Developing national Organic sectors: the key lessons

Organic Agriculture is present in 160 countries. All of them have developed differently and have different situations. The Organic World is organized in a decentralized way. It emphasizes local solutions to local challenges and prefers short chains of local production and consumption to globalized supply chains. While some countries have fairly well-developed and advanced Organic Sectors, others have just started. Governments and development actors increasingly realize that Organic agriculture provides ample opportunities to implement rural development agendas and national policies. Some countries have well-balanced Organic Movements that drive the development of the sector, while actors in other countries remain isolated or even compete with each other in a destructive manner. The pace of development of the Organic Sectors and the strategies of the stakeholders are also quite diverse. A wealth of experiences about success factors in Organic Sector development exists, and IFOAM offers the service to assist national action plan development, but there remains great potential to learn from one another on tackling the challenge

Radical scavenging capacity of Piper arboreum and Piper tuberculatum (Piperaceae)

In the scope of our ongoing researchers on antioxidant compounds, twenty four extracts and fractions obtained from Piper arboreum Aublet and Piper tuberculatum Jacq. (Piperaceae) were screened for radical scavenging capacity (RSC) by using DPPH colorimetric assay. The strongest activity was found in ethyl acetate fractions from the leaves of P. arboreum (IC50 = 5.70 μg/mL) and P. tuberculatum (IC50 = 8.40 μg/mL). Hydromethanol fractions of the leaves of P. tuberculatum and P. arboreum showed moderate RSC, with values of IC50 (μg/mL) of 11.9 and 19.2, respectively. Additionally, a brief phytochemical study of the ethyl acetate fraction of P. arboreum leaves affording quercetin (1) and quercitrin (2), two flavonols with antioxidant activity previously described in the literature.Colegio de Farmacéuticos de la Provincia de Buenos Aire

Yearly changes in the composition of gut microbiota in the elderly, and the effect of lactobacilli intake on these changes

Abstract The onset and worsening of some diseases are related to the variation and instability of gut microbiota. However, studies examining the personal variation of gut microbiota in detail are limited. Here, we evaluated the yearly variation of individual gut microbiota in 218 Japanese subjects aged 66–91 years, using Jensen-Shannon distance (JSD) metrics. Approximately 9% of the subjects showed a substantial change, as their formerly predominant bacterial families were replaced over the year. These subjects consumed fermented milk products less frequently than their peers. The relationship between the intake frequencies of fermented milk products containing Lactocaseibacillus paracasei strain Shirota (LcS) and JSD values was also investigated. The intra-individual JSD of subjects ingesting LcS products ≥ 3 days/week over the past 10 years was statistically lower than the < 3 days/week group (P = 0.045). Focusing on subjects with substantial gut microbiota changes, only 1.7% of the subjects were included in the LcS intake ≥ 3 days/week group whereas 11.3% were found in the < 3 days/week group (P = 0.029). These results suggest that about one-tenth of the elderly Japanese could experience a substantial change in their gut microbiota during a 1-year period, and that the habitual intake of probiotics may stabilize their gut microbiota