Nutrition & Wellness

We hate to ruin Thanksgiving, but a new report appearing in the Nov. 2015 issue of The FASEB Journal suggests that for some people, overindulgence at the dinner table or at snack time is enough to trigger signs of metabolic disease. Specifically, in some people just one high-calorie shake was enough to make people with metabolic disease worse, while in others, relatively short … [Read more...]

Diet diversity, as defined by less similarity among the foods people eat, may be linked to lower diet quality and worse metabolic health, according to researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) and the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. The study was published today in PLOS ONE. "'Eat everything in … [Read more...]

Forgotten trees from long lost orchards and 20th-century city landscaping are being rediscovered in urban areas, and their fruits are proving not only largely free of urban pollutants, but more nutritious than their retail counterparts. Scientists at Wellesley College have joined forces with the League of Urban Canners (LUrC), based in Cambridge/Somerville and greater Boston … [Read more...]

Eating a lot of fibre-rich foods, such as fruit, vegetables, and legumes--typical of a Mediterranean diet--is linked to a rise in health promoting short chain fatty acids, finds research published online in the journal Gut. And you don't have to be a vegetarian or a vegan to reap the benefits, the findings suggest. Short chain fatty acids (SCFAs), which include acetate, … [Read more...]

Pumpkin products proliferate this time of year -- and not just for traditional pies and breads, but for whimsical goodies that may not live up to the pumpkin's healthy reputation. Appealing to palates are pumpkin donuts, pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin latte -- even chocolate pumpkin candy. "If you believe the sales pitch, the pumpkin is the happiest, healthiest food ever," said … [Read more...]

New research from the MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit at the University of Southampton in the UK indicates that neighbourhood exposure to fast food outlets is potentially linked to poorer bone development in early childhood. The study looked at the bone mineral density (BMD) and bone mineral content (BMC) of 1107 children at birth and at four and/or six years of age and … [Read more...]

A diet high in processed fructose sabotages rat brains' ability to heal after head trauma, UCLA neuroscientists report. Revealing a link between nutrition and brain health, the finding offers implications for the 5.3 million Americans living with a traumatic brain injury, or TBI. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 1.7 million people … [Read more...]

Falling levels of polyamines, compounds present in all living cells, cause circadian rhythms to slow down in older mice, reports a study published October 8 in Cell Metabolism. This effect was reversed by dietary supplementation with a type of polyamine called spermidine, which is abundant in foods such as soybeans, corn, green peas, and blue cheese. No studies have yet been … [Read more...]

Dietary fat may impact the severity and duration of autoimmune flare-ups, suggests a study published on October 20 in the journal Immunity. Adjusting the length of fatty acids consumed by mice altered the function of T helper cells in the gut--either intensifying or alleviating symptoms in an animal model of the autoimmune disease (i.e., multiple sclerosis). A team led by … [Read more...]

Smoking is a known factor in many serious health issues: stroke, myocardial infarction, cardiovascular disease, coronary artery disease, to name but a few. In their recent research in Toxicological & Environmental Chemistry, Syaheedah et al. sought to study what impact antioxidants in honey have on the oxidative stress in smokers. Smoking introduces free radicals into … [Read more...]

A new study in mice reveals that increased body weight and high blood sugar as a result of consuming a high-fat diet may cause anxiety and depressive symptoms and measurable changes in the brain. Also, the beneficial effects of an antidepressant were blunted in mice fed a high-fat diet. "When treating depression, in general there is no predictor of treatment resistance," … [Read more...]

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet and the Sahlgrenska Academy in Sweden might be one step closer to finding an effective drug for alcohol dependence. In two separate studies, they show that the so-called dopamine stabilizer OSU6162 can reduce the craving for alcohol in alcohol dependent people and normalises the level of dopamine in the brain reward system of rats that have … [Read more...]

Excessive alcohol use continues to be a drain on the American economy, according to a study released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Excessive drinking cost the U.S. $249 billion in 2010, or $2.05 per drink, a significant increase from $223.5 billion, or $1.90 per drink, in 2006. Most of these costs were due to reduced workplace productivity, crime, and … [Read more...]

