Researchers have been able to provide and validate new tools for assessment of diet, energy expenditure, and body composition in growing children, which can be used in the development of new guidelines for dietary energy needs in children. Vitamin A Critical to Embryonic Development. Numerous studies have shown that adequate vitamin A is critical for normal embryonic and fetal development in humans. Maternal insufficiency of vitamin A during pregnancy results in several abnormalities and death of the fetus. Investigators used an avian model to look at the physiological function of vitamin A in early development.
Studies show a role for vitamin A in heart, central nervous system and vascular system development.
Food Safety New Product Reduces Salmonella in Chickens. Industry and USDA scientists developed a new product that can significantly reduce Salmonella in chickens. The product, a mixture of 29 live, harmless bacteria, is sprayed on newly hatched chicks who peck at their feathers and consume the solution. The culture colonizes in the gastrointestinal tract of the chicks and prevents growth of Salmonella bacteria. This new product will work to combat the estimated 2 million cases of Salmonella poisoning each year.