[PHNUTR-L] FOOD AND NUTRITION RESEARCH BRIEFS - July 2007

[Kathrynne Holden]

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FOOD AND NUTRITION RESEARCH BRIEFS - July 2007

U.S. Department of Agriculture
Agricultural Research Service
Marcia Wood, (301) 504-1662, MarciaWood at ars.usda.gov
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Contents

Fruits' Antioxidant Strength Revisited
What's in Foods Marketed to Kids?
Low-Fat Dairy Foods Help Some Battle Belly Fat
Want Citrulline? Try Watermelon!
Top-notch Iceberg Lettuces Foil Microbial Foes
New Bean Blunts Bacterial Blight
Bread-and Bioenergy, Too? Yes!
Freezer-Friendly Wraps--From Fish--Fight Sogginess
Best Ways to Clean Your Kitchen Sponge
Peppers! Fun, Factual Exhibit in D.C.
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Fruits' Antioxidant Strength Revisited

New details about the antioxidant power of more than a half-dozen fruits 
have emerged from studies led by an antioxidants expert based at the ARS 
Arkansas Children's Nutrition Center, Little Rock, Ark. (Journal of the 
American College of Nutrition, volume 26, pages 170 to 181).

Antioxidants--color-imparting compounds in fruits and veggies--are 
thought to stall aging, ward off disease and reduce the harmful effects 
of molecules known as oxygen free radicals.

Researchers measured blood (plasma) antioxidant capacity, or AOC, of 
volunteers shortly after these healthy women, age 18 to 70, had eaten 
blueberries, cherries or dried plums, or had downed 10.6 ounces of 
dried-plum juice. Analysis of the samples confirmed that antioxidants in 
some foods apparently are easier to absorb and use than others. Dried 
plums, for instance, did not raise volunteers' plasma AOC levels, 
perhaps because one of plums' most plentiful antioxidants--chlorogenic 
acid--isn't readily absorbed, or is readily degraded, by our bodies.

Though grapes and kiwi both led to noticeable spikes in plasma AOC, 
scientists haven't yet pinpointed which antioxidants were responsible 
for the increases.

Further research may help establish national guidelines that indicate 
the kinds and amounts of antioxidants we need for optimal health.

For details contact Ronald L. Prior, (501) 364-2747; USDA-ARS Arkansas 
Children's Nutrition Center, Little Rock, Ark. Email: priorronaldl at uams.edu
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What's in Foods Marketed to Kids?

When buying foods for kids, it's reasonable to reach for those that 
feature extra nutrition information on the front of the package. But 
foods in packaging that highlights, for example, "good source of 
nutrient x, y or z" may also be high in saturated fat, sodium or added 
sugar.

That was the case with more than half of the kids' foods that ARS 
researchers based at the agency's Grand Forks (N.D.) Human Nutrition 
Research Center noted when checking the shelves in six major 
supermarkets in the area. In all, the researchers examined the packaging 
of nearly 57,000 food items.

Some 60 percent of the 9,105 kid-oriented foods that were packaged with 
nutrition information--not just the nutrient-content label--were also 
high in one or more ingredients that can contribute to health problems 
such as childhood obesity.

Those ingredients included saturated fat, sodium or added sugar. Levels 
were compared to those recommended in the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for 
Americans.

Wise shopping decisions might help combat childhood obesity. Almost nine 
million American children age six years or older are obese.

For details contact Gerald F. Combs, Jr., (701) 795-8456; USDA-ARS Grand 
Forks Human Nutrition Research Center, Grand Forks, N.D. Email: 
Gerald.Combs at ars.usda.gov
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Low-Fat Dairy Foods Help Some Battle Belly Fat

Eating calcium-rich foods, including low-fat dairy products, may have 
helped some young white males in the Bogalusa (La.) Heart Study to form 
less abdominal fat than their study counterparts.

ARS-funded scientists at the Children's Nutrition Research Center, 
Houston, Texas, and co-researchers from Tulane University, New Orleans, 
La., analyzed foods and beverages consumed by--and various body-fat 
measurements of--1,306 young adult male and female blacks and whites age 
19 to 38.

The intent? To determine if there was an association between calcium, 
dairy foods, overweight and obesity.

Results showed that, for young white males only, eating higher amounts 
of calcium-rich foods--including low-fat dairy foods--was inversely 
associated with waist-to-hip ratio, a measure of abdominal adiposity 
(Journal of the American College of Nutrition, volume 25, pages 523 to 532).

Additional research may reveal why weight-control benefits, attributed 
to calcium and low-fat dairy foods in other studies, didn't occur in 
more of the Bogalusa volunteers. That information could help the nearly 
two-thirds of American adults who are considered overweight or obese.

For details contact Theresa A. Nicklas, (713) 798-7087; USDA-ARS 
Children's Nutrition Research Center, Houston, Texas. Email: 
tnicklas at bcm.tmc.edu
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Want Citrulline? Try Watermelon!

Here's another reason to enjoy watermelon before summer ends: This 
delicious fruit is unusually high in an amino acid known as citrulline. 
Our bodies use citrulline to make yet another amino acid, arginine, 
which helps cells divide, wounds heal, and ammonia to be removed from 
the body.

