51视频

05/01/2018
By Geoffrey Douglas

Food. It used to be that there wasn鈥檛 much you could say about it鈥攜ou killed it or planted it, cooked it, picked it from a tree or dug it up from the ground. Then you ate it. And that, for many centuries, was pretty much the end of things. No more. Now there is fast food, slow-cooked food, comfort food, organic food, processed food, food chains, food pyramids, foods blessed (or not) by the FDA. There is food science and food engineering. The government keeps a registry of Food Adulteration Incidents. It puts out a reference source called the World Factbook of Food.

Food is big, and getting bigger鈥攁nd 51视频 researchers are at the center of much of what鈥檚 going on.

And it鈥檚 not all about what happens in the lab or on the farm. For Zuckerberg College of Health SciencesProf. Katherine Tucker, the focus is on food鈥檚 societal impact. Now in the final stage of a 15-year research project, Tucker was recently awarded a $2.5 million grant by the National Institutes of Health to study the effects of diet on cognitive decline and dementia. (The initial two stages focused on its effects on aging and heart disease.) The current study鈥檚 cohort, she says, includes roughly 700 Puerto Rican Boston-area residents, those still remaining from the original group of 1,500.

鈥淚n the U.S. today,鈥� she says, 鈥渢here is a general deficiency of nutrients鈥攍ike magnesium, potassium, vitamin B6鈥攊n the food most of us eat. Without them, there鈥檚 a far higher risk of problems like obesity, diabetes and sometimes dementia, all of which are symptoms of too much low-quality processed food.鈥�

Such problems, says Tucker, are far more prevalent among lower-income populations, such as the cohort she is studying: 鈥淲hen you lack the resources to buy healthy foods, you buy the cheapest foods you can鈥攚hich often means they鈥檙e processed and have a longer shelf life, but lack the vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients we need for health.鈥�

Tucker, who heads the 51视频 Center for Population Health, came by her interest in nutrition early as an undergraduate at the University of Connecticut, where she took part in a study of the diet practices of teenage African-American girls. Later, as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Philippines, she witnessed closeup the effects of severe malnutrition: blindness in children with vitamin A deficiencies, goiters in women who lacked sufficient iodine.

鈥淣utrition is an endlessly fascinating field,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t touches everyone; it intersects with just about everything.鈥�

THE POLITICS OF FOOD

Chris Wilkinson comes at things from a wholly different angle. Wilkinson 鈥�09, 鈥�11, winner of the university鈥檚 2016 Haskell Award for Distinguished Teaching, is an adjunct professor of political science whose course, The Politics of Food, aims to 鈥渂reak down the misconceptions our society has surrounding this most necessary commodity,鈥� he says. In doing so, it offers a withering look at what he calls the 鈥済ross manipulation鈥� of the system through which food is processed, distributed and sold.

鈥淚n a single lifetime, just since World War II, there鈥檚 been a fundamental change in our relationship with food,鈥� Wilkinson says. 鈥淲hat started as a system of locally sourced farming has now become a process of large-scale, monocrop farming, through which a few huge, multinational companies鈥濃�擠ow Chemical, Monsanto and others鈥攁re able to control the production of most of what we eat and drink.

These conglomerates, he explains, manage this through the production of genetically engineered crop seeds, which they then contract with farmers to cultivate. Because the seeds are cheap to produce鈥攂eing government-subsidized鈥攁nd often contain properties that organic seeds do not (such as an engineered resistance to herbicides), competition becomes all but impossible. In Mexico alone, he says, since the sales of seeds that followed the introduction of the North American Free Trade Agreement, 鈥渢here are thousands of farmers out of work.鈥�

鈥淲hen you lack the resources to buy healthy foods, you buy the cheapest foods you can鈥攚hich often means they鈥檙e processed and have a longer shelf life, but lack the vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients we need for health.鈥�

The net effect of all this, in his view, is 鈥渨e are robbed of access, of our history and of agency over what鈥檚 at the end of our fork.鈥�

Not to mention the issue of the food companies themselves. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e talking about just six or seven names,鈥� Wilkinson says, pointing to Kraft, General Mills, Nestl茅, Tyson Foods and a few others, 鈥渢hat are behind literally hundreds of brands.鈥�

A brief online search of bottled-water brands alone bears him out. Just about any brand you could name鈥� Perrier, Poland Spring, S.Pellegrino, Dasani, smartwater, Aquafina, Evian, Fiji鈥攁re all the properties of PepsiCo, Coca-Cola or Nestl茅.

鈥淭here鈥檚 the illusion of choice,鈥� says Wilkinson, 鈥渂ut really there鈥檚 no choice at all.鈥�

FOOD SAFETY

For Asst. Prof. Boce Zhang, the big issue is safety鈥攏ot from the predations of the food industry, but from the dangers of food itself. Zhang, a member of the faculty in the聽Zuckerberg College of Health Sciences, is a teacher and researcher who came to the realization years ago鈥攚hile still working with nanotechnology in his native China鈥攖hat, as he puts it, with public awareness growing, 鈥渇ood safety was going to be the next big thing.鈥�

That brought him to the U.S., where he earned his doctorate in nutrition and food science from the University of Maryland, then worked as a postdoctoral fellow with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. At 51视频 today, he teaches courses in food science and safety; his principal research focus is on the detection and prevention of the various pathogens that contaminate our food.

The biggest challenge, he says, comes with fresh produce: lettuce, spinach and other vegetables and fruits that, in the course of shipping and handling, are sometimes exposed to bacteria-tainted water or laid on unclean surfaces.

