Health

The cost of a healthy diet has increased 25 percent in the past five years, putting it out of reach for one-third of the global population, according to figures released Wednesday by the United Nations.

Women should ignore most of the exercise advice they see on social media, University of Otago – Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka researchers say.

If you’ve been reaching for chips, mayonnaise or salad dressing labeled “made with avocado oil,” there’s a good chance the oil inside isn’t pure avocado oil, despite it being the only listed oil ingredient. University of California, Davis, researchers tested processed foods marketed as containing avocado oil. They found 48 of the 54 avocado oil-labeled products were adulterated with cheaper oils. The study was published in Applied Food Research.

A high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet, also called a ketogenic diet, can help some people lose weight by forcing their bodies to burn fat for fuel instead of sugar.

The world’s “heritage” diets could hold vital clues to better health. Writing in Nature Medicine, researchers from 12 countries have launched the World Diet Initiative, a global effort to document and study these diets before this knowledge is lost.

Don’t sleep on the cancer prevention benefits of a healthy breakfast. Whether it’s oatmeal, whole-wheat toast, berries in Greek yogurt or other healthy combinations—starting the morning with simple, whole foods is a great way to help lower the risk of cancer while also energizing your day and boosting your overall health.

One in 10 children ages 7 to 9 is living with obesity in Europe. In England, childhood obesity rises from around 10% of children in Reception to around 22% by Year 6. While we know there are many complex and inter-connected biological, social and environmental causes of childhood obesity, a good start is to tackle it with what we know works: Better diets are linked to better health.

Dietary supplements must be better regulated to protect public health, says the American College of Physicians (ACP). In a new paper, “Modernizing the Regulatory Framework for Dietary Supplements: A Position Paper from the American College of Physicians” published today in Annals of Internal Medicine, ACP issues recommendations to strengthen and modernize the manufacturing and marketing of dietary supplements.

Despite decades of scientific evidence linking the Mediterranean diet to lower rates of heart disease, diabetes, obesity and other chronic illnesses, the eating pattern is steadily disappearing in the very countries where it originated. Nutritional choices among populations in countries such as Greece, Spain and southern Italy are moving away from their traditional dietary habits even as the Mediterranean diet gains popularity around the world, according to a new review by researcher Domenico Praticò, M.D., a professor in the Department of Neural Sciences at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University.

A metabolic byproduct formed when gut bacteria break down dietary fiber appears to protect against dangerous fungal infections common in immunocompromised patients, a study led by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers shows. The findings, published in Cell Host & Microbe, could lead to new therapies to shield this vulnerable population from Candida albicans, a leading human fungal pathogen.