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Two Tufts-related initiatives have been included in the White Houses new round of public and private sector commitments, announced today by the Biden-Harris administration, to end hunger, improve nutrition, and reduce diet-related disease in the United States by 2030. The White House Challenge to End Hunger and Build Healthy Communities continues the Biden-Harris administrations work started at the historic White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health that was held in September 2022, encouraging stakeholders from all corners to develop bold commitments to help achieve the administrations five key pillars of national health.

The first Tufts commitment is the establishment of the Food is Medicine Institute at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. The Institute will spearhead a variety of collaborative efforts to implement, evaluate, and integrate food-based nutrition interventions and education to promote health, well-being, and health equity through innovative research, training for health care professionals, patient care, policy development, and community engagement. A university-wide initiative that includes the School of Medicine and collaborates with Tufts Medicine, the Institute is led by Dariush Mozaffarian, a cardiologist, Distinguished Professor, and the Jean Mayer Professor of Nutrition at the Friedman School.

This commitment includes current funding of $15 million, including $10 million in grants and gifts and a new investment of $5 million from the University. Additionally, the Institute will raise $10 million in grants and gifts over the next 5 years, which will be further matched by the University with annual support equivalent to payout of a $10 million endowment.

Obesity, diabetes, and other chronic, diet-related conditions are a national emergency, driven by food and nutrition insecurity across the nation. The 2022 White House Conference the first such national effort in more than 50 years drew attention to these devastating challenges, said Mozaffarian, who previously served as dean of the Friedman School. Food is Medicine is one of the most exciting innovations in health care to leverage the critical role of nutrition in health. The Food is Medicine Institute will advance the evidence around this vision, serving as a catalyst to test and scale Food is Medicine interventions, mobilize public, private, and policy stakeholders, reduce health disparities, and create a more equitable and resilient health care system that recognizes the power of nourishing food.

The Institute was launched at an event in Boston on Oct. 18.

The second commitment will be a collaboration between the Institute and Kaiser Permanente to develop and co-lead a new National Food is Medicine Network of Excellence, bringing together multiple stakeholders such as health care providers and payers, non-profits, the private sector, professional associations, and academic institutions to engage in collaborative efforts to advance Food is Medicine initiatives.

The Network will lead the nation in collaborative efforts to integrate nutritional interventions that both transform and adapt to existing treatment models, harnessing the latest in research and training to enhance patient care and education as well as raise rates of patient buy-in and participation. Network members will share knowledge and convene leaders surrounding Food is Medicine, develop collective and complementary projects, secure joint funding for activities, and work together on education and advocacy to support testing, scaling, and integration of Food is Medicine into health care systems and communities.

Its exciting to bring together these two powerhouses in their fields Tufts in research and education, and Kaiser Permanente in providing equitable, evidenced-based health care, community investments and research to form a collaborative national alliance to advance the research and practice of Food is Medicine, said Mozaffarian.

We recognize that solving for food and nutrition security goes beyond just giving people food. Peoples attitudes toward food, the economic tradeoffs they must make, the stigma around food assistance, and social and culture dimensions all play an important role, said Pamela Schwartz, executive director for Community Health at Kaiser Permanente. The Network of Excellence will bring together public and private organizations to make a greater impact on reducing hunger, preventing, and treating diet-related disease, as well as improving health equity.

The Food is Medicine Institute is a direct and enthusiastic response to pillars 2 (Integrate nutrition and health) and 5 (Enhance nutrition and food security research) of the National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health. With the National Food is Medicine Network of Excellence, the Institute and Kaiser Permanente further strengthen their shared commitments to these pillars. Both commitments ultimately seek to create a system where consumption of nutritious food is recognized as a fundamental component of health and health care and where all people and communities have the knowledge, resources, and support to achieve optimal health and health equity through nourishing food.

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White House Includes Two Tufts-Related Initiatives in Commitments to End Hunger, Reduce Diet-Related Disease - Tufts Now

APPLETON (NBC 26) Six months after College Avenue lane changes, the city and businesses say they're seeing a positive impact.

(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)

Appletons changes to downtown traffic flow aimed to increase safety and get people to stop and stay a while.

Im your Appleton neighborhood reporter, Olivia Acree, and six months in people tell me the changes are working.

While the City of Appleton is working to make our roads safer and more convenient Smart Streets is just one example.

Were off to a strong start. Some metrics are proving to be more positive than we wouldve anticipated, said public works director Danielle Block.

