New Scientist - The Essential Guides

The Essential Guide series brings together the best recent coverage from New Scientist specially curated into beautiful compendiums about the most exciting themes in science and technology today. Written and edited by some of the world’s best science writers, these guides will leave you with everything you need to know about subjects from nutrition to the solar system and more.

NUTRITION & DIET

New Scientist - The Essential Guides

BASICS OF NUTRITION

THE ORIGINS OF THE OBESITY CRISIS • There’s a central point that motivates many concerns about nutrition: most of us are getting bigger, and we know that isn’t good for us. But why many nations are seeing a rise in obesity, and what to do about it, are questions that go to the heart of the complexities within nutritional science.

GENETICS AND APPETITE

WHAT CAUSES MALNUTRITION?

EXERCISE AND METABOLISM

THE ROLE OF THE MICROBIOME • There is a deep-rooted connection between our guts and our brain, which potentially gives us a way to improve not just our physical health, but also change our mood through our food. Recently, scientists have begun to home in the central role of an entity that’s part of us and yet not part of us: our gut microbiome.

WHAT IS TASTE, ANYWAY? • You might find it slightly distasteful, but your body has taste buds all over the place – even in your testicles, if you have them. Understanding the strange sensation of taste shows it is about more than pleasure: it is hardwired into our basic biology and we are only just learning how to harness it.

WHY MOST NUTRITIONAL ADVICE IS WRONG • Before we get down into the nitty-gritty of what kinds of food are good and bad for us in the following chapters, we should preface things with a big caveat. Nutritional science is complex, as we have said – and most of what we think we know about it is probably the product of flawed studies.

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NUTRITIONAL NASTIES

THE TRUTH ABOUT SATURATED FAT • The anchoring fact of most official nutritional advice is that we should aim to reduce our consumption of saturated fats. Their undesirable effects supposedly include raising levels of “bad” cholesterol in our blood and increasing our risk of heart disease. But recent studies suggest the truth is far more nuanced – on all counts.

WHAT IS A FAT? • Fats are complex biomolecules that play various roles in the body, including energy storage and as components of cell membranes. A fat molecule is made up of three fatty acids bound to a molecule of glycerol. This unit is known as a triglyceride. There are dozens of different types of fatty acid, all with different properties, including whether they are saturated or unsaturated.

SUGAR ON TRIAL • Sugar is increasingly touted as public health enemy number one. Some people see it as perhaps the major driving force behind obesity, heart disease and type II diabetes – and a toxic, addictive and above all unnecessary evil to boot. But is sugar really so sickly sweet?

SALT: KILLER OR SCAPEGOAT? • For many of us, salt is a routine part of our diet. And yet this mineral that we so casually sprinkle onto our food has a reputation as a killer in excessive quantities – if not immediately, then over time. It probably deserves such notoriety.

IS JUNK FOOD REALLY THAT BAD FOR US?

DEFINING JUNK • The NOVA system classifies each foodstuff into one of four groups according to how much industrial processing has been applied to it.

VITAMINS, MINERALS AND SUPERFOODS

VITAL VITAMINS • Getting your vitamins is an essential part of any healthy diet, and vitamin supplements are big business. To cut to the chase: there is very little evidence that taking most of them supplies significant health benefits. What is important is to...