Tag: Nutrition

Science

A hunk of cheese is a perfect playground for fungal antibiotics

 Naomi  0 38 

Behold the microscopic power of cheese. The dairy product has been a dietary staple for generations, but it is also helping microbiologists better understand nature’s microbiomes. In a study published May 10 in the journal mBio, a team of researchers used cheese rinds to demonstrate how fungal antibiotics can influence how microbiomes develop.  [Related: Beehives are the honeypot for a city’s microbial secrets.] Metabolites produced by fungi can improve human health. Some secrete penicillin, which is then purified and used…

Science

Scientists made a woolly mammoth meatball, but don’t grab your fork yet

 Emma  0 44 

Update 3/31/23: Another food-tech company, Paleo, alleges that they first developed patent pending meat with mammoth myoglobin in 2021, and are now considering legal action against Vow. This post has been updated with their comments, along with a response from Vow Researchers and ethicists have argued over the how’s, if’s, and should’s of reviving woolly mammoths for years—in the meantime, one startup just reportedly went ahead and cooked up their own version. As first highlighted by The Guardian, an Australian…

Science

A peanut allergy patch is making headway in trials with toddlers

 Amy  0 65 

An experimental “peanut patch” is showing some promise for toddlers who are highly allergic to peanuts. The patch, called Viaskin, was tested on children ages one to three for a late-stage trial, and the results show that the patch helped children whose bodies could not tolerate even a small piece of peanuts safely eat a few. The findings were published May 10 in The New England Journal of Medicine. [Related: Feeding Peanuts To High-Risk Infants Could Prevent Allergy Development.] Peanut…

Science

Popular artificial sweetener associated with risk of heart attack and stroke

 sykes  0 79 

A popular artificial sweetener, erythritol, has been linked to blood clotting, heart attack, stroke, and death, according to a study published February 27 in the journal Nature Medicine. Individuals with elevated factors for heart disease–such as diabetes–were twice as likely to have a heart attack or stroke if their blood contained high levels of erythritol in their blood. Erythritol and other artificial sweeteners like aspartame and saccharin are common replacements for table sugar in low-calorie, low-carbohydrate, and “keto” branded products.…

Science

Deadly and delicious: These 6 foods can actually kill you

 Amy  0 112 

GENERALLY SPEAKING, humans will try to eat anything at least once. Some anthropologists theorize that prehistoric people sussed out what was edible by trial and error, but we haven’t stopped pushing our palates in new, sometimes dangerous directions. The risk of illness and even death is often baked into our favorite flavors and fares. Here are some beloved bites that can kill—if things go awry. Fugu A dash of danger is part of the appeal of this lean and mild whitefish,…

Science

Coffee and tea could lower your risk of dementia

 sykes  0 135 

Drinking a moderate amount of coffee or tea may lower your risk of stroke or dementia, according to a new study.  Researchers surveyed 365,682 adults between the ages of 50 and 74, asking how much tea or coffee they drank each day. The team then tracked each participant’s health outcomes for more than a decade. At the end of the study period there were 5,079 cases of dementia and 10,053 cases of stroke, based on hospital records. Those who drank…

HARDWARE

Google Fit adds exercise and nutrition tracking features

 sykes  0 285 

Google’s fitness tracking app for Android, Google Fit, isn’t exactly the best known health service out there. But its newest features may help elevate its profile. In a post on its Android blog Thursday, Google announced a handful of new features and integrations for Google Fit designed to make the app’s offering more comprehensive. Google Fit now integrates with more external apps, and adds new exercise tracking features to Android Wear devices. For runners and cyclists, Google Fit now displays…

Gadgets

Penguin device checks your food for antibiotic residue

 Ingle  0 289 

We’ve already heard about a biosensor developed in Brazil for detecting pesticide content in food. Now at CE Week, a Seoul-based company called BioSensor Laboratories has presented Penguin, a home-use sensor that detects the presence of antibiotics in animal products. The system, described as a lab-on-a-chip solution, detects traces of electrons produced by chemical reactions of enzymes and antibiotics using signal-to-noise technology commonly used in medical devices. Biosensor Solutions says it can detect all antibiotics with an accuracy of 10 ppb (parts…