Thats public works director Danielle Block. Six months ago, Appleton reconfigured downtown traffic from four lanes to three, added bike lanes, and left turn lanes.

We took this past six months, and we reviewed crashes, traffic counts, travel time, travel speeds, said Block.

Theyre happy with what they see. The same goes for Anthony Carter who works at downtowns Lawlss Coffee.

Before the changes it was more congested definitely situations were biker meets machine, said Carter.

He walks to work and has coworkers who bike.

I think it all bodes well for the environment that I hope were trying to create here, said Carter.

An environment thats safe and accessible no matter how many wheels you're on.

The crashes at 48% was a huge aspect to this project, said Block.

Block says crashes, racing, and police road closures are all down. So is the noise level, according to Eco Candle Company owner Shelley Nystrom.

It is quieter it slowed down a little bit. I think overall it will be good it just needs a little time, said Nystrom.

The Smart Streets pilot project isnt over. Theyre only six months in out of 18 and the next step is all about feedback.

What were gonna do this next phase is work with ADI and reach out to those businesses directly to get feedback on what their customers are telling them, said Block.

With 12 months left in the project, the city wants to hear from you next. Click here to join the conversation.

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Checking in on the College Avenue road diet - WGBA NBC 26 in Green Bay

Making simple changes to the foods we eat, like swapping beef for chicken in a burrito, can decrease environmental harm and improve personal health, according to the academic journal Nature Food.

If all consumers of high-carbon foods switched to low-carbon substitutes, the United States dietary carbon footprint could decrease by 35%. These changes would also increase diet quality by between 4-10%.

The study, conducted by researchers from Stanford, Harvard, and Tulane universities, used dietary data from over 7,700 U.S. adults and children to identify practical food substitutions and then simulated the impacts of these substitutions on both carbon pollution and quality of diet.

According to the studys authors, the findings indicated that a small changes approach could provide a helpful starting point for combatting diets impact on health and our changing climate.

When youre at the grocery store, move your hand one foot over to grab soy or almond milk instead of cows milk, said Diego Rose, senior author and nutrition program director at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. That one small change can have a significant impact.

Rose added: This study shows that cutting dietary carbon emissions is accessible and doesnt have to be a whole lifestyle change.

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However, the study also emphasizes that the sweeping dietary changes necessary to create the largest impact will be difficult. Food production is responsible for 25-33% of the countrys planet-warming gas pollution, with beef production being a primary contributor, according to Tulane University.

While food substitutes are not a cure-all for major climate objectives, the study does provide compelling evidence that a little goes a long way.

There is overlap between sustainable diets and healthy diets, said Anna Grummon, lead author and assistant professor of pediatrics and health policy at Stanford University. Our study shows that changing just one ingredient, making one swap, can be a win-win, resulting in meaningful changes in both climate outcomes and how healthy our diets are.

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Researchers find that making 'small changes' to your diet can lead to big results: 'Doesn't have to be a whole lifestyle ... - The Cool Down

Editors note: This story contains discussion of eating disorders and disordered eating behaviors.

The pandemic was a special time for a lot of us, to say the least. Maybe you learned how to make your own bread from scratch or binge-watched a new Netflix original TV show that, if you werent forced to stay inside, you wouldve never watched.

For many, it was a time of growth and reflection.

For me, the first few months of quarantine were not the times people are now romanticizing on social media.

I have always struggled with body image issues, especially growing up as a dancer, being forced to stare at my body in a skin-tight leotard for hours on end. In my experience, quarantine was just a time to hone in on my insecurities and attempt to fix them.

Ill spare you the details, but long story short, my attempts to fix my body landed me in a residential treatment facility for 42 days.

Despite being away from my friends and family, and the only movies to watch were Maleficent and Over the Hedge, Im grateful for my time there and what it taught me.

But even though the program I was in prides itself in being one of the top treatment programs in the country for addiction, eating disorders and mental health disorders, I was never taught how to cope with what was going to happen once I stepped foot into the real world.

I got used to being just another girl among 25 others for weeks on end, but eventually, I had to remember how to be a real person and deal with everyday challenges.

I was in for a rude awakening when I realized how normalized diet culture and even some eating disorder behaviors are in society.

Diet culture is hidden everywhere. Companies sell meal supplement protein bars that simply dont provide enough nutrients to be considered a meal. Celebrities promote weight loss supplements and diet plans so they can make a quick buck but dont really care about the effect they have on the consumer. The thousands of fitness influencers on social media are telling us what to eat and what not to eat, and they all contradict each other.

