Nutrition Research News

December 17, 2025

Top Headlines

Blood Tests Reveal Obesity Rapidly Accelerates Alzheimer’s Progression

Dec. 10, 2025 Obesity accelerates the rise of Alzheimer’s-related blood biomarkers far more rapidly than previously recognized. Long-term imaging and plasma data show that obese individuals experience much faster increases in proteins linked to ...

Why Ultra-processed Foods Make Teens Eat More When They Aren’t Hungry

Dec. 10, 2025 A Virginia Tech study shows that ultra-processed foods may influence adolescents differently from slightly older young adults. Participants aged 18 to 21 ate more at a buffet and snacked even when not hungry after two weeks on an ultra-processed ...

Most of the World Isn’t Getting Enough Omega-3

Dec. 9, 2025 Most people worldwide aren’t getting enough omega-3, leaving a major gap between scientific recommendations and daily diets. Researchers emphasize the critical role of EPA and DHA across all life stages and point out that food alone often can’t ...

Her Food Cravings Vanished on Mounjaro Then Roared Back

Dec. 8, 2025 Deep-brain recordings showed that Mounjaro and Zepbound briefly shut down the craving circuits linked to food noise in a patient with severe obesity. Her obsessive thoughts about food disappeared as the medication quieted the nucleus accumbens, the ...

Scientists Find Hidden Brain Nutrient Drop That May Fuel Anxiety

Dec. 4, 2025 Researchers found that people with anxiety disorders consistently show lower choline levels in key brain regions that regulate thinking and emotions. This biochemical difference may help explain why the brain reacts more intensely to stress in ...

Daily Coffee May Slow Biological Aging in Mental Illness

Dec. 4, 2025 Researchers studying people with major psychiatric disorders found that drinking up to four cups of coffee a day is associated with longer telomeres. This suggests a potential slowing of biological aging by about five years. However, drinking five ...

A Common Nutrient Deficiency May Be Silently Harming Young Brains

Nov. 27, 2025 Scientists studying young adults with obesity discovered early indicators of brain stress that resemble patterns seen in cognitive impairment. The group showed higher inflammation, signs of liver strain and elevated neurofilament light chain, a ...

The Body Trait That Helps Keep Your Brain Young

Nov. 25, 2025 Scientists discovered that more muscle and less hidden abdominal fat are linked to a younger biological brain age. Deep visceral fat appeared to accelerate brain aging, while muscle mass offered a protective ...

How to Keep Ozempic/Wegovy Weight Loss Without the Nausea

Nov. 18, 2025 Scientists are uncovering how GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy act on brain regions that control hunger, nausea, pleasure-based eating, and thirst. These discoveries may help create treatments that keep the benefits of weight loss while reducing ...

Blocking One Enzyme May Break the Link Between Alcohol and Liver Disease

Nov. 18, 2025 Scientists discovered that alcohol activates a sugar-producing pathway in the body, creating fructose that may reinforce addictive drinking. The enzyme responsible, KHK, appears to drive both alcohol cravings and liver injury. When this enzyme was ...

Weight-loss Drugs Like Ozempic May Also Curb Drug and Alcohol Addiction

Oct. 26, 2025 GLP-1 drugs, originally developed for diabetes and obesity, may also curb addictive behaviors by acting on reward circuits in the brain. Early trials show reductions in alcohol intake, opioid seeking, and nicotine use. Though more research is ...

Scientists Say This Simple Diet Change Can Improve Sleep Fast

Oct. 25, 2025 A new study shows that eating more fruits and vegetables during the day can significantly improve sleep that same night. Researchers found a clear link between diet quality and sleep depth, with participants who met the CDC’s daily produce ...

Latest Headlines

updated 10:26am EST

New Research Reveals How Everyday Cues Secretly Shape Your Habits

Dec. 10, 2025 Researchers uncovered how shifting levels of a brain protein called KCC2 can reshape the way cues become linked with rewards, sometimes making habits form more quickly or more powerfully than ...

