Ever notice how much more tempting it is to pick up fast food for dinner after being stuck in traffic? It’s not just you. New research shows that traffic delays significantly increase visits to fast food restaurants, leading to unhealthier eating.
“In our analysis focusing on Los Angeles County, unexpected traffic delays beyond the usual congestion led to a 1% increase in fast food visits. That might not sound like a lot, but it’s equivalent to 1.2 million more fast food visits per year in LA County alone. We describe our results as being modest but meaningful in terms of potential for changing unhealthy food choices,” said study author Becca Taylor, assistant professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Taylor and her co-authors had access to more than two years’ of daily highway traffic patterns in Los Angeles, along with data showing how many cell phone users entered fast-food restaurants in the same time period.
With these data, the team created a computational model showing a causal link between unexpected traffic slow-downs and fast food visits. This pattern held at various time scales, including 24-hour cycles and by the hour throughout a given day. When analysed by the day, traffic delays of just 30 seconds per mile were enough to spike fast-food visits by 1%.
“It might not be intuitive to imagine what a 30-second delay per mile feels like,” Taylor said. “I think of it as the difference between 10a.m. traffic and 5p.m. traffic.”
When the researchers broke the day into hour-long segments, they found a significantly greater number of fast food visits when traffic delays hit during the evening rush hour. At the same time, grocery store visits declined slightly.
“If there’s traffic between 5 and 7p.m., which happens to be right around the evening meal time, we see an increase in fast food visits,” Taylor said.
“Drivers have to make a decision about whether to go home and cook something, stop at the grocery store first, or just get fast food.”
Considering every major city has both traffic and fast food restaurants lining highway feeder roads, it’s not a stretch to extrapolate the pattern beyond Los Angeles.
Taylor and her co-authors say the link between traffic and unhealthy food choices is just one more reason policymakers around the country and the globe should prioritize infrastructure reforms to ease congestion.
“Our results contribute to the literature suggesting time constraints are really important to the food choices people make. Any policies aimed at loosening time constraints – and traffic is essentially lost time – could help battle unhealthy eating,” Taylor said. “That could mean improvements in infrastructure to mitigate traffic congestion, expanding public transport availability, and potentially increasing work from home opportunities.”
Low vitamin D levels in the first trimester of pregnancy are associated with higher rates of preterm birth and decreased foetal length, according to a new study led by researchers in the Penn State Department of Nutritional Sciences. This research provides evidence that early pregnancy or even preconception may represent critical time points for intervening with women who have low vitamin D status, to optimise pregnancy outcomes.
“More than 25% of women who are pregnant or lactating have lower than recommended levels of vitamin D,” Gernand said, explaining that prior research has demonstrated the effect of vitamin D on foetal skeletal growth, maternal immune function at the foetal interface, and the development of the placenta in pregnant women. “A lot of the development early in pregnancy requires vitamin D, so we conducted this study to better understand how early-pregnancy vitamin D status is related to pregnancy outcomes.”
Most prior studies on vitamin D status in pregnant women have measured vitamin D concentrations starting in the second trimester or later, the researchers said. The researchers said this study, to their knowledge, is the first to examine both first and second trimester maternal vitamin D status in relation to longitudinal foetal growth and pregnancy outcomes.
The researchers at Penn State partnered with colleagues at the University of Utah to test blood samples from 351 women collected as part of the Nulliparous Pregnancy Outcomes Study: Monitoring Mothers-to-Be, which was funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and recruited pregnant women across the United States between 2010 and 2013.
According to the Institute of Medicine, less than 50nmol/L represents an insufficiency of vitamin D. When the researchers compared outcomes for women with vitamin D insufficiency (less than 50nmol/L) to women with sufficient vitamin D (more than or equal to 50nmol/L), they found no statistical differences in pregnancy outcomes. However, when the researchers compared pregnancy outcomes across a wider range of vitamin D concentrations, they found that pregnant women with first trimester vitamin D concentrations lower than 40 nmol/L were four times more likely to experience a preterm birth compared to women with vitamin D concentrations more than or equal to 80nmol/L.
