Food & Nutrition Research Briefs, July 2005
Cocoa beansthe source
of chocolatein a cacao pod. |
Cocoa powder contains more beneficial
antioxidants than several other popular chocolate products made from cocoa
beans, ARS analyses have shown. A study funded in part by the American Cocoa
Research Institute, using samples provided by manufacturers, also showed
processing of the beans lowers antioxidant content.
ARS scientists at the Arkansas Children's
Nutrition Center and the Beltsville (Md.) Human Nutrition Research Center
scrutinized what's known as the total antioxidant capacity, and the levels of
procyanidinsthe cocoa bean's most prevalent antioxidantsin natural
unsweetened cocoa powders, Dutch-processed cocoa powders, unsweetened baking
chocolate, semisweet chocolate baking chips, dark chocolates and milk
chocolates.
Why the interest in cocoa and chocolate
antioxidants? Changes in food processing procedures or cocoa and chocolate
factory formulations might make it possible to boost the antioxidant values of
tomorrow's cocoa-bean-derived beverages and confections. That would be sweet
news indeed, because antioxidants are thought to help prevent cancer, heart
disease and stroke.
For details, contact:
Ronald L. Prior, (501) 364-2747;
USDA-ARS
Arkansas
Children's Nutrition Center, Little Rock, Ark.
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Senior citizens'
exercise class. |
Elderly volunteers with osteoarthritis or
kidney disease benefitted from strength training, according to two studies by
researchers at the ARS Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on
Aging.
Seniors with osteoarthritis found that
their muscle strength increased by 14 percent and balance improved by 55
percent after a 12-week strength-training program. What's more, their
flexibility improved by 17 percent, and pain, based on their own evaluations,
decreased by 30 percent.
Other volunteersseniors diagnosed
with chronic kidney diseaseincreased total muscle fiber by 32 percent and
muscle strength by 30 percent after 12 weeks of strength training (American
Journal of Kidney Disease, volume 43, pages 607-616).
Muscle loss, called sarcopenia, can begin
in our mid-40s, with one's total amount of muscle declining at the rate of
about 1 percent a year.
For details, contact:
Carmen Castaneda Sceppa, (617)
556-3081; ARS
Jean
Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University,
Boston, Mass.
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High carbs were linked with a greater risk of
cataracts in a study of 417 women age 53 to 73. |
New details about the association between
high carbohydrates and cataract risk have emerged from a study reported in the
June 2005 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (volume
81, pages 1411-1416). Women who ate an average of 200 to 268 grams of
carbohydrates every day were more than twice as likely to develop cortical
cataracts than women whose meals provided between 101 and 185 grams by day's
end. That's according to ARS-funded scientists at the ARS Jean Mayer USDA Human
Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, Boston, Mass.
The recommended daily allowance for carbs
for adults and kids is 130 grams.
The researchers analyzed eye exam results
and 14 years' worth of food records collected from 417 women, age 53 to 73. The
women, participants in the nationwide Nurses' Health Study, did not have a
history of cataracts but were recently diagnosed with the disease.
Cataracts are a major cause of blindness
worldwide and afflict an estimated 20 million Americans.
Scientists don't know what links
high-carb intake to increase cataract risk. One possibility is that increased
exposure to glucose, a breakdown product of carbs, might damage our eyes'
lenses.
For details, contact:
Chung-Jung Chiu, (617) 556-3157; ARS
Jean
Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University,
Boston, Mass.
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Seniors in a vitamin E study. |
Long-term nursing home residents who took
200 International Units (IU) of vitamin E daily for one year were 20 percent
less likely to catch colds or other upper respiratory infections than peers who
took a four-IU capsule of this essential nutrient. The federally recommended
upper limit for vitamin E is 1,500 IUs a day
Because of seniors' highly vulnerable
immune systems, upper respiratory infections pose a greater health threat to
them than to most other age groups.
Researchers studied the weekly health
reports of 617 men and women, all over age 65, who participated in the vitamin
E study. The scientists, based at the ARS Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition
Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, Boston, Mass., reported their
results in a 2004 issue of the Journal of the American Medical
Association (volume 292, pages 828-836).
Foods rich in vitamin E include sunflower
seeds, almonds, wheat germ and leafy green vegetables.
For details, contact:
Simin K. Meydani, (617) 556-3129;
ARS Jean
Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University,
Boston, Mass.
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NatureSeal keeps
sliced apples fresh. |
Sliced applies, protected by an
invisible, vitamin- and mineral-based coating, can keep their appealing color
and texture for up to 28 days in the refrigerator, home cooks and gourmet chefs
alike are discovering. The invisible coatingan easy-to-apply dipwas
patented by ARS and co-investigators at Mantrose-Haeuser, Co., Inc., Westport,
Conn., several years ago.
