Food Resource Management Education With SNAP Participation Improves Food Security.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the influence of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and participant demographics on nutrition education outcomes. METHODS: At program enrollment (pre) and 1 month later (post), a statewide convenience sample of adults, who participated in the Plan, Shop, Save, and Cook program, completed a 7-item questionnaire to evaluate change in resource management skills (RMS) and running out of food before the end of the month. RESULTS: Percent of participants (n = 3,744) who reported behavioral improvements in RMS ranged from 38.8% in comparing prices to 54% in reading labels. Female gender and Hispanic ethnicity were positively related to pre-post RMS change (P = .001). Participants who received SNAP food assistance and made greater pre-post improvement in RMS reported the greatest decrease in running out of food (P = .001). CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Both food assistance and education on nutrition and resource management are needed to reduce food insecurity in SNAP-eligible audiences.

Development and use of an evaluation tool for taste-testing activities by school-aged children.

We describe the development and application of a teacher-administered tool for routine program evaluation of food-tasting activities among low-income children and adolescents in a classroom or afterschool setting. This six-item evaluation tool is intended to capture student willingness to try new foods and ask for them at home. Phase 1 involved one-on-one interviews to determine the feasibility of the taste test tool among nine elementary school teachers in 2009 (168 students) and a validation pilot study in 2010 among 114 school-aged students participating in a University of California Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Nutrition Education (UC SNAP-Ed) summer program. Phase 2 determined instrument reliability and compared student response by grade level and food category in a convenience sample of 514 UC SNAP-Ed classrooms in 2010-2011. The mean proportion of the classroom ever having tried the foods before was 0.62 ± 0.33, and 0.77 ± 0.27 were willing to ask for the foods at home (P<0.0001). Compared with younger students (preschool through sixth grade), older students (seventh through 12th grade) were less likely to try the foods in class and less willing to try them again or ask for them at home (P<0.05). Students reported significantly greater previous exposure and willingness to try the food again for fruits than for vegetables (P<0.0001). A teacher-administered taste test tool is feasible to use in a group setting and capable of yielding valid, reliable information to evaluate student response and to guide SNAP-Ed program delivery.

Zinc absorption from low phytic acid genotypes of maize (Zea mays L.), Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), and Rice (Oryza sativa L.) assessed in a suckling rat pup model.

Dietary phytic acid is a major causative factor for low Zn bioavailability in many cereal- and legume-based diets. The bioavailability of Zn in seed of low phytic acid (lpa) variants of maize ( Zea mays L.), rice ( Oryza sativa L.), and barley ( Hordeum vulgare L.) was evaluated using a suckling rat pup model. Suckling rat pups (14 days old, n = 6-8/treatment) were fasted for 6 h and intubated with (65)Zn-radiolabeled suspensions prepared using seed produced by either wild-type (normal phytic acid) or lpa genotypes of each cereal. Test solutions were radiolabeled overnight (all genotypes) or immediately prior to intubation (barley genotypes). Pups were killed 6 h postintubation and tissues removed and counted in a gamma counter. Zn absorption was low from wild-type genotypes of maize (21, 33%) and rice (26%), and phytic acid reduction resulted in significantly higher Zn absorption, 47-52 and 35-52%, respectively. Zn absorption from wild-type barley incubated overnight was high (86-91%), and phytate reduction did not improve Zn absorption (84-90%), which is likely due to endogenous phytase activity. When the wild-type barley solutions were prepared immediately before intubation, Zn absorption was significantly lower (63, 78%) than from the lpa cultivars (92, 96%). Variation in seed or flour phenolic acid levels did not affect Zn absorption. Differences in seed Zn levels did not substantially affect Zn absorption. Thus, when phytic acid is abundant in a diet, it has a larger effect on Zn absorption than the level of Zn. Therefore, reducing the phytic acid content of staple cereal grains may contribute to enhancing Zn nutrition of populations consuming these staple foods.

