MAX FACTS GROWING TIPS, NEWS AND TRIVIA
Carrots Help Aging Eyes
Your parents may have told you to eat your carrots because they’re good
for your eyes, and a new study suggests they were on to something.
Pigments called carotenoids, which give red or orange hues to carrots,
sweet potatoes and orange peppers, or deep greens to produce like
spinach, broccoli and kale, may help ward off the age-linked vision
ailment known as macular degeneration, researchers say. Age-related
macular degeneration is one of the most common causes of vision loss,
especially in the elderly. Prior research has produced mixed findings
about links between carotenoids and macular degeneration, so a team
led by Joanne Wu, a graduate student in nutrition epidemiology at the
Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, sought to better understand
any connection. In the new study, Joanne’s team looked at health survey
data from more than 100,000 people aged 50 and older.
(Source: consumer.healthday.com)
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Maximum Yield USA | December 2015
New Plant Research
Facilities in California
Bayer CropScience researchers recently
celebrated the opening of the new phytotron
building in Acampo, California. A phytotron
is a laboratory with facilities for growing
plants under various combinations of strictly
controlled environmental conditions. The
new Bayer CropScience facilities house
10 phytotrons for growing plants such as
tomatoes and watermelons for research
purposes. The building has been outfitted with
many advanced and sustainable features,
including a high-tech wastewater filtration
system, which filters the building’s used water
and then enters it into a storage tank for
landscape irrigation use on the facility grounds.
For increased energy effic