When you're sleep deprived, you reach for doughnuts and pizza. A new study has figured out why you crave more calorie-dense, high-fat foods after a sleepless night. Blame it on your sleepy nose — or olfactory system. First, it goes into hyperdrive, sharpening the food odors for the brain. But then there is a breakdown in communication with brain areas that receive food signals. Then decisions about what to eat change.
Read moreA new study demonstrates that DNA metabarcoding provides a promising new method for tracking human plant intake, suggesting that similar approaches could be used to characterize the animal and fungal components of human diets. The study demonstrated that dietary plant DNA can be amplified and sequenced from human stool using methods commonly applied to wildlife studies.
Read moreTo understand the environmental pressures that shaped human evolution, scientists must reconstruct the ecosystems in which they lived. Because putting together the puzzle of millions-of-years-old ecosystems is a difficult task, many studies draw analogies with present-day African ecosystems, such as the Serengeti. A new study calls into question such approaches and suggests that the vast majority of human evolution occurred in ecosystems unlike any found today.
Read moreSmelly flatulence is one way our bodies manage our well-being. It turns out expelling noxious gas takes priority in our guts.
Read morePeople eat more with friends and family than when dining alone — a possible throwback to our early ancestors' approach to survival, according to a new study. This phenomenon is known as 'social facilitation'.
Read morePeople who increase their consumption of sugary beverages — whether they contain added or naturally occurring sugar — may face moderately higher risk of type 2 diabetes.
Read moreMost people want to eat healthier, but efforts to encourage healthy eating by providing nutrition information have not drastically changed habits. A new study suggests that labels emphasizing taste and positive experience could help.
Read moreWe make food decisions several times a day – from what time we eat to how much – but a new study has found we are not very good at judging the energy-density of what we consume.
Read moreA paradox of food insecurity in wealthy countries is its association with excess weight. Now, a study finds that young adults in the United States who are food insecure not only are slightly more likely to be obese, they are significantly more likely to suffer from disorders associated with high body mass index, as well as obstructive airway diseases like asthma.
Read moreHigh levels of fructose in the diet inhibit the liver's ability to properly metabolize fat. This effect is specific to fructose. Indeed, equally high levels of glucose in the diet actually improve the fat-burning function of the liver.
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