Despite the higher risk of preterm birth in women with low vitamin D status, the researchers cautioned that these results were based on a very low number of preterm births in this study and recommend that additional, larger studies be conducted.
The researchers also observed an association between first-trimester vitamin D concentrations and certain foetal growth patterns. Women with higher levels of vitamin D experienced a small but statistically significant increase in foetal length.
Researchers have found that a newly developed diet inspired by the eating habits of non-industrialised societies can significantly reduce the risk of a number of chronic diseases typical of processed, low-fibre industrialised diets – and are to share recipes with the public.
Their paper, published in Cell, shows that a newly developed diet that mimics eating habits in non-industrialised communities led to significant metabolic and immunological improvements in a human intervention study. In just three weeks the diet:
Promoted weight loss
Decreased bad cholesterol by 17%
Reduced blood sugar by 6%
Reduced C-reactive Protein (a marker of inflammation and heart disease) by 14%
These improvements were linked to beneficial changes in the participants’ gut microbiome, the home to trillions of bacteria that play a vital role in our health, influencing digestion, immunity, and metabolism. The research was conducted by an international teams of scientists led by Professor Jens Walter, a leading scientist at University College Cork. The human trial was performed at the University of Alberta in Canada, Prof Walter’s previous institution.
“Industrialisation has drastically impacted our gut microbiome, likely increasing the risk of chronic diseases.” explained Prof Walter, who is also a Principal Investigator at APC Microbiome Ireland, a world-renowned Research Ireland centre
“To counter this, we developed a diet that mimics traditional, non-industrialised dietary habits and is compatible with our understanding on diet-microbiome interactions. In a strictly controlled human trial, participants followed this diet and consumed L. reuteri, a beneficial bacterium prevalent in the gut of Papua New Guineans but rarely found in the industrialised microbiomes.”
The study demonstrated that the new diet entitled NiMeTM (Non-industrialised Microbiome Restore) diet enhanced short-term persistence of L. reuteri in the gut.
However it also improved microbiome features damaged by industrialisation, such as reducing pro-inflammatory bacteria and bacterial genes that degrade the mucus layer in the gut. These changes were linked to improvements in cardiometabolic markers of chronic disease risk.
Although participants did not consume fewer calories on the NiMe diet, they lost weight, and the diet alone led to considerable cardiometabolic benefits.
In previous research, Prof Walter’s team, studying the gut microbiome in rural Papua New Guinea, found that individuals there have a much more diverse microbiome, enriched in bacteria that thrive from dietary fibre, and with lower levels of pro-inflammatory bacteria linked to western diet. This information was used to design the NiMeTM diet.
The NiMeTM diet shares key characteristics of non-industrialised diets:
Plant-based focus, but not vegetarian: Primarily made up of vegetables, legumes, and other whole-plant foods. One small serving of animal protein per day (salmon, chicken, or pork).
No dairy, beef, or wheat: Excluded simply because they are not part of the traditional foods consumed by rural Papua New Guineans.
Very low in processed foods that are high in sugar and saturated fat.
Fibre-rich: Fibre content was 22 grams per 1000 calories – exceeding current dietary recommendations.
“Everybody knows that diet influences health, but many underestimate the magnitude”, said Prof. Walter.
Commenting on this study, Prof. Paul Ross, Director of APC Microbiome Ireland, said: “This study shows that we can target the gut microbiome through specific diets to improve health and reduce disease risk. These findings could shape future dietary guidelines and inspire the development of new food products and ingredients, as well as therapeutics, which target the microbiome”.
“The recipes from the NiMe Diet will be posted to our Instagram ( @nimediet ) and Facebook pages, and they will also be included in an online cookbook soon. It is important to us to make these recipes freely available so that everyone can enjoy them and improve their health by feeding their gut microbiome,” said Dr Anissa Armet from the University of Alberta, a registered dietitian that designed the NiMe diet and one of the lead authors of the publication.
Calorie content drives food preference despite similar taste in individuals with and without obesity
Source: Pixabay CC0
Higher calorie foods were preferred among individuals with and without obesity despite similar taste and texture, according to a study published December 17th in the open-access journal PLOS Biologyby Albino Oliveira-Maia from the Champalimaud Foundation, Portugal, and colleagues.
