If you're between the ages of 18 and 44, chances are you didn't get enough vitamin K today . . . or any other day, according to a recent survey. Long known for its role in blood clotting, vitamin K is gaining recognition for its importance to the integrity of bones: It activates at least three proteins involved in bone health. Researchers at the ARS nutrition research center in Boston and the Proctor & Gamble Co. collaborated to estimate vitamin K intake from a nationwide sample of 4,742 men, women, and children. Their findings: People over age 65 consumed more phylloquinone—the most common form of vitamin K—than 20- to 40-year olds. Only half the females age 13 and older, and less than half the males, got the Recommended Dietary Allowance, based on food intake diaries the survey volunteers kept for 14 days. The RDA is 65 micrograms per day for adult females and 80 mcg/day for adult males. Phylloquinone is found in some oils, especially soybean oil, and in dark-green vegetables such as spinach and broccoli. One serving of spinach or two of broccoli provide four to five times the RDA.

Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, Boston, MA
Sarah L. Booth, (617) 556-3231, sbooth@hnrc.tufts.edu

Chances are you'll get more antioxidant protection from eating fresh fruits and vegetables than from taking natural product supplements claiming to be potent antioxidants. That's according to analyses of 46 commercial preparations by the ORAC assay. ORAC—short for "oxygen radical absorbance capacity"—measures the ability of a chemical or biological sample to disarm oxygen free radicals that can cause wear and tear on the body's DNA and cell parts. ARS researchers found the total antioxidant capacity of 40 berry-based supplements ranged from 16 to 3,985 ORAC units—a 249-fold difference. The supplements tested included bilberry, cranberry, chokeberry, and elderberry extracts. Six other antioxidant products having grape seed or pine bark extracts or pycnogenol ranged from 16 to 8,392 ORAC units—a 525-fold difference. The findings remind consumers that there are no industry standards for the antioxidant capacity of natural product supplements and thus little assurance of a high-quality product. The researchers point out that a single serving of fresh or freshly cooked fruits or vegetables supplies an average of 300 to 400 ORAC units. Many fruits and vegetables—such as berries, plums, oranges, leafy greens, and beets—provide much higher antioxidant levels. By contrast, 28 of the 40 berry extracts tested and one of the 6 other products wouldn't provide 300 ORAC units in a day's suggested intake.

Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, Boston, MA
Ronald L. Prior/Guohua Cao, (617) 556-3311/(617) 556-3141, prior@hnrc.tufts.edu/ cao_am@hnrc.tufts.edu

Kids who play a video game called "Squire's Quest!" may end up eating more fruits and vegetables. Scientists at the Children's Nutrition Research Center are testing this experimental game with 1,600 Houston schoolchildren as part of an innovative new nutrition education program. Right now, America's kids eat only about two to three and one-half servings of fruits and vegetables a day instead of the five to nine servings recommended for optimal mental and physical growth and development. The video game is part of a series of ten 25-minute classroom sessions in which kids make tasty "virtual" recipes using fruits and veggies, then set personal goals for making those recipes at home and for eating at least one additional serving of a fruit or vegetable at a meal or snack. Kids playing the game are squires training to become knights who can save the imaginary kingdom of "Five-A-Lot" from invaders that want to destroy its fruits and vegetables. Scientists expect to finish evaluating the effectiveness of the education experiment by the end of this summer.

USDA-ARS Children's Nutrition Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
Tom Baranowski, (713) 798-6762, tbaranow@bcm.tmc.edu