WASHINGTON — The most definitive nutrient profiles for many foods made possible by new methods designed by ARS scientists are among the new nutrition and health findings in the latest issue of the Agricultural Research Service’s (ARS) Food and Nutrition Research Briefs.

The latest issue, which reports discoveries from researchers at ARS laboratories nationwide, can be found at https://www.ars.usda.gov/oc/fnrb/2018/fnrb0718/

Among other findings, the current issue reports—

• U.S. consumers waste almost a pound (422 grams) of food per person daily. Of the 22 food groups studied, fruits, vegetables, and mixed fruit and vegetable dishes (39 percent of total) were wasted the most—followed by dairy (17 percent) and meat and mixed-meat dishes (14 percent).

• A human nutrition study reaffirmed the health benefits of substituting whole-grain foods like whole-wheat bread, oatmeal, barley, rye, and brown or wild rice for refined-grain products like white bread in the diet. The study was the first to strictly control participants’ diet, weight and type of whole-grain products they consumed. Among the results, those in the whole-grain group lost about 100 more calories per day than refined-grain eaters.

ARS Food and Nutrition Research Briefs are available on the Web. Readers can sign up for either of two e-mail options: full text of the newsletter or an advisory when a new issue is available.

The Agricultural Research Service is the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s chief scientific in-house research agency. Daily, ARS focuses on solutions to agricultural problems affecting America. Each dollar invested in agricultural research results in $20 of economic impact.

–USDA ARS

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