Eating sends signals to the brain with information about a food’s energy content, which can influence food preferences irrespective of flavor. People with obesity often have impairments in areas of the brain where dopamine is released, which may drive reward-related eating and a preference for energy-dense foods rich in fat and sugars. Weight loss due to bariatric surgery has been associated to a normalization of reward-related eating with a shift of preferences toward healthier options, but the underlying mechanisms are not well understood.
In this study, after examining a large group of healthy volunteers, researchers compared food preferences in three groups: 11 individuals with obesity, 23 post-bariatric surgery patients, and 27 non-obese control subjects. They gave participants sweetened low-fat yogurt with and without maltodextrin (a carbohydrate that adds calories to the yogurt with no impact on taste or texture). Participants ate the yogurt at home, alternating between the maltodextrin-containing and -free yogurt. All three groups ate more of the maltodextrin-containing yogurt, despite rating both as equally pleasant. Somewhat unexpectedly, the effects of maltodextrin on yogurt consumption were similar in individuals with obesity relative to their non-obese counterparts.
The study also used radioactive iodine labelling and single photon emission computed tomography to visualise dopamine receptors in the brain. Consistent with previous studies, individuals with obesity had lower dopamine receptor availability than non-obese controls. Dopamine receptor availability was similar in the surgical and non-obese groups and was associated with more restrained eating. These results suggest that obesity-related brain changes can be reversed after bariatric surgery, potentially impacting the amount of food consumed but not necessarily the types of food preferred.
The authors add, “We were very intrigued that, while behaviour was guided towards eating yoghurts with higher energy-content, this did not seem to be a result of explicit choices, since consistent changes in pleasantness of flavours enriched with carbohydrates were not found. Importantly, this behaviour was maintained in patients with obesity and after weight-loss surgery, even though there were important differences in their brain dopaminergic system.”
Grapefruit and pummelo contain compounds called furanocoumarins that may affect the blood levels of more than 100 prescription drugs, so that people taking these medications are advised to remove these fruits from their diets. Research published in New Phytologistreveals genetic information about the synthesis of furanocoumarins in different citrus plant tissues and species and provides new insights that could be used to develop grapefruit and pummelo that lack furanocoumarins.
The research indicates that the production of furanocoumarins in citrus fruit is dependent on the integrity of a single gene within a multi-gene cluster that encodes enzymes of the 2-oxoglutarate-dependent dioxygenase family.
“This research helps us to understand why fruit of certain citrus species produce furanocoumarins and demonstrates how breeders and researchers could develop furanocoumarin-free citrus varieties,” said co–corresponding author Yoram Eyal, PhD, of the Volcani Center, in Israel.
Amid a global surge in measles cases, new research suggests that undernutrition may be exacerbating outbreaks in areas suffering from food insecurity. A study involving over 600 fully vaccinated children in South Africa found those who were undernourished had substantially lower levels of antibodies against measles.
Researchers from McGill University, UC Berkeley School of Public Health and the University of Pretoria tracked the children’s growth over time as an indicator of undernutrition and measured their antibody levels through blood tests. Children who were stunted around age three had an average of 24-per-cent-lower measles antibody levels by age five compared to their typical-sized peers.
The findings, published in Vaccine, suggest that undernutrition may affect the duration of vaccine protection.
This indicates that addressing child hunger could be a key piece of the puzzle in preventing viral outbreaks, said senior author Jonathan Chevrier, an Associate Professor at McGill.
A growing threat worldwide
Measles is a highly contagious viral infection that causes symptoms such as a rash, fever and cough, and can lead to severe complications, especially in young children. The disease is a threat in regions where it was once under control, including Canada, which in 2024 reported its highest number of cases in nearly a decade.
“Global measles cases declined from 2000 to 2016, but the trend reversed in 2018, driven in part by under-vaccination and the impact of the pandemic. Measles is now making a strong comeback in many parts of the world despite being preventable with vaccination and adequate immunity,” said co-author Brian Ward, Professor at McGill’s.
