Misting a natural compound, derived from plant oils,
onto apples before or after theyre picked from the tree may improve their
red color. Thats according to ARS studies with methyl jasmonate, an
aromatic extract from plants such as jasmine and honeysuckle.
Experiments by scientists at the Tree Fruit
Research Laboratory, Wenatchee, Wash., indicate that methyl jasmonate increases
the total percent of attractive, uniformly red color of Fuji, Gala, and Red
Delicious apples.
Though expensive, the compound is already
classified as Generally Recognized as Safe by the Food and Drug
Administration. Too, methyl jasmonate doesnt change apple taste or
texture.
Field applications stimulate production of
red anthocyanin pigments. Postharvest applications break down the peels
green pigment, chlorophyll, boosting the visibility of the red pigments.
In new studies, the researchers will
determine the best formula and perfect time to apply the flower-scented
chemical. The scientists are seeking a patent for their discoveries.
For more information, contact
James P. Mattheis, (509)
664-2280, ext. 249, USDA-ARS Tree Fruit Research Laboratory, Wenatchee,
WA.
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Hens inoculated with a new, ARS-developed
vaccine are less likely to transmit Salmonella enteritidis into
their eggs. This reduces the chance that people who eat raw or undercooked eggs
would contract salmonellosis, typified by nausea, vomiting and severe diarrhea.
Raw cookie dough or homemade mayonnaise or hollandaise sauce can contain raw
eggs.
ARS scientists also found that inoculated
hens shed 10 to 40 percent less S. enteritidis in their feces.
Less shedding helps reduce the spread of the infection through flocks.
For these tests, researchers at the ARS
Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory twice-inoculated hens with the
experimental vaccine and then exposed the animals to the disease organism.
ARS is seeking a patent for the experimental
vaccine. The invention is more effective than current commercial vaccines
because it boosts levels of antibodies that hens produce, in their intestines,
to fight infection.
Approximately 25 million doses of S.
enteritidis vaccine are used each year by U.S. poultry producers.
For more information, contact
Peter S. Holt, (706) 546-3442,
Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory, Athens, GA.
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A user-friendly version of the authoritative
USDA National Nutrient Database is available for download onto your personal
computer and laptop. Thats thanks to work by ARS scientists at the
Beltsville (Md.) Human Nutrition Research Center, and their corporate
colleagues at HealtheTech, Golden, Colo.
The free, easy-to-search database designated
as "Release 16" or "SR16" for short, lists up to 125
nutrients for more than 6,000 food items. Once the database has been downloaded
to a computers hard drive, the user no longer has to go online to access
it.
The database requires about 70 megabytes of
disk space on the hard drive. It runs on Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows 2000,
and Windows XP. The PC-download version is available on the World Wide Web at:
http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp
A portion modifier is among the
handy features. After clicking on carrots, raw, for example, users
can choose from a variety of standard portion sizes, or can increase or
decrease the amounts to suit their needs.
The search term not is also
featured. That allows users to screen out unwanted foods by designating, for
instance, carrots, not raw.
The PC-download option is the latest in a
series of developments to significantly expand the accessibility of the
nutrient database. Earlier, the scientists collaborated in making the database
available online, then packaged it for use on personal digital assistants
(PDAs).
For more information, contact
Joanne M. Holden, (301) 504-0630,
USDA-ARS Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center, Beltsville, MD.
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A tiny insect you may have seen fluttering
from your kitchen cupboard, the indianmeal moth, is the target of diverse,
innovative research by ARS scientists at the Center for Medical, Agricultural
and Veterinary Entomology, Gainesville, Fla.
The silvery, wedge-shaped moth is generally
regarded as the most prevalent and damaging pest of food, feed, and seed stored
in warehouses, retail stores, and homes.
The scientists are seeking effective options
that would reduce or eliminate use of conventional pesticides where commodities
are stored. Their focus? Develop defensive strategies that exploit the
moths own behavior and growth.
For example, applying the moth's own hormones
on warehouse walls and the outsides of food cartons can thwart the moths
normal development and reproduction and prevent damage to stored cereal
products.
Whats more, preliminary studies of the
male and female moths differing uses of daylight and darkness are
revealing clues about undermining moths mating and egg-laying in
warehouses. Changing the cycle of light and dark in warehouses, or perhaps
switching to light fixtures that emit different wavelengths, may snafu
infestations.
For more information, contact
Don L. Silhacek,
(352) 374-5758, USDA-ARS Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary
Entomology, Gainesville, FL.
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A delicious apricot named Apache is bound to
be a hit--especially with people whove waited all winter for the taste of
a tree-ripened apricot. Ready to harvest in the first week of May, Apache has a
sweet, delicate flavor and pleasing aroma.
The fruit is about average in size and has an
attractive pinkish-orange skin. Inside, the orange flesh is smooth and finely
textured.
