Insights from Desert Snails – Functional Ecologists

In this post, author Netta Shamir Weller offers desert snail survival tips by exploring their dietary choices when faced with predation stress. With their behind the paper post for their…

No need to overload your cranberry sauce with sugar this holiday season − a food scientist explains how to cook with fewer added sweeteners

The holidays are full of delicious and indulgent food and drinks. It’s hard to resist dreaming about cookies, specialty cakes, rich meats and super saucy side dishes. Lots of the…

TRUTH in Labeling Act would heighten the warning for shoppers looking to cut sugar, salt and saturated fat intake

With rising rates of obesity in the U.S. and increasing attention being paid to the health harms of processed foods, it’s clear that far more could be done to help…

Nutrition Facts labels have a complicated legacy – a historian explains the science and politics of translating food into information

The Nutrition Facts label, that black and white information box found on nearly every packaged food product in the U.S. since 1994, has recently become an icon for consumer transparency.…

Israeli siege has placed Gazans at risk of starvation − prewar policies made them vulnerable in the first place

The stories of hunger emerging from war-ravaged Gaza are stark: People resorting to grinding barely edible cattle feed to make flour; desperate residents eating grass; reports of cats being hunted…

Your body already has a built-in weight loss system that works like Wegovy, Ozempic and Mounjaro – food and your gut microbiome

Wegovy, Ozempic and Mounjaro are weight loss and diabetes drugs that have made quite a splash in health news. They target regulatory pathways involved in both obesity and diabetes and…

Do you eat with your eyes, your gut or your brain? A neuroscientist explains how to listen to your hunger during the holidays

The holiday season is upon us, and with it, opportunities to indulge in festive treats. The proverbial saying “you eat with your eyes first” seems particularly relevant at this time…

Gut microbes are the community within you that you can’t live without – how eating well can cultivate your microbial and social self

The age-old adage “you are what you eat” holds profound truth. Nearly every molecule in your body is absorbed from what you eat and drink. Your food choices are directly…

Can we train our taste buds for health? A neuroscientist explains how genes and diet shape taste

Have you ever wondered why only hummingbirds sip nectar from feeders? Unlike sparrows, finches and most other birds, hummingbirds can taste sweetness because they carry the genetic instructions necessary to…