Health

For generations, early to bed and early to rise was seen as the blueprint for a healthy life, and any departure from it was often considered unhealthy. Scientists, however, have discovered that whether someone is an early bird who wakes up early and starts the day with energy or a night owl who naturally stays up late and wakes up later is far more than a lifestyle choice. This pattern reflects the body’s natural preference for the timing of sleep and wake cycles within a 24-hour day.

More people are focusing on their gut health, as fibermaxxing goes mainstream, colorectal cancer rises among young adults and personalized gut microbiome treatments become increasingly popular.

Scores of people in the United States have been sickened by a parasite commonly linked to contaminated fresh produce that can cause weeks of watery diarrhea. But there are ways to protect yourself and still enjoy summer’s bounty of fruits and vegetables.

In an era where digital health applications are booming, older adults, particularly those facing the physical and psychological toll of post-acute rehabilitation, are frequently left out of the equation because of assumptions about low-tech literacy. However, a prospective pilot study published in JMIR Aging shows that with age-appropriate design, even clinically burdened geriatric patients can independently use mobile apps to manage their nutrition.

A new systematic review has found that both the way a baby is born and exposure to antibiotics around the time of birth could be linked to differences in the development of the infant gut microbiome. The review also found that exclusively breastfeeding babies born by cesarean section or exposed to antibiotics may reduce these differences.

Following dietary guidelines during pregnancy may reduce exposure to many—but not all—environmental chemicals from food and everyday products, according to a new study of nearly 1,500 pregnant participants. The study, “Dietary guidelines adherence and pregnancy exposure to 10 classes of priority chemicals: An observational study in the ECHO Cohort,” was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Published today in Schizophrenia Bulletin, a first-of-its-kind randomized controlled trial (RCT) from researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), adds to growing literature on the potential benefit of a ketogenic diet for treating psychotic disorders. The study, which enrolled participants with schizophrenia-spectrum or bipolar 1 disorders, demonstrated rapid metabolic improvements with a ketogenic diet compared with diet-as-usual during an initial one-month RCT open-label phase. Furthermore, those who continued with the optional four-month single-arm ketogenic diet extension saw meaningful gains across metabolic, psychiatric and cognitive measures.

The vegetables you put on your plate in your 20s could shape your health for the rest of your life—and a new study from Edith Cowan University (ECU) suggests men and women may benefit from different vegetables. Research investigating data from the Western Australian–based Raine Study has found that young men and women may respond differently to specific vegetables, with certain types potentially offering greater protection against future heart disease and type 2 diabetes, depending on your sex.

Back in the late 1990s, a distressing trend took hold in rural America. At that time, rural and urban mortality rates started to diverge, with rural populations experiencing 9% higher mortality among working-age adults. Unfortunately, the divide has only grown over time. As of 2019, working-age adults in rural areas were 43% more likely to die from natural causes than their urban counterparts, but researchers have struggled to explain this gap.

Healthy plant-based foods such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans and legumes are the foundation of a healthy diet for anyone, no matter how old they are. But that’s especially true for children, for whom these foods are rich in essential nutrients that support normal growth, learning, mood and long-term health.