Health

The places we live, work, study and play are important locations for governments to improve population health by curbing unhealthy diets that cause preventable diseases and deaths. Think cafes in public hospitals, eateries in public-sector workplaces, canteens in public schools and food outlets in community sports centers.

Your neighborhood’s “streetscape”—the physical environment of your street—is something you have probably never consciously thought about, despite seeing it every day. But what if the streetscape was affecting you on a subconscious level and disrupting your sleep?

This summer’s amber heat warnings have brought with them many health risks.

Researchers have developed and evaluated a feedback initiative, returning gut microbiome results from a landmark microbiome study to 778 women in South Africa and Kenya. The results came from the AWI-Gen 2 study published in Nature in 2025, the largest population-representative survey of African gut metagenomes conducted to date.

A newly published Finnish study demonstrates that, in addition to temperature, air humidity is a significant determinant of physiological strain during sauna bathing. As humidity increases, both heart rate and core temperature rise more markedly, indicating a greater cardiovascular and thermoregulatory load.

Imagine a typical breakfast: coffee may appear alongside eggs, toast and butter, while fruit, yogurt and whole grains may form another combination. We do not eat foods in isolation. Instead, our diets are made up of interconnected food combinations. Traditional dietary pattern research has helped us understand overall eating habits, but it does not always show which food groups remain directly connected after the rest of the diet is taken into account.

People in rural communities have long experienced disproportionate levels of chronic disease, driven in part by systemic barriers to physical activity. A new study from North Carolina State University highlights ways some rural communities use strategic investments and community collaboration to address these challenges.

High-salt (HS) intake is a major global health concern, closely linked to hypertension and growing evidence of cognitive and emotional decline. Although salt is a routine part of daily diets, long-term overconsumption can negatively affect both the cardiovascular system and the central nervous system, underscoring the need for practical dietary strategies to mitigate these adverse health effects.

A 10-year study of residents of São Paulo, Brazil, reveals that leisure-time physical activity is highly unequal and that the gap between social strata is widening. While highly educated white men are exercising more, women from racial minorities with low levels of education have the lowest rates of physical activity during leisure time. In contrast, exercise associated with urban transportation, such as walking to work, is distributed more evenly across different population segments.

Not every disease announces itself with obvious symptoms. Some develop quietly, going unnoticed until they begin to take a serious toll on health. Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is one of them. Rather than a single disease, it is a combination of at least three conditions—including high blood pressure, high blood sugar, excess belly fat, high triglycerides and low HDL (good) cholesterol—that together raise the risk of heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes.

Protein-fortified foods are popping up everywhere, from cereal and coffee to even protein water. But a new review covering more than 350 papers on protein restriction and aging—published July 31 in the journal Cell Press Blue—suggests that consuming less protein could have greater health benefits and could, in some cases, extend lifespan. The authors describe how protein restriction slows aging by improving metabolism, changing how cells respond to nutrients, reducing cellular damage and preserving healthy cell function.