The prevalence of excess weight and obesity among adolescents and, as a result, the concomitant problems, has increased considerably in recent years. A study by the UPV/EHU has confirmed that, irrespective of the total calories consumed and the physical activity done, an excessive proportion of fat in the diet leads to a greater accumulation of fat in the abdomen. The study has … [Read more...]

Adherence to dietary recommendations is weak among people suffering from metabolic syndrome or having increased risk for metabolic syndrome, according to the Nordic SYSDIET study led by the University of Eastern Finland. In most cases, the diet is too high in salt and saturated fat, and too low in dietary fiber and unsaturated fat. Furthermore, many don't have a sufficient … [Read more...]

Cigarette smoking and heavy alcohol use cause epigenetic changes to DNA that reflect accelerated biological aging in distinct, measurable ways, according to research presented at the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) 2015 Annual Meeting in Baltimore. Using data from the publicly available Gene Expression Omnibus, Robert A. Philibert, MD, PhD and colleagues at the … [Read more...]

Providing low-income households that receive federal food assistance benefits with financial incentives to buy fruits and vegetables would encourage them to purchase and consume more healthy food, and slightly increase their longevity, a new study suggests. Despite some critics' concerns, these incentives, in the form of rebates for purchasing healthy foods, are unlikely to … [Read more...]

  A malfunctioning enzyme may be a reason that binge drinking increases the odds of alcoholism, according to a study by scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine. The scientists identified a previously unsuspected job performed by the enzyme, ALDH1a1, in mice. The discovery could help guide the development of medications that extinguish the urge to … [Read more...]

The new iteration of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) must incorporate sustainability considerations -- both for the health and wellbeing of Americans and the world in which we live, urges a new piece appearing in Science Express on Oct. 1. Co-authored by public health and sustainability experts at George Washington (GW) and Tufts universities, the article … [Read more...]

Defective signaling in the brain can cause overeating of high fat foods in mice, leading to obesity, according to one of the first research articles published in the new open access journal Heliyon. The body controls food intake by balancing a need for food to survive with a desire for food for pleasure. By shifting the balance between these systems, defective brain signaling … [Read more...]

New evidence suggests that low levels of trans fatty acids (TFAs) may not be as harmful to human health as previously thought, even if industrially produced, and may even be beneficial if they occur naturally in foods such as dairy and meat products, according to a study published in the European Heart Journal. Artificial TFAs occur when oil goes through a process of … [Read more...]

A new University of Washington study that tested 65 wines from America's top four wine-producing states -- California, Washington, New York and Oregon -- found all but one have arsenic levels that exceed what's allowed in drinking water. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency allows drinking water to contain no more than 10 parts per billion of arsenic. The wine samples … [Read more...]

While eliminating saturated fats can improve heart health, a new study shows that it makes a difference which foods are used in their place. A study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology shows that replacing saturated fats with unsaturated fats and high-quality carbohydrates has the most impact on reducing the risk of heart disease. When saturated fats … [Read more...]

There is compelling evidence that drinking too many sugar-sweetened beverages, which contain added sugars in the form of high fructose corn syrup or table sugar (sucrose), can lead to excess weight gain and a greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, according to a new review paper published in the Journal of the American College of … [Read more...]

To encourage consumers to lower their caloric intake, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration now requires most chain restaurants to state the number of calories that each menu item contains. But is a number the only effective way of helping diners make low-calorie choices? No, says a new study in the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing. According to the study, another … [Read more...]

New research presented at this year's annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in Stockholm shows that high consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, which has been linked to increased risk of type 2 diabetes, is part of a poor overall diet. Thus care must be taken when linking such beverages to disease risk, say the authors from Lund … [Read more...]

Increased consumption of fruits and non-starchy vegetables is inversely associated with weight change, according to a study published this week in PLOS Medicine. The longitudinal study, conducted by Monica Bertoia of Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health and Brigham & Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, and colleagues, shows differences by type of fruit or … [Read more...]