A detailed new study into global food supplies confirms for the first time what experts have long suspected: human diets around the world have grown ever more similar and the trend shows no signs of slowing, with major consequences for human nutrition and food supply reliability. “More people are consuming more calories, protein and fat, […]
Published in the journal Laws, a new study that examined the last meal choices made by death row inmates found a significant link between the inmate’s food selection and their self-perceived guilt or innocence. The study, by Cornell University researcher Kevin Kniffin, examined whether an individual who has accepted guilt – by apologizing or confessing […]
The brain’s pleasure response to tasting food can be accurately measured through the eyes using a common, low-cost ophthalmological tool, say Drexel University researchers who believe the method could be used by both food scientists and clinicians. Study leader Jennifer Nasser details the use of electroretinography (ERG) to measure dopamine levels in the retina in […]
Outbreaks of norovirus (also known as the winter vomiting bug) are frequently linked to the consumption of fresh food, but identifying where the virus first came from is difficult, if not impossible. Now, a new study published in theInternational Journal of Food Microbiologyindicates that contaminated water used to dilute pesticides may be how norovirus enters […]
Chemicals known as dichlorophenols, which are used in pesticides and to chlorinate water supplies, could be partially to blame for the rocketing number of food allergies affecting developed nations. Details of the intriguing link, discovered by researchers from the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI), have just been published in the Annals of […]
Despite our preoccupation with all things gastronomic, surprising little is known about how food preparation affects the energy it supplies to our bodies. Now, for the first time, Harvard researchers have shown that cooked food yields more energy than raw, leading them to speculate that cooking played a key role in driving the evolution of […]
A new study appearing in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health has found that infants with a higher intake of processed foods during the first three years of their lives had lower IQs. More surprising is the discovery that the cognitive effects relating to these eating habits in early childhood appear to persist into […]
A comprehensive new study of irrigation in Asia warns that many developing nations face the politically risky prospect of having to import more than a quarter of the rice, wheat and maize they will need by 2050. The warning, along with related forecasts and possible solutions, appear in a report presented at the 2009 World […]
Researchers at Rhode Island Hospital have found a substantial link between increased levels of nitrates in our food with increased deaths from diseases; including Alzheimer’s, diabetes and Parkinson’s. The controversial study, which contends that we have become the “nitrosamine generation,” appears in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. Led by Suzanne de la Monte, of Rhode […]
Socially-learned cultural behavior thought to be unique to humans is also found among chimpanzees colonies, say scientists at the University of Liverpool. Historically, scientists believed that behavioral differences between colonies of chimpanzees were due to variations in genetics. A team at Liverpool, however, has now discovered that variations in behavior are down to chimpanzees migrating […]
