Some of tomorrow's breads,
waffles and noodles might be made with sorghum--today used mostly as animal
feed. This nut-flavored grain provides fiber and healthful antioxidants, yet is
free of gluten, the protein in wheat, rye and barley that causes an allergic
condition known as celiac disease in an estimated 1 to 2 million
Americans.
ARS scientists in Manhattan, Kan., are
studying the proteins in different varieties of sorghum to determine if any
have the potential to provide the milling and baking qualities that gluten
imparts to wheat doughs. That could, for example, lead to sorghum flours that
yield delicious, finely textured specialty breads that everyone can
enjoy.
For details, contact
Scott Bean, (785) 776-2725; USDA-ARS
Grain Marketing and Production Research
Center, Manhattan, KS.
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Peanuts now have better protection from the
Aspergillus flavus fungi that produce aflatoxin, a carcinogen.
ARS scientists in Dawson, Ga., developed the
protective material, which has been approved by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency and is being sold as Afla-Guard by Circle One Global, Inc.,
of Cuthbert, Ga.
Afla-Guard is made of spores of a harmless
strain of A. flavus. When applied to barley kernels that are spread at
the base of peanut plants, the spores multiply, taking space and nutrients that
might otherwise be used by A. flavus strains or the aflatoxin-producing
A. parasiticus.
In field trials, Afla-Guard reduced aflatoxin
by 70 to 90 percent after the first application, and by as much as 98 percent
after repeated applications in subsequent years.
For details, contact
Joe W. Dorner, (229) 995-7408;
USDA-ARS National Peanut Research
Laboratory, Dawson, GA.
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Galaxy, a delicious new peach from ARS tree fruit
breeders in California, is nicknamed "The Bagel Peach" for its
flattened, bagel-like shape. Scientists made the peach available to breeders
and nurseries for the first time last year, after more than a decade of testing
in California. The peach might also flourish in southern peach-growing states.
Galaxy has a delicate aroma, light-cream skin
accented with an attractive red blush, and pleasantly textured white flesh
that's sweet and juicy. It ripens at the same time of year--the third to fourth
week of June--as a popular flat peach called Saturn, but is bigger.
The scientists have provided more than 33,000
Galaxy buds to tree fruit nurseries, meaning that the distinctive peaches may
begin showing up in supermarkets by 2006.
For details, contact
David W. Ramming, (559)
596-2823; USDA-ARS San Joaquin Valley
Agricultural Sciences Center, Parlier, CA.
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There's new evidence that folate, a B vitamin, might
play a role in various stages of depression.
In reviewing data from a questionnaire given
to 3,000 people aged 15 to 39 years, researchers found that individuals with
either major or mild forms of depression had lower blood levels of folate than
did those who had never been depressed. Low folate levels are already known to
be common in psychiatric patients and may hamper the effectiveness of
antidepressant therapy.
Scientists at the ARS Jean Mayer USDA Human
Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University in Boston, Mass.,
conducted the study.
Good sources of folate include beef liver,
green leafy vegetables, pinto, kidney and garbanzo beans; and enriched grain
products such as breakfast cereals, bread, pasta, flour and rice. Alcohol,
certain medications and anemia can reduce the body's ability to absorb and use
this essential nutrient.
For information, contact
Martha Savaria Morris, (617)
556-3302; ARS Jean Mayer USDA Human
Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, Boston,
MA.
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A feed additive that makes cows and pigs grow faster
and produce leaner meat is now easier to detect, using either of two new
methods developed by ARS scientists in Fargo, N.D.
The techniques are a faster, more
user-friendly alternative to high-performance liquid chromatography, or HPLC.
Currently, HPLC is the chief means by which federal food safety inspectors
determine residue levels of the additive, called ractopamine hydrochloride, in
live animals or carcasses.
The tests rely on special proteins known as
monoclonal antibodies that the scientists built and patented. The antibodies
seek out and bind to ractopamine. One approach, an ELISA (or enzyme-linked
immunosorbent assay) yields the quickest results, since it can analyze many
samples simultaneously--100 in five hours, for example.