Running Fixes What Junk Food Breaks in the Brain

Oct. 21, 2025 New research reveals that exercise counteracts the mood-damaging effects of a Western-style diet through specific gut and hormonal mechanisms. Running restored metabolites tied to mental well-being ...

Scientists Discover How a High-Fat Keto Diet Could Keep Your Brain Young

Oct. 21, 2025 Mizzou scientists are exploring how a ketogenic diet may protect the brain and prevent Alzheimer’s in people genetically predisposed to it. Their study found that female mice with the APOE4 gene ...

Eating Ultra-Processed Foods May Rewire the Brain and Drive Overeating

Oct. 20, 2025 A massive brain imaging study of nearly 30,000 people has uncovered striking connections between eating ultra-processed foods and measurable changes in brain structure. These changes may be tied to ...

Scientists Just Debunked the Calcium and Dementia Myth

Oct. 18, 2025 A long-term Australian study found that calcium supplements do not raise dementia risk in older women, countering previous fears. The research followed more than 1,400 participants for nearly 15 ...

Supercharged Vitamin K Could Help the Brain Heal Itself

Oct. 14, 2025 Researchers have synthesized enhanced vitamin K analogues that outperform natural vitamin K in promoting neuron growth. The new compounds, which combine vitamin K with retinoic acid, activate the ...

Scientists Find Brain Circuit That Traps Alcohol Users in the Vicious Cycle of Addiction

Oct. 7, 2025 Addiction often isn’t about chasing pleasure—it’s about escaping pain. Researchers at Scripps Research have discovered that a tiny brain region ...

Why Ultra-Processed Foods Aren’t the Real Villain Behind Overeating

Oct. 5, 2025 Researchers from Leeds found that overeating is driven more by what people believe about food than by its actual ingredients or level of processing. Foods perceived as fatty, sweet, or highly ...

Scientists Discover Hidden Protein That Switches Off Hunger

Oct. 5, 2025 Researchers have uncovered how a protein called MRAP2 acts as a key regulator of hunger. It helps move the appetite receptor MC4R to the cell’s surface, allowing it to send stronger “stop ...

Think Light Drinking Protects Your Brain? Think Again

Oct. 4, 2025 A massive new study combining observational and genetic data overturns the long-held belief that light drinking protects the brain. Researchers found that dementia risk rises in direct proportion to ...

Earlier Headlines

Fat May Secretly Fuel Alzheimer’s, New Research Finds

Oct. 3, 2025 New research from Houston Methodist reveals how obesity may directly drive Alzheimer’s disease. Scientists discovered that tiny messengers released by fat tissue, called extracellular vesicles, can ...

Why Gen X Women Can’t Stop Eating Ultra-Processed Foods

Sep. 29, 2025 Researchers found that middle-aged adults, especially women, are far more likely to be addicted to ultra-processed foods than older generations. Marketing of diet-focused processed foods in the 1980s ...

Cocoa Supplements Show Surprising Anti-Aging Potential

Sep. 27, 2025 Daily cocoa extract supplements reduced key inflammation markers in older adults, pointing to a role in protecting the heart. The findings reinforce the value of flavanol-rich, plant-based foods for ...

Brain Fat, Not Just Plaques, May Be the Hidden Driver of Alzheimer’s

Sep. 24, 2025 For decades, scientists believed Alzheimer’s was driven mainly by sticky protein plaques and tangles in the brain. Now Purdue researchers have revealed a hidden culprit: fat. They found that brain ...

Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro Makes Food Taste Sweeter and Saltier, and That May Quiet Cravings

Sep. 16, 2025 Some people taking Ozempic, Wegovy, or Mounjaro notice that food suddenly tastes sweeter or saltier, and this subtle shift in flavor perception appears tied to reduced appetite and stronger feelings ...

