Agriculture News and Research

RSS

Functional food research

As consumers around the globe increasingly keep attuned to the effects diet can have on their health, researchers are now eyeing innovations in functional foods that could address disease prevention as well as maintain a fit lifestyle.

1 Aug 2007

New FDA food inspection standards - will they make food safer?

In the midst of the continuing botulism scare, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the U.S. have released guidelines outlining how food safety experts should inspect U.S. businesses that make, process and package food.

31 Jul 2007

FDA announces new food safety programs

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has launched a national program to bring about the adoption of more uniform, equivalent, and high quality regulatory programs by state agencies responsible for regulating facilities that manufacture, process, pack, or hold food under FDA's jurisdiction.

31 Jul 2007

Gluten-free foods - growing market - taste issues

An estimated 2 million Americans are afflicted with celiac disease, an intolerance for food containing wheat, and the market for gluten-free products is booming even while food companies and researchers have yet to fully solve their greatest challenge - making products taste good.

31 Jul 2007

Jury out on high fructose corn syrup and obesity

High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) has been singled out as having special properties that make Americans fatter than sugar and other energy sources with identical calorie contents.

26 Jul 2007

Allergen-free peanuts

An agricultural researcher at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University has developed a simple process to make allergen-free peanuts.

24 Jul 2007

More products recalled in botulism scare

Concerns in the U.S. over cans of chilli contaminated by a bacteria which causes botulism, which prompted a recall of the products, has now been extended to include chilli, beef stew and other canned meat products, as well as four pet food products.

23 Jul 2007

Food safety on the world agenda

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and WHO are urging all countries to strengthen their food safety systems and to be far more vigilant with food producers and traders.

19 Jul 2007

Keeping food cravings in check important for weight management

Accepting food cravings and keeping them in check may be an important component of weight management, according to findings from the first six-month phase of a calorie-restriction study conducted at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (USDA HNRCA) at Tufts University.

19 Jul 2007

Mathematical model identifies genes which fight viruses

Joint research by Dr. Leonid Brodsky, of the Institute of Evolution of the University of Haifa, and Dr. Milton Taylor, of Indiana University, led to the discovery of a mathematical method which can identify which genes in our bodies conduct the battle against the various viruses that attack us.

18 Jul 2007

Natural polymer Chitin shows great healing properties

Chitin is a polymer very common in nature as part of animals' and plants' physical structures.

16 Jul 2007

Dietary glycemic index linked to risk of vision loss

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and its associated vision loss may be connected to the quality of carbohydrates an individual consumes.

12 Jul 2007

Flavonoids in tomatoes increase over time in organic fields

Levels of flavonoids increase over time in crops grown in organically farmed fields, according to a rare long-term study scheduled for publication in the July 18 issue of ACS's Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry a bi-weekly publication.

12 Jul 2007

Obesity rate in the U.S. has increased at an alarming rate over the past three decades

The U.S. obesity prevalence increased from 13 percent to 32 percent between the 1960s and 2004, according to researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Human Nutrition.

11 Jul 2007

Bird flu suspected in turkey flock in the U.S.

The discovery of what is suspected to be avian flu antibodies in a flock of turkeys on a farm in the United States has experts alarmed.

11 Jul 2007

Researchers create flour enriched with varying levels of bran

Trying to get more fiber in your diet? Munching on cookies or tortillas probably doesn't come to mind.

9 Jul 2007

Bird flu on a European tour

German officials have culled as many as 1,000 domestic birds following the discovery of the deadly H5N1 bird-flu virus in a dead goose in the village of Wickersdorf in eastern Germany.

8 Jul 2007

Organic tomatoes a better health option

According to a new study organic food may be a better health option after all.

8 Jul 2007

Study of a Paleolithic diet in early humans

Foods of the kind that were consumed during human evolution may be the best choice to control diabetes type 2. A study from Lund University, Sweden, found markedly improved capacity to handle carbohydrate after eating such foods for three months.

28 Jun 2007

Bird flu swanning around Germany

Health authorities in Germany say they have identified three more cases of the lethal H5N1 strain of bird flu in swans, bringing the total number of wild birds now infected to nine.

27 Jun 2007