“We need to vaccinate children against infectious diseases that are preventable and ensure they are protected,” said first author Brenda Eskenazi, Professor at the University of California, Berkeley. “This is especially important now, given that many known diseases are expected to spread with climate change.”
About 22% of children under age five worldwide – approximately 148 million – were stunted in 2022, Chevrier added, with the highest rates in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
The team plans to monitor the children in the study as they grow older to understand whether the effects of early-life undernutrition persist.
A new study from researchers at Tufts University, which appears in Nature Medicine, estimates that 2.2 million new cases of type 2 diabetes and 1.2 million new cases of cardiovascular disease occur each year globally due to consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages.
In developing countries, the case count is particularly sobering. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the study found that sugar-sweetened beverages contributed to more than 21% of all new diabetes cases. In Latin America and the Caribbean, they contributed to nearly 24% of new diabetes cases and more than 11% of new cases of cardiovascular disease.
Colombia, Mexico, and South Africa are countries that have been particularly hard hit. More than 48% of all new diabetes cases in Colombia were attributable to consumption of sugary drinks. Nearly one third of all new diabetes cases in Mexico were linked to sugary drink consumption. In South Africa, 27.6% of new diabetes cases and 14.6% of cardiovascular disease cases were attributable to sugary drink consumption.
Sugary beverages are rapidly digested, causing a spike in blood sugar levels with little nutritional value. Regular consumption over time leads to weight gain, insulin resistance, and a host of metabolic issues tied to type 2 diabetes and heart disease, two of the world’s leading causes of death.
“Sugar-sweetened beverages are heavily marketed and sold in low- and middle-income nations. Not only are these communities consuming harmful products, but they are also often less well equipped to deal with the long-term health consequences,” says Dariush Mozaffarian, senior author on the paper and director of the Food is Medicine Institute at the Friedman School.
As countries develop and incomes rise, sugary drinks become more accessible and desirable, the authors say. Men are more likely than women to suffer the consequences of sugary drink consumption, as are younger adults compared to their older counterparts, the researchers say.
“We need urgent, evidence-based interventions to curb consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages globally, before even more lives are shortened by their effects on diabetes and heart disease,” says Laura Lara-Castor, NG24, first author on the paper who earned her PhD at the Friedman School and is now at the University of Washington.
The study’s authors call for a multi-pronged approach, including public health campaigns, regulation of sugary drink advertising, and taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages. Some countries have already taken steps in this direction. Mexico, which has one of the highest per capita rates of sugary drink consumption in the world, introduced a tax on the beverages in 2014. Early evidence suggests that the tax has been effective in reducing consumption, particularly among lower-income individuals.
“Much more needs to be done, especially in countries in Latin America and Africa where consumption is high and the health consequence severe,” says Mozaffarian. “As a species, we need to address sugar-sweetened beverage consumption.”
A University of Copenhagen study of plant-based drinks reveals a common issue: they are lacking in proteins and essential amino acids compared to cow’s milk. The explanation lies in their extensive processing, causing chemical reactions that degrade protein quality in the product and, in some cases, produce new substances of concern.
Over the last decade, the global market for plant-based beverages has seen remarkable growth, with oat, almond, soy and rice drinks emerging as popular alternatives to cow’s milk in coffee and oatmeal during this time.
One of the likely reasons for millions of litres of plant-based drinks ending up in the shopping baskets of consumers is that their climate footprint is often lower than that of cow’s milk. But consumers would be mistaken if they considered plant-based beverages healthier than cow’s milk. This is highlighted in a new study conducted by the University of Copenhagen in collaboration with the University of Brescia, Italy.
In the study, published in Food Research International, researchers examined how chemical reactions during processing affect the nutritional quality of ten different plant-based drinks, comparing them with cow’s milk. The overall picture is clear:
“We definitely need to consume more plant-based foods. But if you’re looking for proper nutrition and believe that plant-based drinks can replace cow’s milk, you’d be mistaken,” says Department of Food Science professor Marianne Nissen Lund, the study’s lead author.