Since there was no crash course on living in a world that is obsessed and contaminated with diet culture, I had to teach myself.

If youve ever read any of my stories or talked to me about anything for more than an hour, youll know how I like to solve my problems delete social media.

In all seriousness, social media is a major source of disordered eating content, and as users, were consuming harmful content without even realizing it.

Marika Tiggemann, a professor at Flinders University, conducted a study to better understand the reasons adolescent girls desire to look a certain way, the media was the most influential factor in encouraging thinness.

Social media is the holy grail of promoting ED culture and if someone is struggling with those misconceptions, then it is extremely easy to run into toxic mindsets. said DePaul junior Abbi Swietlik.

As sad as it is to admit, Ive been on Instagram since 2012, and I can confidently say that if I did not start using social media at 9 years old, I would not have the body image issues I have today, especially not to the severity it was four years ago.

After recognizing that social media is one of the many problems, we must take action to ensure that social media is a safe place to be and learn to recognize what is enforcing diet culture or disordered eating.

The first thing to do is to clean your feed, said Amy Goldsmith, founder of Kindred Nutrition, a private practice of dieticians and therapists who specialize in eating disorders and sports nutrition. We can control our own feeds by unfollowing anything diet culture or removing ourselves from blogs or newsletter that auto send to us.

Still, its important to be wary of the influencers you follow who promote body positivity and food freedom because they can even be doing more harm than good.

For example, when I got out of treatment, I followed dozens of eating disorder recovery pages, hoping that it would provide a better community than I had known before. However, these accounts post tons of body checking, assuming that it will be relatable but only serves as a comparison for their audience. Also, these accounts would talk about the behaviors they used in the depths of their eating disorder, which only adds more fuel to the fire by giving inspiration and tips to those who havent made it to their recovery stage quite yet.

Regardless of it being my favorite piece of advice to hand out, deleting social media wont stop the problems we face in the real world. Im still trying to figure out how to make my way through this life without ending up where I was four years ago. But if I could say my advice, it would be to communicate.

Not everyone is going to know what you dont want to hear. Imagine my frustration when I got out of treatment, where no one was allowed to even talk about food, and thrown back into a world where it seems like food is the only thing people want to talk about. But, if you dont want to talk about something, like food or triggering behaviors, you have a right to say so.

Its okay to reject diet culture and ED propaganda and to hold your boundaries, Goldsmith said The more you show your boundaries with what you will allow into conversations, the more people will respect your stance.

Navigating this world can be terrifying, and the societal pressures to look or live a certain way dont make the load upon our shoulders any lighter. Thats why its important to put our health first before listening to the eating disorder propaganda that plagues our world.

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How to navigate a world where diet culture seems inescapable - The Depaulia

When I first moved back to Chicago after over a decade away, I embraced the city by frequently practicing what English writer Virginia Woolf affectionately termed street haunting in a 1927 essay of the same name. Where she turned an errand to buy a new pencil halfway across London into an opportunity for flneuserie pausing to note that when passing, glimpsing, everything seems accidentally but miraculously sprinkled with beauty Id set out purposely hungry, ravenous for both food and some of the human connection stifled by pandemic lockdown.

As such, many of the restaurants that remain my favorites are the ones I discovered seemingly by happenstance: the empanada stand I found while biking in the shadow of Wrigley Field on game day, its electric blue and hot pink walls lined with glass bottles of Topo Chico and Mexican Coke; the Jewish deli with a ridiculously overloaded pastrami on rye, located just a few blocks north of the commercial stretch where I run weekly errands; the fern-lined neighborhood coffee shop which has transformed one of their two bathrooms into a propagation station for houseplants.

Of course, though, life sometimes gets in the way of wandering, especially once the gentle luster of getting reacquainted with ones home begins to fade. Instead of being avenues of wonder, streets slowly become just streets, the thoroughfares we tread to get to grocery stores and dentist offices and train stations, where we can then be shuttled at a faster clip to yet other streets. And so it goes until you see a little detail out in the wild that truly surprises you (like an unexpected flock of clucking urban chickens, or back-alley graffiti written in a loopy, distinctly feminine font, warning, I was here. I am here. I will hurt you).

Or until a college student you know asks: How did you all find new restaurants before the internet?

Thats a good question.

