News archive

ScienceDaily · 18 Oct 2026 · Nutrition

Scientists find a youth protein that helps aging brain cells act young again

Scientists have discovered that a protein linked to youth helps protect the brain’s immune cells from age-related decline. Restoring the protein in older mice improved the cells’ ability to clear debris and reduced signs of inflammation, raising hopes for future treatments targeting brain aging and Alzheimer’s disease.

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• Cognitive / dementia research
• Nutrition
• Aging

• cognition
• aging
• inflammation

ScienceDaily · 17 Oct 2026 · Nutrition

Brain cells meant to protect us may be fueling cognitive decline

Scientists have uncovered a surprising cause of age-related cognitive decline involving brain cells previously thought to be entirely beneficial. As these cells become dysfunctional, they can produce abnormal amounts of myelin, disrupting nerve fibers and potentially contributing to worsening memory and thinking skills.

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• Cognitive / dementia research
• Nutrition
• Aging

• cognition

Arizona State University / PLOS One · 16 Oct 2026 · Nutrition

A 2026 digestion model, checked against a feeding study, estimated about 116 fewer calories absorbed per day on a higher-fiber pattern

Study (mathematical model checked against an earlier feeding trial). Taylor Davis, Rosa Krajmalnik-Brown, Bruce Rittmann, and colleagues at Arizona State University describe a digestion, absorption, and microbial metabolism model in PLOS One (2026; DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0347668). They compared it with a controlled feeding study of healthy adults. One pattern was high in fiber and resistant starch, with larger particle size. The other resembled a usual Western pattern, lower in fiber. People on the Western pattern absorbed about 116 more calories per day. The higher-fiber group did not report more hunger. The model estimated that short-chain fatty acids from the colon supplied about 140 calories a day, about 7.4 percent of usable energy, and that about 85 percent of usable energy came from the upper gut and about 15 percent from the lower gut. Standard label math underestimated absorbed calories. This is a research framework, not a personal meal plan. Not medical advice.

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• Metabolic / glucose
• Nutrition

• fiber
• microbiome
• calories
• gut
• study
• commentary

OHSU / Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology · 16 Oct 2026 · Nutrition

In nearly 200,000 adults, eating after dinner or after bedtime lined up with a higher rate of fatty liver disease

Study (observational cohorts). Robert Wilechansky at Oregon Health and Science University, with colleagues at Massachusetts General Hospital, report in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology (online early October 2026; DOI 10.1016/j.cgh.2026.09.047). The Nurses' Health Study, the Nurses' Health Study II, and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study together covered almost 200,000 people who described whether they ate after dinner or after bedtime. The university release on 9 Oct 2026 said that habit lined up with about a 20 to 30 percent higher rate of fatty liver disease, including metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease and cirrhosis. A HealthDay account of the same paper gave adjusted hazard ratios of 1.36 for fatty liver disease and 1.28 for cirrhosis. One summary of the cohort put the median age at 59. The authors say the liver follows the body clock, and that only a small fraction of fatty liver cases become cirrhosis. Meal timing was self-reported. This is an association, not a reason to diagnose liver disease from a late snack. Not medical advice.

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• 40–59
• 60+
• Metabolic / glucose
• Nutrition

• meal-timing
• liver
• circadian
• study

ScienceDaily · 16 Oct 2026 · Nutrition

A protein that fuels cancer could also be the key to fighting it

Scientists have discovered how to turn a protein that normally fuels cancer growth into a weapon against it. By activating PPARD in immune cells, researchers made them better at burning fat and attacking tumors, slowing or stopping cancer growth in laboratory experiments. The approach showed promise against colorectal, breast, and ovarian cancers, as well as melanoma.

