10 Apr Sugar tax – what, how, why?
Governments across the globe are pushing ahead with sugar taxes. In this video, New Nutrition Business discusses if they actually work, and how the food and beverage industry is reacting.
28 Mar Two top US medical groups call for soda taxes and advertising curbs
Two of the country’s leading medical groups have issued a call to arms against the soda industry, urging legislators to embrace taxes, warning labels and advertising restrictions to deter young people from consuming sugary beverages.
11 Feb Sugar’s sick secrets: how industry forces have manipulated science to downplay the harm
Walk into any grocery store, grab a few packaged products, and flip to the ingredients. You’ll likely spot added sugars — lots of them — provided you can discern their dizzying array of names: sucrose, dextrose, barley malt, agave nectar, high-fructose corn syrup, treacle, to...
11 Feb Beer before wine and you’ll feel fine? No you won’t says new study
Plenty of us have been there: waking up after a night out with a thumping headache, feeling sick and swearing never to touch alcohol again. If only there were a way to prevent these terrible hangovers.
24 Oct The juicing fad’s mythical health halo
While modern people are spending more time and money on wellness than ever before, many are looking for a quick fix. This makes for ideal consumers: impatient, anxious, and vulnerable to manipulation. Medium.com takes a critical eye to the juicing fad....
18 Jul South Africa has an alcohol problem
A new study has shown that one in 10 deaths in South Africa can be attributed to alcohol abuse in some way – with men in low income groups the most at risk.
09 Jul OP-ED: Seriously, juice is not healthy
In a hard-hitting opinion piece in The New York Times, three professors of pediatrics lament why, when it comes to excessive sugar intake, that soda gets nailed but juice gets a pass.
16 May Diet soda: good or bad?
Diet soda has never been more controversial in the wake of the wars on both sugar and non-nutritive sweeteners. Here's a good review of the evidence by a reporter who understands the difference in quality of data from observational studies vs clinical trials.
13 May University of Twitter? Scientists slam latest alcohol consumption scare study
Twitter has now spawned the 'Tweetorial', a new form of tuition that reaches more people than any university lecture ever could. Here's one that reveals scientists' frustration with a recent and much-publicised alcohol study...
02 May The truth about low-carb beer
Turns out we have been living a lie when it comes to the benefits of low-carb beer.
20 Apr Myths about sulphites and wine
If drinking red wine gives you a headache, you’ve probably had someone tell you that sulphites are the likely culprit. Perhaps you’ve been advised to stick to white wine, organic wines on the grounds that these will be lower in sulphites? Let’s clear up some of the most common myths and misunderstandings about sulphites, wine and headaches.
26 Feb How getting a drink can be dirty business
Have you ever thought about what might tag along when you add ice or a lemon slice to your drink? When lemons and ice are served in beverages, they not only bring flavour or a flourish. They can also carry bacteria and viruses.
12 Feb Three reasons why scientific advice on drugs is ignored
LSD is far safer than alcohol or tobacco, so why don't drug laws reflect it?
02 Feb Soy milk the ‘One Clear Winner’ of plant-based milks: McGill study
A new study from McGill University, Montreal, has looked at the four most-commonly consumed types of milk beverages from plant sources around the world – almond milk, soy milk, rice milk and coconut milk – and compared their nutritional values with those of cow's milk. After cow's milk, which is still the most nutritious, soy milk comes out a clear winner.
10 Jan Could sugar be responsible for the obesity and diabetes epidemics?
The idea that sugar could be a fundamental cause of the global obesity and diabetes epidemics, with deleterious effects on the human body that go beyond just empty calories, should be considered seriously again, argues journalist and author Gary Taubes in the January 2018 editon of The British Medical Journal.
10 Jan How alcohol damages stem cells and increases cancer risk – new research
After cigarettes, alcohol is perhaps the most common carcinogen that humans voluntarily expose themselves to. How this simple substance promotes cancer, though, has not been clear. But this latest study, using genetically modified mice, sheds some light on the possible mechanism.
09 Jan The end of hangovers?
If a chemist were to design the world’s most popular recreational drug from scratch, alcohol would be a pretty terrible choice. Now British scientists are working to create a synthetic alcohol that gets you properly pickled and doesn't make you feel poisoned.
10 Dec The $40m vodka designed to save your liver
The scion of an Indian pharmaceutical giant has spent $40-million to make martinis more liver-friendly. But US regulators aren’t raising their glasses just yet.
28 Nov More promising research on red wine’s remarkable resveratrol
By the middle of this century the over 60s will outnumber the under 18s for the first time in human history. This should be good news, but growing old today also means becoming frail, sick and dependent. A healthy old age is good for you and a remarkably good deal for society.
11 Oct Black tea alters gut microbiome in anti-obesogenic ways
UCLA scientists have uncovered a link between black tea, the gut microbiome and weight loss.