While Id like to say that I exclusively consult the food section of my local print publications for recommendations for where to eat that weekend, or that Im more tied into the age-old tradition of solid word of mouth than I actually am, thats just not the case anymore. Its maybe a little embarrassing to admit, but outside of searching for places to eat and food trends for work, my relationship to food in my downtime has become increasingly passive and increasingly digital. Instead of heading out my front door hungry for novelty, I come across a beautifully flaky croissant while doomscrolling Instagram and check to see if its local, or a random article pops up in my news feed, or I catch a sponsored restaurant ad on Facebook.

This isnt just about how organically I find restaurants or the way in which I discovered that espresso martinis are back (through so, so many tweets); as a child of the early '90s, I often feel a bit like I was born on a cusp between the analogue and digital realms, but have become increasingly tethered to the World Wide Web since my middle school dial-up days.

Im not alone. When the Pew Research Center began tracking Americans internet usage in early 2000, only about half of all adults were online, compared to the 95% who use the internet today. That said, those numbers dont necessarily curb some broader concerns I have about how being plugged in for so long has impacted my ability to find, think about and create things I really care about, a rapidly growing apprehension that the students question had unintentionally pricked.

Since then, Ive spent a fair amount of time considering what unplugging my diet would actually look like and how that would tie to the ways I buy my groceries, how I satisfy my cravings and how I enjoy my community. I think the first step is simply walking out the door, hungry and without a destination.

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To reconnect with food, I'm unplugging my diet - Salon

Shawn Baker, a cheerleader for the carnivore diet, has stated that he doesnt know the long-term effects that a high-meat diet is having on peoples health.

Baker is an emblematic promoter of the carnivore diet, and has hundreds of thousands of followers across social media.

The admission came in a head-to-head debate with vegan doctor Garth Davis. I dont know if my diet is going to make someone live longer, Baker said.

Baker regularly posts pro-carnivore diet content and encourages his followers to choose a meat-heavy lifestyle.

Despite this, he admitted in the debate that he is not aware of the carnivore diets long-term health effects. I dont know if its going to either prevent or increase the likelihood of some disease, he said. We just dont have the data that shows that.

Followers of the carnivore diet eat only meat, though some may eat eggs and dairy products. Diets heavy in these foods have been associated with various negative health outcomes.

In contrast, plant-based diets have regularly outperformed other diets for a wide range of health markers.

As well as admitting that he has no idea about the carnivore diets long-term health effects, Baker said in the debate that his social media is kind of for entertainment purposes only in many ways.

Responding to the comments on Instagram, a vegan doctor named Dr Matthew Nagra urged Bakers fans to see that those promoting high meat consumption are unaware of its long-term effects.

He said that the best available evidence suggests that a carnivore diet will increase risk of colorectal cancer and cardiovascular disease compared to many other diets.

Theres no way [Baker] doesnt know that people are going to take what he says and actually implement it into their lifestyle, Dr Nagra said.

You can bet that he will not be held accountable if you follow his advice and end up suffering a heart attack.

In a response message to Dr Nagra, Baker doubled down on his admission. He says that I said I dont know the long-term outcome of a carnivore diet, which is true, Baker said in a video posted on X.

Baker went on to repeat that in no way, no shape or form can we make assessments good or bad about how long a carnivore diet will last over the long term.

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The 'King' Of Carnivore Diet Admits He Doesn't Know The Long-Term Effects - Plant Based News

With the firehose of nutrition advice at our fingertips, it can be hard to tell the difference between fact and fiction, especially when it comes to nutrition.

As a runner, you have different dietary needs than the average Americanwhich means you need to follow a different nutritional playbook. Runners are extra special, says Alex Larson, a registered dietitian specializing in endurance athletes. Because youre running, strength training, or cross training most days of the week, your nutrition has to support that higher activity level.

Whether its running or strength training, runners are very active, so they have additional, higher needs. So those healthy eating or dieting recommendations you might typically see out in the world dont apply, Larson tells Runners World. Because we often spend time around folks who arent runners, were comparing ourselves to them and what theyre eating. But we have to stop that comparison.

To figure out which diet advice you can leave behind, its important to understand why many mainstream nutritional guidelines are counterproductive, particularly for runners. We talked to dietitians to separate myth from fact when it comes to what to put on your plate.

When runners come in and say I eat a really clean diet, I almost always know theyre not getting enough to eat. says Larson. While they may eat a decent amount of nutrient-dense food, their dietary choices generally dont have enough calories to support their training, she explains. Often this is because they may eat something like a plate of greens, which has plenty of vitamins and minerals, but not many calories.

