Cocoa Seeds Not Beanscocoa comes from the cocoa plant grown in the remote areas of West Africa Asia and South america.
While often called cocoa beans cocoa plants actually are colored large brightly pods filled with many seeds.
Cocoa to Chocolatecocoa seeds are removed from the pod dried and roasted giving them a distinct dark color and unique flavor.
After roasting cocoa seeds are ground into a paste called chocolate liquor. The liquor separates into dry cocoa and cocoa butter or fat.
Chocolate Ingredientscocoa is heated and combined with other ingredients such as sugar and milk to create chocolate bars and candy.
Dark chocolate is at least 35 percent cocoa liquor; and milk chocolate 10 percent. White chocolate has cocoa butter but no chocolate liquor.
Chocolate Safetythe roasting process kills bacteria on the cocoa seeds. Because of the high fat low moisture content chocolate generally does not spoil.
For example if given the choice between grapes or chocolate candies someone in a good mood may be inclined more to choose the former
Using raisins as health food and M&m's as indulgent food Gardner said they altered participants'focus on the present versus the future along with their mood and measured how much of each food they consumed.
How our gut bacteria metabolize complex carbohydrates from fruits, vegetableswe are all aware of the health benefits of dietary fiber.
and institutions in Canada and Sweden has begun to uncover how our gut bacteria metabolize the complex dietary carbohydrates found in fruits and vegetables.
These make up to 25 per cent of the dry weight of dietary fruit and vegetables including lettuce onion eggplant and tomatoes.
and cannot digest certain fruits and vegetables and how and why the good bacteria do
The high salinity and light intensity turns the microalgae orange by producing protective carotenoids. The pink-orange of many salt lakes containing Dunaliella is intensified by the presence of archaea fellow single-celled organisms.**
***Seaweed could be next new biofuelnew research to turn seaweed into liquid biofuel aims to overcome two main barriers to the plant becoming a major source of renewable energy.
or pyramid healthy eating guidelines always give fruits and vegetables center stage--and for good reason:
For instance if we give study participants a daily cup of fruit--these variations can make drawing high-quality conclusions about the fruit's efficacy to prevent or slow disease difficult.
But the berries are grown only in a few places around the US (Ohio being one of them)
and like many of their berry cousins must be refrigerated and eaten within a few days of picking.
but that was 100%fruit simple to take and retained high levels of chemopreventive bioactives said Vodovotz who is also with Ohio State's College of Food Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
The result was two different formulations--gummy candies and a concentrated fruit juice (nectar)--each roughly equal to a cup of fresh berries.
Both formulations were created by freeze drying the berries which helped preserve the essential nutrients and then grinding the whole berry--fiber seeds and fuzz--into a fine powder.
The black raspberry formulations are currently being used in a clinical study of men with prostate cancer undergoing surgery.
and body fluids--a key measure that that the disease prevention powers of the berry food had made successfully it past the digestive system to reach organs throughout the body.
Vodovotz says that there was some trial and error figuring out the best way to manufacture the berry substances.
so that the rich purple color from the berries wouldn't stain people's hands. But she is confident that the formulation
which has some of the highest cancer rates in America--that don't have regular access to fresh fruits and vegetables noted Vodovtoz.
and grapefruit-based preparations to prevent and treat diseases such as breast cancer and pancreatitis. Roberts is also planning to study how the body's natural gut bacteria impact the digestion of berry-based compounds.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Ohio State university Center for Clinical and Translational Science.
Dark chocolate with a cocoa content of 70 percent or higher is rich in flavonoids which help prevent the buildup of plaque in the arteries.
Walnuts and almonds--Both walnuts and almonds contain omega-3 fatty acids Vitamin e magnesium fiber and heart-favorable mono-and polyunsaturated fats.
Berries--Blueberries cranberries raspberries and strawberries are a good source of beta carotene and lutein polyphenols Vitamin c folate potassium and fiber.
Tyrosine or a placebothe participants had two sessions in the test lab. On one occasion they were given orange to drink that contained tyrosine
#Manga comics may help promote fruit consumption among youtha recent pilot study in Brooklyn New york with minority students found that exposure to Manga comics (Japanese comic art) promoting fruit intake
and childhood obesity has been linked to inadequate intake of fruits and vegetables the results of this study could have wide-reaching implications.
Manga comics could be used to promote healthier behaviors and beliefs related to fruit consumption in at-risk youth.
