ARS Biologist Dr. Dale Brunelle is pipetting samples to analyze inflammatory cytokines. (Photo by John Borge).

These Native Plants Could be Berry Good for You 

ARS researchers in Grand Forks, ND collaborated with the University of North Dakota, to find a new way to fight disease using a very old remedy: The chokeberry is a North American fruit that was long used by Indigenous peoples. They used chokeberry for both food and to prevent chronic disease. Scientists are not certain what accounts for the fruit’s disease-fighting power, but one possibility lies in its purple-red color, a product of compounds called anthocyanins that have known anti-inflammatory properties. 

ARS researchers studied whether the anthocyanins in the chokeberry may alter gene function, based on research that confirmed their effects in human preadipocyte cells (precursors to fat cells). Learn more...

The Agricultural Research Service is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific in-house research agency. Daily, ARS focuses on solutions to agricultural problems affecting America. Each dollar invested in agricultural research results in $20 of economic impact.