Today, marketed as NatureSeal, it's used
in homes, school cafeterias, supermarket delicatessens, upscale restaurants and
in fast-food restaurants nationwide. Some supermarkets sell packets of
NatureSeal for home use. It's also available on the World Wide Web.
Unlike lemon juicea traditional
option for keeping apple slices from turning mushy and brownthe coating
doesn't change the crisp texture and natural flavor of freshly sliced apples.
For details, contact:
Dominic W.S. Wong, (510) 559-5860;
USDA-ARS
Western
Regional Research Center, Albany, Calif.
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SunButter is a tasty new
spread for sandwiches and crackers. |
A tasty sunflower-seed
butterperfect for spreading on breads or crackers, for exampleis
now sold in an array of flavors and textures. Marketed as SunButter, the spread
comes in creamy, natural, natural crunch, honey crunchand even a low-carb
version.
ARS scientists based in New Orleans, La.,
at the Southern Regional Research Center, and colleagues at Red River
Commodities, a Fargo, N.D.-based sunflower seed processor, developed the spread
several years ago.
The product is a satisfying option for
the roughly three million Americans who suffer from peanut allergies. Twelve
states now include SunButter in their school lunch programs. And, some airlines
provide snacks made with SunButter, as an alternative to peanuts.
Details are in the August 2005 Journal
of Food Science (volume 70, pages S365-370).
For details, contact:
Isabel M. Lima, (504) 286-4515,
ext. 515; USDA-ARS Southern Regional Research Center, New Orleans, La.
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Defender
potatoes. |
Long, white-skinned potatoes in the
produce section of your supermarket might be "Defender"the only
commercially grown potato in the United States today with tubers and leaves
that fend off late blight disease. Worldwide, late blight is generally regarded
as one of the worst diseases of potatoes.
Besides starring as a fresh-market
potato, Defender also can be processed into frozen products. ARS scientists in
the Small Grains and Potato Research Unit , Aberdeen, Idaho, and the Vegetable
and Forage Crop Research Unit, Prosser, Wash., worked with university
colleagues to in Idaho, Oregon and Washington develop this superior spud. They
put it through more than a decade of rigorous outdoor tests before making it
available to growers, processors, potato-seed companies and others last year.
The plant's natural resistance to late
blight allows growers to use either no fungicidesor much smaller
amountsto control the disease. This feature makes the potato ideal for
conventional and organic farms alike.
For details, contact:
Richard G. Novy, (208) 397-4181, ext.
111; USDA-ARS
Small
Grains and Potato Germplasm Research Unit, Aberdeen, Idaho.
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Catfish ready for
harvest. |
Two new vaccines for channel catfish may
bring better health to this popular fish. And averting disease-related losses
may enhance fish farmers' balance sheetswith possible savings for you at
the fresh-fish section of your supermarket.
Channel catfish rate as America's
third-most-popular, domestically farmed fish.
ARS scientists in the USDA-ARS Aquatic
Animal Health Research Unit, Auburn, Ala., and Chestertown, Md., developed the
vaccines to protect fish against a disease known as columnaris, named for
Flavobacterium columnarethe bacterium that causes it. Ranked as
the second-worst disease of catfish, it also afflicts other species ranging
from goldfish to largemouth bass to salmon. The microbe is harmless to
humans.
The vaccines are apparently the first to
contain a live, modified form of the bacteria, a feature that is generally
regarded as providing more effective protection than vaccines containing killed
bacteria.
An added benefit: To administer either
vaccine, fish farmers only need to place the fish in a tank containing a
carefully measured amount of the vaccine. That option means less stress for the
fish and less cost for the producers than injecting each fish with the
vaccine.
For details, contact:
Phillip H. Klesius,
(334) 887-3741, ext. 12; USDA-ARS
Aquatic
Animal Health Research Unit, Auburn, Ala.
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Got safe milk? ARS food safety
researchers and their colleagues in northeastern and mid-Atlantic states have
teamed up to make sure the answer is always "Yes!"
The collaboration with veterinarians,
university researchers and others who belong to the Regional Dairy Quality
Management Alliance will, among other results, lead to a new set of "best
management practices." Dairy producers in 10 states can use those guidelines to
minimize the risk of diseases caused by microbes in dairy cows and dairy
products
ARS scientists in Beltsville, Md., and
Athens, Ga.and their co-investigatorsare analyzing dairy manure
samples, bird droppings and water, for instance, from test farms in New York,
Pennsylvania and Vermont to check for such pathogens as Salmonella,
E. coli, Listeria and Campylobacter.
An example: Samples from one farm showed
that although 45 percent of the cows tested positive for Salmonella,
milk from the animals was free of detectable levels of the microbe.
