UA-Led Consortium Awarded $2.5 Million Grant To Study Antioxidants In Food Crops

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - The University of Arkansas is the lead institution in a new research consortium to help consumers benefit from antioxidants and other medicinal substances derived from crops grown in the Mid-South.

The three-year project is funded in part by a $2.5 million grant from the Initiative for Future Agricultural and Food Systems, administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The grant is for work by a consortium of scientists at five institutions led by the U of A Division of Agriculture. Luke Howard and Terry Siebenmorgen, department of food science, are leaders of the UA team of nine scientists from the horticulture, chemical engineering and food science departments.

Dean Charles Scifres of the Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences said this was the first year of the Initiative for Future Agricultural and Food Systems competitive grants program created by Congress last year. Scifres is also vice-president for research with the U of A System Division of Agriculture.

"Competition for these grants was intense. Only nine percent of those submitted were funded," Scifres said. "This is indicative of the growing national competitiveness of our faculty."

He said the project reflects increased emphasis on helping the state’s agricultural and food industry to benefit from new discoveries in molecular biology and other new technologies.

"Our scientists are focusing not only on improving the nutritional value of foods, but also the medicinal value of foods," Scifres said.

Howard said the research team will identify and document levels of specific antioxidants and other medicinal compounds in varieties and breeding lines of rice, blueberries, red grapes, spinach and watermelon. U of A research has already shown that antioxidants can be increased by conventional plant breeding methods.

Other research objectives are to:

• determine effects of production, storage and processing methods on phytonutrients;
• develop methods to extract, concentrate and stabilize bioactive phytonutrients.
• evaluate health benefits of phytonutrients in whole food products or as dietary supplements; and
• develop consumer education material on health benefits of phytonutrient-rich foods.

The work with crops and processing methods to extract, concentrate and stabilize phytonutrients will be conducted at the U of A, Louisiana State University, and USDA Agricultural Research Service laboratories for Rice in Beaumont, Texas, and fruit and vegetable crops at Lane, Oklahoma.

A major part of the project will be clinical research at Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge to evaluate health benefits of phytonutrients in whole food products or concentrated extracts. The researchers will determine physiological mechanisms involved through DNA blood analysis using volunteers on specific diets and through animal feeding trials.

Howard said antioxidants are a focus of research on what are called "functional foods," because they tie up free radicals that cause oxidation of body tissue. "An analogy is to say that our bodies are rusting, and antioxidants stop the rusting," he said.

Howard said compounds in the crops in this project provide purported health benefits for prevention or treatment of chronic degenerative diseases including coronary heart disease, various types of cancer, diabetes, stroke and hypertension.

"In addition to antioxidant benefits, many phytonutrients retard various hormone actions and metabolic pathways that are associated with the development of chronic diseases," Howard said.

In 1999, researchers at the U of A and the USDA lab at Lane, Okla., screened fruits and vegetables in their plant breeding programs for phytonutrient composition and total antioxidant capacity. They found ample genetic diversity for genetic enhancement.

Farmers could benefit from increased demand for crops -- or specific varieties of crops -- with high levels of antioxidants.

A red wine grape breeding line at the U of A has exceptionally high levels of certain antioxidants. The grape could be grown specifically for extraction of antioxidants, provided efficient methods are developed for extracting and stabilizing the antioxidants, Howard said.

Other UA faculty on the project are Terry Howell, food science; Teddy Morelock, John Clark and Brad Murphy, horticulture; Robert Cross and Robert Beitle, chemical engineering; and Rosemary Rodibaugh, extension nutrition specialist.

Other scientists include Sam Godber and Maren Hegsted at LSU; Christine Bergman at the USDA-ARS, Beaumont, Texas; Penny Perkins-Veazie, USDA-ARS, Lane, Okla.; and Michael Lefevre, Jim Delany and Marlene Most-Windhauser at Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge.