Did You Know?

Naturally Occurring Phytosterols Shown to Slow Prostate Cancer Growth
According to research done by the nutrition laboratory at the University of Buffalo in Buffalo, New York, and sponsored by the Peanut Institute, phytosterols that occur naturally in plant sources, such as peanuts, beans, olive oil and peanut oil, appear to reduce prostate tumor growth by over 40 percent and cut the occurrence of cancer spread to other parts of the body, like lymph nodes and lungs, by almost 50 percent. Results of the study, performed on special SCID mice (mice that can accept tissue from other species, such as human tissue) were published in the December issue of the European Journal of Cancer Prevention.

Agricultural Research Service Discovers Mutant Plant High in Calcium
According to findings published recently in the journal Plant Physiology by Paul Nakata, a plant physiologist with the ARS Children’s Nutrition Research Center at Houston’s Baylor College of Medicine, mutants of Medicago truncatula, a legume similar to alfalfa, have been found to contain high amounts of metabolizable calcium. Many commonly consumed plant leaves, like spinach, have high amounts of calcium stored in cellular crystals as calcium oxalate. But humans are unable to break down the crystals, and the calcium goes to waste. Nakata’s discovery of a plant that formed very minute levels of crystals, leaving calcium in a potentially usable state, may lead to a better understanding of the mechanisms that form these crystals, and could improve human nutrition.

New Test for Mad Cow Disease
Chronix Biomedical, a translational genomics company headquartered in Benicia, California, announced recently that it has filed a patent application for a serum-based test to detect bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), also known as Mad Cow Disease. The application describes unique genetic material found in cows affected with BSE but not in healthy ones examined. A major advantage of this discovery is that animals need not be sacrificed to be tested as is the case with current methods for BSE detection.

B Vitamin Folate May Reduce Memory Loss
According to a recent study done by researchers at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts, fortification of grain products with the B vitamin folate may help reduce memory loss in adults over 60. These same researchers had earlier established that blood homocysteine levels were higher in elderly people with low intakes of B vitamins—vitamins that are involved in the synthesis of chemicals crucial to brain function. Their analysis of a nationwide group of test subjects subsequently showed that while elevated homocysteine levels were indeed associated with memory loss, subjects whose blood folate levels were in the upper half appeared to be protected from memory loss even if their homocysteine levels were high.

Ozone Safe for Ready-to-Eat Products, Says FSIS
The Food Safety and Inspection Service recently determined that “The use of ozone on meat and poultry products, including treatment of ready-to-eat meat and poultry products just prior to packaging, is acceptable,” and that there are “no labeling issues in regard to treated product.” This is in response to a letter filed with the FSIS by the American Meat Institute requesting clarification of an FDA final rule published in June 2001 allowing the use of ozone as an anti-microbial agent.