Human Health & Nutrition

Banishing Bad Bacteria: Controlling E. Coli To Protect Poultry and People

Dr. Mellata and her team’s project focuses on improving food safety by reducing harmful bacteria in poultry products. Its major goals are: 1) advance our understanding of the zoonotic...

Boosting Broccoli

Broccoli is a high-value crop worth nearly one billion dollars per year. Although there is growing consumption in the Eastern United States, very little broccoli has been produced there....

Creating a Fingerprint Database for Foodborne Pathogens

Dr. Bart Weimer and his team at UC Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine, are creating a massive database of genome signatures— collecting the “fingerprints” of 65,000 strains of...

Defending Diabetics: Developing Flavonoid-enriched Foods to Prevent and Treat Diabetes

More than 30 million Americans have diabetes and more than 80 million American adults have prediabetes. Dr. Shengmin Sang is working to determine if there are dietary strategies focused...

Developing an Onsite Solution for Safer Food

Dr. Woubit Abdela, Dr. Temesgen Samuel, and Dr. Teshome Yehualaeshet at Tuskegee University have tinkered with a 30-year-old genetics tool to invent a fast and portable foodborne illness...

Diversifying Dinner: Creating Hybrid Wheat for Improved Productivity and Nutrition

Wheat provides 20 percent of the protein and 20 percent of the calories consumed by humans worldwide. By developing cross-pollinating hybrids, scientists hope to leverage the natural...

Fighting Childhood Obesity With Better Marketing

Marketers have mastered the art of generating impulse purchases at grocery stores. Customers waiting in line find tantalizing candy and other treats within their reach. Dr. David Just is...

Harnessing Plants to Produce Safer, Less Expensive Drugs

Dr. Elizabeth Sattely and her team are exploring how plants can be re-engineered to serve as miniature chemical production facilities to produce a wide array of biological agents.

Helping Hearts: Discovering the Impacts of Flavonoids and Interpersonal Gut Variations to Improve Cardiovascular Health

The American Heart Association notes a recent study that showed millions of people worldwide could prevent early deaths and disability from heart disease by eating more fruits and...

Highlighting Human Health

Investments in agricultural research provide a boost to improve human health. With the sequencing of the swine (pig) genome, there are new opportunities to research with models that are...

Influencing Inflammation: Boosting Gut Health to Help Obese Adults

Inflammation is a major cause of health problems. Drs. Hutkins and Walter and their collaborators set out to improve gut health by using a novel formulation of probiotics (healthy...

North Carolina Cooperative Extension Creates $300 Million Economic Impact

At North Carolina State University, Cooperative Extension educators taught classes that empowered people to make better-informed decisions in communities across the state.

Reducing Allergens in Peanuts

Nearly three million children and adults in the U.S. suffer from peanut allergies and their severe medical consequences. Dr. Jianmei Yu and her colleagues at N.C. State University...

Sensing Safety: Deploying Sensors to Safeguard the Food Supply

To protect against foodborne illnesses, researchers at North Carolina State University are working to keep certain disease-causing microorganisms out of the food supply entirely.

Targeting Gut Microbes to Fight Malnutrition

Nutrient-dense therapeutic foods have reduced deaths from childhood malnutrition but do little to improve long-term problems linked to the condition, including stunted growth, impaired...

Thinking Tiny: Blocking Pathogenic Bacteria With Nanoengineered Surfaces

Foodborne illnesses can be caused by food coming in contact with bacteria on surfaces in food-processing plants, restaurants, and households. When enough bacteria congregate, they create...

Tracking and Minimizing Foodborne Bacteria With Cutting-edge Technology

Dr. Rodolphe Barrangou is using a new technology known as CRISPR, which dramatically speeds up the editing of bacterial genetics, to examine the pathogen’s DNA and determine its origin...

Treasuring Thiamin: Optimizing Vitamin B1 Delivery in Food Products

People suffering from thiamin deficiencies often don’t know the cause of their symptoms, which may include exhaustion, loss of appetite, and shortness of breath. Dr. Mauer and Dr....

Valuing Vegetables: Investigating Broccoli to Improve Gut Health

Dr. Perdew explains that all cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, brussels sprouts, kale, cabbage, cauliflower) contain an organic chemical compound called “indole glucosinolates.” When that...

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