June 10, 2004

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WESLACO -- A scientist in the Lower Rio Grande Valley is calling on colleagues from throughout the world to gather this summer to help unlock the secrets of citrus and its benefits to human health.

Dr. Bhimu Patil, a post-harvest physiologist at the Texas A&M Kingsville Citrus Center in Weslaco, began arranging the symposium four years ago, convinced that citrus holds a beneficial link in the food chain for health that deserves an inter-disciplinary investigation.

"Research since then has already taught us that citrus helps in the prevention of certain cancers, that it can reduce cholesterol, that it plays a role in reducing neural tube defects, and more recent studies show that citrus can play a major role in weight loss," said Patil. "More research will surely yield other benefits we just don't know about yet."

The scientific community agrees, based on positive responses Patil has received from researchers in Japan, Germany and throughout the United States planning to attend. Patil will serve as chair of the symposium, titled "Potential Health Benefits of Citrus." The symposium will be part of American Chemical Society's annual meeting, set for Aug. 22-26 in Philadelphia.

He expects several hundred of the 20,000 members at the meeting to attend his symposium. These will include nutritionists, horticulturists, chemists, food scientists and physicians.

Patil has scheduled 16 speakers who will discuss the results of their research into healthful benefits of citrus.

Co-chairs with Patil will be Dr. Ed Miller at Baylor College of Dentistry in Dallas and Dr. Nancy Turner, a nutritionist at Texas A&M in College Station.

"Five of the 16 speakers will address the discoveries we've made in my lab and in labs of collaborators," said Patil, "but there is also lots of new work done in other parts of the world that should be of interest not just to other scientists, but to those in the citrus industry and to consumers."

As part of the symposium, Patil hopes to form a global task force focused on enhancing citrus research by demonstrating the need for furthering knowledge in the isolation and purification of citrus compounds, cell culture, animal studies and clinical trials.

"By developing and increasing this type of knowledge we can hopefully interest medical researchers to do clinical, or human trials in these areas," Patil said. "I'm convinced that by pooling resources and increasing our knowledge of the benefits of citrus, we can improve human health by encouraging people to consume greater amounts of citrus products."

After the meeting, Patil said, all the studies presented at the symposium will be published in a book that will be of special interest to citrus-producing areas of the world.