Common mechanism of recognition and binding of the complementary molecules, carbohydrate-lectin, in the verticillium disease of Agaricus bisporus and Pleurotus ostreatus cultivated mushrooms

Se compara la interacción carbohidrato-lectina entre el glucogalactomananoaislado de las paredes celulares de Verticillium fungicola y las lectinas de los carpóforosde Agaricus bisporus o de Pleurotus ostreatus, para establecer el mecanismomolecular de la «mole seca» o verticiliosis de los cultivos comerciales de ambassetas comestibles. La interacción entre las moléculas complementarias, «moléculasdiana», parece ser debida a la galactosa terminal unida en (1-4) al esqueleto demanosa unido en (1-6) de la molécula del glucogalactomanano de V. fungicola

The carbohydrate-lectin interaction between the isolated glucogalactomannanof Verticillium fungicola cell walls, and lectins, either from Agaricus bisporus orPleurotus ostreatus fruit bodies, was compared in order to establish the molecularmechanism of the «dry bubble» or verticillium disease exhibited in the commercialcultures of both edible mushrooms. This interaction between complementarymolecules, «target molecules», appears to be due to the terminal galactose linkedat (1-4) to the (1-6) mannose bone of the V. fungicola glucogalactomannan molecule

Efecto del fungicida procloraz-manganeso en la verticiliosis del champiñón cultivado / The effect of the fungicide prochloraz-manganese on the verticillium disease of the cultivated white mushroom

El procloraz-manganeso, fungicida usado rutinariamente para controlar la verticiliosis o «mole seca» de los cultivos comerciales de champiñón producida por el hongo Hifomiceto Verticillium fungicola, en la DL50 calculada para el patógeno, inhibe parcialmente la síntesis de proteínas de sus paredes celulares, reestructurando al mismo tiempo, ciertos polisacáridos neutros de las mismas paredes celulares. El hongo hospedador, el Basidiomiceto Agaricus bisporus cultivado para la alimentación humana, tratado con su correspondiente DL50 de procloraz-manganeso, modifica también parcialmente las proteínas y determinados polisacáridos de las paredes celulares de su micelio vegetativo. Sin embargo las paredes celulares del micelio agregado (carpóforos) de A. bisporus, utilizando la citada DL50 o la DL50 x1000 de dicho fungicida, reestructuran de forma algo distinta sus componentes mayoritarios de acuerdo con la dosis empleada. El efecto progresivo del proclorazmanganeso se manifiesta también inhibiendo parcialmente la producción industrial de champiñón y modificando ligeramente la morfología de la superficie de los carpóforos

The prochloraz-manganese, fungicide routinarily used to control the verticillium disease or «dry bubble» of the white mushroom commercial cultures, produced by the fungus Hyphomycete Verticillium fungicola, in the presence of the LD50 calculated for the pathogen, partially inhibits the protein synthesis of its cell walls, while at the same time, restructuring certain neutral polysaccharides of the same cell walls. The host fungus, the Basidiomycete Agaricus bisporus cultivated for human nutrition, treated with its corresponding LD50 of prochloraz-manganese also partially modifies its vegetative mycelial cell walls with regard to the proteins and determined polysaccharides. However the aggregated mycelial cell walls of the A. bisporus fruit bodies using the cited LD50 or the LD50 x1000 of the same fungicide, restructure their major components in a rather distinct way according to the amounts employed. The progressive effect of the prochloraz-manganese is also evidenced by the partial inhibition of the industrial production of white mushrooms and the slight modifications of the surface morphology of the fruit bodies

El micoparasitismo de Verticillium fungicola sobre los carpóforos de Agaricus bisporus: la verticiliosis o «mole seca» del champiñón / The Verticillium fungicola mycoparasitism on the Agaricus bisporus fruit bodies: the Verticillium disease or dry bubble of mushrooms

La presente revisión contempla diferentes aspectos de la micosis producida por Verticillium fungicola en los cultivos comerciales de Agaricus bisporus o champiñón. Las diferentes interacciones producidas por la estructura química característica de las paredes celulares de ambos organismos: a) la adhesión inespecífica debida a la presencia de la proteína hidrofobina en las tres clases de paredes celulares estudiadas (micelios vegetativo y agregado de A. bisporus y micelio de V. fungicola), b) el reconocimiento y unión específicos entre el polisacárido glucogalactomanano de las paredes celulares de V. fungicola y la glicoproteína lectina del micelio agregado de A. bisporus, y c) finalmente la degradación enzimática selectiva de las paredes celulares del micelio agregado o carpóforos de este último organismo por las enzimas líticas de V. fungicola, constituyen los puntos desarrollados