After reading either a Manga comic titled Fight for Your Right to Fruit or a non-health-related newsletter children were given the choice between a healthy snack (oranges grapes apples strawberries)
Approximately 30%to 45%of US children between the ages of 6 and 18 years do not meet recommended fruit consumption levels.
and bats had access to the plants there was almost a ten percent higher fruit set. â#oewe believe that this is due to the fact that the animals eliminate pests that would
Reduced leaf damage is supposed to reduce the number of coffee cherries falling from the tree while ripening.
if pollinators have access to the coffee blossoms the cherries were about seven percent heavier
â#oebirds and bats provide more cherries; bees and other pollinators ensure better quality. â#Same effect with all cultivation systemsto the surprise of the researchers intensified farming seems to have no negative effect:
#Whole diet approach to lower cardiovascular risk has more evidence than low-fat dietsa study published in The American Journal of Medicine reveals that a whole diet approach which focuses on increased intake of fruits vegetables nuts
In particular the diet emphasizes consumption of vegetables fruit legumes whole grains and fish. The potency of combining individual cardioprotective foods is substantial
and cream while increasing the amount of vegetables fruits whole grains nuts and fish promises to be more effective.
#How safe to use is the enemy of a citrus-threatening pest? The Asian citrus psyllid (ACP) can spread the lethal and incurable citrus disease known as huanglongbing (HLB)
or citrus greening that threatens the multi-billion dollar global citrus industry. In Southern California large and widespread populations of ACP have been detected in several counties having arrived most likely from Mexico where ACP is established widely.
and spanningsix counties--Imperial Los angeles Orange Riversidesan Bernardino and San diego Hoddle said. They have established and are spreading tracking down ACP on citrus in people's gardens and orchards.
The Tamarixia larvae will eat the ACP nymphs killing them and emerge as adults about 12 days later.
For example there are no studies on organic bananas or cocoa beans two of the most popular organic products found in European supermarkets.
At present we simply cannot say whether buying organic bananas or chocolate has any environmental benefit.'
'Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by University of Oxford. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
The study published in Hortscience also investigated the practice of using of locally produced grape marc compost to promote drought resistance
The scientists planted rooted cuttings of the three aromatics in a green roof infrastructure they then placed on a fully exposed flat roof in Athens. Two types of substrates were used (grape marc compost:
With A. absinthium grape marc compost-amended substrate produced taller plants and larger plant diameter compared with peat-amended substrate deep substrate produced larger plant
or semi-intensive green roofs and additionally found that the use of grape marc compost in the substrate allowed for less water consumption
#Well-watered citrus tested in cold-acclimating temperaturescommercial citrus growers are challenged often by environmental conditions in winter including low seasonal rainfall that is typical in many citrus growing regions.
Authors of a study published in Hortscience noted that current methods used to determine moisture needs for citrus are limited in that they do not account for effects of cold acclimation on water requirements.
Ebel and his colleagues conducted two experiments--the first in Immokalee Florida using potted sweet orange
and the second in Auburn Alabama using Satsuma mandarin trees. The citrus plants were exposed to progressively lower nonfreezing temperatures for 9 weeks.
The authors added that the study findings could have implications for commercial citrus growers who currently use traditional measures of determining irrigation scheduling during winter months.
and fruit producers are facing significant environmental and sustainability issues and are being challenged to examine traditional production practices
and demonstrates how the environmental impact of intensive agriculture can be minimized without harming fruit yield or quality.
Yasuor and colleagues designed a study to investigate ways to reduce environmental pollution by increasing nitrogen use efficiency in vegetables without negatively affecting fruit yield or quality.
They then measured fruit yield quality and nutritional value of all plants. We found that maximum yields occurred
The experiments also showed that nitrogen treatments had no significant negative effect on pepper fruit physical
Additionally reduced nitrogen application did not affect nutritional quality components of the pepper fruit such as beta-carotene
Our results demonstrate how the environmental impact of intensive agriculture can be minimized without harming fruit yield
bark flowers fruit leaves roots stems etc. Prominent among the nonnative species are many edible fruit
and nut species including common apple (Malus domestica) Chinese chestnut (Castanea mollissima) European or sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa) ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) European plum (Prunus domestica) and European pear (Pyrus communis).
Edibles including berries fruits nuts greens and young shoots were by far the most frequently mentioned type of product in each study site.
