Nutrients

What if mental decline did not have to be a natural consequence of aging? What if part of the secret to staying sharp lay in the foods we eat? Emerging evidence suggests that getting enough of certain nutrients - namely iron, zinc and B vitamins - may help stave off the cognitive decline seen with aging, possibly even Alzheimer's and dementia. "We're learning that if you feed your brain the right nutrients, it will work harder for you throughout life," said Dayle Hayes, dietitian, author and nutrition therapist in Billings, Mont.

Maryland officials are close to agreeing on a sweeping plan for cutting nutrient pollution in the state's 10 tributary basins, a crucial step toward cleaning the Chesapeake Bay. The blueprint - being reviewed in public meetings across the state - will outline Maryland's efforts to cut nutrient and phosphorus runoff to meet targeted reductions agreed on last spring with the other states that feed the bay. "This is the road map - it's what is going to...

Sen. Paul. S. Sarbanes proposed yesterday creation of a federal panel to find new sources of money to reduce nutrient pollution into the Chesapeake Bay. Sarbanes' legislation would create a 21-member Blue Ribbon Commission on Chesapeake Bay Nutrient Pollution Control Financing to focus on curbing nitrogen and phosphorus runoff from sewage treatment plants, fertilized farmland and storm water in urban and suburban areas. "Our scientific and technical understanding of what needs to be done to reduce excess nutrients going into the bay serves as a model for the nation," he said in a statement introducing the measure to the Senate.

THE CHESAPEAKE Bay Foundation recently reported on wastewater treatment plants as a source of nitrogen pollution, providing a snapshot of nitrogen flow into the bay from those facilities. Missing from its assessment, however, was a recognition of the efforts by state and local governments over the last two decades to implement biological nutrient removal (BNR) at major wastewater treatment plants in Maryland that discharge into the bay. The state has committed over $190 million to the implementation of BNR, matched by an even greater amount of funding by local governments.

The deluge of rain in the mid-Atlantic region this year will set back the Chesapeake Bay's recovery, but it could have been much worse if steps had not been taken to cut nutrients from sewage treatment plants and farms, scientists said yesterday. "We were expecting the worst," said Richard Batiuk, associate director for science at the Environmental Protection Agency's Chesapeake Bay Program. "We've seen some things this year that weren't good, but it wasn't the worst." In a briefing in Annapolis on the effects of this year's near-record flow of water into the bay, state and federal scientists said they are seeing encouraging signs in their restoration efforts.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Six days after the feeding tube of a brain-damaged woman was removed in a case that pitted her husband against her parents, Gov. Jeb Bush ordered it reinserted yesterday after the state Legislature empowered him to do so. A judge later rejected a request by the woman's husband to overturn the governor's order. The Legislature's extraordinary step overrides years of court rulings. The woman, Terri Schiavo, began receiving intravenous hydration last night, after a day of wrenching debate in the Legislature.

The effects of Isabel may be felt for years on the Chesapeake Bay, scientists said yesterday, from untreated sewage dumped into the water to potentially significant shoreline and beach erosion. Although Isabel appeared to be less severe than Tropical Storm Agnes - dropping less than half of the average 8 inches of rain recorded in the 1972 storm - bay experts said they still expect to see environmental consequences in the coming weeks and months. "This storm comes on top of a lot of other rainfall all summer long, so it's just going to add more fuel to the fire this year," said Donald F. Boesch, president of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science.

YOU'RE a chronic overeater. The doctor says cut back the calories or exercise hard, preferably both. What do you do? If you're the Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA), you shop for clothes, hoping to give an illusion of slenderness. We're not talking about fat bureaucrats -- rather about a polluted Chesapeake, over-enriched with nutrients from farm runoff -- and an agency ducking its responsibility for reducing them. Ironically, this became clear at Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s Aug. 5 summit on agricultural nutrient pollution.

ON THE CHESAPEAKE BAY - As he pulled his traps from the water south of Calvert Cliffs yesterday morning, Bobby Darnell could sense the dead crabs were coming. "Look at how they're clinging to the pots when we bring them up," said Darnell, who has been crabbing out of nearby Solomons since 1980. "When they cling, you know there's not enough oxygen for them. Next time I'm here, I'll probably bring them up and they'll be dead." Across the bay this summer, commercial and recreational fishermen and crabbers say they're finding unusually large patches of water that are all but devoid of oxygen - and life.

WYE MILLS - More than 250 farmers sounded off yesterday about the state's program to reduce nutrient runoff into the Chesapeake Bay, sharply criticizing what they called excessive red tape and paperwork. Taking advantage of Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s campaign promise to listen to them at Maryland's first "Nutrient Management Summit," the farmers suggested a reduction in the information they must provide to the state and a less confrontational inspection process. "It really seems clear that there's a concern among farmers with the current program about privacy with their own operations," said Agriculture Secretary Lewis R. Riley.