The present review describes different aspects of the mycosis produced by Verticillium fungicola on the industrial cultures of Agaricus bisporus or common white buttom mushroom. The different interactions produced by the characteristic chemical structure of the cell walls of both organisms: a) the unspecific adhesion due to the presence of the protein hydrophobin in the three kinds of cell walls studied (A. bisporus vegetative and aggregated mycelia and V. fungicola mycelium), b) the specific recognition and binding between the polysaccharide glucogalactomannan from the V. fungicola cell walls with the A. bisporus aggregated mycelium glycoprotein lectin, and c) finally the selective enzymatic degradation of the fruit body cell walls of this last organism by the V. fungicola lytic enzymes, constitute the points developed

Comparative effect of the fungicide Prochloraz-Mnon Agaricus bisporus vegetative-mycelium and fruit-body cell walls / Estudios comparativos del efecto del fungicida Prochloraz-Mn sobre las paredes celulares del micelio vegetativo y de los cuerpos fructíferos de Agaricus bisporus

Fungicides to control mycopathogens of commercial Agaricus bisporus, a mushroom cultivated for human consumption, are a major field of study, since these chemicals are toxic to both the host and its fungal parasites. The fungicide Prochloraz-Mn, used at its LD50 for A. bisporus, partially inhibited protein biosynthesis in the vegetative my celial cell walls of this mushroom and caused significant changes in cell-wall polysaccharide structure, as deduced by methylation analysis and gas liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (GLC-MS).Furthermore, the aggregated my celial walls showed distinct alterations in their overall chemical composition following the administration of Prochloraz-Mn at the LD50 and the LD50 ×1000. As expected, GLC-MS studies indicated that the latter dose caused more appreciable differences in polysaccharide structure. The decrease in mushroom crop yields obtained from industrial cultures treated with Prochloraz-Mn to control V. fungicola infection depended on the dose of the fungicide employed, whereas fruit-body morphology was only slightly affected at the highest Prochloraz-Mn concentration used (AU)

Los fungicidas para el control de micopatógenos de Agaricusbisporus, un hongo de cultivo comercial para consumo humano, representan un importante tema de estudio debido a que son tóxicos tanto para el huésped como para sus parásitos fúngicos. El fungicida Prochloraz-Mn, empleado a su LD50 para A. bisporus, inhibe parcialmente la biosíntesis de proteínas en las pared celular del micelio vegetativo de este hongo y provoca cambios significativos en la estructura polisacárida de la pared celular, tal como se observa mediante el análisis de metilación y la cromatografía líquida de gases-espectrometría de masa (GLC-MS). Además, las paredes agregadas del micelio presentan diferentes alteraciones en la composición química global después de la administración de Prochloraz-Mn a la LD50 y LD50×1000. Como cabría esperar, los estudios de GLC-MS, indican que la última dosis causa más diferencias apreciables en la estructura polisacárida. La disminución en la producción del hongo en los cultivos industriales tratados con Prochloraz-Mn para controlar la infección por V. fungicola, dependía de la dosis de fungicida empleada, mientras que la morfología del cuerpo fructífero sólo resulta ligeramente afectada a la concentración de Prochloraz-Mnmás elevada (AU)

Effect of a micronutrient fortificant mixture and 2 amounts of calcium on iron and zinc absorption from a processed food supplement.

