The Truth about Vitamins, How the Brain Creates Flavor, & More Food News
This week's food news roundup looks at the many subtle forces influencing what we eat, the problem with a diet that's too low in sodium, the truth about multivitamins, how much water we should really be drinking, and much more. Plus the weekly quiz!
1) Did you know flavor isn't something fixed in the food but rather something that our brains create? Harvard's Nutrition Source takes a fascinating look at how we taste food.
2) Our appetites are affected by a multitude of subtle forces mostly beyond our awareness. The good news: Good habits can lead to healthier choices.
3) TED-Ed takes a fun look at how science helps create the perfect chocolate chip cookie.
4) A review of studies finds that a diet that's too low in sodium may actually increase the risk for heart disease.
5) Here's an article showing the health effects of drinking red wine, including how it can slow the rate of memory loss.
6) Do you really need to take a multivitamin? Here's The New York Times' interview with Catherine Price, author of Vitamania: How Vitamins Revolutionized the Way We Think About Food. They discuss "common misconceptions about vitamins" and more.
7) Cutting, slicing, mashing, and pounding meat and vegetables into more easily chewed and digested bites may have had a significant impact on human evolution. Combined with cooking food, the result in energy saved (and calories consumed) may have paved the way for larger brains.
8) So how much water do you really need to drink every day? Scientific American debunks the "64-ounces every day" recommendation that is constantly quoted.
9) Meanwhile, a study from the Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics offers evidence that drinking more water can help control weight gain.
10) What does the scientific evidence say about GMOs? Tufts Now interviews "Timothy Griffin...one of the scientists who spent the past two years doing an exhaustive review of 900 research publications about genetically engineered (GE) foods for a large study commissioned by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine." Griffin discusses the study's report, the research, and the meaning of it all.
11) Take the weekly health quiz from The New York Times.
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