permaculture

["Sharon Gordon" <gordonse@one.net>]

In addition to the nutrition info, this could offer ideas for additional
food resources, and possibly info about food preparation.

Sharon
*************************************
----- Original Message -----
From: "ARS News Service" <NewsService@ars.usda.gov>
To: "ARS News subscriber" <gordonse@one.net>
Sent: Friday, September 09, 2005 8:25 AM
Subject: Improving dietary guidance for native communities


> STORY LEAD:
> Food Samples Travel Thousands of Miles for Analysis
> ___________________________________________
>
> ARS News Service
> Agricultural Research Service, USDA
> Rosalie Marion Bliss, (301) 504-4318, rbliss@ars.usda.gov
> September 9, 2005
> --View this report online, plus any included photos or other images, at
www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr
> ___________________________________________
>
> A database that lists the nutrient content of traditional foods commonly
eaten by American Indians and Alaska Natives is being developed by
Agricultural Research Service (ARS) nutritionists and colleagues. To that
end, Alaska Natives have been hunting and fishing for foods that represent
their daily fare--not to eat, but to be shipped to ARS for nutrient
analysis.
>
> Brined salmon, caribou rump meat and bearded seal meat are just a few of
the samples being packed in dry ice and shipped from the Point Hope region
of Alaska to the ARS Nutrient Data Laboratory in Beltsville, Md.  Other
remote locations from which food is being collected include the Ft. Hall
ShoBan reservation in southern Idaho and a large Navaho reservation in
Arizona.
>
> The project is coordinated by Pamela Pehrsson, a nutritionist with ARS'
Nutrient Data Laboratory, and colleagues.
>
> The native foods that have already been analyzed are being added to a
comprehensive nutrient database of more than 7,000 foods.  The database is
available on the Nutrient Data Laboratory website.  The efforts will
ultimately fuel the USDA-ARS American Indian/Alaska Native Foods Database, a
special interest database that will be released as a stand-alone resource on
the same website in 2006.
>
> The data for these unique foods are important for providing wider
representation within nationwide food consumption surveys, since dietary
practices among these communities differ from those of the general U.S.
population.  As a result, the database will enable nutrition researchers to
more accurately assess nutrient intake within these populations.  The data
are also important to the ability of health care workers to provide
appropriate nutrition guidance within native communities.
>
> Read more about this research in the September issue of Agricultural
Research magazine, available online at:
> http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/sep05/native0905.htm
>
> ARS is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief in-house scientific
research agency.
> ___________________________________________
>
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