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New Research by Edith Cowan University: ‘Green Leafy Vegetables Are Essential For Muscle Strength’
Researchers examined data from 3,759 Australians taking part in Melbourne’s Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute AusDiab study over a 12-year period
According to new Edith Cowan University (ECU) research, eating just one cup of leafy green vegetables every day could boost muscle function. The study was published in the Journal of Nutrition; it found that people who consumed a nitrate-rich diet, predominantly from vegetables, had significantly better muscle function of their lower limbs.
Researchers examined data from 3,759 Australians taking part in Melbourne’s Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute AusDiab study over a 12-year period. They found those with the highest regular nitrate consumption had 11 percent stronger lower limb strength than those with the lowest nitrate intake.
According to scitechdaily.com, Lead researcher Dr. Marc Sim from ECU’s Institute for Nutrition Research said the findings reveal important evidence for the role diet plays in overall health. “Our study has shown that diets high in nitrate-rich vegetables may bolster your muscle strength independently of any physical activity,” he said. “Nevertheless, to optimize muscle function we propose that a balanced diet rich in green leafy vegetables in combination with regular exercise, including weight training, is ideal.”
Lead photo: mage: Dreamstime.com
26 Mar 2021
CDC Updates E. coli Outbreak Numbers
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has added 16 more people to an E. coli outbreak investigation of unknown origin
By CHRIS KOGER
November 25, 2020
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has added 16 more people to an E. coli outbreak investigation of unknown origin.
There are now 39 cases in the E. coli O157:H7 outbreak, according to a CDC notice on Nov. 23. The previous number of ill people as 16, according to the CDC. Cases have been reported in 18 states; there have been no deaths.
The CDC and Food and Drug Administration are not advising people to avoid any particular food at this time.
“State and local public health officials are interviewing ill people to determine what they ate and other exposures in the week before they got sick,” according to the CDC’s Nov. 23 update. “Of the 22 ill people interviewed to date, all reported eating a variety of leafy greens, like spinach (16), romaine lettuce (15), iceberg lettuce (12), and mixed bag lettuce (8). No single type or brand of leafy greens or other food item has been identified as the source of this outbreak. CDC is not advising people to avoid any particular food at this time.
Lead photo: (Courtesy CDC)
New Smart Urban Farm Takes Root
Using New Tech, it Can Grow Up to 100 Tonnes
or About 1% of Leafy Vegetables Grown Here
October 23, 2020
An urban farm that aims to produce high-yield greens without sacrificing any flavour by leveraging Internet of Things technology was officially launched yesterday.
Commonwealth Greens took root in Jurong in May. The forest-like farm consists of over 6,200 pillars, each of them 2.4m tall, that are reminiscent of the foliage of trees.
Positioned in six different rooms the size of Housing Board flats, the pillars in each room support one type of leafy green: lettuce, kale, chard or herbs. Hydroponics is used to grow the plants.
The farm can grow up to 100 tonnes of vegetables a year, which is close to 1 per cent of leafy vegetables grown locally.
Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu (centre) viewing Just Harvest, the latest farm to table solution which will be announced soon for potential clients such as hotels, restaurants and cafes. ST PHOTO: TIMOTHY DAVID
During the launch yesterday, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu visited the farm as well as Archisen, the agri-tech firm that set up and manages Commonwealth Greens.
Archisen's co-founder and chief technology officer Sven Yeo said Commonwealth Greens is one of the highest-yielding indoor farms in Singapore and that it will support and contribute to the country's goal to self-produce 30 per cent of its nutritional needs by 2030.
The farm's leafy greens are currently sold on online supermarkets such as RedMart and PandaMart, under the brand Just Produce. Each 100g salad mix that costs between $4 and $4.50 comprises a variety of lettuce and kale, along with either mustard greens, sorrel or mizuna.
From the middle of next month, the farm will start selling speciality herbs - mustard greens, ice plant and sorrel - in 20g boxes which will cost between $4 and $5.
Archisen has also developed a mini version of its farming system.
Shorter pillars brimming with full-grown veggies are stored in a glass cabinet and can be sent to restaurants for direct harvesting. From next month, the company will deploy those cabinets to five hotels, restaurants and food service companies.