Because its heavy on whole, unprocessed foods, clean eating often means lots of fiber, too. However, a diet that skews too heavily in that direction can cause bloating. And that doesnt go with a running lifestyle, says Larson.

You need a balance of whole foods and more processed foods, says Larson. For example, while a bowl of whole grain oats with berries and almonds would make a great, nutrient-dense breakfast, its too high in volume (as in, it takes up a lot of room) and has too much fiber to sit well in your stomach right before a run.

Youd be better off saving the oats for your recovery snack and having some graham crackers or even a Pop Tart right before your workout. They get digested a lot faster and theyre a quick source of energy to help you have a great run, says Larson. Pop Tarts are looked at as unhealthy, but a lot of runners love to use them because theyre tasty, quick, portable, and easy and are usually really well tolerated as a fuel source before a run.

The idea that you should cut carbs is perhaps one of the most commonand harmfulnutrition myths for runners. Carbs are exactly what we need, says Larson. Even if youre getting enough calories, insufficient carbohydrate intake puts you at risk for underfueling. Signs you may need to up your carb intake include a lack of motivation, feeling stale during your workouts, a performance plateau, sweets cravings, and unexplained weight gain, she says.

Unfortunately, many runners interpret those symptoms as a sign they need to double down on their training and dietary restrictionbut thats a mistake. You gain weight because your metabolism is trying to adapt to insufficient nutrition, says Larson. Over time, consistent underfueling leads to low energy availability (LEA), which can cause a number of health issues, including lowered immunity, injuries, decreased bone density, anxiety, and depression.

If you think of chicken breast and vegetables as good but see pasta and dessert as bad, youre not alone. But just because its common to think of foods as good or bad doesnt mean its healthyor true. The underlying premise of this way of thinking is that theres a food that is fundamentally good and without flaws. But we know this isnt true, says registered dietitian Christyna Johnson.

Whats worse, though, is the tendency to judge ourselves according to what we eat. When you think eating a salad makes you good and choosing a brownie makes you bad, it can be a slippery slope to disordered eating, LEA, and all the issues associated with it. The truth is, theres room for all kinds of foods in a healthy diet, says Johnson.

Plant-based diet proponents tout a vegan diet as the healthiest choice. However, there is no universally perfect dietand avoiding entire food groups can come with health risks. When you cut out major food groups like meat, seafood, and dairy, youre also cutting out some key nutrients, says Larson.

Always prioritizing plant-based options at the expense of other foods makes it difficult for many vegan and vegetarian eaters to get the micronutrients they need to stay healthy and perform optimally.

According to Larson, its not uncommon for those following a plant-based diet to get insufficient iron and ferritin, which influence immune health and energy levels. They may also have low levels of B12, zinc, and calcium, which can interfere with bone health, overall health, and athletic performance.

I think its great to eat a plant-based diet, but you might need to be a little more concerned about getting your micronutrients. You might need a supplement, says Larson.

For most of us, the risks of skipping breakfast before a morning workout are greater than any potential benefits. While the goal is to force your body to use its fat reserves for fuel, your body is much more likely to break down muscle tissue instead, says Johnson. That includes both skeletal and cardiac muscle tissue, which will not only hurt your performance short-term, but sets you up for overtraining in the longer term.

While training adaptations do occur when your muscle tissue builds back up after being broken down, youre asking your body to do too much with too little when you exercise in a fasted state, says Johnson. In short, Youll have a better run if you provide yourself fuel, she says.

According to traditional health or wellness advice, you should avoid snacks at all costs. But if youre activeespecially if youre training for a specific eventthat advice is not only unhelpful, it can actually be counterproductive. For runners, snacking is an additional opportunity to get the nutrition you need for the day, because it can be hard to get enough in just three meals, says Larson.

Whether its an additional source of protein, fruits, or vegetables, a snack can be super helpful in helping meet your energy, micronutrient, and macronutrient needs, says Larson.

Snacks can also support your practical need to avoid dips in energy or excessive hunger over the course of the day. For example, if you eat lunch around noon and have dinner around 6 p.m., thats a long time, to go without food, says Larson. In that case, an afternoon snack can help you avoid going into the evening so hungry that you find yourself binging. And according to Larson, the simple addition of an afternoon snack can also help you recover faster.

