It’s good for you, mate

I’ve tasted mate tea, made from the herb Ilex paraguariensis, and I have to say it is a mystery to me how so many Argentinians (and others) could be totally hooked on the stuff. Maybe because they knew all along it was so good for them. ((A comprehensive review was published in the Journal of food Science.)) Now science agrees. Elvira de Majia, of the University of Illinois, discovered that mate drinkers in her lab had greater activity in an enzyme that increases HDL (good) cholesterol while lowering LDL (bad) cholesterol. On that basis, and mate’s many other health benefits, she secured a deal with Argentina to study in detail 84 different varieties of mate, including wild populations. According to the press release:

“Our studies show that some of the most important antioxidant enzymes in the body are induced by this herbal tea,” said de Mejia of her study in September’s Planta Medica. ((Which is here, but you need to be a subscriber.))

“Because Argentina has the different mate varieties, we’ll be able to do more comparisons and characterizations between the different genotypes and the benefits of different growing conditions—whether in sun (on a plantation) or in shade (under the rainforest canopy),” she added.

There’s also interest in adding the active ingredient(s) to processed food. There always is.

Cherry blossom on the move

Andy Jarvis writes:
We’ve long known that climate change is shifting the seasons, and plants appear to be flowering earlier in spring. But a recent study of flowering in 17 species and varieties of cherry trees in Japan had some interesting results that highlight the value of agricultural biodiversity. ((Abraham J. Miller-Rushing et al. (2007), Impact of global warming on a group of related species and their hybrids: cherry tree (Rosaceae) flowering at Mt. Takao, Japan. American Journal of Botany 94:1470-1478.)) The authors have observed that cherry trees on average flower 5.5 days earlier today compared with 25 years ago, and attribute this to an increase in temperature of 1.8°C in February-March. Another example of changing phenology. But what is most interesting is the divergent response between varieties and species – some are flowering 3-5 days earlier per 1°C temperature change, while others as many as 9 days earlier per degree change. Interestingly, these are traits that required climate change to express themselves, and must have impacts on production in addition to the aesthetics of the entire mountain no longer flowering at once.

There must be other places where blossom is important that have long term records like this.

King Corn

Here’s an interview with the makers of the documentary King Corn, which is partly about how maize “covers the food landscape,” as well as the actual landscape, in the US.