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• Cancer
• Nutrition

EurekAlert · 14 Oct 2026 · Nutrition

Postmenopausal ovaries kept changing from age 50 to 75

On 14 October 2026 Northwestern University and the Buck Institute described an Aging Cell proteomics study of ovaries from 28 postmenopausal women ages 50 to 75. Across 5,812 protein groups, ovaries from women in their 50s had more proteins tied to maintaining tissue structure, while older ovaries had more proteins tied to inflammation, immune activity, and tissue remodeling. The largest contrasts were between the 50s and age 70 and older. Some proteins previously linked to ovarian cancer were more abundant in aging ovaries, with the strongest signal in the 60s, but every sample looked normal and cancer-free. The authors say the data do not answer whether a healthy ovary should be removed. This is an observational tissue study, not a screening test. Not medical advice.

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• Women
• 40–59
• 60+
• Cognitive / dementia research
• Cancer
• Aging

• study
• aging
• inflammation

PLOS One · 14 Oct 2026 · Nutrition

In 1,020 adults in Chennai, a higher genetic risk score lined up with higher cholesterol only when diet quality was low

Study (cross-sectional). In 1,020 adults from the Chennai Urban Rural Epidemiology Study (452 men and 568 women, ages 25 to 80), a score of three variants in TCF7L2 and FTO was tied to higher fasting glucose and HbA1c. The same score lined up with higher total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol only among people with a low Indian Diet Quality Score, based on eight food groups (interaction p = 0.003 and 0.005). At low diet quality, the high-score group had higher cholesterol than the low-score group. This is one city at one time. It does not show that changing diet will change a given person's cholesterol. Not medical advice.

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• Cardiovascular / lipids
• Metabolic / glucose
• Nutrition

• diet-quality
• cholesterol
• gene-diet
• study

Science Translational Medicine · 14 Oct 2026 · Nutrition

In 18,476 people ages 1 to 96, a plasma metabolomic age gap lined up with later disease and death

Study (multi-center cohort). Cao and colleagues at Renji Hospital profiled plasma from 18,476 people ages 1 to 96 at six centers in China, published 14 Oct 2026. From 56 age-linked metabolites they built a stacked model of metabolomic age. People whose metabolomic age ran ahead of their birthday had more incident fatty liver disease, hypertension, and diabetes, and higher all-cause mortality, in follow-up from 2019 to 2025. A separate mortality-linked score rose as more organ systems were involved. The paper presents these as risk markers associated with health status, not as a diagnosis and not as a diet to copy. Sex-specific results are not given in the abstract. Not medical advice.

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• Cardiovascular / lipids
• Metabolic / glucose
• Nutrition
• Longevity

• metabolomics
• mortality
• study

Nature Aging · 14 Oct 2026 · Nutrition

In aged mice, raising the RNA-processing gene SRSF1 in the liver extended median lifespan by 14 percent

Study (cells and mice). A Wyss Institute team led by George Church and Alex Plesa, with Sascha Jung and Antonio del Sol, report in Nature Aging on 14 Oct 2026. A gene-expression age score trained on 464 human skin-fibroblast samples ranked the RNA-processing gene SRSF1 at the top of an overexpression screen. In old fibroblast lines, SRSF1 shifted senescence, protein-stress, and inflammatory signals toward a younger pattern and kept the cells as fibroblasts rather than turning on Yamanaka-style pluripotency. In aged mice, a liver-directed virus carrying SRSF1 slowed frailty and extended median lifespan by 14 percent compared with controls. The release does not state the sex of the mice. This is not a human treatment. Not medical advice.

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• Aging
• Longevity

• mice
• gene-expression
• lifespan
• longevity
• aging
• inflammation
• study

Frontiers in Aging · 12 Oct 2026 · Nutrition

Retinal neurodegeneration as accelerated ocular aging: a review of nutritional and metabolic supplements

Retinal neurodegeneration is a major cause of irreversible vision loss and a shared feature of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), diabetic retinopathy (DR), and glaucoma (GL). Increasing evidence suggests that these conditions share important pathways with retinal aging, including mitochondrial dysfunction, metabolic insufficiency, redox imbalance, chronic low-grade inflammation, and progressive neuronal vulnera

