Health

A new study has found an association between odd- and branched-chain fatty acid (OBCFA) levels in breast milk and infant motor development, providing new population-based evidence for research on early-life nutrition and neurodevelopment.

Phytochemicals are bioactive compounds derived from plants, such as flavonoids, alkaloids and ginsenosides. They are key ingredients in functional foods and promising starting points for new drugs. Yet many of them never make it into the bloodstream because they are poorly absorbed in the intestine. Measuring their absorption one compound at a time requires laborious cell-based experiments, and this bottleneck has long slowed the screening of candidate ingredients.

A study in Norway has identified a link between a mother’s vitamin A levels and her baby’s birth weight. The study shows that over 43% of the women had low vitamin A levels during the latter part of their pregnancy. While almost no one had levels classified as a severe vitamin A deficiency, two out of five had insufficient levels. The study examined 723 women who experienced entirely normal pregnancies.

Replacing dairy products, even partially, with unfortified plant-based alternatives may lead to a deficiency in vital nutrients, a new study from the University of Surrey reports. Mandatory fortification of plant-based alternatives and other foods, including bread, could lessen the risk of deficiencies, particularly iodine deficiency.

If you can remember your first sip of coffee, the memory might not be a pleasant one. Coffee’s bitter flavor is one we naturally steer clear of. So how do coffee fans learn to love it? The answer may lie in an understudied “slow” dopamine pathway connecting the gut and brain. A new study from UC San Francisco shows that this pathway helps the brain connect a flavor with the beneficial effects that follow ingesting it.

Eating a diet rich in red, yellow and orange fruits and vegetables may help reduce inflammation and exacerbations associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), according to a new study in the September 2026 issue of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases: Journal of the COPD Foundation.

Researchers from The George Institute for Global Health assessed the health benefits of switching the salt supply to potassium-enriched salt across 193 countries. They found almost 3 million deaths and 10 million new cases of cardiovascular and kidney disease could be prevented globally each year. The research is published in Nature Health.

A multicomponent nutritional supplement has been found to improve markers of vascular health in a randomized controlled trial led by the University of Surrey. The formulation combined ingredients (vitamins, minerals, amino acids and plant-derived bioactives) selected for their relevance to several biological processes associated with aging.

Two distinct patterns of molecules in the blood linked to an ultra-processed diet and a minimally processed diet have been identified in a new study by UCL (University College London) and Imperial College London researchers.

A German–Israeli eye-tracking study found that both the design and familiarity of front-of-package nutrition labels shape what consumers notice and how they interpret food products. Participants in both countries found Israel’s warning-label system easier to understand and more helpful for making healthy choices than Nutri-Score, offering timely evidence as Europe and the United States reconsider how nutrition information should appear on packaged foods.