ARS News Service
Agricultural Research Service, USDA
Judy McBride, (301) 344-2861, [email protected]
Healthier Foods Could Mean Tastier Foods
Mouth-watering, eye-pleasing fruit could be one payoff of research to
improve the promising natural compounds in plant foods that appear to
enhance health. Many of these compounds, called phytonutrients, are
produced during the ripening process. The dilemma: how to allow fruit to
ripen naturally on the tree or vine to get the maximum in phytonutrients
while retarding the softening that occurs after the fruit is picked.
That's one research area suggested for exploration two weeks ago at
Agricultural Research Service-sponsored workshops on food, phytonutrients
and health. About 115 nutrition, health, plant and post-harvest scientists
from ARS, universities and private industry met for three days to define
research priorities and discuss the federal role.
The workshops were organized by Carla Fjeld and Roger Lawson of ARS's
program staff. They said it will take interdisciplinary research teams to
ensure that the U.S. food supply provides optimum nutrition.
News about potential benefits of broccoli, garlic, tea, soybeans and
tomatoes has raised public awareness and increased research on
phytonutrients. The U.S. may be on the threshold of the next agricultural
revolution--not more products, but richer ones. But scientists worry that
the publicity for phytonutrients is far ahead of the science.
Among the most pressing needs mentioned: Nutrition/health scientists need
to decide which phytonutrients are most promising before plant scientists
invest time and money in enriching crops or in identifying the
cultivation, harvesting, handling and storage practices that conserve
phytonutrients.
Nutrition/health scientists are blocked in identifying the important
phytonutrients by a lack of sensitive assays to indicate small changes in
risk for cardiovascular disease, cancer or other maladies. And all said
they need accurate analytical methods for detecting phytonutrients.
Participants encouraged ARS to develop an Internet site to keep track of
phytonutrients as they emerge--there are a dozen classes and thousands of
individual compounds that may qualify--and to exchange information.
Everyone agreed that new phytonutrient-enriched varieties must be as
high-yielding, insect resistant and as tasty as today's foods. New
varieties will do little good if nobody eats them!
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Scientific contacts: Carla Fjeld, ARS National Program Leader for Human
Nutrition, and Roger Lawson, ARS National Program Leader for Horticulture
and Sugar, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Beltsville, Md. 20705.
Fjeld phone (301) 504-6216, fax (301) 504-6231, [email protected]. Lawson
phone (301) 504-5912, fax (301) 504-5467, [email protected].
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* ARS Info on the World Wide Web: http://www.ars.usda.gov/is
* ARS Information Staff, 6303 Ivy Lane, Greenbelt MD 20770, (301)
344-2303, fax 344-2311.
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