This apricot is a freestone
fruit, meaning that--unlike clingstone types--Apaches juicy flesh
separates easily from the pit, or stone, in its center. And, Apache ships and
stores well.
Apache is part of the series of delectable
spring and summertime apricots bred and tested by ARS California-based
treefruit researchers. The scientists intent is to lengthen the season
for fresh-market apricots.
Formerly located at Fresno, the researchers
are now based at the ARS San Joaquin Valley Agricultural Sciences Center in
Parlier. They offered Apache budwood to breeders and nurseries for the first
time last year.
For more information, contact
Craig A. Ledbetter, (559)
596-2817, USDA-ARS San Joaquin Valley Agricultural Sciences Center, Parlier,
CA.
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Some kinds of iron that today are added to your breakfast cereal are
apparently less available than others for your body to absorb and use.
Thats according to results from a preliminary study with laboratory rats.
The experiment indicated that some forms of
the iron were only 20 to 25 percent as bioavailable as ferrous
sulfate, a highly bioavailable form of iron that scientists used as their
yardstick. However, this more bioavailable form has its own disadvantages. For
example, it can change the color and other qualities of food products.
For the experiment, scientists at the ARS
Grand Forks (N.D.) Human Nutrition Research Center teamed up with colleagues at
a Washington, D.C.-based nutrition organization called SUSTAIN, short for
Sharing U.S. Technology to Aid in the Improvement of
Nutrition.
The next step: A new study with female
volunteers, to test two commonly used forms of powdered iron.
Iron fortification is meant to help the 9 to
11 percent of American women and children who have iron deficiency or
iron-deficiency anemia.
For more information, contact
Janet R. Hunt, (701)
795-8328, USDA-ARS Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center, Grand Forks,
ND.
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Hispanic children in the U.S. have among the
highest levels of childhood obesity.
A unique, 5-year investigation may identify
genetic and environmental factors that contribute to childhood-onset obesity
among young Hispanics. ARS-funded scientists at the Childrens Nutrition
Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, are conducting
the study.
In-depth testing of volunteer children and
their parents includes exercise tests for the kids and interviews with
dieticians, during which the youngsters describe the kinds and amounts of foods
that they typically eat. Measurements also cover kids and parents
weight, height, blood pressure, and body composition--that is, the ratio of
body fat to muscle, bone, and water. All volunteers blood samples undergo
genetic analysis by collaborators at the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical
Research, San Antonio.
One year after the first evaluations,
scientists will again measure the youngsters, to determine if changes in these
measurements are linked to the childrens genetic profiles.
For more information, contact
Nancy F. Butte, (713) 798-7179,
USDA-ARS Childrens Nutrition Research Center at Baylor College of
Medicine, Houston, TX.
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Elderly Hispanics who take nutritional
supplements with B12 or who eat B12-fortified breakfast cereal more than four
times a week may be significantly less likely to have low levels of this
essential nutrient. Symptoms of B12 deficiency include loss of sensation,
balance, and memory.
This finding emerged from a study by
scientists at the ARS Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging
at Tufts University, Boston, Mass. Participants were 449 Hispanics from Puerto
Rico and the Dominican Republic, and 154 non-Hispanic whites living in
Massachusetts. Volunteers ranged in age from 60 to 93 years.
The researchers reported in the Journal of
Nutrition (December 2002, vol. 132, pages 2059-2064) that the Hispanic
volunteers were significantly more likely to be vitamin B12-deficient than were
the non-Hispanic white participants.
For more information, contact
Katherine L. Tucker, (617)
556-3351, ARS Jean Meyer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts
University, Boston, MA.
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Contrary to some theories, eating several portions of
meat every day may not deplete your bodys calcium supplies. A 16-week ARS
study yielded this finding.
The investigation probed the effects of meat
protein on the amount of calcium retained by the 15 healthy, postmenopausal
women who volunteered for the research.
Even when eating only half the recommended
dietary intake of calciuma practice common among American women--the
volunteers could eat twice the recommended dietary allowance of protein, mostly
as meat, and still not have an adverse effect on calcium retention (April 2003,
Journal of Nutrition, vol. 133, p. 1020-1026).
A follow-up study should provide another
close-up look at the interaction of calcium, protein, and healthy bones. In
brief, volunteers will complete regimens in which the amount of calcium that
they eat--whether low or high--will remain the same, but the amount of protein
will vary, from a low-protein regimen to a higher one, or the reverse. The
purpose? Re-investigate findings from research elsewhere which had suggested
that high-protein meals plus ample daily calcium may benefit bone
density.
For more information, contact Zamzam
(Fariba) Roughead, (701)
795-8463, USDA-ARS Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center, Grand Forks,
ND.
