Thursday, April 11, 2013

North Carolina Pest News: Vol. 27; No. 1


Welcome to the first issue of North Carolina Pest News for 2012. North Carolina Pest News is a newsletter published in electronic form by the Departments of Entomology and Plant Pathology at North Carolina State University, and contains up-to-date information on the status of disease and insect pests in North Carolina from Extension specialists in the two departments. Steve Toth, Extension Entomologist and Integrated Pest Management Coordinator, is the editor of the newsletter.  For the full edition click HERE


Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Honey Bee National Winter Loss and Management Surveys


The Bee informed Partnership, a joint project among numerous universities and laboratories, is asking you to please participate in the National Winter Loss and Management survey listed below.  Both surveys are open only until 15 April 2013. 

Please click on the link below to take the survey: http://10.selectsurvey.net/beeinformed/TakeSurvey.aspx?SurveyID=BIP2012

You can learn more about the Bee Informed Partnership at beeinformed.org.  We have and continue to post results from our efforts in our Results section, as well as give highlights of the information in our Blog.  We encourage you to visit the site.

We really believe this effort will be able to change our industry by giving beekeepers the tools they need to make informed management decisions. But, for it to work it needs participation – lots of participation. SO please take the survey and pass this email to your beekeeper contacts and encourage them to participate!

The purpose of the Bee Informed Partnership is to use beekeepers' real world experiences to help solve beekeepers' real world problems. We will use the data generated from these two surveys to help you decide which management practices are best for beekeepers like you, who live where you do and have operations similar to yours.

Depending on the number of participants we hope to have the results from this year’s survey broken down by region and should have those results posted within months of the survey close date now that we have built the infrastructure needed to automate report generation. 

Should you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact us at askbeeinformed@gmail.com or call us at 443.296.2470.

Thank you,
Karen Rennich

Project Manager, The Bee Informed Partnership
eXtension | Room 6 ACB | PO Box 830918 | Lincoln, NE 68583-0918 | United States 

Saturday, April 6, 2013

Foods identified as 'whole grain' not always healthy


New standard needed to help consumers, organizations choose foods rich in whole grains

