Some dogs and cats may be passing gut microbes to their owners that withstand last-resort antibiotics, which can be needed to fight off pneumonia from a coronavirus infection

Getting your wok scorching hot and preparing your ingredients in advance is the best way to make a tasty stir-fry, says Sam Wong

Title: Pet Food Recall Widens Again on New Threat
Category: Health News
Created: 5/4/2007 2:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 5/4/2007 12:00:00 AM

Title: Health Tip: Understanding Organic Foods
Category: Health News
Created: 4/27/2010 8:10:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 4/27/2010 12:00:00 AM

Title: Health Tip: Foods to Avoid If You Have Ulcerative Colitis
Category: Health News
Created: 4/28/2010 8:10:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 4/28/2010 12:00:00 AM

Title: Top 10 Food Trends: Hip May Not Mean Healthy
Category: Health News
Created: 4/26/2011 1:54:00 PM
Last Editorial Review: 4/26/2011 12:00:00 AM

Title: CDC: Kids Lack Access to Healthy Food Choices
Category: Health News
Created: 4/27/2011 11:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 4/27/2011 12:00:00 AM

Title: What Are the Riskiest Food-Bacteria Combos?
Category: Health News
Created: 4/29/2011 11:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 4/29/2011 12:00:00 AM

Title: Diamond Pet Food Recall Expands
Category: Health News
Created: 5/2/2012 11:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 5/2/2012 12:00:00 AM

Title: USDA Unveils Plans to Stem Food-borne Illness
Category: Health News
Created: 5/3/2012 11:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 5/3/2012 12:00:00 AM

Title: Food, Skin Allergies on the Rise Among Children: CDC
Category: Health News
Created: 5/2/2013 10:35:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 5/2/2013 12:00:00 AM

Title: Statin Users Eating More Bad Food Than a Decade Ago, Study Shows
Category: Health News
Created: 4/25/2014 12:35:00 PM
Last Editorial Review: 4/28/2014 12:00:00 AM

Title: Does Higher-Priced Food Taste Better?
Category: Health News
Created: 5/2/2014 12:35:00 PM
Last Editorial Review: 5/2/2014 12:00:00 AM

Title: Health Food Stores Often Promote Adult-Only Supplements to Teens
Category: Health News
Created: 4/26/2015 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 4/27/2015 12:00:00 AM

Title: Health Tip: Fight Food-Related Peer Pressure
Category: Health News
Created: 4/30/2015 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 4/30/2015 12:00:00 AM

Title: Want to Stay Slim? Keep Food Out of Sight
Category: Health News
Created: 4/30/2015 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 5/1/2015 12:00:00 AM

Title: Focus on Healthy Foods, Not Avoiding 'Bad' Ones, for Heart Health: Study
Category: Health News
Created: 4/25/2016 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 4/25/2016 12:00:00 AM

Title: Health Tip: Dig Into More Flavorful Foods
Category: Health News
Created: 4/25/2016 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 4/25/2016 12:00:00 AM

Title: Could Certain Fatty Foods Be Linked to Aggressive Prostate Cancer?
Category: Health News
Created: 4/22/2016 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 4/25/2016 12:00:00 AM

Title: Kids From Poorer Families May Have Worse Food Allergy Care
Category: Health News
Created: 4/27/2016 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 4/27/2016 12:00:00 AM

Title: Health Tip: Choose Energy-Boosting Foods
Category: Health News
Created: 4/27/2016 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 4/27/2016 12:00:00 AM

Title: Dog Food Recalled After Tests Find Euthanasia Drug
Category: Health News
Created: 4/29/2017 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 5/1/2017 12:00:00 AM

Title: What Foods Can Hasten, or Delay, Menopause?
Category: Health News
Created: 4/30/2018 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 5/1/2018 12:00:00 AM

Title: Food for Thought: Keys to Fruitful Fertility
Category: Health News
Created: 5/3/2018 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 5/4/2018 12:00:00 AM

Title: Food Poisoning Cases Rise in U.S.
Category: Health News
Created: 4/26/2019 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 4/29/2019 12:00:00 AM