Watermelon's citrulline seems readily available for the body to take up 
and use. That's suggested in studies by scientists currently or formerly 
at the ARS South Central Agricultural Research Laboratory, Lane, Okla.

They did the work with co-investigators from the ARS Henry A. Wallace 
Beltsville (Md.) Human Nutrition Research Center; the ARS Citrus and 
Subtropical Products Research Laboratory, Winter Haven, Fla.; and 
several universities, documenting their work in the journal Nutrition 
(volume 23, pages 261 to 266).

Volunteers in the study completed one three-week stint during which they 
drank about three eight-ounce glasses of watermelon juice every day, and 
one three-week period of drinking about twice that much of the juice daily.

For comparison, other volunteers neither drank the juice nor ate 
watermelon or certain other foods that would skew study results.

Blood levels of arginine, synthesized in the body from the citrulline 
provided by the watermelon juice, were 11 percent higher in volunteers 
tested after three weeks on the three-glasses-a-day regimen (24 ounces), 
and 18 percent higher following the six-daily-glasses regimen (48 
ounces), when compared to levels in samples from volunteers who didn't 
drink the melon juice.

Now, the scientists want to determine the best way to extract citrulline 
from watermelon. Preliminary results of medical research--done 
elsewhere--suggest that arginine might help treat high blood pressure, 
unhealthy blood sugar levels and vascular disorders associated with 
sickle-cell disease.

For details contact Penelope M. Perkins-Veazie, (580) 889-7395, ext. 
267; USDA-ARS South Central Agricultural Research Laboratory, Lane, 
Okla. Email: pperkins-usda at lane-ag.org
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Top-notch Iceberg Lettuces Foil Microbial Foes

Fresh, crunchy iceberg lettuces that boast new resistance to some of 
their worst disease enemies may show up in supermarket produce sections 
of the future.

Lettuce breeders at ARS' Crop Improvement and Protection Research Unit, 
Salinas, Calif., lead the research, often collaborating with university 
specialists.

More than a half-dozen vegetable seed companies have requested seed of 
parent iceberg lettuce plants that the scientists developed as the 
first-ever to resist attack by the microbe that causes verticillium 
wilt. A lettuce lacking this resistance may collapse, like a deflated 
playground ball, before it has a chance to form the familiar firm, 
nicely rounded head (Plant Disease, volume 91, pages 439 to 445).

Lettuce is one of America's top-five most popular vegetables. Iceberg 
lettuce outsells all other kinds of this versatile leafy green.

The new parent plants join a long list of other superb iceberg lettuces 
developed at the Salinas laboratory. That list includes plants with 
resistance to the microbes that cause diseases named for the symptoms 
they trigger, including lettuce mosaic, big vein and corky root 
(HortScience, volume 42, pages 701 to 703).

For details contact Ryan J. Hayes or Beiquan Mou, (831) 755-2800; 
USDA-ARS Crop Improvement and Protection Research Unit, Salinas, Calif. 
Email: rhayes at pw.ars.usda.gov and bmou at pw.ars.usda.gov
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New Bean Blunts Bacterial Blight

Great northern beans--plump, nutritious and faster to cook than many 
other bean types--make a hearty baked-bean entree as well as tasty 
chili, soups, salads and more. Now, a new great northern bean named 
ABC-Weihing offers growers a special advantage: It resists the microbe 
that causes common bacterial blight.

ABC-Weihing is among the first great northern beans with that prized 
trait, according to the scientists who developed this legume. They are 
based at ARS' Vegetable and Forage Crops Production Research Unit, 
Prosser, Wash., the ARS Henry A. Wallace Beltsville (Md.) Agricultural 
Research Center, Beltsville, and at the University of Nebraska.

Severe outbreaks of common bacterial blight can cause yield losses of up 
to 40 percent.

Great northern beans are high in fiber and protein, and are an important 
source of antioxidants and minerals, plus folate and other B vitamins.

To accelerate the breeding of ABC-Weihing, the researchers used 
marker-assisted selection, a technique that detects key genes faster 
than most conventional plant-breeding tactics. An article in a 
forthcoming issue of Crop Science tells more.

ARS scientists and university colleagues have already boosted common 
bacterial blight resistance in several other popular kinds of beans, 
including pinto and both white and dark-red kidney beans.

For details contact Phillip N. Miklas (509) 786-9258; USDA-ARS Vegetable 
and Forage Crops Production Research Unit, Prosser, Wash. Email: 
pmiklas at pars.ars.usda.gov
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Bread--and Bioenergy, Too? Yes!

Breads, pastas, cookies and other foods might tomorrow be made with a 
perhaps-surprising ingredient--flour milled from distillers' dried 
grains, or DDGs. Right now, DDGs--left over after ethanol is distilled 
from corn--are accumulating in unprecedented amounts, a result of the 
surge in U.S. ethanol production.

ARS scientists with the North Central Agricultural Research Laboratory, 
Brookings, S.D., and co-researchers are taking a new look at the old 
idea of using DDGs flour in place of some or all of the wheat flour in 
familiar recipes. An array of foods low in calories and carbs--but high 
in protein and fiber--could result.