Theres also a solid case for an after-dinner snack. A lot of people think you shouldnt eat after a certain time of night. But your body isnt just a machine that turns off at a certain time, says Johnson. For example, if you eat at 6 p.m. and go to bed at 11 p.m., even if youre only getting six hours of sleep, thats a long time to go without fuel, especially if you work out shortly after waking up. That bedtime snack gives your body the energy it needs so youre not waking up hungry, says Johnson. She suggests an evening snack that includes carbohydrate, fat, and protein to top off your energy reserves and potentially help you sleep better.

This low-carb craze has many of us believing we need to avoid sugar at all costswhich leaves little, if any room for the sugars that naturally exist in fruit. But Johnson suggests we take a critical look at the imperative to avoid sugar in all its forms before throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Did we forget there are nutrients in fruit? she asks.

Fruit contains important phytochemicals like vitamin C, vitamin E, and beta carotene, which serve as antioxidants, phytoestrogens, and anti-inflammatory agents. It also contains fiber, potassium, and folate, all of which support overall health and disease prevention.

While you might not want to eat fruit immediately before a workout, you should have enough time to digest if you consume it one to two hours beforehand, says Johnson. It can also be a great form of postrun nutrition. Not only is fruit a good source of carbohydrate, the high water content can help you rehydrate while the potassium can help with your electrolyte balance, especially if youre a salty sweater, says Johnson.

Fruit is also tasty source of fiber, something many of us dont get enough of. If youre having to push too hard in the bathroom, chances are you need to up your fiber intake, says Johnson. Not only will it make things easier on the toilet, it also helps promote healthy gut bacteria, she adds.

The idea is that we need to avoid white carbs, including white bread, pasta, potatoesand white ricelike the plague. So if you have a choice between white and brown rice, youre better off choosing the latter (no matter how you feel about the taste and texture). But the truth is, the nutritional difference between the two is negligible, says Johnson.

Brown rice is the parent of white rice, she explains. In other words, all rice starts as brown rice. You get white rice when you remove the outer layer, which is the brown part. While whole grains contain valuable fiber and B vitamins, brown rice has only one more gram of fiber per one third cup (cooked) serving, says Johnson. So if you dont prefer brown rice Johnson has advice: There are plenty of other ways to get that gram of fiber that are more interesting.

Pam Moore is an occupational therapist-turned-intuitive eating coach, certified personal trainer, and award-winning freelance writer with bylines in outlets including The Washington Post, Time, SELF, Outside, Runner's World, and others. Listen to her podcast, Real Fit, or subscribe to her newsletter, Real Nourished, at

pam-moore.com

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Overrated Healthy Eating Rules That You Can Definitely Stop Following - Runner's World

Research indicates that a fasting-mimicking diet can rejuvenate the immune system and reduce metabolic risk factors in humans, effectively making them biologically younger by following a specific five-day dietary plan that mimics fasting effects.

Research from USC demonstrates that periodic adherence to a diet that simulates fasting can lower insulin resistance, decrease liver fat, rejuvenate the immune system, and reduce biological aging in clinical trial patients.

Periodic adherence to a fasting-like diet can reduce signs of aging in the immune system, alongside decreasing insulin resistance and liver fat levels in humans, leading to a reduced biological age, according to a study led by the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology.

The study, which was recently published in the journal Nature Communications, adds to the body of evidence supporting the beneficial effects of the fasting-mimicking diet (FMD).

The FMD is a five-day diet high in unsaturated fats and low in overall calories, protein, and carbohydrates and is designed to mimic the effects of a water-only fast while still providing necessary nutrients and making it much easier for people to complete the fast. The diet was developed by the laboratory of USC Leonard Davis School Professor Valter Longo, the senior author of the new study.

This is the first study to show that a food-based intervention that does not require chronic dietary or other lifestyle changes can make people biologically younger, based on both changes in risk factors for aging and disease and on a validated method developed by the Levine group to assess biological age, Longo said.

Previous research led by Longo has indicated that brief, periodic FMD cycles are associated with a range of beneficial effects. They can:

In addition, the FMD cycles can lower the risk factors for cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and other age-related diseases in humans.

The Longo lab also had previously shown that one or two cycles of the FMD for five days a month increased the healthspan and lifespan of mice on either a normal or Western diet, but the effects of the FMD on aging and biological age, liver fat, and immune system aging in humans were unknown until now.