Title: 4 Strategies to Cope With a Food Craving
Category: Health News
Created: 4/30/2019 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 4/30/2019 12:00:00 AM

Title: A Heart-Healthy Prescription for America's Food System
Category: Health News
Created: 5/2/2019 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 5/3/2019 12:00:00 AM

Title: How to Understand New Food Labels
Category: Health News
Created: 3/11/2020 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 3/12/2020 12:00:00 AM

Title: Proposed Cuts in U.S. Food and Health Aid Would Hurt Families
Category: Health News
Created: 3/13/2020 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 3/16/2020 12:00:00 AM

Title: Which Foods Might Reduce Your Odds for Dementia?
Category: Health News
Created: 4/14/2020 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 4/14/2020 12:00:00 AM

Title: 24 Best Foods for Blood Circulation
Category: Health and Living
Created: 4/9/2020 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 4/9/2020 12:00:00 AM

The development of pastoralism transformed human diets and societies in grasslands worldwide. The long-term success of cattle herding in Africa has been sustained by dynamic food systems, consumption of a broad range of primary and secondary livestock products, and the evolution of lactase persistence (LP), which allows digestion of lactose...

Lucy A. Winder, Stewart A. White, Andreas Nord, Barbara Helm, and Dominic J. McCafferty

During winter at temperate and high latitudes, the low ambient temperatures, limited food supplies and short foraging periods mean small passerines show behavioural, morphological and physiological adaptations to reduce the risk of facing energy shortages. Peripheral tissues vasoconstrict in low ambient temperatures to reduce heat loss and cold injury. Peripheral vasoconstriction has been observed with food restriction in captivity but has yet to be explored in free-ranging animals. We experimentally food restricted both wild and captive great tits (Parus major) during winter months and measured surface temperatures of the bill and eye region using thermal imaging, to investigate whether birds show rapid local heterothermic responses, which may reduce their thermoregulatory costs when facing a perceived imminent food shortage. Our results of a continuously filmed wild population showed that bill temperature was immediately reduced in response to food restriction compared with when food was available ad libitum, an apparent autonomic response. Such immediacy implies a ‘pre-emptive’ response before the bird experiences any shortfalls in energy reserves. We also demonstrate temporal variation in vasoconstriction of the bill, with bill temperature gradually rising throughout the food restriction after the initial drop. Eye-region temperature in the wild birds remained at similar levels throughout food restriction compared with unrestricted birds, possibly reflecting the need to maintain steady circulation to the central nervous and visual systems. Our findings provide evidence that birds selectively allow the bill to cool when a predictable food supply is suddenly disrupted, probably as a means of minimising depletion of body reserves for a perceived future shortage in energy.

Ewa Komar, Dina K. N. Dechmann, Nicolas J. Fasel, Marcin Zegarek, and Ireneusz Ruczynski

Balancing energy budgets can be challenging, especially in periods of food shortage, adverse weather conditions and increased energy demand due to reproduction. Bats have particularly high energy demands compared to other mammals and regularly use torpor to save energy. However, while torpor limits energy expenditure, it can also downregulate important processes, such as sperm production. This constraint could result in a trade-off between energy saving and future reproductive capacity. We mimicked harsh conditions by restricting food and tested the effect on changes in body mass, torpor use and seasonal sexual maturation in male parti-coloured bats (Vespertilio murinus). Food-restricted individuals managed to maintain their initial body mass, while in well-fed males, mass increased. Interestingly, despite large differences in food availability, there were only small differences in torpor patterns. However, well-fed males reached sexual maturity up to half a month earlier. Our results thus reveal a complex trade-off in resource allocation; independent of resource availability, males maintain a similar thermoregulation strategy and favour fast sexual maturation, but limited resources and low body mass moderate this latter process.

