Wednesday, September 14, 2016

PEACH-SIZED STRAWBERRY DELIVERS HUGE DOSE OF INTENSE FLAVOR

Cornell University grows peach-sized strawberries
Newswise, September 14, 2015 – Strawberry fans, rejoice. The newest Cornell University strawberry variety concentrates intense flavor in a berry big enough to fill the palm of your hand.

Topping out at over 50 grams, Archer, the latest creation from Cornell University berry breeder Courtney Weber, is comparable in size to a plum or small peach. But this behemoth stands out in ways beyond just its proportions: the flavor and aroma exceed what you’d expect from a strawberry of such unusual size.

“Archer is an extraordinarily high-flavored berry,” said Weber, associate professor in the Horticulture Section of the School of Integrative Plant Science.

“It has an intense aroma, so when you bite into it you get a strong strawberry smell, and it’s very sweet, so you get a strong strawberry flavor that really makes an impact.”

Weber says the combination of large fruit and strong flavor hits t3he sweet spot for local growers who sell in farmers’ markets, u-pick sites and roadside stands. Archer ripens in June and holds its large size through multiple harvests for two to three weeks.

“Strawberries are the ultimate summertime fruit that signal the start of the summer season. People love that vivid flavor, and Archer delivers a complex, sunny aroma and taste that just screams summer,” said Weber.

“Consumers have a real preference for large berries, and with fruits that can be as big as the palm of your hand, Archer really draws people’s attention and fills baskets quickly. It’s larger on average than any of the dozens of strawberry varieties we’ve tested over the years.”

And this big berry is no wimp: The cold-hardy variety is tough enough to withstand winters, making it suitable for growing in diverse climates throughout New York as well as in places like Michigan and Minnesota and along the Mid-Atlantic from Maryland into the Northeast.

Weber’s strawberries are bred to be hardy. He breeds in a perennial system without soil fumigation so that only the most robust varieties thrive. With a durable root system, this high-yield variety is tolerant to root rots and other common diseases.


Archer has been licensed to Krohne Plant Farms in Hartford, Michigan, through the Center for Technology Licensing at Cornell University, and plants can be obtained for spring 2017 planting atwww.krohneplantfarms.com or by calling 269-424-5423.

Monday, September 12, 2016

THE PLEASURES – AND PERILS -- OF PROTEIN: STUDY IN FRUIT FLIES REVEALS NEW CLUES TO APPETITE AND AGING

Pleasures and Perios of Protein study
First evidence that serotonin plays a role in guiding food choices and may influence lifespan

Newswise, September 12, 2016 — ANN ARBOR, Mich. — If you’re a human who’s really hungry, a handful of nuts, a piece of cheese or a nice juicy steak may really hit the spot. If you’re a fruit fly, a nibble of yeast will do the trick.

Why do we – and those flies that sometimes inhabit our kitchens – seek out protein-full foods when we’re running on empty? And what does that preference mean for the odds of living a longer life, whether it’s measured in decades for a human, or days for a fly?

New research from a University of Michigan Medical School team suggests for the first time that a brain chemical may have a lot to do with both questions.

In a new paper in the journal eLife, U-M scientist Scott Pletcher, Ph.D., and his team demonstrate the key role that the chemical called serotonin plays in the feeding habits and life spans of fruit flies. The paper’s first author is Jennifer Ro, Ph.D., now at Harvard Medical School.

Reward in the brain

Serotonin is a “reward” chemical, which means when it’s released in the brain in response to an action, it travels between brain cells and produces a sense of reward or even pleasure.

Pletcher and his team report that it appears to play a key role in fruit flies’ strong tendency to seek out protein, not sugars, when they’ve been deprived of food for a while.

In other words, it affects the value that flies place on protein at that time -- which means that it’s somehow tied to how the flies figure out which foods contain protein in the first place.

Not only that, but the brain-based reward that the flies got from eating protein appears to influence how quickly the flies aged.

When that reward was blocked, the flies ate just as much food as before in their normal diets – but lived far longer.

In fact, they lived nearly twice as long – just from blocking a single serotonin receptor found on the surface of only about 100 neurons in their brains.

While it’s far too soon to apply their findings to our understanding of human feeding patterns or longevity, Pletcher notes that the serotonin reward system in fruit flies is very similar to that in mammals including humans.

So are many other basic systems, which is what makes fruit flies such an important species to study because one scientific team can study hundreds of generations of them.

