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Ultra-processed foods are a major public health threat that must be urgently addressed, according to a new series of papers authored by 43 global experts. The scientists, including the Brazilian professor who coined the term with colleagues around 15 years ago, argue that UPFs are now increasingly common worldwide and linked to a decline in diet quality and a number of diseases, from obesity to cancer. "It's about the evidence we have today about … ultra-processed foods [...]

UPFs linked to decline in diet quality and disease, experts say Action needed now as evidence base builds, Lancet series argues Critics and industry say UPF concept too simple, risky LONDON — Ultra-processed foods are a major public health threat that must be urgently addressed, according to a new series of papers authored by 43 global experts in the Lancet medical journal. The scientists, including the Brazilian professor who coined the term with colleagues around 15 years [...]

A new three paper Series published in The Lancet reviews evidence that ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are displacing fresh and minimally processed foods and meals, worsening diet quality, and are associated with an increased risk of multiple chronic diseases. The Lancet Series on Ultra-Processed Foods and Human Health argues, although additional studies on the impact of UPFs on human health will be valuable, further research should not delay immediate and decisive public health [...]

Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are a leading cause of the “chronic disease pandemic” linked to diet, with food firms putting profit above all else, global experts have warned. Writing in The Lancet medical journal, 43 scientists and researchers joined forces to argue that UPFs are “displacing” fresh foods and meals, worsening diet quality, and are linked to multiple chronic diseases. They said: “The key driver of the global rise in UPFs is the growing economic and political power [...]

New research into the function of natural killer cells in the body has found that endurance exercise boosts their efficiency and effectiveness in fighting disease and keeping us biologically young. By indulging in prolonged physical activity such as long-distance swimming, cycling, running and rowing, older adults prime their natural killer (NK) cells to fight off the ravages of inflammation associated with illness and ageing. NK cells are a type of white blood cell (lymphocyte) that can [...]

In the heart of the Brazilian Amazon, the expansion of soy is not only transforming landscapes but also suffocating the communities that inhabit them. The intensive use of herbicides in soybean plantations— particularly glyphosate — has deeply disrupted the dynamics that sustain life in Amazonian communities and their relationship with the land. These findings come from a recent ethnographic study based on long-term immersion in everyday life and in-depth interviews with [...]

Alzheimer’s disease is one of the most challenging brain disorders of our time. It slowly destroys memory, thinking, and independence, and it affects millions of people around the world. There is still no cure, and most treatments only help with symptoms instead of stopping the disease itself. But a team of scientists at the Federal University of ABC (UFABC) in Brazil may have found a promising new approach. They have created a simple chemical compound that could help reduce one of the [...]

The transmission of malaria by the Anopheles cruzii mosquito in the South and Southeast of Brazil was so alarming in the 1940s – with approximately 4,000 cases per 100,000 people – that the disease became known as bromeliad malaria. This is because the Kerteszia subgenus of the mosquito, which transmits the disease in the Atlantic Forest, develops only in bromeliads, plants that accumulate water and maintain conditions favorable for the development of this and other [...]

Insects that feed on starch can find veritable feasts in corn, pea, and bean crops or warehouses. It is no coincidence that the ancestors of these commercial plants developed α-amylase (alpha-amylase) inhibitor proteins, which make the starch in their seeds indigestible to pests, keeping them from becoming serious threats. However, the domestication of wild plants by humans to increase productivity and digestibility may have reduced the presence of these inhibitors. In an [...]