October 2004 issue

New Issue of ARS Food & Nutrition Research Briefs Posted

By Marcia Wood
November 10, 2004

New findings about nutrition and health, plus important discoveries in food safety and quality, are reported in the latest issue of the Agricultural Research Service's quarterly e-zine, ARS Food & Nutrition Research Briefs. It's now available online at:

http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/np/fnrb/fnrb1004.htm

Findings included in the current issue:

• Getting enough vitamin D from the foods you eat--and from sunshine--could help your oral health.
• The most authoritative source of information about what Americans eat is now posted on the World Wide Web.
• Lutein-enriched eggs are a superb source of this eye-healthy carotenoid, a four- phase study indicates.
• Pterostilbene (pronounced TAIR-oh-STILL-bean) in grapes might help lower unhealthy levels of lipids in our bodies, if results from tests with rat liver cells hold true for humans.
• Salmonella levels in free-range chickens may not be significantly different from levels in conventionally produced birds. That means that you need to thoroughly cook either kind of poultry.
• Two luscious new peaches--Scarletprince and Julyprince--and a juicy new plum, Ruby Queen, are ideal for orchards and backyards of the southeastern United States.

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