Long shelf life at the expense of nutrition
While milk is essentially a finished product when it comes out of a cow, oats, rice, and almonds require extensive processing during their conversion to a drinkable beverage. Moreover, each of the plant-based drinks tested underwent Ultra High Temperature (UHT) treatment, a process that is widely used for long-life milks around the world. In Denmark, milk is typically found only in the refrigerated sections of supermarkets and is low-pasteurized, meaning that it receives a much gentler heat treatment.
“Despite increased plant-based drink sales, cow milk sales remain higher. Consequently, plant-based drinks undergo more intense heat treatments than the milk typically sold in Denmark, in order to extend their shelf life. But such treatment comes at a cost,” says Marianne Nissen Lund.
UHT treatment triggers a so-called “Maillard reaction”, a chemical reaction between protein and sugar that occurs when food is fried or roasted at high temperatures. Among other things, this reaction impacts the nutritional quality of the proteins in a given product.
“Most plant-based drinks already have significantly less protein than cow’s milk. And the protein, which is present in low content, is then additionally modified when heat treated. This leads to the loss of some essential amino acids, which are incredibly important for us. While the nutritional contents of plant-based drinks vary greatly, most of them have relatively low nutritional quality,” explains the professor.
For comparison, the UHT-treated cow’s milk used in the study contains 3.4 grams of protein per liter, whereas 8 of the 10 plant-based drinks analyzed contained between 0.4 and 1.1 grams of protein. The levels of essential amino acids were lower in all plant-based drinks. Furthermore, 7 out of 10 plant-based drinks contained more sugar than cow’s milk.
Heat treatment may produce carcinogens
Besides reducing nutritional value, heat treatment also generates new compounds in plant-based drinks. One such compound measured by the researchers in four of the plant-based drinks made from almonds and oats is acrylamide, a carcinogen that is also found in bread, cookies, coffee beans and fried potatoes, including French fries.
“We were surprised to find acrylamide because it isn’t typically found in liquid food. One likely source is the roasted almonds used in one of the products. The compound was measured at levels so low that it poses no danger. But, if you consume small amounts of this substance from various sources, it could add up to a level that does pose a health risk,” says Marianne Nissen Lund.
Additionally, the researchers detected α-dicarbonyl compounds and hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) in several of the plant-based drinks. Both are reactive substances that could potentially be harmful to human health when present in high concentrations, although this is not the case here.
While professor of nutrition Lars Ove Dragsted is not particularly concerned about the findings either, he believes that the study highlights how little we know about the compounds formed during food processing:
“The chemical compounds that result from Maillard reactions are generally undesirable because they can increase inflammation in the body. Some of these compounds are also linked to a higher risk of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Although our gut bacteria break down some of them, there are many that we either do not know of or have yet to study,” says Lars Ove Dragsted of the Department of Nutrition, Execercise and Sports.
Professor Dragsted adds: “This study emphasizes why more attention should be paid to the consequences of Maillard reactions when developing plant-based foods and processed foods in general. The compounds identified in this study represent only a small fraction of those we know can arise from Maillard reactions.”
Make Your Own Food
According to Professor Marianne Nissen Lund, the study highlights broader issues with ultra-processed foods:
“Ideally, a green transition in the food sector shouldn’t be characterized by taking plant ingredients, ultra-process them, and then assuming a healthy outcome. Even though these products are neither dangerous nor explicitly unhealthy, they are often not particularly nutritious for us either.”
Her advice to consumers is to: “generally opt for the least processed foods and beverages, and to try to prepare as much of your own food as possible. If you eat healthy to begin with, you can definitely include plant-based drinks in your diet – just make sure that you’re getting your nutrients from other foods.”
At the same time, Professor Lund hopes that the industry will do more to address these issues: “This is a call to manufacturers to further develop their products and reconsider the extent of processing. Perhaps they could rethink whether UHT treatment is necessary or whether shorter shelf lives for their products would be acceptable.”
Using significantly higher doses of vitamin D than recommended for five years did not affect the incidence of type 2 diabetes in elderly men and women, according to a new study from the University of Eastern Finland which appears in Diabetologia.
