with Vitamin B12, opening a significant new market opportunity for controlled environment agriculture (CEA) growers.

The multi-year collaboration between LettUs Grow, the John Innes Centre, the Quadram Institute, and the University of Bristol has demonstrated that pea shoots grown using Advanced Aeroponics can deliver the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of Vitamin B12 in a single 15-gram serving at an additional production cost of less than one penny per bag.

First-of-its-kind research partnership demonstrates how aeroponic technology can deliver new revenue streams for UK growers while addressing a major public health need.

With an estimated 6% of the UK population deficient in B12 and a further 44% with insufficient levels, the breakthrough offers growers a commercially viable route to premium-priced, nutritionally enhanced produce for health-conscious consumers particularly those following plant-based diets.

The research, published first in Communications Biology, confirms that B12-fortified pea shoots maintain shelf-life, retain nutrient content through cold storage, and deliver bioavailable nutrition that the human body can absorb all critical factors for commercial viability.

The Market Opportunity

Vitamin B12 deficiency represents a growing public health challenge, particularly as consumers adopt more plant-based diets. Globally, B12 insufficiency is common, especially in populations consuming low amounts of animal-derived foods and in older adults.

Current solutions, primarily tablet-based supplements, face adoption barriers: they’re easily forgotten, less effective when taken without food, and many consumers prefer to receive nutrients through whole foods rather than supplements.

This creates a significant market gap that fortified salad crops can fill:

Premium pricing potential: Health-enhanced produce commands higher margins
Growing consumer demand: Plant-based diet adoption accelerating
Minimal cost addition: <1p per bag fortification cost
Differentiation: First-to-market advantage for early adopters
Retail appeal: Clear consumer health benefit, easy messaging

How Advanced Aeroponics Enables Commercial-Scale Fortification

LettUs Grow’s patented ultrasonic aeroponic technology was critical to achieving commercial viability.

The system delivers a nutrient-enriched mist directly to plant roots suspended in air, allowing precise control over B12 application. During the eight-day cultivation period, plants absorbed the most bioavailable form of B12 (cyanocobalamin), with leaves accumulating sufficient quantities to deliver the RDA in a single serving.

Key advantages of the aeroponic approach:

Precise nutrient delivery: Ultrasonic misting ensures controlled, efficient B12 application
Cost-effectiveness: Much more cost-effective than any prior methodologies
Scalability: Works in both vertical farms and horticultural glasshouses
Proven performance: Exceeded RDA targets while maintaining crop quality and shelf-life

Critically, experiments confirmed that the fortification persists through cold storage and that simulated human digestion successfully releases the vitamin for absorption as essential factors for retail distribution.

Commercial Pathway for Growers

LettUs Grow is now working with commercial partners to bring B12-fortified salad crops to market.

Jack Farmer, Chief Scientific Officer at LettUs Grow, commented:
“The exciting thing about this project is that it is the first time the enhanced yield potential of aeroponics has been combined with the nutrition enhancement of B12 fortification in a way that can be scaled up to commercial volumes.

“For growers and retailers, this represents a genuinely unique market opportunity. The additional cost is minimal, less than 1p per bag, but the consumer value proposition is clear: a convenient, food-based source of an essential nutrient that millions of people struggle to get enough of.

“We’re already in discussions with growers and retailers about commercial deployment. Pea shoots are the first application, but the technique is adaptable to other rapid-cycling salad crops grown in controlled environments.”

Beyond Pea Shoots: The Broader Opportunity

While the initial research focused on pea shoots, the fortification method is predicted to work across other salad crops commonly grown in CEA environments, including:

• Microgreens and baby leaf salads
• Leafy greens (lettuce, spinach, rocket)
• Herbs and specialty crops

This positions Advanced Aeroponics as an enabling technology for a new category of “functional foods” as crops grown specifically to deliver enhanced nutritional benefits.

The approach also addresses “hidden hunger” when people consume sufficient calories but lack essential micronutrients necessary for good health. With rising interest in sustainable diets and growing awareness of nutritional deficiencies, market demand for fortified produce is expected to accelerate.

Research Partnership Delivers Commercial Innovation

The project exemplifies how industry-academic collaboration can accelerate commercial innovation in agriculture.

Dr Bethany Eldridge, first author of the study and recipient of BBSRC grants to facilitate the research-industry partnership, said:
“The beauty of this work is how it marries high tech and low tech in such a cost-effective way. Pea shoots are literal sponges for B12, while controlled environment farms provide an environment in which we can tailor its uptake by the plants.

“This method diversifies ways of getting B12 naturally into your diet, especially if you are not consuming meat and dairy as vegans or vegetarians, or if you are consuming them in smaller quantities as part of a flexitarian diet. Globally B12 levels are in decline and if we can find a variety of ways that we can get it into food in a bio-accessible way, then that is exciting.”

Professor Antony Dodd, Group Leader at the John Innes Centre and corresponding author of the study, added:
“This novel fortification method can be done at extremely low cost to growers as a way of providing consumers with a cost-effective way of supplementing their diet with Vitamin B12 in a form that their body can use.”

Professor Martin Warren, Chief Scientific Officer at the Quadram Institute, noted:
“Vitamin B12 deficiency is often framed solely as a concern for people following vegetarian or vegan diets, but the reality is far broader. Across many populations, inadequate B12 intake contributes to what nutritionists call ‘hidden hunger.’ Developing practical ways to incorporate B12 into everyday foods offers an exciting route to improve nutritional resilience.”

Growth Potential

LettUs Grow is working with growers and retail partners to bring B12-fortified pea shoots to supermarket shelves in 2026.

The company is also exploring applications of the fortification technique across other micronutrients and crop types, with potential to create a new generation of nutritionally enhanced fresh produce.

For growers interested in exploring B12 fortification or other applications of Advanced Aeroponics technology, LettUs Grow facilitates trials, and delivers turnkey greenhouse and indoor farm projects through its global network of delivery partners.

Learn more: lettusgrow.com

For media enquiries:

Portia Hill
portia.hill@lettusgrow.org

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