Nutrition Research News

July 23, 2025

HHS, FDA and USDA Address the Health Risks of Ultra-Processed Foods

The agencies announce a joint Request for Information (RFI) to gather information and data to help establish a federally recognized uniform definition for ultra-processed foods—a critical step in providing increased transparency to consumers about the foods they eat.

June 17, 2025

Cysteine restriction plays key role in weight loss

Recent studies show a diet that’s low in the amino acid cysteine reprograms fat to burn more calories, triggering weight loss and reduced inflammation.

May 20, 2025

NIH researchers develop biomarker score for predicting diets high in ultra-processed food

For the first time, researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) identified patterns of metabolites in blood and urine that can be used as an objective measure of an individual’s consumption of energy from ultra-processed foods. 

May 9, 2025

FDA and NIH announce innovative joint Nutrition Regulatory Science Program

Initiative will provide a better understanding of the root causes to end the diet-related chronic disease crisis. 

April 2, 2025

Midlife Eating Patterns Tied to Health Decades Later

People who ate healthier diets in midlife were more likely to live into their 70s without major chronic disease.

March 6, 2025

Findings in Mice Could Provide Insights into Health Conditions Associated with Obesity

A receptor found on liver cells plays an important role in how the body processes and stores fats, suggests a mouse study by researchers at NIH’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). The melanocortin 3 receptor (MC3R) sets off a cascade of actions in liver cells, among them chemical processes that affect whether lipids (fats) inside liver cells are stored or shuttled in the bloodstream to fuel various metabolic reactions.

January 14, 2025

Healthy Eating Not Common During and After Pregnancy in the United States, NIH Study Suggests

Healthy eating during pregnancy and the year after giving birth may be uncommon in the United States, suggests a study by researchers at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and other institutions. The study appears in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

January 1, 2025

Health Consequences of Early Exposure to Sugar

Experts recommend that kids eat no added sugars before age 2. Yet most kids are exposed to added sugars at a very early age, even before birth through their mother’s bloodstream.

December 2, 2024

Healthy Eating Linked to Better Brain Health

As the U.S. population ages, more adults are developing thinking and memory problems, called mild cognitive impairment. Scientists have been looking for ways to prevent or delay this type of mental decline and more severe disorders, like dementia.

December 2, 2024

Preventing Food Poisoning: Learn How to Keep Food Safe

Germs like bacteria, viruses, and parasites—or the toxins they produce—can get into your food and make you sick. “The difficult thing is you can’t see these germs, and you can’t taste them,” says Dr. William Alexander, an NIH expert in food-borne illnesses.