In some cases foragersâ##ethnicity and/or place of origin appear to condition which products are foraged. For example Chinese immigrants sought ginkgo nuts (G. biloba) in Baltimore New york and Philadelphia;
The Seattle Parks and Recreation Department is actively seeking to rehabilitate former apple orchards in city parks trees that it had neglected for decades.
The re-establishment of fruit picking in Fairmont Park brings the city back full circle to the late 1800s
Among their many activities auxins favor cell growth root initiation flowering fruit setting and delay ripening.
and are used in agriculture to produce seedless fruit to prevent fruit drop and to promote rooting
of which had attached dried fruits. The infants watched an experimenter take one fruit off each object--the plant and the artifact--and place it in her mouth as if eating it.
The fruits were taken then off the plant and the artifact and the infants were asked Which one can you eat?
The infants showed a clear preference for the fruits that came from the plant despite the fact that they saw the same social information--the experimenter eating the fruit--applied to both objects.
The experiments further showed that the eating action was crucial to this plant-based bias:
When the experimenter placed the fruits behind the ear or merely looked at the plant
and artifact instead of performing an action infants chose randomly. Younger infants who have little to no experience with solid food also showed evidence of a plant-based bias:
when they were performed with fruits from the artifact suggesting that this violated their expectations for edibility.
Knowing that infants may be biased to learn that fruits plucked from leafy green plants are edible suggests strategies for getting young children interested in eating novel fruits and vegetables such as taking them to a'pick-your-own'fruits and vegetables farm.
#The better to bite fruit with: Natural selection shapes mechanical advantage in batsmechanical advantage--the efficiency in transmitting force--can be decisive
or a bat with a short face that gives it the bite force to penetrate hard figs.
Glossophaga soricina a nectar bat feeding on the flowers of a banana plant. Nectar feeding bats comprised one of three evolutionary optima for mechanical advantage among New world Leaf-nosed bats.
These bats of which there are almost 200 species eat a variety of foods including insects frogs lizards fruit nectar and even blood.
and eat hard fruits; snouts of species that eat other foods are intermediate in shape.
and the specialized fig-eating Short-faced bat Centurio senex (C). They then analyzed the models to determine structural strength and mechanical advantage--the efficiency and hardness of the bats'bite.
which gives them the high bite forces needed to pierce through the hardest figs. Nectar feeders have very low mechanical advantage--a trade-off for having long narrow snouts that fit into the flowers in
fig-eating frugivores: E) Artibeus jamaicensis F) Chiroderma villosum; and short-faced bats: G) Phyllops falcatus H) Centurio senex.
#Peaches can be profitable in three years: Researcher to growersflorida peach growers some of whom are looking for an alternative to citrus as greening takes a toll on that crop could see a small profit by their third year of operation a UF researcher says.
Greening a disease first found in Florida in 2005 has led to $4 billion in lost revenue and industry-related jobs since 2006 for the $9 billion-a-year citrus industry.
As some farmers turn to peaches they want to know how long before they turn a profit and how long they can sustain that profit said Mercy Olmstead assistant professor in horticultural sciences at UF's Institute of food and agricultural sciences.
It is typically seven years before you get a commercial crop on citrus and probably eight before you are profitable.
Olmstead co-wrote a paper that created four-year peach orchard budgets and growing operation plans with former UF doctoral student Kim Morgan now an assistant professor in agriculture and applied
Florida peaches go to market earlier than others around the nation giving growers here a leg up on national competition Olmstead said.
Growers invest about $11600 in a peach orchard during the first two years before they see a profit with a third-year income of about $10150 per acre with $8342 in grower costs for a profit of about $1800 she said.
A 2011 Florida grower survey showed peaches grown on about 670 acres according to the paper.
While an assistant professor at Mississippi State university Morgan interviewed 26 of the estimated 40 Florida peach growers
not only the contradictory information but also widely accepted nutritional advice such as eating plenty of fruits and vegetables and exercising regularly said Rebekah Nagler Ph d. assistant professor in University of Minnesota's School of Journalism and Mass Communication
or eat fruits and vegetables. Many people get health information from the news media which may not make it clear that research is constantly evolving.
In addition people may be exposed to the pesticide by consuming imported fruits vegetables and grains where DDT is still being used
Lee a UF agricultural and biological engineering professor used an algorithm to find immature citrus in photos taken under different light conditions
and fruit that was hidden by leaves and branches. He and his colleagues found 80 percent of the immature fruit.
The accuracy rate means growers can use the model to know well before harvest how much fruit is on their trees Lee said.