Ayelen M. Blanco, Juan I. Bertucci, Jose L. Soengas, and Suraj Unniappan

This research assessed the direct effects of insulin on nutrient-sensing mechanisms in the brain of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) using an in vitro approach. Cultured hypothalamus and hindbrain were exposed to 1 µmol l^–1 insulin for 3 h, and signals involved in appetite regulation and nutrient-sensing mechanisms were measured. Additionally, the involvement of the phosphatidylinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (Akt) signaling pathway in the actions of insulin was studied by using the inhibitor wortmannin. Treatment with insulin alone did not elicit many changes in the appetite regulators and nutrient-sensing-related genes and enzymes tested in the hypothalamus and hindbrain. However, we found that, when insulin and nutrients were added together, insulin reversed most of the effects exerted by nutrients alone, suggesting that insulin changes responsiveness to nutrients at the central level. Effects reversed by insulin included expression levels of genes related to the sensing of both glucose (slc2a2, slc5a1, gck, pck1, pklr, g6pcb, gys1, tas1r3 and nr1h3 in the hindbrain, and slc2a2, pklr and pck1 in the hypothalamus) and fatty acid (cd36 in the hindbrain, and cd36 and acly in the hypothalamus). Nutrient-induced changes in the activity of Acly and Cpt-1 in the hindbrain and of Pepck, Acly, Fas and Hoad in the hypothalamus were also reversed by insulin. Most of the insulin effects disappeared in the presence of wortmannin, suggesting the PI3K/Akt pathway is a mediator of the effects of insulin reported here. This study adds new information to our knowledge of the mechanisms regulating nutrient sensing in fish.

Zhi-Jun Zhao, Davina Derous, Abby Gerrard, Jing Wen, Xue Liu, Song Tan, Catherine Hambly, and John R. Speakman

Lactating mice increase food intake 4- to 5-fold, reaching an asymptote in late lactation. A key question is whether this asymptote reflects a physiological constraint, or a maternal investment strategy (a ‘restraint’). We exposed lactating mice to periods of food restriction, hypothesizing that if the limit reflected restraint, they would compensate by breaching the asymptote when refeeding. In contrast, if it was a constraint, they would by definition be unable to increase their intake on refeeding days. Using isotope methods, we found that during food restriction, the females shut down milk production, impacting offspring growth. During refeeding, food intake and milk production rose again, but not significantly above unrestricted controls. These data provide strong evidence that asymptotic intake in lactation reflects a physiological/physical constraint, rather than restraint. Because hypothalamic neuropeptide Y (Npy) was upregulated under both states of restriction, this suggests the constraint is not imposed by limits in the capacity to upregulate hunger signalling (the saturated neural capacity hypothesis). Understanding the genetic basis of the constraint will be a key future goal and will provide us additional information on the nature of the constraining factors on reproductive output, and their potential links to life history strategies.

Joachim Ostheim, Julia A. M. Delius, and Juan D. Delius

The visual control of pecking by pigeons (Columba livia) has latterly been thought to be restricted to the fixation stops interrupting their downward head movements because these stops prevent interference by motion blur. Pigeons were also assumed to close their eyes during the final head thrust of the peck. Here we re-examine their pecking motions using high-speed video recordings and supplementary provisions that permitted a three-dimensional spatial analysis of the movement, including measurements of their pupil diameters and eyelid slit width. The results confirm that pigeons do not close their eyes completely during the presumed optically ballistic phase of pecking. Instead their eyelids are narrowed to a slit. The width of this slit is sensitive to both the ambient illumination levels and the visual backgrounds against which seed targets have to be detected and grasped. There is also evidence of some interaction between pupil diameter and eyelid slit width. We surmise that besides being an eye-protecting reflex, the partial covering of the pupil with the eyelids may increase the depth of focus, enabling pigeons to obtain sharp retinal images of peck target items at very close range and during the beak-gape ‘handling’ of food items and occasional grit particles.

