Giving people money to encourage healthier lifestyles only works in the longer term when designed to stop negative behaviour rather than promote positive choices, suggests research from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
Whole grain foods should be promoted for health – but the term needs a standard definition to encourage innovation among food companies, say nutrition researchers.
Popcorn manufacturers are pumping too much salt into their products, while leading consumers to believe they are a healthy snack, campaigners have claimed.
UK-based researchers are seeking industry collaboration and inspiration for work creating electrospun nanofibres that could provide improved products and ingredient delivery systems for foods.
Consumers' affinity with beloved junk food brands can be strong – but trying to weaken it may be counter-productive by reducing preferences for healthy foods, say scientists.
Inaccurate home testing and self-diagnosis is leading to unnecessarily restrictive diets and malnutrition, says a report claiming to make sense of allergies.
A mother's environment and dietary habits around the time of conception could permanently change the function of genes influencing the risk of diseases in her child, say researchers.
The top causes of food waste in homes include buying too much, preparing in abundance, unwillingness to consume leftovers, and improper food storage, say researchers from the Cornell Food and Brand Lab.
The trend toward raw foods is being driven by a growing group of consumers looking for ‘clean food’ – not just those who consider themselves raw foodists, says Teresa Havrlandova, founder of raw food firm Lifefood.
The use of whey protein fluid gels can produce ‘very stable’ foams that may be useful in the commercial production of food foams and areated products, say researchers.
Sustainable Foods Summit: Top 20 Meaningful Brands 2015
Most people in Europe want a brand to improve their lives and only one third of people think companies are delivering, according to Sara de Dios, global head, Meaningful Brands.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has published its final opinion on acrylamide in food, reconfirming previous evaluations that it increases the risk of developing cancer for consumers in all age groups.
The UK's National Health Service (NHS) CEO says failing to reformulate products to reduce added sugars would be like slow food poisoning of the nation.
The Swedish National Food Agency (NFA) has begun an investigation into levels of nutrients and potentially undesirable substances present in common foods on the Swedish market.
Sugar binders in oat bars can be removed completely if certain process adjustments are made to leverage beta-glucan as the binding agent, says the bakery science manager at Campden BRI.
When compared to the same amount of glucose, consuming fructose could cause ‘significant’ weight gain, physical inactivity, and body fat deposition, say researchers.
A European push toward segregated certified sustainable palm oil may inadvertently exclude smaller producers from the supply chain, says GreenPalm manager Bob Norman.
The European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) has urged the European commissioner for health and food safety to practice caution when making ‘adjustments’ to health claim and botanical rules.
Many fruit snacks aimed at children contain more sugar than confectionery – but could be misconstrued as ‘healthy’ because of their association with real fruit, according to pressure group Action on Sugar.
Research suggests boys eat more fast food and are more susceptible to junk food marketing than girls, prompting renewed calls for limits on advertising to children.
Snack makers are gearing up for renewed nutrition focus in the EU when the Netherlands takes presidency of the Council in 2016, says the director-general of the European Snacks Association (ESA).
To sell insects to Western consumers, food manufacturers must create products that align ethical motivations with sensory expectations – meaning cricket-flour cookies will fare better than chocolate-coated crickets.
It’s not just the high fat, salt or sugar content of processed foods that is driving obesity and diet-related illnesses – the lack of food diversity is killing our gut flora, claims one researcher.
The Nut Association has filed a paper to Public Health England in the UK calling for nuts to be included in the country’s five-a-day fruit and vegetable recommendations.
More than 2 billion tons of coffee by-products that are currently thrown away could have applications in the food and nutrition sector, say researchers.
The German confectionery industry has slammed plans for a 19% tax proposal on sugar aimed at reducing obesity - but the social democrat party denies that such a 'sin tax' is on the cards.
Big differences in the calorie content for one food type distorts expectations of satiety and energy content leading to overeating - a feature of Western diets that is fuelling the obesity crisis, say researchers.
A pioneering salt reduction scheme was derailed by the UK government leading to 6000 preventable deaths, says Consensus Action on Salt and Health (CASH).
A Spanish consumer rights group has launched a naming and shaming Twitter campaign after it found one third of consumers surveyed has bought the wrong product due to confusing food labels.
Wackaging – using cute and quirky language on a product’s packaging – seems to be everywhere. But with consumers becoming increasingly cynical, should manufacturers stop trying to be cool?
Food and human nutrition expert: 'We can learn from the US and Denmark'
Front-of-pack labelling can be useful but health policy-makers are naïve if they think that this alone will result in healthier food choices, say researchers - environment, motivation and psychology must be actively influenced too.
The Japanese diet can rival the Mediterranean diet for both health benefits and consumer pulling-power – with the added bonus of 'undiscovered' ingredients waiting to be developed by Western food manufacturers.
France may be notorious for its leisurely lunch breaks but less structured ways of eating are taking root, with a third of consumers saying they often eat on the run, according to an Ipsos poll.
The European Commission will consider action on industrially produced trans fats in foods following a high-level debate, said a spokesperson at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).
The combined use of TV brand placements with advertising could increase the effect on children's brand awareness and behaviour towards junk food, a new study has said.
A gluten-free diet is the only possible treatment for those with coeliac disease – so whose responsibility is it to increase affordability, availability and awareness? FoodNavigator asked experts for their views.
