April 2004 issue

New Issue of ARS Food & Nutrition Research Briefs Posted

The latest issue of the Agricultural Research Service's Food & Nutrition Research Briefs is posted on the World Wide Web at:

http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/np/fnrb

Written for consumers, researchers, food and health writers, and healthcare professionals, the Briefs present short updates of ARS studies in human nutrition, food freshness and safety, new foods and related topics.

Some highlights from the issue:

• Parents of kids age two and up can now check a handy web site every six months to help determine if their children's weight gains or losses are heading in the right direction.
• Sweet Scarlet, a new, ARS-developed seedless red grape with raspberry-red skin and a pleasantly light muscat flavor, could start showing up in supermarkets within three to four years.
• Scientists interested in boosting the nutritional value of tomorrow's eggplant have found that this hefty veggie contains high levels of chlorogenic acid--one of the most powerful antioxidants produced in plants.
• Helpful bacteria may protect poultry from Salmonella, Campylobacter and other pathogens that might otherwise take hold in the birds' intestines and cause foodborne illness in people who eat poultry.

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

Contact: Marcia Wood, USDA-ARS Information Staff, Beltsville, MD 20705; phone (301) 504-1662, fax (301) 504-1641.