Dual amylin and calcitonin receptor agonists (DACRAs) are novel candidates for treatment of type 2 diabetes and obesity because of their beneficial effects on body weight, blood glucose, insulin sensitivity, and food preference, at least short-term. DACRAs activate the receptors for a prolonged time period, resulting in metabolic effects superior to those of amylin. Because of the prolonged receptor activation, different dosing intervals and, hence, less frequent receptor activation might change the efficacy of DACRA treatment in terms of weight loss and food preference. In this study, we compared daily dosing to dosing every other day with the aim of understanding the optimal balance between efficacy and tolerability. Obese and lean male Sprague-Dawley rats were treated with the DACRA KBP-088, applying two different dosing intervals (1.5 nmol/kg once daily and 3 nmol/kg every other day) to assess the effect on body weight, food intake, glucose tolerance, and food preference when given the choice between chow (13% fat) and a high-fat diet (60% fat). Treatment with KBP-088 induced significant weight loss, reduction in adiposity, improvement in glucose control, and altered food preference toward food that is less calorie-dense. KBP-088 dosed every other day (3 nmol/kg) was superior to KBP-088 once daily (1.5 nmol/kg) in terms of weight loss and improvement of food preference. The beneficial effects were evident in both lean and obese rats. Hence, dosing KBP-088 every other day positively affects overall efficacy on metabolic parameters regardless of the lean/obese state, suggesting that less-frequent dosing with KBP-088 could be feasible.

Dietary protein residue can result in microbial generation of various toxic metabolites in the gut, such as ammonia. A prebiotic is "a substrate that is selectively utilised by host microorganisms conferring a health benefit" (G. R. Gibson, R. Hutkins, M. E. Sanders, S. L. Prescott, et al., Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol 14:491–502, 2017, https://doi.org/10.1038/nrgastro.2017.75). Prebiotics are carbohydrates that may have the potential to reverse the harmful effects of gut bacterial protein fermentation. Three-stage continuous colonic model systems were inoculated with fecal samples from omnivore and vegetarian volunteers. Casein (equivalent to 105 g protein consumption per day) was used within the systems as a protein source. Two different doses of inulin-type fructans (Synergy1) were later added (equivalent to 10 g per day in vivo and 15 g per day) to assess whether this influenced protein fermentation. Bacteria were enumerated by fluorescence in situ hybridization with flow cytometry. Metabolites from bacterial fermentation (short-chain fatty acid [SCFA], ammonia, phenol, indole, and p-cresol) were monitored to further analyze proteolysis and the prebiotic effect. A significantly higher number of bifidobacteria was observed with the addition of inulin together with reduction of Desulfovibrio spp. Furthermore, metabolites from protein fermentation, such as branched-chain fatty acids (BCFA) and ammonia, were significantly lowered with Synergy1. Production of p-cresol varied among donors, as we recognized four high producing models and two low producing models. Prebiotic addition reduced its production only in vegetarian high p-cresol producers.

IMPORTANCE Dietary protein levels are generally higher in Western populations than in the world average. We challenged three-stage continuous colonic model systems containing high protein levels and confirmed the production of potentially harmful metabolites from proteolysis, especially replicates of the transverse and distal colon. Fermentations of proteins with a prebiotic supplementation resulted in a change in the human gut microbiota and inhibited the production of some proteolytic metabolites. Moreover, we observed both bacterial and metabolic differences between fecal bacteria from omnivore donors and vegetarian donors. Proteins with prebiotic supplementation showed higher Bacteroides spp. and inhibited Clostridium cluster IX in omnivore models, while in vegetarian modes, Clostridium cluster IX was higher and Bacteroides spp. lower with high protein plus prebiotic supplementation. Synergy1 addition inhibited p-cresol production in vegetarian high p-cresol-producing models while the inhibitory effect was not seen in omnivore models.

FarmWise is using AI and robotics to enhance farming efficiency by taking care of each plant individually

Foods, such as French fries, cheese, cookies, soda, and sports and energy drinks, are commonly found in the diets of United States adults with inflammatory bowel disease, according to a new study.

The presence of bacteria that break down fibre in a mother’s gut is linked to a reduced risk of food allergies in her child’s first year of life

Some dogs and cats may be passing gut microbes to their owners that withstand last-resort antibiotics, which can be needed to fight off pneumonia from a coronavirus infection

More than 1,000 people queued up on Saturday to get free food parcels in Geneva, underscoring the impact of the coronavirus epidemic on the working poor and undocumented immigrants even in wealthy Switzerland.

At least six were killed when protesters angry over what they see as unfair food aid distribution during the coronavirus pandemic clashed with police in Afghanistan's western Ghor province on Saturday, according to officials.