Much of Zhang鈥檚 research has been devoted to the development of low-cost sensors to detect this; a dye-treated paper he developed is now in the disclosure phase that precedes the awarding of a patent. On the prevention end of things, he is at work to create minimum sanitation levels for water and also, in cooperation with the university鈥檚 , to develop a process to improve the safety of the chemicals used in handling.

鈥淚n China, the main threats come from herbicides and pesticides,鈥� he says, while in the U.S., 鈥渢he bigger problems are biohazards, the bacteria and viruses that can contaminate our food.

鈥淭here is an increased public awareness. The consumer wants his fresh salads鈥攁nd that鈥檚 a healthy thing. But it means we have to stay careful.鈥�

FOOD AND HEALTH

While the doctor treating a sick patient will have a thorough knowledge of the most effective pharmaceuticals with which to treat him, she will probably not be as well versed on what diet the patient should follow鈥攁nd the diet may be as critical to treatment as the drugs.

鈥淎 typical student in medical school will take, at most, one or two courses on nutrition,鈥� says nutritional sciencesAdjunct Prof. Michelle Palladino 鈥�11, 鈥�17, who earned a master鈥檚 degree in public health from the university last year while also working for three years in the bone marrow transplant unit at in Worcester. Most of her job there, she says, was to 鈥渨ork with the doctors and nurses to develop the dietary formulas that were best for each patient.鈥�

鈥淭here is an increased public awareness. The consumer wants his fresh salads鈥攁nd that鈥檚 a healthy thing. But it means we have to stay careful.鈥�

There needs to be more awareness and more training in the field of nutrition, says Palladino: 鈥淒octors today have way too much on their plates already to be able to keep up with diet requirements.鈥�

Palladino is in her first year teaching a course in medical nutritional therapy鈥攍oosely defined, the science of matching diet with disease. Most of her 51视频 students, she says, will begin their careers as dietitians in the same way she did鈥攚ith jobs in the medical field, where they will work side-by-side with doctors and nurses on patients鈥� dietary needs at the same time as they educate the patients themselves on their nutritional requirements.

鈥淚 tell my students all the time, 鈥榊ou are the lead person. As far as diet and nutrition, you are the one. You have to be confident in your knowledge.鈥欌��

FOOD PACKAGING

The MRE, or Meal Ready to Eat, has long been the staple of our soldiers in the field. They carry it with them in a cardboard container鈥攚hich, once the meal has been eaten, they either add to a bonfire or stow in their packs to carry out. But burning can be a hazard, and a soldier鈥檚 pack is already more than full enough. And all those dead cartons are just more drag on the environment.

Jo Ann Ratto Ross 鈥�88, 鈥�93, an investigator for the Army鈥檚 Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center, told researchers nearly 10 years ago that annually 鈥渢here are more than 40 million MREs procured by the military, with about 14,000 tons of MRE packaging waste each year.鈥� And the problem has no doubt gotten worse.

Might there be another way?

This was the focus of plastics engineering笔谤辞蹿.听Margaret Sobkowicz-Kline, a former field engineer in the oilfield industry, whose Army-funded research project, completed last year, offers a packaging solution to all these problems at once.

The proposed new container, a biodegradable, moisture-resistant package developed as a joint project with the Army鈥檚 Natick Center, combines the Center鈥檚 expertise in biodegradability testing with the experience of Sobkowicz-Kline鈥檚 department in plastics synthesis and formulation. Her Army colleague on the project was none other than Ratto Ross, a 1993 alumna of the UML plastics engineering doctoral program.

鈥淲hat we developed was a product that鈥檚 both compostable and biodegradable,鈥� says Sobkowicz-Kline, whose research over the past 12 years has focused heavily on sustainable polymers and, more recently, on recycling. 鈥淚t can be discarded safely on either water or land. That could save a lot of waste.鈥�

THE HISTORY OF FOOD

HistoryProf. Chad Montrie, like most history professors, tends to take the long view. To his way of thinking, both food and alcohol 鈥渁re all wrapped up in the history of this country.鈥�

Montrie, who teaches a course called Alcohol and American History, cites examples as far back as the 17th century, when the early settlers traded liquor to the Cherokees 鈥渁s a way to get their skins and furs without using cash.鈥� More recently, he says, the late 18th- and 19th-century temperance movement was used by many as a way to contain immigrant groups, while the Women鈥檚 Christian Temperance Union of the late 19th century was 鈥渁mong the first groups in this country to empower women politically.鈥�

Montrie hopes soon to supplement his alcohol course with a course on food in American history, which has been proposed and is now pending review. Food, he says, is at least as central as alcohol to the history of our country. One idea he would like to try in the course is to 鈥済et hold of, say, a 19th-century cookbook, pick a recipe and research what it might have to say about class, race or gender. Like okra, for instance: How did it get here, and what does it have to tell us about slavery? Or Aunt Jemima pancake mix: Aunt Jemima was originally derived from a 19th-century minstrel show character. What might she have to say about pancakes, or about race?鈥�

There is no shortage of modern-day applications, Montrie notes. 鈥淩emember that line, 鈥楢 taco truck on every corner,鈥� that was supposed to be [according to presidential candidate Donald Trump] an argument against Mexican immigration? And right now, in Chicago and other cities, there are ethnic kitchens being closed down by U.S. Immigration and Customs every day.

鈥淔ood is everywhere. You don鈥檛 have to look very far.鈥