Topic description and stories

Boy eating a burger

Ultra-processed food makes up almost two-thirds of calorie intake of UK adolescents

17 Jul 2024

Adolescents consume around two-thirds of their daily calories from ultra-processed foods (UPFs), new research from the Universities of Cambridge and...

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Fast food meal of burger and fries

Exercising during pregnancy normalises eating behaviours in offspring from obese mice

04 Jun 2024

Maternal obesity in pregnancy changes the eating behaviours of offspring by increasing long-term levels of particular molecules known as microRNAs in...

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Woman using a food delivery app on her mobile phone

AI predicts healthiness of food menus

08 Mar 2024

Cambridge researchers have used artificial intelligence to predict the healthiness of café, takeaway and restaurant menus at outlets across Britain...

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Intermittent fasting conceptual image, showing a plate of food to represent a clock.

Scientists identify how fasting may protect against inflammation

30 Jan 2024

Cambridge scientists may have discovered a new way in which fasting helps reduce inflammation – a potentially damaging side-effect of the body’s...

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Ancient migrations

Ancient DNA reveals reason for high MS and Alzheimer's rates in Europe

10 Jan 2024

Researchers have created the world’s largest ancient human gene bank, and used it to map the historical spread of genes – and diseases – over time as...

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PACE labels alongside menus

No evidence that physical activity calorie-equivalent labelling changes food purchasing – study

09 Nov 2022

An experiment carried out across ten workplace cafeterias found no significant change in the overall number of calories purchased when food and drink...

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Pope Francis in Vatican City

Catholic Church can curb carbon emissions by returning to meat-free Fridays

01 Nov 2022

Even a small dietary change by a minority of UK Catholics had significant environmental benefits, say researchers, who argue that a papal decree...

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Supermarket aisle

Messaging on healthy foods may not prompt healthier purchases: study

28 Jun 2022

Healthy food cues standing alone don’t prompt healthier buying decisions, but they may counter advertising for sugary and fatty foods, says study co-...

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Anglo-Saxon kings were mostly veggie but peasants treated them to huge BBQs

21 Apr 2022

Very few people in England ate large amounts of meat before the Vikings settled, and there is no evidence that elites ate more meat than other people...

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Fish and chips

British consumers complicit in forty-year ‘healthy eating’ failure, new study suggests

01 Jul 2021

‘Healthy eating’ campaigns have largely failed in Britain for the last four decades because consumers have adapted confusing advice, and incorporated...

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Tiles spelling "autism"

Unhealthy patterns of diet, exercise, and sleep linked to high risk of cardiovascular disease in autistic people

10 May 2021

Autistic people have far greater risks of long term physical health conditions than others, but the reasons for this remain unclear. New research...

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Beyond the pandemic: rethink the menu and how much it costs

24 Sep 2020

Boris Johnson has urged the country “to lose weight to beat coronavirus” through exercise and healthy eating. Dr Jean Adams suggests that food...

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