Semaglutide May Silence the Food Noise in Your Head

Sep. 16, 2025 People taking semaglutide report far fewer obsessive thoughts about food, with cravings dropping sharply and mental health improving. This new research hints the drug may offer freedom from the ...

Junk Food Can Scramble Memory in Just 4 Days

Sep. 29, 2025 Scientists discovered that high-fat junk food disrupts memory circuits in the brain almost immediately. Within just four days, neurons in the hippocampus became overactive, impairing memory. ...

Want a Younger Brain? Harvard Researchers Say Eat Like This

Sep. 22, 2025 Researchers have shown that a green-Mediterranean diet can help slow brain aging. By analyzing data from the DIRECT PLUS trial, scientists found reduced levels of proteins tied to faster brain ...

Could Plastic in Your Food Be Fueling Azheimer’s?

Sep. 18, 2025 Plastic particles from everyday items like Styrofoam cups and take-out containers are finding their way into the brain, where they may trigger Alzheimer’s-like symptoms. New research shows that ...

Scientists Reveal How Breakfast Timing May Predict How Long You Live

Sep. 4, 2025 Meal timing shifts with age, and researchers found that eating breakfast later is tied to depression, fatigue, sleep problems, and an increased risk of death. Monitoring when meals are eaten could ...

Sweeteners in Diet Drinks May Steal Years from the Brain

Sep. 4, 2025 A large Brazilian study following more than 12,000 middle-aged adults found that those consuming the most artificial sweeteners—commonly found in diet sodas, flavored waters, and processed ...

Seven Blood Molecules That Could Explain Why You’re Always Sleepy

Sep. 8, 2025 Scientists discovered seven molecules in the blood linked to excessive daytime sleepiness, a condition that affects one in three Americans and raises the risk of heart disease, obesity, and diabetes. ...

The Foods That Delay Dementia and Heart Disease. Backed by a 15-Year Study

Sep. 9, 2025 What we eat as we age may determine how many chronic illnesses we face later in life. A 15-year study of more than 2,400 older adults reveals that diets rich in vegetables, whole grains, nuts, and ...

Scientists Discover the Pancake Secret That Makes Vegan Eggs Irresistible

Aug. 12, 2025 A study finds that people are more open to plant-based eggs when they’re part of familiar foods, like pancakes, rather than served plain. While taste and appearance still favor regular eggs, vegan ...

People With Eating Disorders Say Cannabis and Psychedelics Help More Than Antidepressants

July 24, 2025 A massive global survey has revealed that people with eating disorders often turn to cannabis and psychedelics like magic mushrooms and LSD to ease their symptoms, rating them more effective than ...

Science Tested 64 Natural Remedies for Depression—only a Few Actually Work

July 28, 2025 Over-the-counter (OTC) products like St John’s Wort and omega-3s have long been touted for helping with depression, but new research reveals that 64 different OTC products have been tested in ...

Researchers Tested 200 Toddlers — 96 Chemicals Were Lurking in Their Bodies

July 2, 2025 Researchers testing urine from 2- to 4-year-olds in four U.S. states uncovered 96 different chemicals, many of them unmonitored and linked to hormone and brain disruption. Legacy toxins like ...

Is Cheese Secretly Fueling Your Nightmares? Science Weighs in

July 1, 2025 Over a thousand students revealed a striking link between lactose intolerance and nightmare-filled nights, hinting that midnight stomach turmoil from dairy can invade dreams. Researchers suggest ...

Scientists Just Found a Sugar Switch That Protects Your Brain from Alzheimer's

June 30, 2025 Scientists have uncovered a surprising sugar-related mechanism inside brain cells that could transform how we fight Alzheimer’s and other dementias. It turns out neurons don’t just store sugar ...

Scientists Discovered How a Scent Can Change Your Mind

July 4, 2025 Mice taught to link smells with tastes, and later fear, revealed how the amygdala teams up with cortical regions to let the brain draw powerful indirect connections. Disabling this circuit erased the ...