North Carolina Research Center Visit

Today, I went to the North Carolina Research Center.  This place is the mecca of research for nutrition of fruits and vegetables.  David H. Murdoch built this place in hopes of bringing the bulk of such research into once place so that collaboration among corporate and university researchers and scientists can help us really understand the benefits of fruits and vegetables with scientific research.  


Here is the official description:

The North Carolina Research Campus (NCRC), a public-private venture created by visionary David H. Murdock. At the NCRC, the world's leading researchers from academia and industry are stimulating discovery and fostering collaboration that is advancing the fields of nutrition, agriculture, and biotechnology. The goal is to enhance the understanding of the links between nutrition and disease in order to translate scientific discovery into new models of prevention, treatment and cures while raising the standards of healthy living for people worldwide.

Here are some interesting facts that I learned from some early studies.

1. 1/2 of a banana every 15 minutes during intense exercise has the same result of gatorade. They are planning to redo the study by reducimg the amount of banana consumed to see if the same benefits are achieved.
2. Chia seed benefits are greater through milled chia vs. whole seed chia. For instance, chia has omega 3s, but unless the seed is milled, the body cannot metabolize the omega 3s.
3. Pineapple has a certain enzyme called Bromelain which has the same anti-inflammatory and joint benefits as Glucosamine; however, the pineapple must be raw.  The heat process to can a pineapple removed Bromelain.  Furthermore, rubbing pineapple on a healing scar after surgery increases the healing process and scars will be less visible.
4. We recently performed a study on olympic-level swimmers.  We gave a test group an 8 oz drink of fruits and vegetables before a workout day.  The diets and exercise with of the test group and control group.  The only difference was the vegetable-fruit drink.  The results are still coming in, but at the end of the study there was an international meet.  Every one of the subjects that had the fruit and vegetable drink twice a day won all of their heats.  The mixture included the following: Red delicious apple, Orange, Red bell pepper, Carrots, Broccoli, Parsley, Tomatoes, Cucumber, Blueberries, Strawberries, Blackberries, and Pineapple. The juicer they used does not create any heat to the food as a typical juicer with a spinning blade. Heat can eliminate some of the nutrients. See the juice picture below.

According to Murdoch, he says he is doing the kite tail studies.  While we are always fascinated at the kite when we see it in the sky, no one pays attention to the tail.  We know the vitamins and minerals in our fruits and vegetables, but there is limited or nonexistent research to the other properties of fruits and vegetables and how our bodies can benefit from them and what levels are best.

Everything I mentioned is currently or will soon be supported by published research.  While there I saw four different nuclear magnetic resonance scanners and one of them is the largest of its kind in the world.  These machines will help us understand fruits and vegetables down to the atomic level.  It's really quite amazing. 

It was a super fun and interesting day.  They mentioned they are always looking for endurance sport subjects.  I told them I was interested and that I have friends.

I hope you are not bored reading this, but if you saw what I saw today, you just might be as excited as I was.  If you are ever in North Carolina, I would be happy to take you on a tour.

North Carolina Research Center

Inside the Lobby.  At bit more opulent than what you would expect from a research facility.

950 Nuclear Resonance Scanner, largest of its kind in the world

The Angel Juicer.  This $1,000 juicer was used in the swimmer study.  The scientists said this is the best juicer available.
"I want that!" (think Napoleon Dynamite)