Therefore they can more easily plan harvesting predict crop yields and possibly make more money he said.
and then gauging the number of fruit each branch is expected to yield. This gives growers a more accurate rate than just guessing Lee said
Growers harvest more citrus in some parts of their groves than others possibly because of differences in soil from one acre to another water or disease Lee said.
Using a digital camera two of Lee's former students took 240 photos of fruit from a research grove at UF's Institute of food and agricultural sciences on the Gainesville campus. Because of the scope of the study these are preliminary findings Lee said
and count fruit a concept called machine vision. The system includes a digital camera a portable computer GPS RECEIVER
A soil bacterium called Bacillus subtilis wrinkles as it dries out like a grape becoming a raisin forming a tough dormant spore.
Unlike raisins which cannot reform into grapes spores can take on water and almost immediately restore themselves to their original shape.
If you notice eating watermelon cantaloupe or avocado make you cough and itch it may be a symptom of ragweed allergy.
whether the new allergy tablets will allow sufferers to eat ragweed relatives like avocado melons and some fruits like allergy shots permit.
Insects frogs lizards fruit nectar and even blood. The bats'skulls of today reflect this dietary diversity.
while short-faced bats have exceptionally short wide palates for eating hard fruits. Species that eat other foods have shaped snouts somewhere in between.
which gives them the high bite forces needed to pierce through the hardest figs. Nectar feeders have very low mechanical advantage
#Lingonberries halt effects of high-fat dietlingonberries almost completely prevented weight gain in mice fed a high-fat diet a study at Lund University in Sweden has found--whereas the'super berry'aã
The Scandinavian berries also produced lower blood sugar levels and cholesterol. The Lund University research team used a type of mouse that easily stores fat
They were divided then into groups where all except a control group were fed a type of berry--lingonberry bilberry raspberry crowberry blackberry prune blackcurrant or aã§ai berry.
When the mice were compared after three months it could be observed that the lingonberry group had by far the best results.
The mice that had eaten lingonberries had not put on more weight than the mice that had eaten a low-fat diet
and levels of fat in the liver were also lower than those of the animals who received a high-fat diet without any berries.
According to the Lund University researchers this is the first study of this kind using lingonberries. That is probably because lingonberries are eaten mainly in Scandinavia.
At international conferences I always have to start by explaining what they are and showing the audience a jar of them says Lovisa Heyman a Phd student in Experimental Medical science.
Blackcurrants and bilberries also produced good effects although not as pronounced as the lingonberries. The aã§ai berries on the other hand came last
although they had actually been included in the study for the opposite reason--the researchers wanted to see how well the Nordic berries would do in comparison with the Brazilian'super berry'.
'Instead the opposite happened. In our study the aã§ai berries led to weight gain
and higher levels of fat in the liver said Karin Berger diabetes researcher at Lund University.
She believes that aã§ai berries are used primarily as an energy supplement in their homeland Brazil.
It is in the US and Europe that aã§ai has been marketed as a'super berry'with many health benefits including weight loss.
The good results from lingonberries may be due to their polyphenol content according to the researchers. They will now continue to work on understanding the molecular mechanisms involved in the effect of the lingonberries.
They will also see whether the effect can be observed in humans. Up to 20%of our mice's diet was lingonberries.
It isn't realistic for humans to eat such a high proportion. However the goal is not to produce such dramatic effects as in the'high-fat'mice
but rather to prevent obesity and diabetes by supplementing a more normal diet with berries said Karin Berger.
However the Lund researchers do not recommend people start eating large quantities of lingonberry jam.
Boiling the berries can affect their nutrient content and jam contains a lot of sugar. Frozen lingonberries on cereal or in a smoothie are considerably better.
If anyone wonders--yes we now eat lingonberries on a regular basis! said Lovisa Heyman. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Lund University.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference n
#Increase in hemlock forest offsetting effect of invasive hemlock woolly adelgid for nowdespite the accumulating destruction of a nonnative invasive insect called the hemlock woolly adelgid hemlock forests in the eastern United states appear to have held their own
for now according to new research by the U s. Forest Service. The key word is appear said Talbot Trotter the study's lead author and a research ecologist with the U s. Forest Service's Northern Research Station.
