In a method for altering a nutritional profile of a plant, a nucleic acid sequence is selected for its ability to encode a protein capable of modifying the utilization of a substrate in the sugar alcohol secondary metabolic pathway of a plant. The protein is non-native to the sugar alcohol secondary metabolic pathway. Plant cells are transformed with an expression cassette containing the nucleic acid sequence. Genetically altered plants are recovered from the plant cells, the plants having an altered nutritional profile relative to wild-type plants. Genetically modified plants having improved nutritional profiles, and obtainable by the above method, are also provided.