BACKGROUND: Iron, zinc, and calcium can interact with each other in a way that inhibits their respective absorption. On the other hand, mineral fortification has been used to improve simultaneous iron and zinc absorption from food supplements. OBJECTIVE: We evaluated the effect of a novel fortificant mixture consisting of NaFeEDTA, zinc methionine, ascorbic acid, and citric acid on iron and zinc absorption from a dry food supplement designed for preschool children. DESIGN: The standard food supplement contained cereal and legume flour, dried milk, and a mixture of micronutrients including ferrous sulfate and zinc sulfate as sources of supplemental iron and zinc, respectively. Standard and novel food products were prepared as porridge with or without the addition of 200 mg Ca as calcium phosphate. Iron absorption and zinc absorption from the food products were evaluated simultaneously in 13 nonpregnant, adult women by extrinsically labeling the products with radioisotopes of iron and zinc and carrying out whole-body counting 7 d after the food products were consumed in random order. RESULTS: The absorption of iron from the NaFeEDTA-containing (novel) food product was 1.7 times that from the ferrous sulfate-containing (standard) product (P = 0.015). There was no significant effect of dietary calcium on iron absorption. Zinc absorption was not associated with the form of zinc consumed, but higher dietary calcium was marginally associated with lower zinc absorption (P = 0.071). CONCLUSIONS: A mixture of fortificants containing NaFeEDTA, zinc sulfate or zinc methionine, ascorbic acid, and citric acid, but without calcium, can improve iron and zinc absorption from food products. A cost-benefit analysis of the novel fortificant mixture needs to be performed.

Comparative effect of the fungicide Prochloraz-Mn on Agaricus bisporus vegetative-mycelium and fruit-body cell walls.

Fungicides to control mycopathogens of commercial Agaricus bisporus, a mushroom cultivated for human consumption, are a major field of study, since these chemicals are toxic to both the host and its fungal parasites. The fungicide Prochloraz-Mn, used at its LD50 for A. bisporus, partially inhibited protein biosynthesis in the vegetative mycelial cell walls of this mushroom and caused significant changes in cell-wall polysaccharide structure, as deduced by methylation analysis and gas liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (GLC-MS). Furthermore, the aggregated mycelial walls showed distinct alterations in their overall chemical composition following the administration of Prochloraz-Mn at the LD50 and the LD50 x1000. As expected, GLC-MS studies indicated that the latter dose caused more appreciable differences in polysaccharide structure. The decrease in mushroom crop yields obtained from industrial cultures treated with Prochloraz-Mn to control V. fungicola infection depended on the dose of the fungicide employed, whereas fruit-body morphology was only slightly affected at the highest Prochloraz-Mn concentration used.

Verticillium disease or "dry bubble" of cultivated mushrooms: the Agaricus bisporus lectin recognizes and binds the Verticillium fungicola cell wall glucogalactomannan.

The step of recognition and (or) binding for the development of the disease of the cultivated mushroom Agaricus bisporus by the mycoparasite Verticillium fungicola was studied by several approaches: agglutination of V. fungicola germinated spores by an A. bisporus extract from fruit body cell walls, immunofluorescence microscopy of A. bisporus hyphae from fruit bodies and vegetative mycelia pretreated with purified V. fungicola cell wall glucogalactomannan, and finally, by hemagglutination experiments carried out with an A. bisporus fruit body lectin in the presence and absence of the same glucogalactomannan. Hemagglutinating activity of the purified A. bisporus fruit body lectin was clearly inhibited by the V. fungicola glucogalactomannan, whereas in the A. bisporus vegetative mycelium such lectin was not encountered. All the results obtained make evident the recognition and binding of the A. bisporus fruit body lectin to the V. fungicola cell wall glucogalactomannan, clarifying why the mushrooms, but not the vegetative mycelium, become diseased.

El cultivo de los hongos superiores comestibles, un recurso de desarrollo ineludible en el siglo XXI / Edible higher fungi cultivation, a resource of inevitable development in the XXI century

El cultivo comercial de setas comestibles constituye hoy día una fuente alternativa de alimentación que implica una industria expandida en casi todo el mundo y que alcanza una producción de 4,5 millones de toneladas por año. Las seis especies cultivadas a escala industrial son Agaricus bisporus (champiñón), Lentinus edodes (lentinelo anisado o "shiitake"), Pleurotus ostreatus (seta en forma de ostra o de concha), Auricularia auricula-judge ("oreja de Judas"), Volvariella volvacea (seta china o de la paja de arroz) y Flammulina velutipes (seta de invierno o pie de terciopelo). Pero, además de su demostrado potencial en la alimentación humana, estos hongos superiores muestran otras importantes aplicaciones biotecnológicas: son productores de moléculas con propiedades farmaceúticas, reducen el nivel de residuos lignocelulósicos de la naturaleza contribuyendo a la restauración del ecosistema de nuestro planeta y a la eliminación biológica de contaminantes, y los substratos de su cultivo agotados, conteniendo la biomasa micelial, constituyen buenos alimentos para animales así como fertilizantes para el cultivo de plantas (AU)

Properties of a hydrophobin isolated from the mycoparasitic fungus Verticillium fungicola.

