Vegetable and Fruit Improvement Center

Eating fruit every day can lower risk of heart disease by up to 40%, new research suggests.

The researchers found that compared to people who never eat fruit, those who eat fruit every day cut their heart disease risk by 25% to 40%. Those who ate the most amount of fruit also had much lower blood pressure compared to the participants who never ate fruit

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Dharwad: The global community of scholars must work together to solve problems like food insecurity, sad Mark Hussey, noted agricultural scientist and interim president of Texas Agricultural and Medical University.

Addressing fresh graduates, postgraduates and PhD awardees at the 27th annual convocation of the University of Agricultural Sciences held in Dharwad on Thursday, he said the world’s exponentially growing population was at the core of these problems.

“As a result, food insecurity, malnutrition and world hunger are rampantly growing. Currently, one sixth of the world’s population (a billion people) suffer from chronic hunger and at least 2.5 million children die each year globally from undernutrition. Not only does hunger rob the poor of a healthy and productive life and stunt mental and physical development, it provides a breeding ground for crime and civil unrest,” he warned.

As a remedy, he suggested that there should be diligent efforts to train the next generation of ‘hunger fighters’ and to develop and deploy new technologies. He added that many of these issues could be addressed by agricultural universities.

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Dharwad: The University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS), Dharwad, conferred honorary doctorates on Dr. Mark A. Hussey, Interim Presdient, Texas A&M University, United States of America and Dr. Rajendra Singh, the waterman of India, at its 27th annual convocation held here on Thursday.

Pro-Chancellor and state Agriculture Minister Krishna Byregowda presented the degrees in the absence of Governor H. R. Bhardwaj.

[…]

Delivering the convocation address, Dr. Hussey called upon the global community of scholars to collectively work towards solving problems such as food insecurity, malnutrition and hunger.

He said currently one sixth of the world’s population is suffering from chronic hunger and at least 3.5 million children die every year globally due to malnutrition. Not only does hunger rob the poor of a healthy and productive life but it also leads them to crime and civil unrest, he added.

He also said time was ripe to act since 9 billion people have to be fed by 2050. He said universities are being affected by he current trend of declining funding to higher education.

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Texas University, in association with University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS), Dharwad, will start two institutes in the State to strengthen agriculture and horticulture sectors. A high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah at his home office Krishna […] gave its not for establishing the two institutes.

A centre for excellence in ‘food for health’ will come up in Bangalore and the other on agriculture development at Dharwad. A proposal has been sent to the State government to sanction necessary funds for establishing the two institutes.

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Dharwad: Terming food insecurity, malnutrition as ‘wicked problems’, Interim President of Texas Agricultural and Medical University Mark Hussey has called upon the global community of agriculture scientists to work together to solve these wicked problems and eliminate hunger.

He noted this while delivering the convocation address at the 27th annual convocation of the University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS) held in Dharwad on Thursday.

He said, the world’s exponentially growing population was at the core of these problems.

“As a result, food insecurity, malnutrition and hunger have grown beyond the proportion in the world. Currently, one sixth of the world’s population (one billion people) suffer from chronic hunger and at least 3.5 million children die each year globally from under-nutrition. Not only does hunger rob the poor of healthy and productive life and stunt mental and physical development, it also provides a breeding ground for crime and civil unrest,” he warned.

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Dharwad: At the 27th annual convocation of the University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS) held in Dharwad on Thursday, honorary doctorates were presented to Rjasthan-based water expert Rajendra Singh and A&M University, Texas interim President Mark Hussey. 

In the absence of Governor H R Bhardwaj, who is also the Chancellor of the State varsities, Agriculture Minister Krishna Byre Gowda, who is the Pro-Chancellor of the varsity presented the honoris causa to the two eminent personalities.

Speaking after receiving the honorary doctorate, Rajendra Singh, popularly known as ‘Water man of India’ dedicated the doctorate to the farmers of Rajasthan.

He said, the agriculture varsities should focus on creating an indigenous knowledge system, wherein the students pursuing careers in agriculture can understand the tradition of Indian agriculture and the burning problems haunting the farmers.

“Unless we adopt an indigenous knowledge system, we cannot address the problems of the farmers and attain food security,” he added.

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Dr. Patil was contacted by phone last Friday to give his insight on not only whether the deathly breath is worth it for your health, but how to “also lead a social life” after you’ve made the decision to go garlic.

The article on NPR’s “The Salt,” which “covers food news from the farm to the plate and beyond,” features the video below with some tips and info on the sulfur-smelling Allium.

Link to full article: Online Link 

by Paul Schattenberg

COLLEGE STATION – In addition to being one of the most important tropical fruits consumed worldwide, recent studies by researchers at the Institute for Obesity Research and Program Evaluation at Texas A&M University in College Station have shown that mangoes also may help prevent breast cancer.

“We wanted to investigate the anti-inflammatory and cell-toxicity properties of mango polyphenols on breast cancer and non-cancer cells,” said Dr. Susanne Talcott, director for research at the institute and assistant professor at the Nutrition and Food Science Department, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

Talcott and others recently completed one in vitro study and one using ice to see if the polyphenols found in mango did, in fact, exhibit inflammation – and cancer-fighting properties.

“There was already some research done showing that polyphenolic compounds, such as those found in the mango, have cancer-fighting properties,” Talcott said. “Those compounds appear to have antioxidant properties that may contribute to decrease oxidative stress, which can lead to the onset of chronic diseases such as cancer. In addition to that, polyphenolics have been shown to be anti-inflammatory.”

Talcott said she and her team received additional support through Texas A&M AgriLife Research and the university Vegetable and Fruit Improvement Center.

“Breast cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer death among women, and diet has been shown to have a preventive or protective role against several types of cancer,” she said. “It has been estimated that around 30 percent of cancers may be prevented with a healthy lifestyle and diet.”

Talcott said interest in mango has been increasing in recent years and experimental data has already shown bioactive compoounds present in mangoes exert anti-inflammatory, anti-carcinogenic, antiviral and antibacterial properties.

Link to full article: PDF : Online Link

Paul Schattenberg, 210-467-6575 : paschattenberg@ag.tamu.edu
Dr. Susanne Talcott, 979-458-1819 : smtalcott@tamu.edu