Want to drop some pounds? Drop the ultra-processed foods, a new study says. People lost twice as much weight on a diet with minimally processed foods compared to one with ultra-processed products, even though both diets were nutritionally matched, researchers reported Aug. 4 in the journal Nature Medicine. “The global food system at the moment drives diet-related poor health and obesity, particularly because of the wide availability of cheap, unhealthy food,” researcher Chris van Tulleken, an associate professor with the University College London, said in a news release. “This study highlights the importance of ultra-processing in driving health outcomes in addition to the role of nutrients like fat, salt and sugar,” van Tulleken said. Ultra-processed foods are made mostly from substances extracted from whole foods, like saturated fats, starches and added sugars.  They also contain a wide variety of additives to make them more tasty, attractive and shelf-stable, including colors, emulsifiers, flavors and stabilizers. Examples include packaged baked goods, sugary cereals, frozen pizza, instant soups and deli cold cuts. For this study, researchers recruited 55 adults to take turns eating a diet of minimally processed or ultra-processed eats. For eight weeks, participants ate minimally processed meals like oatmeal or homemade spaghetti Bolognese. Then for another eight weeks, they munched on ultra-processed food like breakfast oat bars or ready-to-eat packaged lasagna. Meals were delivered to the…  read on >  read on >

Want to drop some pounds? Drop the ultra-processed foods, a new study says. People lost twice as much weight on a diet with minimally processed foods compared to one with ultra-processed products, even though both diets were nutritionally matched, researchers reported Aug. 4 in the journal Nature Medicine. “The global food system at the moment drives diet-related poor health and obesity, particularly because of the wide availability of cheap, unhealthy food,” researcher Chris van Tulleken, an associate professor with the University College London, said in a news release. “This study highlights the importance of ultra-processing in driving health outcomes in addition to the role of nutrients like fat, salt and sugar,” van Tulleken said. Ultra-processed foods are made mostly from substances extracted from whole foods, like saturated fats, starches and added sugars.  They also contain a wide variety of additives to make them more tasty, attractive and shelf-stable, including colors, emulsifiers, flavors and stabilizers. Examples include packaged baked goods, sugary cereals, frozen pizza, instant soups and deli cold cuts. For this study, researchers recruited 55 adults to take turns eating a diet of minimally processed or ultra-processed eats. For eight weeks, participants ate minimally processed meals like oatmeal or homemade spaghetti Bolognese. Then for another eight weeks, they munched on ultra-processed food like breakfast oat bars or ready-to-eat packaged lasagna. Meals were delivered to the…  read on >  read on >

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) top vaccine official is stepping down after just three months in a role that upset drug companies, patient groups and some political leaders. Dr. Vinay Prasad will leave the agency to “spend more time with his family,” a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said in a statement. But two people familiar with the situation told the Associated Press that Prasad was asked to leave after a series of recent controversies. They spoke anonymously to discuss internal matters. Prasad joined the FDA in May from the University of California, San Francisco. He had gained attention for questioning the agency’s current approach on approving new drugs, including COVID-19 vaccines. In recent weeks, some conservative activists like Laura Loomer raised concerns about Prasad’s past statements, including praise for U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders  (I-Vt.) and criticism of President Donald Trump. “How did this Trump-hating Bernie Bro get into the Trump admin???” Loomer posted on X last week. Prasad has also faced pushback for pausing shipments of the only approved gene therapy for Duchenne’s muscular dystrophy, a fatal muscle-wasting disease that mainly affects young boys, the AP reported. The shipments were briefly stopped after reports of patient deaths. However, they resumed this week following pressure from families who rely on the treatment. Prasad has long questioned the…  read on >  read on >

Experts already know that high consumption of ultra-processed foods is bad news for your health, and new research suggests these foods can raise risks for a major killer: lung cancer. Besides the fact that ultra-processed foods are often high in salt, sugar and fat, people who consumed a lot of these foods also tended to avoid healthier, cancer-fighting fare, researchers noted. “Low consumption of minimally processed foods like fruits, vegetables, fish and whole grains was linked to increased lung cancer risk,” noted a team led by Yongzhong Wu of Chongqing Cancer Hospital, in Chongqing, China.   They published their findings July 29 in the journal Thorax. Ultra-processed foods are made mostly from substances extracted from whole foods, like saturated fats, starches and added sugars. They also contain a wide variety of additives to make them more tasty, attractive and shelf-stable, including colors, emulsifiers, flavors and stabilizers. Examples include packaged baked goods, sugary cereals, ready-to-eat or ready-to-heat products and deli cold cuts. Consumption of ultra-processed foods has already been associated with 32 health problems, including heart disease, obesity, diabetes, some types of cancer and depression.  The new study may add the leading cancer killer, lung cancer, to that list. Wu’s team looked at data from the US Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trials.  The trials tracked cancer incidence and deaths between 1993 and 2018…  read on >  read on >

Experts already know that high consumption of ultra-processed foods is bad news for your health, and new research suggests these foods can raise risks for a major killer: lung cancer. Besides the fact that ultra-processed foods are often high in salt, sugar and fat, people who consumed a lot of these foods also tended to avoid healthier, cancer-fighting fare, researchers noted. “Low consumption of minimally processed foods like fruits, vegetables, fish and whole grains was linked to increased lung cancer risk,” noted a team led by Yongzhong Wu of Chongqing Cancer Hospital, in Chongqing, China.   They published their findings July 29 in the journal Thorax. Ultra-processed foods are made mostly from substances extracted from whole foods, like saturated fats, starches and added sugars. They also contain a wide variety of additives to make them more tasty, attractive and shelf-stable, including colors, emulsifiers, flavors and stabilizers. Examples include packaged baked goods, sugary cereals, ready-to-eat or ready-to-heat products and deli cold cuts. Consumption of ultra-processed foods has already been associated with 32 health problems, including heart disease, obesity, diabetes, some types of cancer and depression.  The new study may add the leading cancer killer, lung cancer, to that list. Wu’s team looked at data from the US Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trials.  The trials tracked cancer incidence and deaths between 1993 and 2018…  read on >  read on >

Agency hopes education, legal action will help prevent a second opioid crisis
  read on >