ARS Food and Nutrition Research Briefs Issued

By Kim Kaplan
July 25, 2012

An Agricultural Research Service (ARS) team's part in documenting all of the metabolites in human blood is among the new nutrition and health findings noted in the latest issue of the ARS Food and Nutrition Research Briefs and its Spanish-language edition (Informe de investigaciones de alimentos y nutrición).

View the English edition at http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/np/fnrb/fnrb0712.htm

The popular online newsletter reports discoveries from researchers at ARS laboratories nationwide.

Medical and nutrition researchers are eager to discover more about blood metabolites—amino acids, sugars, fats and more—because the presence and concentrations of some of these compounds can provide meaningful profiles, or "metabolite signatures," for assessing health or disease risks.

Among other findings, the current issue reports that:

• New, highly precise methods for analyzing vitamin D and its metabolites in foods and dietary supplements have been pioneered by ARS.

• Quality control is a key factor in making sure green tea dietary supplement products pack the same antioxidant punch as green tea leaves used for brewing beverages.

• An app called "Kiddio" may help parents get kids to eat more vegetables.

ARS Food and Nutrition Research Briefs is offered with color photos and illustrations on the Web. And by clicking the "subscribe" link on the newsletter's home page, readers can sign up for two e-mail options: They can receive the full text of the newsletter by e-mail, or simply an advisory that a new issue has been posted to the Web.

ARS is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief intramural scientific research agency.