The second method, a biosensor assay, works
best with low numbers of samples that require sequential analysis, such as on a
production line moving at the rate of one every 10 minutes.
For more information, contact
Weilin L. Shelver, (701)
239-1423; USDA-ARS Red River Valley
Agricultural Research Center, Fargo, ND.
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Plump, juicy Bing cherries, eaten fresh, may help people who suffer
from the pain of gout or other forms of arthritic inflammation.
That's according to results from a study with
10 healthy women, aged 22 to 40, who ate a special breakfast of 45 fresh,
pitted Bing cherries. Scientists at the ARS Western Human Nutrition Research
Center, Davis, Calif., and university colleagues conducted the
investigation.
The experiment was among the first to track
anti-inflammatory effects of fresh Bing cherries in a carefully controlled test
with healthy volunteers.
Levels of uric acid--a compound the body uses
to form painful urate crystals during a gout attack--decreased significantly in
volunteers' blood (plasma) over the 5 hours after they ate the Bing-cherry
breakfast. And, levels of urate removed from their bodies in urine increased
over those 5 hours.
The decrease in two key markers, or
indicators, of inflammation--nitric oxide and C reactive protein--weren't large
enough to be statistically significant. However, this downward trend agreed
with that noted earlier in other scientists' test-tube studies of cherry
extracts.
Results of a follow-up study should be
available later this year. The grower-sponsored California Cherry Advisory
Board, Lodi, helped fund the study.
For more information, contact
Darshan S. Kelley (530) 752-5138;
USDA-ARS Western Human Nutrition Research
Center, Davis, CA.
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Three plump, delectable new plums from ARS each ripen
at a different season and give fans of this healthful fruit a wider selection
to choose from.
Black Splendor plum ripens in early June. The
juicy, beet-red flesh of this big fruit makes it an especially colorful
addition to fresh-fruit salads. It is both bigger and earlier to ripen than the
well-known Santa Rosa plum.
Owen T, named for long-time tree fruit
technician Owen Tanner, has blue-black skin with some touches of purple, and
sweet, light-yellow flesh. This plum ripens in late June through early
July.
John W plums have purple skin dusted with
light-tan specks, and luscious orange flesh. This fruit ripens in late August
through early September, and was named in honor of the late ARS tree fruit and
grape breeder John Weinberger.
ARS scientists, after more than 10 years of
research and testing, offered these plums to nursery operators, researchers and
others for the first time in 2001 and 2002. Since then, the scientists have
filled requests for more than 1,200 cuttings and more than 50,000 buds. The
plums may begin showing up in supermarkets this year.
For details, contact
David W. Ramming, (559)
596-2823; USDA-ARS San Joaquin Valley
Agricultural Sciences Center, Parlier, CA.
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Americans who eat fast food may be consuming higher
amounts of calories, fats, carbohydrates, added sugars--and protein--than their
non-fast-food-eating counterparts. That's according to ARS scientists at the
Beltsville (Md.) Human Nutrition Research Center who analyzed data from more
than 9,000 adult participants in a USDA food survey, conducted in the
mid-1990's.
Participants were surveyed for two
nonconsecutive days. Those who consumed fast food on either or both days had
higher odds of being overweight.
In addition, fast-food meals included almost
no milk, fruit or fruit juices. And, as the frequency of fast-food consumption
increased, participants' intake of vitamins A and C, carotenes, calcium,
phosphorus and magnesium decreased (Journal of the American College of
Nutrition, vol. 23, pp. 163-168).
Scientists attributed Americans' significant
increase in fast-food consumption to such factors as longer work-week hours and
an increase the number of U.S. fast food restaurants. But planning weekly meals
and related grocery shopping should help adults become less reliant on
fast-food meals.
For more information, contact
Shanthy A. Bowman, (301)
504-0619; USDA-ARS Beltsville Human
Nutrition Research Center, Beltsville, MD.
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Adding vitamin E to turkey feed may further reduce the
incidence of human illnesses caused by a foodborne pathogen, Listeria
monocytogenes.
The vitamin stimulates turkeys' immune
systems, boosting production of white blood cells that fight the microbe.
