Sugar

If you’ve ever found room for dessert when you thought you were full, your gut bacteria might be to blame. Caltech scientists have shown that mice given antibiotics ate far more sugary snacks, hinting at a bacterial influence on overeating.

Ordinarily, the microcircuit patterns used in microchips are printed onto flat silicon wafers, potentially limiting their applications. A new technique lets such patterns be more easily applied to curved surfaces – and it uses "candy" to do the job.

Do people eating lots of sugar become desensitized to sweetness? Scientists have found evidence that this might be the case, with a new rat study finding that those on a high-sugar diet had up to a 50% reduction in responsiveness to sweet flavors.

Scientists at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences have discovered eight natural sweetness-enhancing compounds in citrus fruits. The research suggests these molecules may be useful as sugar substitutes in food.

The relationship between sugar and human health is a complex one, but new research has added some valuable new detail around the habitual consumption of the sweet stuff, finding an increase in risk of death from obesity-related cancer.

A new animal study has shown sugar contributes to metabolic diseases by altering the microbiome. The findings reveal how certain gut bacteria protect against the harmful effects of a high-fat diet, and how sugar disrupts those protective mechanisms.

A new study into the effects of four artificial sweeteners on the gut microbiome in humans has revealed not only can these sweeteners lead to changes in gut bacteria composition, but they can also alter glucose tolerance and blood sugar levels.

Type 2 diabetes can take years to develop, but caught early is an entirely preventable disease. A new study is suggesting a particular blood biomarker could be used to identify those on the way to diabetes but yet to display symptoms of disease.

While medical electrodes are vital to the monitoring of electrical activity in the body, they're rigid and costly, plus they don't stay on well if the wearer is moving. A new sugar-cube-derived electrode, however, addresses those shortcomings.

A new study has reawakened the debate over the safety of artificial sweeteners. The findings suggest an association can be detected between sugar substitutes and increased cancer risk, but experts not affiliated with the research question their validity.

A food that's subtly sweet to one person may be very sweet to another, so how can food and beverage companies objectively determine just how sweet something actually is? Well, an experimental new "bioelectronic tongue" may one day do the job.

New studies are reporting results from a type 1 diabetes human clinical trial testing a device containing stem cells designed to mature into insulin-secreting cells. The experimental implant was found to be safe, well-tolerated and mildly effective.