Broccoli News and Research

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Genetic technology to make inedible seeds more edible

Every night millions of people go to bed hungry. New genetic technology can help us feed the world by making inedible seeds more edible.

30 Jan 2012

Revised menus for school lunches with more fruits and veggies

American schoolchildren are accustomed to a steady diet of pizza and french fries for school lunches. Now they will find more fruits, vegetables and whole grains on their cafeteria trays under new government school lunch rules announced on Wednesday. Apart from adding double the produce servings the guidelines also call for fat-free and low-fat milk only, child-appropriate portion sizes and reductions in sodium, saturated fat and trans fats.

26 Jan 2012

Canadians aren't consuming sufficient fruits and vegetables, Concordia study finds

Adults from 30 to 60 years old, especially those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, aren't consuming the daily recommended levels of fruits and vegetables. Quebecers, however, eat more of nature's produce than their fellow Canadians.

11 Jan 2012

DOJ lays out health law defense in SCOTUS brief

Just as the Justice Department reiterated its main argument supporting the health law's individual mandate, briefs offering an opposing view were filed by the case's plaintiffs and by 36 Republican senators.

10 Jan 2012

Colorful food fare is more appealing to children than adults

Parents of picky eaters can encourage their children to eat more nutritionally diverse diets by introducing more color to their meals, according to a new Cornell University study. The study finds that colorful food fare is more appealing to children than adults. Specifically, food plates with seven different items and six different colors are particularly appealing to children, while adults tend to prefer fewer colors only three items and three colors.

6 Jan 2012

Cancer-causing potential of fetal exposure to carcinogens can vary substantially

The cancer-causing potential of fetal exposure to carcinogens can vary substantially, a recent study suggests, causing different types of problems much later in life depending on the stage of pregnancy when the fetus is exposed.

16 Dec 2011

Scientists help uncover evolutionary history of TAS2R38 bitter taste receptor gene

Long the bane of picky eaters everywhere, broccoli's taste is not just a matter of having a cultured palate; some people can easily taste a bitter compound in the vegetable that others have difficulty detecting. Now a team of Penn researchers has helped uncover the evolutionary history of one of the genes responsible for this trait.

7 Dec 2011

Adding a dip can induce bitter sensitive children to eat more vegetables

There's an existential crisis that often happens at dinner tables across the country: why won't kids eat their vegetables? Research has found that one reason could be a sensitivity to bitterness, fairly common among children - about 70 percent have it.

2 Dec 2011

Viewpoints: The Supreme Court and the health law; Romney's plan for care for vets

The new mandate to buy health insurance has now reached the Supreme Court, which agreed on Monday to judge its constitutionality. The crux of the constitutional complaint against the mandate is that Congress's ability to regulate commerce has never been understood to give it the power to force Americans to buy insurance, or anything else. But not only is there a precedent for this, there is also clear support for it in the Constitution.

17 Nov 2011

Maryland anesthesiologist named 2011 Researcher of the Year

Often on the mind of Gary Fiskum, PhD, are the more than 250,000 people in the U.S. who get resuscitated from cardiac arrest each year, the 6 million living with traumatic brain injuries, and the wounded warriors whose brain whose brains sustain enormous G-forces from roadside bombs in the war zone.

9 Nov 2011

Tufts University introduces MyPlate for Older Adults

Nutrition scientists at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (USDA HNRCA) at Tufts University are introducing today the MyPlate for Older Adults which corresponds with MyPlate, the federal government's new food group symbol.

2 Nov 2011

Marathon recovery tips

More than 40,000 runners have spent the past several months training for the ING New York City Marathon. Once they have completed the race and achieved their goals, there are measures they can take to facilitate recovery, decrease post-race discomfort and return to running without injury. Eating immediately after the marathon, icing sore muscles, and having a gentle massage are only a few of the tips that Michael Silverman, PT, MSPT, physical therapist from the Rehabilitation Department at Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, offers runners who cross the finish line.

2 Nov 2011

A healthy diet may help reduce risk of breast cancer

October was breast cancer awareness month and the long asked question – does diet really influence the risk of breast cancer?, is finally being answered.

31 Oct 2011

Super broccoli on the shelves to protect from heart disease

British scientists unveiled a new breed of broccoli that experts say packs heavy on nutritional values. The new broccoli was specially grown to contain two to three times the normal amount of glucoraphanin, a nutrient believed to help ward off heart disease. Glucoraphanin breaks fat down in the body, preventing it from clogging the arteries.

27 Oct 2011

Study finds why corticosteroids do not work well for COPD patients

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) leads to persistent inflammation of the airways and is typically managed with corticosteroids, a class of anti-inflammatory medication. However, corticosteroids do not improve survival nor alter the progression of COPD and may reduce lung symptoms as little as 20 percent.

19 Oct 2011

AICR recommends intake of cancer-fighting foods

Colleen Spees has always been interested in the role that diet played in disease, and set her sights on a career where she would counsel patients and train future dietitians. With multiple family members diagnosed with various types of cancer, Colleen decided to make the transition from clinical professional and nutrition educator to research scientist.

18 Oct 2011

Research provides data on nutritional content of broccoli for breeders

Research performed by scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and published recently in the journal Crop Science has demonstrated that mineral levels in new varieties of broccoli have not declined since 1975, and that the broccoli contains the same levels of calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, potassium and other minerals that have made the vegetable a healthy staple of American diets for decades.

14 Oct 2011

Study: Green vegetables boost immune function

Researchers reporting online in the journal Cell, a Cell Press publication, on October 13th have found another good reason to eat your green vegetables, although it may or may not win any arguments with kids at the dinner table.

14 Oct 2011

Weill Cornell receives NIH's T-R01 Award for spina bifida research

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded a five-year, $5.5 million Transformative Research Project (T-R01) Award to fund research into risk factors for spina bifida and related congenital defects in which an area of the affected baby's spine or brain is not fully enclosed.

27 Sep 2011

Effects of fruit and vegetable consumption on colorectal cancer

The effects of fruit and vegetable consumption on colorectal cancer (CRC) appear to differ by site of origin, according to a new study published in the October issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

26 Sep 2011