For details, contact:
Jeffrey S. Karns, (301) 504-6493,
ext. 346; USDA-ARS
Henry
A. Wallace Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Beltsville, Md.
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Studies by geneticist Liping
Huang are revealing new details on how zinc might help fight cancer of the
prostate. |
For decades, scientists have known that
zinc may play a role in keeping the prostate gland healthy. Now, studies at the
ARS Western Human Nutrition Research Center, Davis, Calif., are revealing new
details about how zinc might help fight cancer of the prostatethe
second-most common cause of cancer-related deaths among American men.
Laboratory investigations using cancerous
and cancer-free human prostate cells indicated that the cancerous cells
accumulated less zinc than the healthy ones. That might be explained by another
of the team's findings: The cancerous cells had lower levels of ZIP1, a protein
that specializes in moving zinc through the membrane that encloses a cell.
Although another zinc-ferrying-protein, ZIP3, was present in the cancer cells,
it wasn't in the right location to be its most effective.
ARS and the National Institutes of Health
are funding the research.
For details, contact:
Liping Huang, (530) 754-5756;
USDA-ARS
Western
Human Nutrition Research Center, Davis, Calif.
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Many breakfast cereals are fortified with iron.
|
Iron-fortified foods such as breakfast
cereals don't pose a special health risk to most people. That includes the one
out of every 10 Americans who has one normal and one altered form of a gene
linked to iron overload.
Men and women volunteers with that
genetic makeup did not absorb significantly more iron from their foods in
comparison to volunteers with two normal genes for iron absorption, researchers
have found.
Scientists at the ARS Grand Forks (N.D.)
Human Nutrition Research Center worked with data from volunteers100
healthy men and women in this studyand presented their findings in a 2004
issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (volume 80, pages
924-931).
Certain foods are iron-fortified to
ensure that we get the recommended daily amount of this essential mineral.
For details, contact:
Janet R. Hunt, (701) 795-8328;
USDA-ARS
Grand
Forks Human Nutrition Research Center, Grand Forks, N.D.
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Today's limit for the amount of
copper you can safely consume in a day10 milligrams for adultsmight
need to be downsized.
A study to learn more about how the body
handles excess copper showed, for the first time, that long-term intake of 7.8
milligrams of copper a day can result in a potentially unhealthy accumulation
of this mineral. That's based on analyses of blood, urine and other samples
from nine healthy male volunteers, age 27 to 48, who went on a high-copper
regimen for approximately 4½ months of the 5½-month
investigation.
Chemist Joseph
Domek. |
The high-copper stint lowered one
standard measure of the volunteers' levels of antioxidantshealthful
compounds that protect cells, the scientists found (American Journal of
Clinical Nutrition, volume 81, pages 822-828). The regimen also interfered
with some immune system defenses, reducing the volunteers' ability to fight off
the Beijing strain of the flu, for instance. And, even though copper excretion
increased during the high-copper regimen, the ramped-up excretion rate wasn't
sufficient to remove excess copper.
The findings are of interest to nutrition
researchers worldwide, as well as to the experts who recommend daily intake
levels for essential nutrients, and the companies that make vitamin-mineral
supplements.
For details, contact:
Judith R. Turnlund, (530)
752-5249; USDA-ARS
Western
Human Nutrition Research Center, Davis, Calif.
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20-month old boy
enjoys a healthful snack. |
New advice on what to feed infants and
toddlers age six months to two years is available for parents' easy reference
at http://www.gerber.com/starthealthy.
Investigators from the Children's
Nutrition Research Center in Houston, Texas, were among the members of a panel
of experts who developed recommendations targeting that age group. The American
Dietetic Association and Gerber Products Company sponsored the
panel.
Called the "Start Healthy Feeding
Guidelines," the recommendations complement and expandbut don't
replaceearly-feeding plans from the American Academy of
Pediatrics, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other
groups.
The recommendations were prompted in part
by the growing problem of childhood obesity and the need to establishing
healthy eating habits in early childhood.
For details, contact:
Nancy Butte, (713) 798-7179 or
William C. Heird, (713) 798-7177;
USDA-ARS
Children's
Nutrition Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas.
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The U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities
on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability,
political beliefs, or marital or family status. (Not all prohibited bases apply
to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for
communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.)
should contact USDA's TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TDD). To file
a complaint of discrimination, write: USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights,
1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C. 20250-9410, or call (202)
720-5964 (voice and TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and
employer. |
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