However, scientists must first discover a way to prevent or remove the 
odors and off-flavors that develop in DDGs during conventional ethanol 
production (Cereal Foods World, volume 51, pages 52 to 60).

Today's DDGs are used primarily as livestock feed ingredients.

For details contact Kurt A. Rosentrater, (605) 693-5248; USDA-ARS North 
Central Agricultural Research Laboratory, Brookings, S.D. Email: 
Kurt.Rosentrater at ars.usda.gov
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Freezer-Friendly Wraps--From Fish--Fight Sogginess

Clear, shiny, invisible coatings that you can eat might provide a new 
way to make sure unwanted water vapor or oxygen can't ruin the taste or 
texture of your favorite frozen foods.

Perhaps surprisingly, these wraps, which look something like 
conventional plastic wraps for kitchen use, might be derived from 
gelatin extracted from the silvery skins of seagoing fish such as 
Alaskan pollock (Journal of Food Science, volume 71, pages E202 to E207).

In Alaska, skins left over after pollock and other fish are processed 
into fillets are typically ground up and dumped into the sea or 
processed into low-value fishmeal. Fish gelatin coatings may provide a 
profitable and environmentally friendly alternative to dumping

The thin, pliable coatings that ARS food technologists at the Western 
Regional Research Center, Albany, Calif., and Subarctic Agricultural 
Research Unit, Fairbanks, Alaska, and their university colleagues have 
developed and tested have no seafood taste or odor, despite their marine 
origin.

Films made from fish gelatins aren't new. But the ARS studies apparently 
are the first to establish the effectiveness of Alaskan pollock gelatin 
as a barrier to unwanted moisture and oxygen. In fact, the fish gelatin 
proved a more effective barrier than films made from the traditional 
sources--cow and pig hides.

Another plus: The fish gelatin would be acceptable in kosher and halal 
cuisines, while today's cow and pig gelatins are not.

For details contact Peter J. Bechtel, (907) 474-2708; USDA-ARS Subarctic 
Agricultural Research Unit, Fairbanks, Alaska. Email: bechtel at sfos.uaf.edu
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Best Ways To Clean Your Kitchen Sponge

Heating your used kitchen sponges in your microwave for one minute, or 
washing them in your dishwasher and leaving them there through a drying 
cycle, are the most effective household ways to inactivate harmful 
bacteria, yeasts and molds.

ARS food safety experts who specialize in research on foodborne 
pathogens, like E. coli O157:H7, looked at several simple, convenient 
and often-recommended ways of cleaning reusable kitchen sponges. 
Techniques included soaking sponges for three minutes in a 10-percent 
chlorine bleach solution, soaking in lemon juice or sterile water for 
one minute, heating in a microwave at full power for one minute, or 
washing in a dishwasher--including through a drying cycle.

At the outset of the experiment, they soaked all the sponges for 48 
hours at room temperature in a slurry of ground beef and laboratory 
compounds which allow bacteria, yeasts and molds naturally present in 
the beef to grow on the sponges.

Microwaving and dishwashing each killed nearly 100 percent of the 
bacteria, with dishwashing being only slightly (0.0001 percent) less 
effective.

And, microwaving and dishwashing each killed nearly all yeasts and 
molds; less than 1 percent (only 0.00001 percent) survived.

For details contact Manan Sharma or Cheryl L. Mudd, (301) 504-8400; 
USDA-ARS Food Technology and Safety Laboratory, Beltsville, Md. Email: 
msharma at anri.barc.usda.gov and cmudd at anri.barc.usda.gov
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Peppers! Fun, Factual Exhibit in D.C.

Love peppers?

There's still time to visit "A Pepper for Every Pot," a special exhibit 
about the beauty, flavors and nutrients in these fascinating plants.

Allow at least a half-hour to view the displays at the U.S. Botanic 
Garden's Conservatory, 100 Maryland Ave., S.W., in Washington, D.C., now 
through November 12, 2007.

ARS is cosponsor of the exhibit, with agency scientists from the Henry 
A. Wallace Beltsville (Md.) Agricultural Research Center contributing 
pepper plants that they have developed. Superior peppers from their 
research include Tangerine Dream, a sweet, edible ornamental pepper that 
produces small, orange fruit on a flat, low-growing plant (HortScience, 
volume 39, pages 448 to 449) and All-America Selection award winner 
Black Pearl, which forms black leaves and small, hot, shiny black fruit 
that ripen to a bright scarlet (HortScience, volume 40, pages 1571 to 1573).

For details contact John R. Stommel  (301) 504-5583 or Robert J. 
Griesbach (301) 504-6574; USDA-ARS Henry A. Wallace Beltsville 
Agricultural Research Center, Beltsville, Md. Email: 
Robert.Griesbach at ars.usda.gov and stommelj at ba.ars.usda.gov
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__________________________________________

ARS News Service, Information Staff, Agricultural Research Service
NewsService at ars.usda.gov | www.ars.usda.gov/news
Phone (301) 504-1638 | fax (301) 504-1648

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-- 
Kathrynne Holden, MS, RD < fivestar at nutritionucanlivewith.com >
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