Walls of edible greens: This forest-like area is one of six grow rooms in a new urban farm called Commonwealth Greens. Leafy greens such as lettuce, kale, chard and sorrel are grown hydroponically along each 2.4m white pillar. ST PHOTO: TIMOTHY DAVID
It is not just its aesthetic that makes Commonwealth Greens unique.
To ensure optimal yield, fast growth and highly nutritious and flavourful greens, the vertical systems are powered by a smart cockpit that heavily leverages Internet of Things technology, data analytics and sensors.Culinary uses for speciality herbs
ICE PLANT
The edible succulent is coated with tiny, crystal-like beads that give the unique vegetable a frosty, magical appearance.It typically grows in saline environments and its beads trap salt - hence its salty taste.
Archisen grew different sets of ice plant using nutrient solutions filled with either table salt, sea salt or Himalayan pink salt. It was discovered that table and sea salt made the taste too sharp for comfort but Himalayan pink salt was easier on the palate. The mildly salty succulent has a crunchy texture, and is juicy and refreshing.
MUSTARD GREENS
The dainty-looking leaf with the frilly edges can be a healthier substitute for wasabi.
The fierce wasabi heat hits you immediately, spreading down the throat and up the nose. You may tear up a little too.R&D was used to intensify the wasabi flavour.
RED-VEINED SORREL
The leaves can replace lemon juice or dressing in salads. On second bite, the citrusy flavour explodes, giving a sour surprise.Data is continually stored in the cloud, in real time, for the scientists to analyse and to drive automation. For example, if the pH of the nutrient for lettuce reaches unhealthy levels, sensors will alert a device to automatically restore the acidity level."
As we have more growth cycles over time, our data sets increase, and that enables us to construct mathematical models to predict the outcome of how we grow," said Mr Yeo.
Tenders awarded to turn 9 HDB carpark rooftops into urban farming sitesWild teen to urban farmer: He wants to make Singapore a more sustainable and liveable city
Archisen's office, which is one level above Commonwealth Greens, also houses a research lab for conducting experiments and testing new solutions.In the near future, the company plans to build indoor fruit orchards or vineyards.
Parliament: Encourage growth of urban farming to secure Singapore's food supplies, says Ang Wei NengFeeding cities of the future
Scientists in the lab are now growing black, red and green grapes in a controlled environment. In 10 months, the vines have started to bear clusters of grapes, each fruit about the size of a chickpea. Through traditional farming, it takes about three years to fully grow grapes.Although immature and smaller grapes tend to be sour, the black grapes from the lab taste sweet.
A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on October 23, 2020, with the headline 'New smart urban farm takes root'.
Lead photo: Archisen co-founder and chief executive Vincent Wei (left) and chief technology officer and fellow co-founder Sven Yeo seen here with full-grown veggies from the mini version of its farming system, which will be deployed to restaurants and hotels.ST PHOTO: TIMOTHY DAVID
Exploring The Costs And Benefits of Indoor Agriculture
Vertical farming is the shiny new toy in agriculture. It's attracted tremendous media attention and VC investments. Mostly, VC seeks a high rate of return. How has VC investment impacted the business decision making in vertical farming operations?
Leafy GreRobert Colangelo and Matt Roy
Yesterday, the Indoor Agtech kicked off its virtual event, joined by many participants. One, of the many seminars, was about 'Exploring the costs and benefits of indoor agriculture'. Robert Colangelo, Founding Farmer at Green Sense Farms, kicked off the seminar by asking what CEA means to Matt Roy, VP Business Development CEA at Tanimura & Antle. Roy answered, “CEA to me, means anything grown inside. There’s a lot of innovation and disruption happening in the space and I think there’s going to be a lot of different technologies that are going to provide the right solutions here.”
Colangelo: “Is it true that, according to the myth, the leafy greens supply chain is broken and where can it be improved?”
Roy stated that one of the misconceptions out there is that there’s this big waste field on the West Coast on how products are grown, harvested, and shipped out. “It’s actually highly innovative and from innovation, technology, and sustainability standpoint, there’s a lot of exciting things happening out there. I continue to be amazed at how well we are able to get fresh fruits and vegetables across the country. A lot of things we’re trying to achieve indoors, in a lot of ways we have accomplished that outdoors. From growing it, getting it harvested efficiently, timely, and done food safely, we’re getting high quality, nutritious fresh produce across the country in a matter of days.”
