St. Louis, MO-based Monsanto has long been known for its Roundup weed killer and its herbicide-tolerant crops, such as Roundup Ready. Now it is testing and developing biotech seeds and crops that allow food manufacturers to remove unhealthy ingredients and insert healthy ones…Among the company’s objective is reducing the amount of saturated fats in soybeans through genetic modification. [Monsanto chief technology officer Robb] Fraley said soybean oil, which accounts for “between two-thirds and three-fourths of all the oil or fats we eat in our lifetime,” contains saturated fats that clog arteries and lower good cholesterol.
In addition, Monsanto is inserting healthy ingredients, such as omega 3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, which improve heart health. Usually found in fish, the omega 3 fatty acid originates in the algae that fish eat.
“What our scientists have done is literally take the genes from the ocean plants and put them in soybeans,” Fraley said. They are about five years from commercialization.
—The Associated Press, The New York Times, 2/9/06

The government is preparing major studies of substances that offer the hope of slowing the progression of Parkinson’s disease instead of just treating its symptoms. First on the list is an over-the-counter dietary supplement. The National Institutes of Health is finalizing plans to enroll hundreds of early-stage Parkinson’s patients in a study of super-high doses of coenzyme Q-10, or CoQ10. Some scientists theorize that CoQ10, a compound made in the body, may help preserve the nerve cells that die off in Parkinson’s. An old antibiotic and a muscle-related supplement often used by bodybuilders are the next two candidates for a similar study. Preliminary research released on Thursday suggests that they, too, just might offer a chance at slowing Parkinson’s…CoQ10 is believed to help energy-supplying structures inside cells function properly and Parkinson’s patients are thought to have reduced CoQ10 levels. In one small study, a few dozen patients taking super-high doses showed less impairment over a year than did other patients given a dummy pill or low doses. Some Parkinson’s patients already try CoQ10 on their own, but the doses that scientists want to test are “drug-like, much higher than over-the-counter doses,” said Dr. Story Landis, head of the NIH’s National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
—Lauren Neergaard, Associated Press, Customwire.ap.org, 2/23/06
During a 2004 Summer Olympics awash in controversies over steroids and supplements, one sportswriter wryly noticed that top American swimmer Michael Phelps was playing it safe—he preferred to drink Carnation Instant Breakfast between races. Now it appears that the six-time gold medalist may have been onto something. A new study shows that plain old chocolate milk may be as good—or better—than sports drinks like Gatorade at helping athletes recover from strenuous exercise. The study, published in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, was small in scale; it was partially funded by the dairy industry. But dietitians say the study should help to counter the notion that high-tech, expensive supplements are better than whole foods when it comes to athletic performance. They also note that milk contains key nutrients, such as calcium and vitamin D, in quantities that sports drinks can’t match.
“[Milk] is a sports drink ‘plus,’” Keith Ayoob, EdD, a registered dietitian and associate professor of pediatrics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, tells WebMD. “It will supply you with things you need whether or not you’re working out.”
—Richard Sine, WebMD.com, 2/24/06

In spite of what Mother taught you about the benefits of eating broccoli, data collected by the U.S. government show that the nutritional content of America’s vegetables and fruits has declined during the past 50 years—in some cases dramatically. Donald Davis, a biochemist at the University of Texas,