#Ingredients in chocolate, tea, berries could guard against diabeteseating high levels of flavonoids including anthocyanins
and other compounds (found in berries tea and chocolate) could offer protection from type 2 diabetes--according to research from the University of East Anglia (UEA) and King's college London.
and vegetables such as parsley thyme and celery and anthocyanins found in berries red grapes wine and other red or blue-coloured fruits and vegetables.
what we are seeing is that people who eat foods rich in these two compounds--such as berries herbs red grapes wine-are less likely to develop the disease.
#Modified proteins as vaccines against peach allergya research conducted by the Centre for Plant Biotechnology
All can be good candidates for the usage of specific immunotherapy for peach allergy and also can be used as a vaccine.
The most common food allergy in Spain and the Mediterranean areas is the peach allergy
The current treatment of this allergy consists of avoiding peach consumption neither fresh nor processed peaches (juices jam.
and Pru p 3. 03) could be good candidates for the usage of specific immunotherapy for allergy to peach.
although it would be required further trials of these two molecules with animal to verify its effectiveness in the treatment for allergy to peach.
component of dietary fibre from the cell walls of fruits and vegetables. The findings illuminate the specialized roles played by key members of the vast microbial community living in the human gut
This newly discovered sequence of genes enables Bacteroides ovatus to chop up xyloglucan a major type of dietary fibre found in many vegetables--from lettuce leaves to tomato fruits.
and to the pollination of a range of agricultural crops--from carrots to almonds to oilseed rape--that is valued at â billion.
In ACS'Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry scientists are reporting for the first time a method to authenticate the varietal purity and origin of cacao beans the source of chocolate's main ingredient cocoa.
Dapeng Zhang and colleagues note that lower-quality cacao beans often get mixed in with premium varieties on their way to becoming chocolate bars truffles sauces and liqueurs.
The ability to authenticate premium and rare varieties would encourage growers to maintain cacao biodiversity rather than depend on the most abundant and easiest to grow trees.
Researchers have found ways to verify through genetic testing the authenticity of many other crops including cereals fruits olives tea
and coffee but those methods aren't suitable for cacao beans. Zhang's team wanted to address this challenge.
Applying the most recent developments in cacao genomics they were able to identify a small set of DNA markers called SNPS (pronounced snips) that make up unique fingerprints of different cacao species. The technique works
on single cacao beans and can be scaled up to handle large samples quickly. To our knowledge this is the first authentication study in cacao using molecular markers the researchers state.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by American Chemical Society. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
or extreme hybrid beverage rich in local ingredients including honey bog cranberry lingonberry bog myrtle yarrow juniper birch tree resin
and/or rye--and sometimes grape wine imported from southern or Central europe. New research published in the Danish Journal of Archaeology examines evidencederived from samples inside pottery and bronze drinking vessels and strainers from four sites in Demark and Sweden.
and probable medicinal purposes--and the first chemically attested evidence for the importation of grape wine from southern or Central europe as early as 1100 BC demonstrating both the social and cultural prestige attached to wine and the presence
and drinking the southern beverage of preference grape wine though sometimes mixed with local ingredients.
Knowing that an individual prefers an orange to a banana and that they prefer a banana to an apple tells us nothing about which they'should'prefer from an orange
and an apple because each fruit has a different handling time. Similarly a small property developer that buys renovates
and sells one house at a time cannot rule out house A just because it would be preferable to choose house B
Most sweet fruit and many vegetables such as salsify cabbage or beans are rich in so-called fermentable fibers.
They used a protocol similar to the one in Pavlov's dog experiments (where a dog is conditioned to associate a bell with being fed) using vanilla (the locusts'favourite) and lemon odours.
But in this case the locusts were taught to link a vanilla odour with unpalatable nicotine food (so with a negative/aversive stimulus) or instead lemon with a nutritious diet (positive stimulus).
) Since locusts prefer the smell of vanilla to lemon if after training they chose lemon the conditioning had been successful.
What the researchers found was truly curious --while solitarious and gregarious locusts had no problem gaining negative memories (so being conditioned to link vanilla to the unpalatable diet)
In contrast all 3 stages gained without problems the positive/appetitive memories (to link the lemon odour to nutritious food.
To test for this possibility the researchers used a slightly different protocol--solitarious locusts were trained to associate hyoscyamine not with a vanilla but with the lemon odour.
since locusts normally chose vanilla they will only go for lemon if hyoscyamine has a strong appetitive value.
Remarkably now the majority of transiens locusts (so those that have been crowded) chose lemon over vanilla in comparison with only one third of solitarious non-crowded locusts showing that they in fact see hyoscyamine as appetitive.
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