News by Subject Biology

Diets high in carbohydrates reduce body weight and body fat and improve insulin function in overweight individuals, according to a new study published in Nutrients.

A new study has shown how overweight people lost an average of five times more weight using Functional Imagery Training (FIT) -- a brief individual motivational intervention that teaches self-motivating skills using mental imagery -- compared with talking therapy alone. The study was led by the University of Plymouth and Queensland University.

Using an artificial intestine they created, researchers have shown that the microbiome can quickly adapt from the bacterial equivalent of a typical western diet to one composed exclusively of dietary fats. That adaptation involved an increase in the populations of fatty-acid metabolizing species and a drop in those of protein and carbohydrate metabolizers. These changes led to diminished production of short chain fatty acids and antioxidants, alterations that might negatively affect human health.

Women could enhance the development of their unborn child's eyesight and brain function by regularly eating fatty fish during pregnancy. This is the suggestion from a small-scale study led by Kirsi Laitinen of the University of Turku and Turku University Hospital in Finland, in the Springer Nature-branded journal Pediatric Research. The research supports previous findings that show how important a prospective mother's diet and lifestyle choices are for the development of her baby.

Following a Mediterranean-style diet may reduce stroke risk in women over 40 but not in men -- according to new research led by the University of East Anglia. A new report, published today in the American Heart Association's journal Stroke, reveals that a diet high in fish, fruit, vegetables, nuts and beans, and lower in meat and dairy, reduces stroke risk among white adults who are at high risk of cardiovascular disease.

Today's kiwifruit, a member of the Chinese gooseberry family, contains about as much vitamin C as an orange. This extra boost in vitamin C production is the result of the kiwifruit's ancestors' spontaneously duplicating their DNA in two separate evolutionary events approximately 50-57 million and 18-20 million years ago, as reported September 20 in the journal iScience.