Potato News and Research

RSS

Scientists, chefs explore ways to help people with neurologically-related taste impairments enjoy food again

Two women, seated at a table, told their stories in quiet tones. A group of chefs, some standing, others seated, leaned forward eagerly, clearly interested in what these two women had to say. They peppered the women with questions: did food taste better cold or hot? Was texture an issue? Did a glass of wine before dinner help or hurt the flavor experience? The women have taken chemotherapy for their cancer. One of them -- Gina Mullin -- will be taking chemotherapy every three weeks for the rest of her life. Both of them tell heartbreaking stories about a side effect of chemotherapy that gets swept under the rug: food tastes terrible.

19 Nov 2015

Two Duke obesity experts' articles appear in the November issue of Health Affairs

Two Duke Global Health Institute faculty members have articles in the November issue of Health Affairs, which is devoted entirely to the subject of food and health, marking the first time the publication has covered the subject in this way.

3 Nov 2015

Reducing sugar intake reverses chronic metabolic diseases in children

Reducing consumption of added sugar, even without reducing calories or losing weight, has the power to reverse a cluster of chronic metabolic diseases, including high cholesterol and blood pressure, in children in as little as 10 days, according to a study by researchers at UC San Francisco and Touro University California.

27 Oct 2015

Exposure to acrylamide through STP use much smaller than exposure from diet or cigarette smoking

The first comprehensive assessment of the acrylamide content of smokeless tobacco products (STPs) has shown that exposure to acrylamide through STP use is much smaller than --approximately 1% of -- exposure from the diet or from cigarette smoking.

12 Oct 2015

School meals paired with popular vegetables less likely to wind up in waste bins

A study led by a team of Texas A&M University System researchers found school meals paired with popular vegetables are less likely to wind up in garbage bins.

15 Sep 2015

Purple potatoes may help prevent colon cancer

Compounds found in purple potatoes may help kill colon cancer stem cells and limit the spread of the cancer, according to a team of researchers.

27 Aug 2015

A hearty bowl of instant oatmeal helps control food intake at lunch

A new study revealed that your cereal choice at breakfast might have an impact on how much you eat for lunch. Newly published research in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition showed that a hearty bowl of instant oatmeal helped curb food intake at lunch better than a leading oat-based, cold cereal -- even when each bowl provided the same number of calories.

20 Aug 2015

Bio-fortification of sweet potatoes may help combat vitamin A deficiency in South Africa

Vitamin A deficiency is the leading cause of preventable blindness in children. It also increases the risk of disease and death from severe infections, according to the World Health Organization.

14 Aug 2015

Researchers call on government to drop restrictions on total fat consumption in Dietary Guidelines for Americans

In a Viewpoint published today in the Journal of the Medical Association (JAMA), researchers from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University and Boston Children's Hospital call on the federal government to drop restrictions on total fat consumption in the forthcoming 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

24 Jun 2015

Orange sweet potato reduces prevalence and duration of diarrhea in children

A new study has found that orange sweet potato (OSP) reduced both the prevalence and duration of diarrhea in young children in Mozambique.

16 Jun 2015

New study suggests that humans and chimpanzees share basic brain skills needed for cooking

A new study, co-authored by Felix Warneken, the John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Sciences, and Alexandra Rosati '05, currently a post-doctoral fellow in the Psychology Department at Yale University who will join the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology as an assistant professor at Harvard this summer, suggests that humans' cognitive capacity for cooking are also share by chimpanzees.

3 Jun 2015

McGill University scientists show how simple potato extract can fight obesity

Take a look in your pantry: the miracle ingredient for fighting obesity may already be there. A simple potato extract may limit weight gain from a diet that is high in fat and refined carbohydrates, according to scientists at McGill University. The results of their recent study were so surprising that the investigators repeated the experiment just to be sure.

10 Dec 2014

Five simple steps to reduce type-2 diabetes

There are 29 million U.S. adults diagnosed with diabetes and an additional 1 in 3 diagnosed as pre-diabetic. Diabetes is a serious disease which can result in serious health complications including nerve damage, vision loss, heart disease, and kidney failure, to name a few.

11 Nov 2014

Potatoes can be part of a weight loss program, shows new study

The study, a collaborative effort between the University of California at Davis and the Illinois Institute of Technology, sought to gain a better understanding of the role of calorie reduction and the glycemic index in weight loss when potatoes are included in the diet.

16 Oct 2014

Brain stimulation increases cravings for high-calorie foods, shows study

Magnetic stimulation of a brain area involved in "executive function" affects cravings for and consumption of calorie-dense snack foods, reports a study in the September issue of Psychosomatic Medicine: Journal of Biobehavioral Medicine, the official journal of the American Psychosomatic Society.

16 Sep 2014

Extreme environment medicine: an interview with Dr Kevin Fong, University College London

The understanding of how long-duration space flight affects the human body has come on quite considerably in recent years, and in large part, we owe that to programs of research that have taken place aboard the International Space Station and the Mir Space Station.

8 Sep 2014

Consumption of resistant starch may help reduce colorectal cancer risk linked with high red meat diet

Consumption of a type of starch that acts like fiber may help reduce colorectal cancer risk associated with a high red meat diet, according to a study published in Cancer Prevention Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

4 Aug 2014

'Pure mass of HES molecules' explains toxicity to renal tubule cells

The increased risk of kidney injury related to the use of hydroxyethyl starch (HES) in resuscitation fluids reflects the mass of HES molecules, according to a report in Anesthesia & Analgesia, official journal of the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS).

14 Jul 2014

Parents should take initiative to make sure their hungry teens have healthy fare to eat

Refrigerators and pantries across the country are bracing for the seasonal assault from teenagers who are now done with school and will eat most of their meals at home for the summer months.

4 Jun 2014

Study reveals surprising relationships between diet and release of hormones that suppress eating

By comparing how gut microbes from human vegetarians and grass-grazing baboons digest different diets, researchers have shown that ancestral human diets, so called "paleo" diets, did not necessarily result in better appetite suppression.

20 May 2014