View the new issue of the Food and Nutrition Research Briefs.

ARS Food and Nutrition Research Briefs Issued

By Kim Kaplan
April 14, 2009

Neutralizing an acid-producing diet may be an important key to reducing bone breakdown while aging. That's among the new findings noted in the most recent issue of the Agricultural Research Service's (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/fnrb0409.htm.

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

Among other findings, the current issue reports:

-- Supplemental UV-A plus UV-B light can greatly increase the carotenoid and chlorophyll concentrations of some green leaf lettuce varieties in the greenhouse.

-- A diet rich in the berry and grape compound pterostilbene was effective in reversing cognitive decline and improving working memory in aged laboratory rats.

-- ARS has developed a new nanotechnology-based biological sensor that detects Salmonella bacteria in lab tests.

The 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 scientific research agency.