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• Metabolic / glucose
• Cognitive / dementia research
• Nutrition
• Supplements
• Aging

• review
• metabolic
• aging
• inflammation

Texas A&M University / Science Advances · 10 Oct 2026 · Nutrition

In laboratory liver work, polyethylene microplastics lined up with fatty-liver changes, and a high-fat high-fructose diet made those changes worse

Study (laboratory liver work; the release does not report a human exposure trial). ScienceDaily carried the Texas A&M account on 10 October 2026. The university materials are dated 3 August 2026. Woncheol Jung, Aditya D. Joshi, Tae Gyu Oh, and colleagues, with the University of Oklahoma, report in Science Advances (2026; 12(25); doi 10.1126/sciadv.aec8681). Polyethylene is described as about one-third of world plastic production and as used in food wrappers, containers, and cup linings. Joshi said few studies had looked at polyethylene and the liver. Exposure increased signs of fatty liver even without an unhealthy diet. Combined with a diet rich in fat, fructose, and cholesterol, the liver findings were more severe. Spatial transcriptomics, which keeps each cell's place in the tissue, mapped the damage. The release names PPAR-alpha, a protein that helps the liver handle fat, as activated, and ANXA2, a gene tied to tissue repair, as another contributor. Joshi said polyethylene had been treated as relatively inert. The team plans to look at scarring and at other plastics. The release does not give a human dose or a sex or age group. Educational notes. This is not a diagnosis of fatty liver and not a detox product claim.

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• Cardiovascular / lipids
• Metabolic / glucose
• Nutrition

• study

News-Medical · 7 Oct 2026 · Nutrition

Extra protein or leucine did not spare lean tissue during alternate-day fasting in older men

News-Medical reported this on 7 October 2026. The paper is Nutrients 2026; 18(19):3255, DOI 10.3390/nu18193255, by Pang, Yang, and Cheon. It was a three-arm double-blind randomized trial. Eighty men were recruited and 61 finished, ages 60 to 89, BMI at least 23, from November 2022 to May 2023. The trial excluded smokers, vegetarians and vegans, people with a dairy allergy, diabetes, uncontrolled hypertension, and kidney or liver conditions. For four weeks they used alternate-day fasting. The products were matched for calories and dosed per kilogram. The leucine product was 0.08 g per kg per serving. The protein product was 0.4 g protein per kg plus 0.04 g leucine per kg. The control was a chocolate product with neither. Three servings were used on feed days and one on fast days. On a fast day the self-selected meal was at most 600 kcal, between noon and 2 pm. Pooled across arms, body mass fell by about 2.2 kg (about 1.3 kg fat and 0.9 kg lean tissue). Bone mineral density did not change. LDL cholesterol, total cholesterol, the total-to-HDL ratio, and triglycerides improved over time. HDL fell slightly in the protein group. Systolic blood pressure fell. Fasting glucose, insulin, HbA1c, and HOMA-IR did not change. The appendicular lean-mass index fell 0.10 kg per square meter. Five-times sit-to-stand time fell 0.92 seconds. Handgrip rose 1.44 kg. Six-meter gait rose 0.05 m/s. The short physical performance battery rose 0.08. There were no differences between arms. The Montreal Cognitive Assessment rose modestly. Eleven people gained lean tissue while losing weight (5 control, 4 protein, 2 leucine). Adherence was about 93 percent for fast-day meal timing, only 63 percent for staying at or under 600 kcal, and 99 percent of servings. There was no group that kept a daily meal pattern without fast days, so the fasting pattern itself is not proven as the cause. Protein and leucine did not spare lean tissue compared with the control product. This is not advice to fast. It may not apply to women, to frail adults, or to people with sarcopenia. Two participants felt weak or light-headed on day 1. One reported bloating, constipation, and slight joint discomfort. Not medical advice.

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• Men
• 60+
• Cardiovascular / lipids
• Metabolic / glucose
• Cognitive / dementia research
• Exercise
• Nutrition

• study
• cognition