A choice of entrees

The researchers made their discovery by manipulating the genes involved in the serotonin system, as well as manipulating the flies’ access to different types of food using a special chamber they developed.

Called the FLIC, or Fly Liquid-food Interaction Counter, this device allowed them to continuously monitor food preferences for each micro-meal and to identify how and when flies were rewarded by a protein-rich diet. Armed with information, they designed experiments to examine whether such nutritional rewards affect health and lifespan by providing flies just a sugary diet, just a protein-focused diet, or the choice of three options: those two single-nutrient diets and a mixed diet throughout their life.

“This work builds on previous findings that the perception of food modulates aging in much the same way as dietary intake, but the brain regions and systems involved in this have been unknown,” says Pletcher.

“We found that the serotonin pathway is important for interpreting the composition of the food, as well as the reward that drives consumption of the food.”

Protein-rich diets have previously been found to lead to shorter lifespans, he notes. “These results suggest that serotonin is directly involved in this process, though we have not yet found the mechanism,” he adds.

The new results add to a changing scientific view of how food affects health and lifespan. The way animals respond to nutrients, including detecting them in their environment and seeking out certain ones during different times, goes far beyond simply seeking calories of any kind. Protein, which is crucial for building and maintaining cells in the body, serves a different function from sugars and other carbohydrates, which are sources of energy.

Next steps

The brain’s ability to register that an animal has eaten enough of a certain nutrient is key to its ability to signal -- via reward pathways -- that an earlier hunger has been satisfied, Pletcher explains.

Even when that reward pathway was blocked in the fruit fly experiments, the flies stopped eating for other reasons -- they didn’t stuff themselves dangerously.

But the inability to sense the special reward that they usually would have gotten from eating protein did something to influence their lifespan. Now, the Pletcher group is working to determine just what that might be.

In the meantime, humans whose stomachs are rumbling and brains are sending a message of serious hunger should feel free to satisfy that craving for a protein-rich snack or meal. Just don’t bank on it having any particular impact on your lifespan – after all, human lives are much more complex than those of fruit flies.

But more research in fruit flies may help us understand just why protein seems the most appealing or causes a unique sense of reward. Says Pletcher,

“This paves the way for future work to understand how the brain mechanisms that allow animals to perceive and evaluate food act to control lifespan and aging.”


In addition to Ro and Pletcher, the research team included Gloria Pak, Paige A. Malec, Yang Lyu, David B. Allison, and Robert T. Kennedy. The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health (AG030593, GM102279, AG023166, AG043972, DK046960, GM007315, AG000114 and AG047696), the Ellison Medical Foundation and a Glenn/American Federation for Aging Research Scholarship for Research in the Biology of Aging. Reference: eLife, http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.16843

GINGER AND CHILI PEPPERS COULD WORK TOGETHER TO LOWER CANCER RISK

The mouth-tingling combination of chili peppers and ginger helped stave off lung cancer in mice.

Peppers and Ginger work together to lower cancer risks
Newswise, September 12, 2016 — For many people, there's nothing more satisfying than a hot, spicy meal. But some research has suggested that capsaicin, the compound that gives chili peppers their kick, might cause cancer.

Now researchers show in mouse studies that the pungent compound in ginger, 6-ginergol, could counteract capsaicin's potentially harmful effects. In combination with the capsaicin, 6-gingerol could lower the risk of cancer, they say. The study appears in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry

Both chili peppers and ginger are widely used spices in certain cuisines, particularly in Asia, and have been studied for potential health effects. Although some studies have shown that peppers can have benefits, others suggest that diets rich in capsaicin might be associated with stomach cancer.

Ginger, however, has shown promise as a health-promoting ingredient. Oddly enough, capsaicin and 6-gingerol both bind to the same cellular receptor — one that is related to tumor growth. Jiahuan Li, Gangjun Du and colleagues wanted to further investigate this apparent contradiction.

Over several weeks, the researchers fed mice prone to lung cancer either capsaicin or 6-gingerol alone, or a combination of both. During the study period, all of the mice that received only capsaicin developed lung carcinomas while only half of the mice fed 6-gingerol did.

Surprisingly, an even lower percentage — only 20 percent — of the mice given both compounds developed cancer. The researchers also dug into the potential molecular underpinnings of how the compounds interact to lead to this effect.
  


The authors acknowledge funding from the 
National Natural Science Foundation of China.