Food for Thought
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Money Matters in Obesity
The higher cost of healthier food choices could be a major factor fostering the consumption of especially fattening fare.
- Health & Medicine
Beans, Beans, Good for the Heart
Consumption of black beans, a traditional part of Latin American and Hispanic diets, results in a lower risk of heart disease, but urbanizing populations are eating ever less of this healthy food.
- Health & Medicine
Stepping Off the Scale
While walking, obese people alter their gait to minimize both energy expenditure and the stress on their knee joints.
- Health & Medicine
Soft Drinks as Top Calorie Culprit
Soft drinks have overtaken white bread as the main source of calories in the U.S. diet, contributing to an increasing rate of obesity in the country.
- Health & Medicine
Calories May Not Count in Life Extension
In fruit flies, shifting the concentrations of nutrients while only modestly cutting calories extends lifespan just as much as a drastic calorie cut does.
- Health & Medicine
The Case of the Suspicious Hamsters
A recent outbreak of Salmonella poisoning showed that hamsters, mice, and other pocket pets can spread the dangerous bacteria, which are typically associated with chickens and eggs.
- Health & Medicine
Star Wars Goes Organic
A group promoting organic foods has produced its own version of Star Wars, featuring heroic produce, villainous eggs and bananas, and warnings about dangerous agricultural practices.
- Health & Medicine
To Fight Cataracts, It’s Fish Yea, Mayo Nay
Which fats predominate in a person's diet may influence that individual's susceptibility to cataracts.
- Health & Medicine
Bread and Chocolate, No Longer D-Minimus
Heavy fortification of foods with vitamin D offers one way to overcome chronic deficiencies of the nutrient among many people and can even help build bone.
- Health & Medicine
Understanding Vitamin D Deficiency
Most adults don't get the recommended daily amount of vitamin D, and obesity may be a contributing factor.
- Health & Medicine
Season Affects Cancer-Surgery Survival
Ample vitamin D at the time of lung-cancer surgery dramatically increases the odds that a patient will be alive and cancerfree 5 years later.
- Health & Medicine
Is Chromium in Your Mineral Supplement?
As a new study on chromium illustrates, the value of a mineral supplement can depend greatly on which chemical form of the mineral a manufacturer uses.
