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Scientists Propose Obesity is a Neurodevelopmental Disorder

ARS Releases First USDA Winter Peas for Food, Not Feed

Peanut Skins: More than Meets the Eye

For Safety's Sake, Treat Plant-Based Meat Just Like the Real Thing

Scientists Propose Obesity is a Neurodevelopmental Disorder

Researchers at the USDA Children's Nutrition Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine and collaborating institutions now think that molecular mechanisms of brain development during early life are likely a major determinant of obesity risk. Previous large studies in humans have hinted that genes that are most strongly associated with obesity are expressed in the developing brain. This current study in mice focused on a brain region called the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus, which is a master regulator of food intake, physical activity and metabolism. The researchers discovered that the arcuate nucleus undergoes extensive epigenetic maturation during early postnatal life. This period is also exquisitely sensitive to developmental programming of body weight regulation, suggesting that these effects could be a consequence of dysregulated epigenetic maturation. The study looked at the two major classes of brain cells, neurons and glia and found that epigenetic maturation is very different between the two cell types. It was also the first to compare this epigenetic development in males and females. Surprisingly, extensive sex differences were found. In fact, in terms of these postnatal epigenetic changes, males and females are more different than they are similar, and many of the changes occurred earlier in females than in males.

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Peanut Skins: More than Meets the Eye

ARS scientists see untapped nutritional potential in the estimated 40 million to 70 million pounds of peanut skins that are stripped from the nut in the process of turning it into peanut butter, snack food, candy ingredients, oil and other products every year. The paper-thin skins are chock full of protein, carbohydrates, fats, fiber and minerals and vitamins as well as bioactive compounds, including antioxidants that help neutralize cell-damaging molecules in the body called free radicals. Some, in fact, have antioxidant activity levels equal to those of green tea, grape skins and other sources. The researchers are comparing concentrations of bioactive compounds in different colored peanut skins, which range from red, tan and brown, to white, black and variegated. Profiling the nutritional chemistry and properties of peanut skins is a key step towards figuring out how best to use them and provide potential benefits to producers and consumers.

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Scientists are investigating food and livestock feed uses that may open the door to new, value-added markets for peanut skins.

Making Butter-like Spreads Healthier

Research chemists with ARS are developing a healthier margarine or butter-like spread by replacing the saturated fats that are often used as solidifying agents and taste enhancers in them with plant-based and other natural waxes—sunflower, rice bran, candelilla and beeswax, among them. They are doing this by melting the waxes in hot vegetable oil and letting the mix cool to room temperature. This results in a semi-solid substance called an oleogel. When mixed with water, salt and other ingredients, the oleogel mimics the role of saturated fat in producing a margarine, spread or shortening that has the desired firmness, mouthfeel, melting point, shelf-life and other properties, including when used in baked goods. Wax-based oleogels may be able to replace 100 percent of the saturated fats, including saturated fat in palm oil and fully hydrogenated vegetable oil.

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Researchers are replacing saturated fat with sunflower, rice bran, candelilla and other natural waxes to create healthier margarines and spreads for consumers.

ARS Releases First USDA Winter Peas for Food, Not Feed

USDA MiCa, USDA Dint and USDA Klondike are the first winter pea cultivars specifically developed to be used whole or as an ingredient in human food developed and released by the Agricultural Research Service. These three new varieties offer several prized qualities: 1) high protein levels with a nearly complete amino acid profile, 2) peas lack the allergens common in soybeans and peanuts, which are often the supplier of protein, 3) a favorable, low glycemic index number and 4) winter peas are not genetically modified, all of their development is being done with traditional breeding, which is seen by some as a positive public relations trait. As a food ingredient, the winter peas can be used to provide the protein in protein-starch-fiber slurries used as part of producing nondairy milk, energy bars, non-wheat flour pastas, and baked goods. Some of the food products that contain pea protein as an ingredient include Beyond Meats, numerous brands of protein powder, and many trail mixes. Currently, winter peas are mostly grown in the Pacific Northwest as a cover crop to add nitrogen to farmers' fields, for domestic animal feed and to attract deer and other game species. They also are sometimes used in a crop rotation with winter wheat in semi-arid areas of the Pacific Northwest. But winter peas have much more potential value as an ingredient for human foods.

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USDA-ARS is introducing its first winter pea varieties developed for use in foods for people to eat rather than as animal feed.

For Safety's Sake, Treat Plant-Based Meat Just Like the Real Thing

The market for plant-based "meat alternatives" is growing. That growth is due in part to a belief that plant-based products are healthier than animal-meat and less susceptible to pathogens like E. coli, Salmonella, and others. Consumers generally, and correctly, consider meat burgers to be raw and to require cooking prior to consumption. However, many view plant-based burgers as not raw because they contain plant material, and some plants can be eaten raw. In reality, although there is a shortage of specific data on time and temperature combinations required to prevent the outgrowth of microbial pathogens, plants may harbor high levels of foodborne pathogens. Consumers can lower their risk of becoming ill by handling plant-based products the same way they'd handle raw and cooked meat.

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Plant-based burgers should be cooked until reaching an internal temperature of 160ºF as measured with a digital thermometer.