Boston, MA – Current standards for classifying foods as "whole grain" are inconsistent and, in some cases, misleading, according to a new study by Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers. One of the most widely used industry standards, the Whole Grain Stamp, actually identified grain products that were higher in both sugars and calories than products without the Stamp. The researchers urge adoption of a consistent, evidence-based standard for labeling whole grain foods to help consumers and organizations make healthy choices. This is the first study to empirically evaluate the healthfulness of whole grain foods based on five commonly used industry and government definitions.
"Given the significant prevalence of refined grains, starches, and sugars in modern diets, identifying a unified criterion to identify higher quality carbohydrates is a key priority in public health," said first author Rebecca Mozaffarian, project manager in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at HSPH.
The study appears in the January 4, 2013 advanced online edition of Public Health Nutrition.
The health benefits of switching from refined to whole grain foods are well established, including lower risk of cardiovascular disease, weight gain, and type 2 diabetes. Based on this evidence, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) 2010 Dietary Guidelines recommend that Americans consume at least three servings of whole grain products daily, and the new U.S. national school lunch standards require that at least half of all grains be whole grain-rich. However, no single standard exists for defining any product as a "whole grain."
Mozaffarian and her colleagues assessed five different industry and government guidelines for whole grain products:
  • The Whole Grain Stamp, a packaging symbol for products containing at least 8 grams of whole grains per serving (created by the Whole Grain Council, a non-governmental organization supported by industry dues)
  • Any whole grain as the first listed ingredient (recommended by the USDA's MyPlate and the Food and Drug Administration's Consumer Health Information guide)
  • Any whole grain as the first ingredient without added sugars in the first three ingredients (also recommended by USDA's MyPlate)
  • The word "whole" before any grain anywhere in the ingredient list (recommended by USDA's Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010)
  • The "10:1 ratio," a ratio of total carbohydrate to fiber of less than 10 to 1, which is approximately the ratio of carbohydrate to fiber in whole wheat flour (recommended by the American Heart Association's 2020 Goals)
From two major U.S. grocers, the researchers identified a total of 545 grain products in eight categories: breads, bagels, English muffins, cereals, crackers, cereal bars, granola bars, and chips. They collected nutrition content, ingredient lists, and the presence or absence of the Whole Grain Stamp on product packages from all of these products.
They found that grain products with the Whole Grain Stamp, one of the most widely-used front-of-package symbols, were higher in fiber and lower in trans fats, but also contained significantly more sugar and calories compared to products without the Stamp. The three USDA recommended criteria also had mixed performance for identifying healthier grain products. Overall, the American Heart Association's standard (a ratio of total carbohydrate to fiber of ≤10:1) proved to be the best indicator of overall healthfulness. Products meeting this ratio were higher in fiber and lower in trans fats, sugar, and sodium, without higher calories than products that did not meet the ratio.
"Our results will help inform national discussions about product labeling, school lunch programs, and guidance for consumers and organizations in their attempts to select whole grain products," said senior author Steven Gortmaker, professor of the practice of health sociology.
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Other HSPH authors included researchers Rebekka Lee and Mary Kennedy; Dariush Mozaffarian, associate professor in the Department of Epidemiology; and David Ludwig, professor in the Department of Nutrition.
Support for the study was provided by the Donald and Sue Pritzker Nutrition and Fitness Initiative; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Prevention Research Centers grant U48DP000064, including the Nutrition and Obesity Policy, Research and Evaluation Network); the New Balance Foundation; the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (K24082730); and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health (R01 HL085710).
"Identifying whole grain foods: a comparison of different approaches for selecting more healthful whole grain products," Rebecca Mozaffarian, Rebekka Lee, Mary Kennedy, David Ludwig, Dariush Mozaffarian, and Steven Gortmaker, Public Health Nutrition, online January 4, 2013
Visit the HSPH website for the latest news, press releases and multimedia offerings.
Harvard School of Public Health is dedicated to advancing the public's health through learning, discovery, and communication. More than 400 faculty members are engaged in teaching and training the 1,000-plus student body in a broad spectrum of disciplines crucial to the health and well being of individuals and populations around the world. Programs and projects range from the molecular biology of AIDS vaccines to the epidemiology of cancer; from risk analysis to violence prevention; from maternal and children's health to quality of care measurement; from health care management to international health and human rights. For more information on the school visit: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu

Fresh Cherries May Help Arthritis Sufferers


Arthritis hurts. But fresh cherries may help. Results of a preliminary study by ARS  (Agriculture Research Service a division of USDA) scientists and their university colleagues suggest that some natural compounds in plump, juicy Bing cherries may reduce painful arthritic inflammation. Eating cherries may also help lessen the severity of other inflammatory conditions, such as cardiovascular disease or cancer.

Cherries already have a reputation for fighting inflammation. So what's new about the ARS study?
"Our test is among the first to track anti-inflammatory effects of fresh Bing cherries in a controlled experiment with healthy volunteers," says chemist Robert A. Jacob, who led the investigation. Jacob is now retired from the ARS Western Human Nutrition Research Center in Davis, California.

In previous studies at other laboratories, scientists analyzed extracts from sweet or tart cherries in vitro to learn more about the fruit's potential health-promoting properties. In contrast to these test-tube experiments, the California study is apparently the first to test key inflammatory disease indicators, or markers, in blood samples from healthy volunteers who were fed precise amounts of fresh Bing cherries. Reported in a 2003 issue of the Journal of Nutrition, the California investigation paved the way for a recent followup study at the Davis center.

For more information on the benefits of cherries click HERE

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Cultural Arts Day Canceled

ECA Cultural Arts Day has been canceled tomorrow due to inclement weather. If you have items you would still like to enter in the competition, please bring those to the Extension Office by 12:00 PM Tuesday 4/9. If you have any questions, please contact the office at (336) 372-5597.