Diet News and Research

Latest Diet News and Research

Healthy checkout ordinance linked to lower soda and candy sales

A new study found that a healthy checkout ordinance implemented in Berkeley, Calif. supermarkets, drug stores, and mass-market retailers in 2021 was linked to notable decreases in soda sales overall and small-package candy in supermarkets, but greater enforcement of such policies is essential for sustained and meaningful public health benefit.

10 Sep 2026

Refined starch activates immune pathways after low-carb weight loss

After substantial weight loss on a very-low-carbohydrate diet, participants who switched to a diet rich in refined starch showed greater activation of circulating immune and metabolic pathways than those who continued the low-carbohydrate diet or consumed a high-carbohydrate diet rich in added sugar. Mouse experiments suggested that activation of the complement immune pathway may help explain the inflammatory response associated with starch intake.

10 Sep 2026

Study reveals processes driving DNA damage in prostate cancer

Cancer begins with errors in the DNA inside our cells, and those errors are often more complicated than a handful of mutated genes.

9 Sep 2026

The link between fish and pregnancy hypertension may start before conception

In a nationwide Japanese cohort of more than 86,000 women, higher fish intake before pregnancy was associated with lower odds of early-onset hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, while fish intake during pregnancy showed different associations with late-onset disease, particularly among women who had not previously given birth. Total dietary omega-3 and omega-6 PUFA intake showed much less consistent associations, suggesting that the relationship with fish consumption may not be explained by total PUFA intake alone.

9 Sep 2026

Caloric restriction reduces genetic mutations across the mouse genome

Mutations are changes in the molecular "letters" that make up DNA, the genetic blueprint for cells. Mutations build up with age in every cell when DNA is damaged or when cells make mistakes in fixing or copying it.

9 Sep 2026

Non-nutritive sweeteners may aid sugar reduction without affecting weight or health

The review, led by Eva Marija Čad of the University of Ljubljana and Wageningen University & Research, alongside Professor Graham Finlayson of the University of Leeds and colleagues from other institutions in the Netherlands, Denmark, Spain and Belgium, was developed in connection with a 2025 webinar series hosted by the Institute for the Advancement of Food and Nutrition Sciences (IAFNS).

9 Sep 2026

Why a shorter eating window may not mean better metabolic health

In a nationally representative cross-sectional study of 16,973 Korean adults, researchers identified three distinct eating patterns based on the timing and distribution of daily energy intake. Eating later within a shorter daily window was associated with higher odds of metabolic syndrome, elevated blood pressure, triglycerides, and fasting glucose, while frequent grazing showed a mixed metabolic profile.

8 Sep 2026

Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia may slow biological aging in older adults

A new UCLA Health study found that treatment of insomnia using cognitive behavioral therapy slowed the pace of biological aging in older adults.

8 Sep 2026

Stevia tastes sweet, but does your body react as if sugar is coming?

In a randomized, double-blind crossover study, researchers tested stevia alone and with glucose in adults with normal weight, overweight, or type 2 diabetes to assess acute effects on blood glucose, insulin, gut hormones, appetite, and subsequent food intake. Stevia produced no significant changes in the measured glycemic or hormonal responses compared with water and did not significantly modify responses to glucose, while appetite and subsequent energy intake were also generally unchanged.

8 Sep 2026

Helicobacter pylori exposure linked to one in five cases of bowel cancer

Exposure to the stomach microbe Helicobacter pylori may be associated with more than 1 in 5 cases of bowel cancer worldwide, suggests an exploratory risk attribution study, published in the open access journal eGastroenterology.

8 Sep 2026

Could scorpion venom inspire new treatments for liver disease?

Scorpion venom peptides show promising anti-inflammatory, antiviral, analgesic, and immunomodulatory effects, with experimental evidence suggesting that some candidates could target pathways involved in chronic liver disease and viral hepatitis. The review highlights Kv1.3-blocking peptides and antiviral compounds as potential therapeutic leads, while emphasizing that limited hepatic efficacy data, poor pharmacokinetics, immunogenicity, and manufacturing challenges must be overcome before clinical translation.

8 Sep 2026

Could one amino acid help explain why men tend to live shorter lives?

A UK Biobank cohort and Mendelian randomization study involving 272,475 participants linked higher circulating tyrosine with greater all-cause mortality and genetically predicted higher tyrosine with shorter lifespan. After accounting for phenylalanine, the relationship with shorter lifespan was clearest in men, while findings in women were less consistent, suggesting a potential sex-specific role for tyrosine in longevity.

7 Sep 2026

What mothers eat in pregnancy may shape a child’s weight years later

A prospective study of 252 mother-child pairs found that higher combined maternal fruit and vegetable intake during pregnancy was associated with lower odds of overweight or obesity in children at age four. Total and natural fruit juice showed no association, whereas higher commercial fruit juice intake was associated with increased odds, though the authors emphasized that this finding was exploratory.

7 Sep 2026

Some popular drinks were linked to depression and anxiety. Coffee was different

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6 Sep 2026

What four pregnancy eating patterns revealed about mothers and newborns

Researchers analyzing 1,404 pregnant women in Germany identified four distinct dietary patterns that differed substantially in maternal BMI, socioeconomic status, age, and gestational weight gain. A vegetable-rich pattern was also associated with selected neonatal measures, including greater birth length, but most newborn associations were modest or nonsignificant, and the observational study cannot establish causality.

6 Sep 2026

Dual-drug microneedle patch targets inflammation and fat browning

The worldwide obesity crisis has become a dominant public health crisis across the globe. Over 3 billion people worldwide currently suffer from obesity, and forecasts warn the number will rise above 4 billion by 2035, accounting for more than half the global population.

4 Sep 2026

GLP-1 drugs could reshape fashion and body culture

As GLP-1 medications change American bodies and attitudes about weight, a West Virginia University fashion expert says their influence could reach all the way from consumers' closets to designers' drawing boards and retailers' racks.

4 Sep 2026

What your gut microbes may have to do with how your brain ages

This review examines how diet-driven changes in the gut microbiota and microbial metabolites may influence cognitive aging through immune, metabolic, neural, endocrine, and barrier-related pathways. It highlights SCFAs, tryptophan-derived metabolites, and bile acids as key signaling mediators while emphasizing that much of the mechanistic evidence remains preclinical and human evidence is largely associative.

3 Sep 2026

The obesity-microbiome story is more complicated than ‘good’ and ‘bad’ bacteria

This review finds that obesity is linked to reciprocal interactions between diet, the gut microbiome, microbial metabolites, and host metabolic pathways that influence appetite, insulin sensitivity, inflammation, and energy balance across the lifespan. It highlights diet as a particularly tractable way to influence this system, while emphasizing that microbiome changes associated with GLP-1 therapies remain difficult to separate from weight loss and that functional multi-omics approaches may help enable more personalized interventions.

3 Sep 2026

Coffee, tea and dementia risk: Why the amount you drink could matter

A targeted perspective synthesizes epidemiological and mechanistic evidence examining how caffeine consumption during midlife may influence dementia risk later in life. The authors highlight potential roles for dose, age, CYP1A2 genotype, adenosine signaling and cultural drinking practices, while stressing that current observational evidence cannot establish causality.

3 Sep 2026