Having trouble viewing this email? View it as a Web page.
|
|
Fresh from the
Field is a weekly album showcasing transformative impacts made by
partners supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
Editor: Falita Liles
July 12, 2018
|
|
Success Stories
Study Shows Oregano Essential Oil’s Ability to Reduce Parasite Infectivity
University of Illinois (U. of I.) researcher Juan Andrade and his team collaborated with organizations, such as the Office of
Food for Peace at the United States Agency for International Development
(USAID), to address malnutrition in children in low-income areas is by creating
calorie/nutrient-dense ready-to-use food (RUF) products.
RUF’s
are typically a supplementary food, much like a peanut butter or nut spread,
that provide needed calories, protein, and fats, such as a quota of omega-3
fatty acids, which enhance brain development and provide anti-inflammatory
benefits. They can also be used as a therapeutic food (RUTF).
“For
the most part, these technologies address the nutrient needs of these children,
however it’s been pondered how we can enhance the functionality of these RUTFs.
We ask if we can target parasitic infection at the same time we’re addressing
nutrition,” according to Andrade.
In
a recent study, Andrade and his team, along with Theresa Kuhlenschmidt and Mark
Kuhlenschmidt, from veterinary medicine at U. of I., focused on infection from
the protozoan parasite Cryptosporidium
parvum. Crypto infection is one
of the leading causes of persistent diarrhea among children in low-resource
low-income areas settings. Crytpo
infection in children has been of particular concern in India, where there are
more cases—through contaminated water—of Crypto
than flatworms or roundworms.
Andrade
and his team looked at the use of oregano essential oil in fighting the infectivity
of the Crytpo parasite. Other
essential oils of plants have been used in Ayurvedic medicine to address
parasitic infection. Oregano essential oil (a mix of different phenolics,
mostly carvacrol and thymol), acts as a bioactive and has shown activity
against many gram-negative bacteria, Andrade explains, but adds that there is
no literature on its effect against Crytpo.
NIFA supports this
research through Hatch Act funding.
Read the full story
at U. of I. College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences. USDA
photo by Lance Cheung.
|
News Coverage
West Virginia's Family Nutrition Program Helps State's Drug
Court Participants
West Virginia is taking
measures to help those battling drug addiction with alternative education
programs, including nutrition classes, to strengthen the county's drug court
programs. County drug court programs are an alternative for non-violent
drug-related offenders instead of jail time. West Virginia has the highest
drug-related deaths in the United States, with one in ten people battling some
form of drug addiction.
Gina Wood, who oversees
the Family Nutrition Program through the Extension Service at the University of
West Virginia states “Family Nutrition Program operates in 53 of West
Virginia's 55 counties, and reach more than 20,000 youth and 2,000 adults each
year. Among our adult participants, 82 percent improve their food resource
management practices, 87 percent improve nutrition practices, 60 percent
improve food safety practices and 34 percent increase their physical activity.”
NIFA supports the Expanded
Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP).
Read the full story at the West
Virginia Record. Photo: Getty Image.
|
Library
Helping Barn Owls Help Farmers
Barn owls are rodent-killing machines,”
said Sara Kross, an assistant professor in environmental studies at Sacramento
State University. “They are natural predators of gophers and voles which can be
really horrible pests for agriculture.”
But as good as the owls can be at
controlling rodents on farms, growers may still need rodenticides to control
the population explosions that can happen with any small rodent species. Because rodenticides don’t kill immediately, barn owls can eat exposed voles,
mice and rats and get exposed themselves, which may limit their ability to hunt
and control pests.
It’s an example of one pest-control method affecting
another, and something Kross and a team of students from the University of
California, Davis and Sacramento State are studying at five different
California farms. They’re looking specifically at the frequency barn owls are
being exposed to rodenticides and whether or not that affects the pest-control
services that farmers get from the owls as a result.
NIFA
supports the research through the Western Sustainable Agriculture and
Education Program.
Read the full article
at the Western IPM Center News. Photo: Steve Elliott.
|
Tweet of the Week
#NIFAIMPACTS
|
|
NIFA’s mission is to invest in and advance agricultural research, education, and extension that solve societal challenges. NIFA’s investments in transformative science directly support the long-term prosperity and global preeminence of U.S. agriculture. To learn more about NIFA’s impact on agricultural sciences, visit www.nifa.usda.gov/Impacts, sign up for email updates or follow us on Twitter @USDA_NIFA, #NIFAImpacts.
USDA is an equal opportunity lender, provider, and employer.
|
|