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Photo-based calorie-tracking apps fall short in estimating meal nutrition

Thanks to advances in AI, popular calorie-tracking apps can now use a photo of a meal to estimate the nutritional content of what you're eating.

26 Jul 2026

Planetary Health Diet lowers cardiovascular risk in older women

A 20-year study of more than 65,000 postmenopausal women found that higher adherence to the Planetary Health Diet was associated with a lower risk of overall cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease, stroke and heart failure.

25 Jul 2026

FDA-issued sodium targets appear to have minimal impact

In 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued Phase I voluntary sodium reduction targets to encourage manufacturers to lower the amount of sodium in packaged food products by 2024.

25 Jul 2026

Experts review evidence behind updated protein intake recommendations

A new Perspective published today in The Journal of Nutrition, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Society for Nutrition (ASN), reviews the evidence supporting protein recommendations in the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans and identifies areas where additional research could strengthen future dietary guidance.

24 Jul 2026

MATILDA database reveals wide variation in dietary environmental impacts

Improving diets is one of the world's biggest public health and environmental challenges. More than 2.5 billion adults are now overweight or obese, 88% of countries with available data face a serious burden of two or more forms of malnutrition, and food systems account for between a quarter and a third of global greenhouse gas emissions.

24 Jul 2026

Two microscopic parasites cause widespread diarrheal illness across America

You've seen the alarming headlines about parasites causing "explosive diarrhea" across the U.S. Two microscopic parasites – cyclospora cayetanensis and cryptosporidium – can both cause prolonged gastrointestinal illness, including watery diarrhea, stomach cramps, and dehydration.

24 Jul 2026

Cambridge scientists solve brain puzzle behind popular obesity drugs

Cambridge scientists have solved the mystery of why both stimulating and blocking a particular 'switch' in the brain can help people lose weight – findings which could help boost the effectiveness of obesity drugs.

24 Jul 2026

Researchers discover molecule to fight age-related muscle decline

Skeletal muscle is one of the first tissues to decline with age. This decline can lead to weakness, scarring, fat accumulation inside muscle, and the loss of fast-twitch muscle fibers that are important for quick and powerful movements.

24 Jul 2026

Scientists create programmable immune receptors for disease-resistant crops

Crop production faces threats from plant pathogens. Traditional disease-resistance breeding relies heavily on natural plant resistance genes that encode immune receptors adapted to particular pathogens.

23 Jul 2026

Evidence shows artificial sweeteners cannot be judged as a single group

This narrative review found that non-nutritive artificial sweeteners have compound-specific and context-dependent associations with gut microbiota, metabolism, and health-related outcomes. Evidence does not support treating all sweeteners as uniformly harmful or safe, with human findings often limited or inconsistent.

23 Jul 2026

MEK inhibition could limit T cell exhaustion and give a boost to immunotherapy

A major pillar of cancer immunotherapy involves stimulating T cells, the specialized killers of the immune system, to attack tumors.

23 Jul 2026

AI-powered analytics and experimental validation: Transforming target identification in drug discovery

Discover how AI-powered analytics and experimental validation combine to improve target identification and accelerate drug discovery success.

From Axxam S.p.A 23 Jul 2026

Emerging PPAR therapies offer new hope for primary biliary cholangitis

Primary biliary cholangitis is a rare autoimmune disease that affects the liver and can progress to cirrhosis. It occurs when the immune system attacks the small bile ducts within the liver. As a result, bile builds up, leading to inflammation and progressive liver damage. Although a first-line treatment exists, 40% of patients do not respond adequately to it or cannot tolerate it, so new treatment options need to be developed.

23 Jul 2026

Study finds greater social jetlag linked to a later eating pattern

In a 14-day study of 101 healthy UK adults, greater social jetlag was associated with a later distribution of energy intake, particularly greater late-evening intake among women. The effects were modest, varied by sex and day type, and did not establish whether total daily energy intake differed between groups.

23 Jul 2026

Stuffed toys can release short-chain PFAS into saliva, study finds

Researchers tested 18 stuffed toys and found that all released at least one targeted PFAS into artificial saliva under mouthing-relevant conditions, with PFHxA driving much of the variation between products. Modeled intake of the four PFAS covered by EFSA’s group tolerable weekly intake remained below that benchmark, but some high-PFHxA toys had reduced margins of exposure, and water rinsing produced mixed results.

22 Jul 2026

Senolytic drugs rejuvenate blood stem cells in sickle cell disease

Sickle cell disease causes premature aging of blood stem cells, which scientists may be able to address with a special class of drugs, according to a new study from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

22 Jul 2026

Dietary emissions vary substantially across different stages of life

A new international study published in Nature Food reveals that age plays an important but often overlooked role in shaping global food-related greenhouse gas emissions.

22 Jul 2026

Red meat intake emerges as a potential pancreatic cancer risk factor

A systematic review and meta-analysis of 16 studies involving nearly 2 million participants found that higher red meat intake was associated with a modestly higher risk of pancreatic cancer. Processed meat intake showed no statistically significant association, although variation between studies means a small effect cannot be excluded.

22 Jul 2026

Midpregnancy herbicide exposure linked to increased risk of preterm birth

Exposure to a widely used herbicide during the middle months of pregnancy may increase the chance of giving birth too early, before 37 weeks, a new study shows.

22 Jul 2026

Global hunger declines for third straight year but remains fragile, report reveals

Global hunger declined for a third consecutive year in 2025, demonstrating that progress is possible. However, the improvements remain fragile, unevenly distributed and insufficient to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, according to The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2026 (SOFI 2026) report, released on Tuesday by five United Nations specialized agencies.

22 Jul 2026