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Food & Nutrition Research Briefs, January 2009
Innovations in food consumption survey methods that increase the accuracy of
the ongoing national food intake survey, "What We Eat in America,"
have been validated in a newly published study. During dietary surveys, people
are asked to report which foodsand how much of those foodsthey have
eaten. When people answer, some may actually have consumed more or less food
than they were able to recall. Researchers at the Agricultural Research Service
(ARS) Food Surveys Research Group developed a computer-assisted dietary recall
method called the Automated Multiple-Pass Method, or AMPM for short. The method
involves a five-step interview process used to inquire about all eating
occasions and all foods consumed during the previous 24-hour eating period.
This study confirmed the effectiveness of the AMPM. Research findings show the
method enabled the volunteers to recall what they'd eaten to within 11 percent
of the actual calories they used as a sample group.
Details
Scientific contact:
Alanna
Moshfegh, (301) 504-0170,
Food
Surveys Research Group, ARS Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center,
Beltsville, Md.
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Innovations in food consumption survey methods
that increase the accuracy of the ongoing national food intake survey,
"What We Eat In America," have been validated in a newly published
study.
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Drinking hibiscus tea lowered blood pressure in
pre-hypertensive and mildly hypertensive adults in a new study. Photo
courtesy of Celestial Seasonings.
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Drinking hibiscus tea lowered blood pressure in a group of pre-hypertensive
and mildly hypertensive adults in a study funded by the Agricultural Research
Service (ARS). For six weeks, about half the study group was randomly selected
to drink three cups of hibiscus tea daily. The others drank a placebo beverage
containing artificial hibiscus flavoring and color. The findings show that the
volunteers who drank hibiscus tea had a 7.2 point drop in their systolic blood
pressure, compared to a 1.3 point drop in the volunteers who drank the placebo
beverage.
Details
Scientific contact:
Diane
L. McKay, (781) 608-7183, Jean
Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, Boston, Mass.
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Researchers funded by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) have boosted
calcium levels in carrots by inducing the carrots to express increased levels
of the gene sCAX1, which enables the transport of calcium across plant
cell membranes. To determine the bioavailability of the calcium in the modified
carrots, 30 volunteers15 females and 15 males of various ethnic
backgrounds and in their early to late 20sate single meals containing
regular or modified carrots, which were labeled with a stable isotope of
calcium. After two weeks, the researchers found that the calcium intake of
volunteers who consumed the modified carrots increased by 41 percent, compared
to those who ate regular carrots.
Details
Scientific contact:
Kendal
Hirschi, (713) 798-7011,
ARS
Children's Nutrition Research Center, Houston, Tex.
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Freshly harvested carrots.
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New findings suggest dietary vitamin C may help
protect against bone loss in older men. Photo courtesy of Microsoft
clipart.
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Findings from a new study funded by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS)
suggest vitamin C may be protective against bone loss in older men. Researchers
funded by the ARS reported the findings in the October issue of the Journal
of Nutrition. The researchers examined whether fruit- and
vegetable-specific antioxidants such as vitamin C might decrease oxidative
stress that is linked to accelerated bone loss. The researchers observed
significant positive associations for total vitamin Cboth dietary and
supplementalamong men who never smoked.
Details
Scientific contact:
Katherine
Tucker, (617) 556-3351,
Jean
Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, Boston, Mass.
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Eating almonds significantly decreased levels of two biomarkers for
oxidative stress in a group of 27 male and female volunteers with elevated
cholesterol. The study was conducted by scientists funded by the Agricultural
Research Service (ARS), the Almond Board of California, and the Canada Research
Chair Endowment. Treatments consisted of a "full dose" of almonds,
defined as 73 grams daily (about 2.5 ounces), a "half-dose" of
almonds plus a half-dose of muffins, and a full-dose of muffins as a control.
The research team found that when the volunteers ate the full dose of almonds,
their concentration of two biomarkers of oxidative stressplasma
malondialdehyde (MDA) and urinary isoprostaneswere significantly lowered.
MDA decreased by nearly 19 percent compared to the start of the study in the
full-dose almond group. Isoprostane decreased by 27 percent in both the almond
groups when compared to the control period, suggesting a possible threshold
effect for that biomarker.
Details
Scientific contact:
Jeffrey
Blumberg, (617) 556-3333,
Jean
Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, Boston, Mass.
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Almonds. Photo courtesy of the Almond Board of
California.
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A new on-line database available from the
Agricultural Research Service provides values for the amount of three
individual isoflavone compounds. Photo courtesy of the United Soybean Board.
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The food composition database for the plant chemical compounds called
isoflavones has been updated by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists.
The newly updated database provides analytical values for three individual
isoflavone compoundsgenistein, daidzein and glyciteinin nearly 550
foods. These are grouped under 21 separate categories, such as "Legume
Products," "Baked Products" and "Baby Foods." The
Isoflavone Database is one of several "Special Interest Databases"
produced by NDL to provide data on bioactive compounds for selected foods.
Others include the Flavonoid, Proanthocyanidin and ORAC databases.
Details
Scientific contact:
David
B. Haytowitz, (301) 504-0714,
Nutrient
Data Laboratory, ARS Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center,
Beltsville, Md.
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Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists have teamed with Monterey
Mushrooms, Inc., of Watsonville, Calif., to boost the vitamin D content of
white, brown and portabella mushrooms. Thanks to UV-B lightlike that in
sunshinethe company's new Sun Bella line of fresh mushrooms offers at
least 100 percent of the recommended intake of vitamin D in each 3-ounce
serving. An estimated 40 percent of Americans don't get enough vitamin D.
Details
Scientific contact:
Tara
McHugh, (510) 559-5864,
Processed
Foods Research Unit, ARS Western Regional Research Center, Albany,
Calif.
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Mushrooms.
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A compound in hops called lupulone was found to be
possible replacement for low levels of antibiotics as a way of controlling some
pathogenic bacteria in chickens.
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Hops contain substances that control pathogenic bacteria in the intestines
of chickens, Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists and cooperators
have reported. The hop plant (Humulus lupulus) contains bitter acids
known to be potent antimicrobials. One of these compounds, lupulone, was
thought to control levels of the disease-causing agent Clostridium
perfringens in chickens. In tests, researchers delivered different
concentrations of lupulone via water to chickens inoculated with C.
perfringens. After 22 daysthe time frame associated with clostridial
disease in broiler chickensC. perfringens counts were
significantly reduced in the lupulone-treated group compared to another group
of chickens that did not receive the lupulone treatment. The reductions ranged
from 30 to 50 percent. Based on the results of this study, the potential for
lupulone as an antibiotic alternative in poultry rearing is feasible.
Details
Scientific contact: Gregory Siragusa, (706) 546-3531,
ARS
Poultry Microbiological Safety Research Unit, Athens, Ga.
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Officials with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Baylor College of
Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital celebrated 30 years of cooperative
children's nutrition research in October. Officials from the organizations
renewed a long-term agreement at the Children's Nutrition Research Center
(CNRC) to conduct cooperative research on obesity and other issues affecting
the health of children in the United States. The Agricultural Research Service
(ARS)the intramural scientific research agency of USDAand Baylor
College of Medicine manage CNRC through an agreement that has allowed the
center to operate as a cooperatively run research institution. CNRC researchers
have published more than 3,000 peer-reviewed scientific papers since the
center's inception in 1978.
Details
Scientific contact:
Dennis
M. Bier, (713) 798-7022,
ARS
Children's Nutrition Research Center, Houston, Texas
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The Children's Nutrition Research Center is
celebrating 30 years of improving the nutritional health of children.
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