food

A new database with more than 2,500 food metagenomes gives scientists a glimpse into the microbial diversity of the human diet.

Diet influences the microbiome. When new foods enter the mix, it gets complicated.

It’s not clear why grain-fed mice are better able to recover after infection, but a study’s findings suggest food type may skew the results of animal studies.

Abundant environmental CO₂ can increase plant biomass and photosynthesis, but it has downsides for agriculture and ecosystems, a growing body of research finds.

Acting through the microbiome, the fiber arabinoxylan reduces cholesterol in many people, while another fiber, called long-chain inulin, increases inflammation, a study finds.

The biotech industry is chipping away at the obstacles standing between the lab and the dinner plate.

A New York Times investigation’s failure to amplify tuna DNA from Subway’s tuna salad sandwiches likely says more about the complexities of identifying processed fish than about the ingredients.

Over centuries of cultivating Saccharomyces cerevisiae to make dough, bakers have put selective pressure on the species, causing it to diverge into two distinct groups, according to the authors.

Experts fear the fungal pathogen will spread to other African countries, threatening wheat production.

Parrots aid each other in getting food from a researcher.

Scientists track the spice from the soil to the market to pinpoint the source of contamination in pregnant women’s blood.

Men had better fat-burning results when they had breakfast after cycling instead of beforehand.

The FDA recently cleared the way for marketing of the genetically modified product. Texas A&M’s Keerti Rathore speaks with The Scientist about why and how it was developed.

Scientists extracted 4,500-year-old yeast from Egyptian pottery to use in breadmaking.

Archaeologists find ring-shaped objects made from grains at a site in Austria thought to date back to 960 BCE.

Drastic dietary changes during the agricultural revolution altered the configuration of the human bite, paving the way for new sounds in spoken language, a new study finds.

A Minnesota-based company reports the sale of a soybean oil engineered to have greater stability and no trans-fat.

Despite previous positive reports, researchers didn’t see transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) cut back on people’s urges or eating.

The modification beefed up plant biomass by 40 percent in field tests.