Verticillium fungicola, isolated from Agaricus bisporus (commercial mushroom), produced significant extracellular hydrophobin when grown for 7 days in a static liquid culture of synthetic minimal medium. The hydrophobin was purified by precipitation with ammonium sulphate (80% saturation), Sephadex G-100 gel filtration, and hydroxyapatite column chromatography. The purified protein yielded a single band in polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis under native conditions, with an apparent molecular mass of 70 +/- 4 kDa, and also another single band in SDS-PAGE, with a molecular mass of 7 +/- 3 kDa. Molecular mass determined with matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) resulted in 7563.9 m/z. The same protein was extracted from the V. fungicola mycelium. Analysis of the amino acid composition revealed the presence of about 50% hydrophobic residues, detecting at least six cysteines, evaluated as cystines, and no free sulfhydryl groups. The protein did not show any glycosylation. On the basis of similarities in hydropathy patterns and solubility characteristics, V. fungicola hydrophobin can be included as a new member of Class II hydrophobins.

Absorption of unlabeled reduced iron of small particle size from a commercial source. A method to predict absorption of unlabeled iron compounds in humans

The absorption of a commercial brand of small-particle reduced iron was evaluated in 10 normal subjects. For each subject, the hemoglobin incorporation method was used to measure the true absorption of 60 mg of iron from either ferrous sulfate or ferric ammonium citrate. The iron tolerance test (ITT) was also studied for these two compounds and for reduced iron. This procedure consisted of measuring the area under the curve of plasma iron elevations at specified times for 6 hours, or the peak plasma iron, corrected by the plasma iron disappearance rate obtained from measuring plasma iron at specified times for 4 hours after the slow intravenous injection of 0.4 mg of iron as ferric citrate. Only the ITT was used to measure the absorption of 60 mg of reduced iron. Reference dose iron ascorbate absorption was measured in each subject. The absorption of ferric ammonium citrate and reduced iron was expressed as percent of dose and also as absorption percent of that of ferrous sulfate. Mean geometric "true absorptions" were 39.0 for reference dose, 10.4 for FeSO4 and 2.4 for ferric ammonium citrate. The later was 23 that of FeSO4. By ITT the mean geometric absorptions were 7.9, 3.7 and 3.2 for FeSO4, ferric ammonium citrate and reduced iron respectively, or 47 and 41 of that of FeSO4. We propose that the true absorption of the commercial brand of reduced iron tested was 20 that of FeSO4 based on the relation between the ITT results of reduced iron and the ITT and true absorption values of ferric ammonium citrate in relation to FeSO4. The use of this method for measuring absorption of unlabeled iron compounds is discussed.

Algunos aspectos estructurales y funcionales de la pared celular de Agaricus bisporus y sus aplicaciones más inmediatas / Some structural and functional aspects on Agaricus bisporus cell wall and their more inmediate applications

Después de una breve introducción en la que se describe la trayectoria científica de la autora, previa a su presentación en esta Academia, se abordan algunos aspectos de la estructura y función de la pared celular de Agaricus bisporus, hongo Basidomiceto superior cultivado industrialmente para la alimentación humana, más conocido como champiñón común. Se resalta la importancia de ciertos componentes estructurales de esta envoltura celular externa, por sus aplicaciones como marcadores bioquímicos para la protección legal de cepas de interés comercial, y como barrera a vencer previamente a la necesaria mejora genética de este organismo, e igualmente por su papel no sólo estructural sino también funcional en el control de la verticiliosis, la enfermedad más dañina en los cultivos industriales del champiñón (AU)