Limiting and labeling trans fats in food is not enough according to Walter Willett, an epidemiologist and nutrition professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, who argues to food manufacturers and food professionals that they should be banned altogether.

Willett was among dozens of speakers here on the opening day of the Institute of Food Technologists Annual Meeting & Food Expo, the world's largest annual food science forum and exposition.

While some trans fats occur naturally in foods, most are the result of cooking or baking with hydrogenated oils. Those oils provide creamy textures that are enjoyable to eat and affect positively the shelf life and stability of many foods like baked goods

An agricultural researcher at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University has developed a simple process to make allergen-free peanuts. The new process -- believed to be a first for food science -- could provide relief to millions of peanut allergy sufferers, and be an enormous boon to the entire peanut industry.

Doug Speight of the N.C. A&T Office of Outreach and Technology Transfer said food companies are showing a strong interest in licensing the process, which does not degrade the taste or quality of treated peanuts, and might even render them easier to process for use as a food ingredient.

The numbers of overweight children are increasing, and many parents are rightly concerned about their children's weight and how it affects them.

The good news is that parents can help their children live healthy, active lives.

"Sometimes it's best to change your vocabulary." That's what pediatrician Peggy Supple, M.D., of Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove often has to remind the parents of children struggling with obesity.

"I find that overweight children respond better to the word 'activity' than to the term 'exercise,'" Supple explains. "I think it's because some children associate exercise with sweat and work, things they may feel are negatives. To really make an impact with overweight children, you must help them increase their level of activity throughout the day."

Researchers from University College London have found compelling evidence for the first time to link food intolerances and serious illness.

A six-month programme has shown potential links with foodstuffs and Crohn's Disease, and ulcerative colitis.

The discovery could prompt an entire rethink in the medical profession across a range of conditions, from irritable bowel syndrome to migraine. To date, patient reports of intolerances have largely been seen as 'in the mind', and discounted.

At UCL, researchers worked with three specific groups of patients one with Crohn's Disease (28 patients), a second with ulcerative colitis (25), and a control group with a benign coincidental thyroid lump (24).

Organic tomatoes have significantly higher levels of flavonoids, compared to non-organic tomatoes, according to the results of a ten-year study carried out by researchers at the University of California.

Flavanoids are a class of water-soluble pigments that are present in many plants. Scientists have identified a few thousand different flavonoids. Flavonoids are known to lower hypertension (high blood pressure), thus lowering heart disease and stroke risk. Studies have also indicated that flavonoids may protect us to some extent from cancer and dementia.

The researchers believe that it is the quality of the soil that gives the organic tomatoes their higher flavonoid levels, specifically, the absence of fertilizers.

Forget about diets and controversial weight loss pills! Research by Georgetown University Medical Center suggests the worldwide obesity epidemic may not be caused by unhealthy diets or junk food with high fat and high sugar. It is by a combination of high fat diets and stress. And without stress, high fat cannot cause obesity, at least in mice.

The results of the new research in mice published on July 1, 2007 in the prestigious journal Nature Medicine show whether the study animal gained or lost fat depended upon the levels of two peptides in a physiological pathway, which controls the growth rate of fat and the size of fatty cells.

Alcohol consumption more severely affects women than men, according to a new study by researchers at RTI International, Pavlov Medical University, Leningrad Regional Center of Addictions, Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

The study, published in the May issue of Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, found that women become alcohol dependent more quickly than men and that alcohol more severely impairs women's cognitive functioning including perceptual and visual planning and processing, working memory and motor control.

"Our studied showed that female alcoholics experience a greater decrement in cognitive and motor functions and sustain an accelerated decline in processing speed than males," said Barbara Flannery, Ph.D., research psychologist at RTI. "Our findings confirm and extend prior research that alcohol exerts more profound adverse effect more quickly on women compared to men."

Parents need feeding alternatives when newborns are not able to breastfeed. However, one method leads to longer hospital stays and possible health hazards for premature infants, according to a new review by Australian researchers.

Traditionally, hospitals and parents have used bottles or tubes to feed infants when breastfeeding is not possible. In some cases, hospitals have turned to cup feeding, in which a baby sips or laps milk in a small cup placed beneath the upper lip.

Professional curiosity prompted the researchers to take a closer look at the practice. "We were all employed in the neonatal nursery at the time and the discussion about cup feeding would often occur," said lead researcher Anndrea Flint, a nurse manager at the Centre for Clinical Nursing of the Royal Women's Hospital in Brisbane.

Research shows that when soy consumption goes up, weight goes down. A new University of Illinois study may help scientists understand exactly how that weight loss happens.

"We wanted to compare the effects of soy protein hydrolysates and soy peptides with those of leptin because we hypothesized that soy might behave in the body in a similar way. Leptin is a hormone produced in our adipose tissue that interacts with receptors in the brain and signals us that we're full so we stop eating," said Elvira de Mejia, a U of I assistant professor of food science and human nutrition.

The researchers wanted to see if soy protein hydrolysates could affect these regulatory hormones and their receptors.

by Walter H. Wainright

The health benefits of soy have been controversial. Although the soybean matrix is complex and contains a great amino acid protein base, anti-viral, anti-allergy, anti-inflammatory, vasodilator and anti-cancer properties there are people against soy products. Much of the disagreement between those “for” or “against” soy products comes from the fact that all soy products are not created equal.

Unfermented soy products contain haemagglutinin and trypsin inhibitors, which are growth-stunting factors. In addition, unfermented soy products have one of the highest phytate levels of any grain or legume. Most critics of soy dislike soy products for these reasons. However, a good fermented soy product eliminates undesirable compounds and accentuates the positive benefits of the components in soy. Haelan 951, a commercially available fermented soy beverage has a study showing that stunted animals are restored to normal growth after consuming this fermented soy product. Research also shows that the complaint about the phytate content in soybeans is offset by the fact that the mineral binding characteristics of the phytates prevent colon and colon-rectal cancers and slow down the growth rate of other cancers. A good fermented whole soy product does not have the objectionable characteristics found in unfermented soy products. Research has shown anti-aging and other health benefits derived from soy components in numerous studies. It is safe to say unfermented soy products have problems but a good fermented soy product can be great. They can provide tremendous health benefits, particularly for cancer patients.