ARS scientists at the National Animal Disease
Center, Ames, Iowa, and their colleagues at the University of Arkansas and Iowa
State University, did the research using the alpha-tocopherol form of the
vitamin.
Plans call for testing vitamin E against
Salmonella and Campylobacter, two other important foodborne
pathogens.
For more information, contact
Irene V. Wesley, (515) 663-7291;
USDA-ARS National Animal Disease
Center, Ames, IA.
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A compound in oats may help prevent the buildup of plaque in arteries
and thus lessen risk of heart disease.
In laboratory tests, ARS-funded scientists at
the Jean Meyer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Boston, Mass.,
exposed human arterial cells to the antioxidants, known as avenanthramides,
that they had extracted from oats, and purified.
They found that blood cells were
significantly less able to stick to arterial wall cells that had been incubated
with the antioxidants for 24 hours.
Foods that provide oats include certain
breads and muffins, as well as oatmeal and oat-based energy or breakfast
bars.
For details, contact
Mohsen Meydani, (617) 556-3126;
ARS Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition
Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, Boston, MA.
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If stored properly, eggs can be used beyond the sell-by date, ARS
scientists in Athens, Ga., have found.
In tests at the Poultry Processing and Meat
Quality Research Unit, scientists found that eggs, if properly handled and
refrigerated, didn't decrease markedly in quality during a 10-week test period.
That's well beyond the current 30-day industry standard for storing eggs on
supermarket shelves.
Washing eggs according to current guidelines
removes bacteria like Enterobacter or E. coli O157:H7 from their
surface, reducing the chances that the microbes could get into them once you
crack them open in your kitchen.
An egg's shell and membranes under the shell
provide a barrier that limits the ability of microbes to enter. A natural
protective coating, called the cuticle, helps to preserve freshness and prevent
microbial contamination of the egg. This coating is damaged or removed by
processing, but some processors apply a thin layer of oil to help preserve each
egg's quality.
For more information, contact
Michael Musgrove, (706) 546-3340;
USDA-ARS Richard B. Russell Agricultural Research Center, Athens,
GA.
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Meals that include fruits,
vegetables, reduced-fat dairy products, and whole grainsand are low in
red and processed meat, refined grains, fast foods and sodas--may result in
smaller gains in Body Mass Index (or BMI), and your waistline.
These are two key indicators of health. For
example, abdominal weight gain and corresponding increase in waist
circumference contribute more than does overall weight to the development of
"metabolic syndrome"the combination of abdominal obesity, high
triglycerides, high blood pressure and poor blood sugar control that increase
risk for heart disease and diabetes.
ARS-funded scientists who studied records of
the eating habits of about 500 healthy men and women found that adults who ate
the greatest amounts of white bread, for instance, had three times greater
increases in waist circumference in a year than their healthier-eating
counterparts.
Nutritional epidemiologists with the ARS Jean
Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, Boston, Mass., conducted
the study.
For more information, contact
P. Kirstin Newby, (617) 556-3357; ARS
Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research
Center on Aging at Tufts University, Boston, MA.
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Nutritionists can now help food-survey volunteers more accurately
recall what foods they ate--24 hours later--thanks to a software program that
ARS researchers developed and are now fine-tuning. The program provides a
carefully developed series of questions, or prompts, to help skilled
interviewers elicit precise information.
Preliminary results from one test of the
software showed that 100 food survey volunteers, when questioned by phone and
in-person interviews, recalled what they ate with about 98 percent accuracy, on
the basis of total calories consumed.
Food surveys are important! Health
professionals, researchers and educators use data from these surveys to help
detect, report and make recommendations about key trends that affect our
health. Many chronic diseases and health conditions are directly related to our
eating habits.
Researchers at the ARS Beltsville (Md.)
Human Nutrition Research Center developed the 24-hour recall software as the
basis of their Automated Multiple-Pass Method, or AMPM for short.
For details, contact
Alanna Moshfegh, (301) 504-0170;
USDA-ARS Beltsville Human Nutrition
Research Center, Beltsville, MD.
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