Colangelo: “Can you give us a quick thumbnail of the different touchpoints, from seed in the field to the supermarket, how does that level travel and where do you see waste along that line?”
Roy: Naturally, with any farming, indoor, or outdoor there is going to be some level of waste. Obviously, putting products on a truck for five days brings challenges and vulnerability along. A misperception is that all of the food is left in the field, but in a lot of ways, it’s organic material feeding the soil. Just because leaves are left in the field after harvesting, it might be viewed as waste, but it goes back in the dirt and provides nutrition to the soil.
Colangelo: "A challenge in vertical farming is packing on a large economy of scale. What are the challenges of packing as a smaller scaled farm with few centralized packing houses near? How do you get packing done economically?"
Roy: “Hyperlocal smaller farms bring value to the supply chain and continue to provide additional ways to provide nutritious products to consumers. I think it’s going to be one of the challenges, and it’s a huge component that is not talked about a lot. There’s a lot of discussion on the growing side, but I think that we need more conversation on what innovation looks like on the packing side. What is looks like for hydro-cooling, think of everything shipped out from the West Coast, is hydro-cooled. So, when growing indoors, pulling the heat out of the product to ensure you have the shelf life needed out of it. It’s a big piece that needs to be solved.
Colangelo: “Most of the packing equipment is geared to large-scale production and there's very little cost-effective low scale packing equipment out there. So I agree, that it’s an area that we all need to work out. Looking at product recall, there's been a number of recalls with field-grown lettuce, but I've not heard of any from a vertical farm. So, can you talk a little bit about health and safety, and food safety when it comes to field production versus indoor growing?”
Roy: “The challenge has been full case-level traceability. A lot of work was done around the first traceability initiative. But, until all channels of the supply chain jump all in together around traceability, it's going to continue to be a challenge rather outdoors or indoors. Controlling more elements inside allows to produce a safer product, but in a lot of ways, it creates more risk because it's easier to contaminate all of your crops. So it’s really an all-in from everybody jump in and says we're going to prioritize food safety. And yes, this product might be 50 cents or a dollar more of a product, but we're putting a premium on food safety. We know these ‘five golden rules’ they are compliant against and we're going to pay a premium for that. As a buyer, you’re not looking at food safety first, so it’s actually a broader conversation that impacts both indoor and outdoor. It's great to have you here with your unique perspective both as a buyer and now our producer.”
Colangelo: Vertical farming is the shiny new toy in agriculture. It's attracted tremendous media attention and VC investments. Mostly, VC seeks a high rate of return. How has VC investment impacted the business decision making in vertical farming operations?
Roy: “I think it creates a different pressure. Whereas, if you're a self-funded or institutionally funded organization, there's more of a long view on what you're doing and when you're crawled by VC money there's a higher expectation on the return. I think that in a lot of ways vertical is still early stage and technology has not gone to a point that had a mass scale to produce cost-effectively. The market has not matured enough to demand a premium to get those returns. The pressure impacts your day-to-day decisions as a business leader. Are you going to make the right decisions, long-term, for the help of a product in your business, or, are you going to make some short-term decisions that might not allow long-term success in your business?
Colangelo: “Banks don’t provide debt finances to new ventures. Private equity and VC being the only few sources, how do new ideas get funded in this market?”
Roy: “In the last four of five years, from an investment side people have really have given more attention to how much food is consumed, and the size of the industries, the supply chains around products. In general, the energy coming into the food space, investing, bringing innovation and new ideas to disruption is all very exciting, but I think you speak to that challenge. ‘How do you balance funding your business to get started, while still staying true to your principles and creating something long-term?’ So I think that these many people were battling with these challenges. From a macro view to me, it's exciting to see a lot more VC money coming into fresh produce than you’ve seen historically. With that will come continued innovation and disruption.”
For more information:
Green Sense Farms
Robert Colangelo, Founding Farmer
www.greensensefarms.com
Tanimura & Antle
Matt Roy, VP Business Development CEA
www.taproduce.com
Indoor AgTech Innovation Summit
www.indooragtechnyc.com
Publication date: Fri 24 Jul 2020
Author: Rebekka Boekhout
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