In population studies, low levels of vitamin D in the body have been associated with a higher risk of type 2 diabetes, but such observational studies cannot directly prove a causative link. Experimental studies have shown that the use of significantly higher doses of vitamin D than recommended slightly reduces the risk of developing type 2 diabetes in individuals with impaired glucose metabolism, ie, those with prediabetes. In contrast, no effects have been observed in individuals without prediabetes. However, the studies with non-prediabetic subjects have used relatively small doses of vitamin D or have been short-term. Until now, there has been no research data on the effects of long-term use of high doses of vitamin D on the risk of type 2 diabetes in individuals without glucose metabolism disorders.
In the Finnish Vitamin D Trial (FIND) conducted at the University of Eastern Finland from 2012 to 2018, 2 495 men aged 60 and older and women aged 65 and older were randomised for five years into either a placebo group or groups receiving either 40 or 80 micrograms of vitamin D3 per day. In the statistical analyses of the now-published sub-study, 224 participants who were already using diabetes medications at the start of the study were excluded. Comprehensive information was collected from the participants on lifestyle, nutrition, diseases, and their risk factors. Data was also obtained from national health registers. About one-fifth were randomly selected for more detailed examinations, and blood samples were taken from them.
During the five years, 105 participants developed type 2 diabetes: 38 in the placebo group, 31 in the group receiving 40 micrograms of vitamin D3 per day, and 36 in the group receiving 80 micrograms of vitamin D3 per day. There was no statistically significant difference in the number of cases between the groups.
In the more closely studied group of 505 participants, the blood calcidiol level, which describes the body’s vitamin D status, was on average 75nmol/L at the start, and only 9% had a low level, ie, below 50nmol/L. After one year, the calcidiol level was on average 100nmol/L in the group that used 40 micrograms of vitamin D per day and 120nmol/L in the group that used 80 micrograms of vitamin D per day. There was no significant change in the placebo group. The effects of vitamin D on blood glucose and insulin levels, body mass index, and waist circumference were examined during the first two years of the study, but no differences were observed between the groups.
The findings of the FIND study reinforce the view that the use of higher doses of vitamin D than recommended does not significantly affect the risk of developing type 2 diabetes in individuals without prediabetes and who already have a good vitamin D status. So far, there is no research data on whether high doses of vitamin D can be beneficial in preventing type 2 diabetes in individuals without prediabetes but with vitamin D deficiency.
Public health recommendations generally suggest drinking eight cups of water a day. And many people just assume it’s healthy to drink plenty of water.
Now researchers at UC San Francisco have taken a systematic look at the available evidence, analysed 18 randomised controlled trials. In their review, published in JAMA Network Open, they concluded that drinking enough water can help with weight loss and prevent kidney stones, as well as migraines, urinary tract infections and low blood pressure.
“For such a ubiquitous and simple intervention, the evidence hasn’t been clear, and the benefits were not well established, so we wanted to take a closer look,” said Benjamin Breyer, MD, MAS, professor and chair of the UCSF Department of Urology.
“The amount of rigorous research turned out to be limited, but in some specific areas, there was a statistically significant benefit,” said Breyer, the senior author of the study. “To our knowledge, this is the first study assessing the benefits of water consumption on clinical outcomes broadly.”
Strong evidence suggested that drinking eight cups of water a day significantly decreased the likelihood of getting another kidney stone. Several studies found that drinking about six cups of water a day helped adults lose weight. But a study that included adolescents found that drinking a little more than eight cups of water a day had no effect.
Still, the authors said that encouraging people todrink water before meals would be a simple and cheap intervention that could have huge benefits, given the increased prevalence of obesity.
Other studies indicated that water can help prevent migraines, control diabetes and low blood pressure, and prevent urinary tract infections. Adults with recurrent headaches felt better after three months of drinking more water. Drinking about four more cups of water a day helped diabetic patients whose blood glucose levels were elevated.
Drinking an additional six cups a day of water also helped women with recurrent urinary tract infections. It reduced the number of infections and increased the amount of time between them. Drinking more water also helped young adults with low blood pressure.
“We know that dehydration is detrimental, particularly in someone with a history of kidney stones or urinary infections,” Breyer said. “On the other hand, someone who suffers from frequent urination at times may benefit from drinking less. There isn’t a one size fits all approach for water consumption.”