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Barley not only adds a pleasing, nutlike
flavor to soups, stews, breakfast foods and baked goods, it also has been newly
shown to offer important health benefits.
Preliminary results of two separate, 17-week
studies--one with 18 men aged 35 to 62 and another with 20 women aged 35 to
55--are delineating the important properties of this grain. Scientists at the
Beltsville (Md.) Human Nutrition Research Center are conducting the
investigations.
Researchers were interested in determining if barley, which contains
digestible (soluble) fiber similar to that in oats, would have oats
cholesterol-reducing benefits in healthy volunteers. The men and women
participating in the research had moderately high cholesterol levels. They ate
meals, prepared by the Centers staff, that were lower in fat and higher
in fiber than meals typically eaten by Americans.
Within that framework, the meal plans varied
in the total amount of soluble fiber provided from barley or other grains.
On average, total cholesterol was lowered by
as much as 21 percent in men who ate the meals highest in soluble fiber. Even
men who ate the meals with the least amount of soluble fiber saw a 14 percent
reduction in total cholesterol, on average.
Analysis of findings from the female
volunteers indicated that results were more pronounced in post-menopausal women
than pre-menopausal women.
Other early results showed that glucose and
insulin levels, risk factors in type 2 diabetes, were lowered by the regimens
that were highest in soluble fiber.
For more information, contact
Kay M. Behall, (301) 504-8682,
USDA-ARS Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center, Beltsville, MD.
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Some trout are better and faster than others at
converting their feed into the tender, delicately flavored "meat," or
muscle, that we eat.
Soon, rainbow trout breeders may be able to
more easily single out trout that have the genetic makeup to quickly develop
less fat and more muscle. Thats the aim of new investigations by ARS
scientists and their university colleagues at the Hagerman (Idaho) Fish Culture
Experiment Station.
Their new RT-PCR assay, short for
"real-time polymerase chain reaction," reveals genetic activity that
enables fish to produce a protein called myosin. Researchers have known of the
correlation between myosin and muscle growth for decades. But the ARS and
University of Idaho investigators are the first to use that correlation as the
basis for a fast, reliable lab test of trout muscle growth.
Test results should help breeders and
researchers pinpoint fish that are best suited to serve as brood stock--the
parents of new generations of premium, farm-raised trout.
The RT-PCR test will also help the scientists
profile the genetic makeup of fast-growing trout that muscle-up rapidly on
environmentally friendly, grain-based feeds. The experimental feeds that the
researchers are formulating are made, in part, of oats or barley.
Faster-growing fish with a hearty appetite for grain could help fish ranchers
meet the growing demand for farm-raised fish.
And, using grain-based feeds should lessen
the risk of overfishing oceanic species, such as jack mackerel or menhaden,
that otherwise are used for fishmeal in feeds for their on-farm cousins.
For more information, contact
Kenneth E. Overturf, (208) 837-9096),
USDA-ARS Small Grains and Potato Research Unit, Hagerman, ID.
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Crisp, crunchy romaine lettuce is perfect for
a Caesar salad or for mixing with other fresh-salad greens.
Now an ARS team at the U.S. Agricultural Research
Station, Salinas, Calif., has developed what are apparently the first romaine
lettuces that resist attack by the Tombusviruses that cause lettuce
dieback disease. These soil-dwelling viruses dont appear to affect
crisphead--also known as iceberg--lettuce, or certain leaf lettuces. But the
virus-caused dieback disease can wipe out entire fields of romaine.
The investigators tested the
lettuces--identified as 01-778M, 01-781M and 01-789M--for 3 years in both
infested and disease-free fields at Salinas and two other coastal California
sites. This spring, the scientists offered seed of the new lettuces to plant
researchers and breeders who may try growing them in other locations, as
well.
For more information, contact
Rebecca C. Grube, (831) 755-2862,
U.S. Agricultural Research Station, Salinas, CA.
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A tasty new garbanzo bean--or
chickpea--called Sierra could be coming to salad bars soon.
Agricultural Research Service scientists and
their cooperators developed Sierra. A kabuli-type chickpea, its perfect
for salads and ethnic dishes.
Besides their creamy taste, garbanzo beans
offer a low-fat source of fiber; protein; iron; and vitamins A, C, and a B
vitamin, folate.
Sierra was derived by crossing Dwelley,
another ARS-develop chickpea, with chickpeas obtained from Mexico and central
Asia. Tested in Washington, Idaho, California, North Dakota, and South Dakota,
Sierra offers high yields and is resistant to certain strains of
Ascochtya blight, a fungal disease of chickpea.
This spring marks the first commercial
production of Sierra. ARS has filed for a plant variety protection certificate
for the new chickpea.
For more information, contact
Frederick J. Muehlbauer, (509) 335-9521,
USDA- ARS Grain Legume Genetics and Physiology Research Unit, Pullman, WA.
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