The study analyzed the diets effects in two clinical trial populations, each with men and women between the ages of 18 and 70. Patients who were randomized to the fasting-mimicking diet underwent 3-4 monthly cycles, adhering to the FMD for 5 days, then ate a normal diet for 25 days.

The FMD is comprised of plant-based soups, energy bars, energy drinks, chip snacks, and tea portioned out for 5 days as well as a supplement providing high levels of minerals, vitamins, and essential fatty acids. Patients in the control groups were instructed to eat either a normal or Mediterranean-style diet.

An analysis of blood samples from trial participants showed that patients in the FMD group had lower diabetes risk factors, including less insulin resistance and lower HbA1c results. Magnetic resonance imaging also revealed a decrease in abdominal fat as well as fat within the liver, improvements associated with a reduced risk of metabolic syndrome. In addition, the FMD cycles appeared to increase the lymphoid-to-myeloid ratio an indicator of a more youthful immune system.

Further statistical analysis of the results from both clinical studies showed that FMD participants had reduced their biological age a measure of how well ones cells and tissues are functioning, as opposed to chronological age by 2.5 years on average.

This study shows for the first time evidence for biological age reduction from two different clinical trials, accompanied by evidence of rejuvenation of metabolic and immune function, Longo said.

The study, conducted by first authors Sebastian Brandhorst, USC Leonard Davis research associate professor, and Morgan E. Levine, founding principal investigator of Altos Labs and USC Leonard Davis PhD alumna, lends more support to the FMDs potential as a short-term periodic, achievable dietary intervention that can help people lessen their disease risk and improve their health without extensive lifestyle changes, Longo said.

Although many doctors are already recommending the FMD in the United States and Europe, these findings should encourage many more healthcare professionals to recommend FMD cycles to patients with higher than desired levels of disease risk factors as well as to the general population that may be interested in increased function and younger age, Longo said.

Reference: Fasting-mimicking diet causes hepatic and blood markers changes indicating reduced biological age and disease risk by Sebastian Brandhorst, Morgan E. Levine, Min Wei, Mahshid Shelehchi, Todd E. Morgan, Krishna S. Nayak, Tanya Dorff, Kurt Hong, Eileen M. Crimmins, Pinchas Cohen and Valter D. Longo, 20 February 2024, Nature Communications. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-45260-9

The study was funded by the National Institute on Aging.

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According to New USC Research, Following This Diet Reduces Biological Age in Humans - SciTechDaily

Vegan men may have a better sex life and less erectile dysfunction than their omnivorous counterparts, according to new research.

A new study has revealed that eating a vegan diet is associated with a reduced risk of developing erectile dysfunction and urinary incontinence.

The study, which was published in the journal Cancer, was undertaken by researchers from the New York University Grossman School of Medicine and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

According to the scientists, treatment for prostate cancer can cause a host of issues among them is erectile dysfunction.

They found that an animal-free diet can help improve mens sex lives by treating erectile dysfunction.

During the experiment, researchers analysed health outcomes of 3,500 men, all of whom had prostate cancer, to analyse the impact of diet changes on the disease.

The current information shows that removing animal products from their diet, and instead eating plant-based whole foods is linked with a reduced risk of developing erectile dysfunction.

In addition, treatment for prostate cancer can trigger urinary incontinence, which has also found to be improved by switching out meat and dairy for foods like grains, nuts, fruit and vegetables.

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In a statement, first author Dr Stacy Loeb said: Our findings offer hope for those looking for ways to improve their quality of life after undergoing surgery, radiation, and other common therapies for prostate cancer, which can cause significant side effects.

She noted that eating fewer animal products and more fruit and vegetable is a simple step that patients can incorporate.

In addition, Dr Loeb said, these health benefits add to the long list of health and environmental benefits of eating more plants and fewer animal products.

She concluded: They also clearly challenge the historical misconception that eating meat boosts sexual function in men, when in fact the opposite seems to be the case.

The results build on previous research by the team which found that eating a vegan diet can help combat the development of prostate cancer.

Dr Loeb explained this is because dietary fibre, polyphenols and antioxidants are found in plant-based foods.

These have been found to improve glucose metabolism, reduce inflammation and ultimately improve endothelial function for example, facilitating blood flow to the penis that is fundamental for erectile function.

With these benefits, have you ever wondered why arent more men vegan?

Featured photo baona via Getty Images

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Vegan diet linked to reduced risk of erectile dysfunction, finds study - Vegan Food and Living

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