diet

We believed that a vegetarian diet guaranteed longevity. In extreme old age, the data says just the opposite

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There are many positions in nutrition about what food It is the one that will give us a better old age. One of the positions that you have surely heard is the need to reduce meat consumption to prioritize vegetables for everyone the benefits that they contribute. But now science is pointing out that what works at age 40 may not be ideal at age 90. The change of course. A published study this same year in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition has shaken the hornet’s nest of gerontology after analyzing thousands of elderly people. The conclusion they have drawn is that among those over 80 years of age, those who consume meat are more likely to become centenarians than strict vegetarians. But before you rush to cancel your salad order, read the fine print: the key is not the meat per sebut weight, fragility and the fight against muscle loss. The data. In order to reach this conclusion, the study analyzed data from a longevity survey in the Chinese population carried out between 1998 and 2018. In total, the researchers followed 5,203 participants who were over 80 years old, classifying them based on omnivores or vegetariansincluding vegans and ovolactovegetarians. The results. Adjusting for age, gender, and baseline health, the study yielded a surprising finding: vegetarian diets were associated with a 25% lower chance of reaching age 100 compared to omnivorous diets. A correlation that was statistically significant mainly in the elderly who were already thin. Thinness. This is a really important point to present one of the nuances of this research. And the advantage of carnivores disappears in people who have a weight within the established normality. Thus, the negative association between being vegetarian and extreme longevity was observed almost exclusively in participants with a BMI lower than 18.5. That is, extreme thinness. This reinforces what is sometimes known in medicine as the “paradox of obesity in old age“. While in youth overweight is a risk factor for almost everything, in extreme old age, having energy reserves and muscle mass is life insurance. This is why the authors of the study emphasize that the consumption of foods of animal origin seems to act as a protective factor against malnutrition and frailty in these vulnerable individuals. Because. The biological explanation that suggests that meat is good in old age is based on the constant fight against degradation. One of these events is the dreaded sarcopeniawhich occurs when the natural loss of muscle mass accelerates over time. One of the objectives here, as we have repeated many times, is to maintain muscle with highly bioavailable proteins that are in meat, eggs and milk. In addition to this, the study suggests that strict vegetarians, especially thin ones, may not be ingesting enough total calories to maintain their physiology in stressful situations. And it is not crazy now, but previous studies have already pointed out that, although restricting meat reduces mortality in young people and middle adults, this effect was reversed in old age. They don’t cast a shadow. Logically, this study does not negate the many benefits of a plant-based diet for the general population. In fact, there are studies that suggest that for the vast majority of the population the priority continues to be preventing serious chronic diseases such as diabetes. However, this work suggests that nutrition must be dynamic, since the requirement in middle age is not the same as in the last years of life. Images | Simon Godfrey Kile Mickey In Xataka | Being bored is psychologically positive but it has an undesirable consequence on your body: it makes you gain weight.

There are people obsessed with consuming magnesium as a supplement when the best way is to put it in your diet

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We live in the era of biological optimization, where The strange thing without a doubt is not taking dietary supplements from the supermarket such as magnesium, collagen, calcium, various vitamins… Magnesium in particular is sold as an almost magical way of sleep betterreduce anxiety and recover muscle. But the truth is that we are forgetting the most important thing: We have all this in food. The reminder. With so many food supplements (which often do not come cheap), sometimes we forget that we have these nutrients in the supermarket in different presentations. This is something in which Doctor Federica AmatiChief Nutritionist at ZOE Science & Nutrition, has put its finger on the sore spot of the supplement industry: For the vast majority of the population, there are plenty of pills and no food. Why magnesium matters. There is an obsession with taking this mineral, and the reality is that it makes sense because its functions are critical for our body to function correctly. Its fundamental role in many metabolic reactions of the body makes it essential for human survival, since without magnesium we would literally be extinct. And it is no wonder, because beyond being used to prevent cramps, it has important functions in energy production, DNA synthesis, metabolic control such as glucose levels, and also structural function by allowing bone to develop. Given its importance, the consumer logic seems simple: “If it’s so important, the more you take, the better”. But this is where science has to put the brakes on because a large amount does not always equal better performance. The best foods. One of the positions that we can have on the table right now is that magnesium supplements (and even others) are not necessary, unless it is known that there is a deficit. All this because it has a big problem: they are isolated. The problem with supplements is that they are isolated. NIH Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS) emphasizes that the food matrix It is irreplaceable. When you get magnesium from an almond or spinach, you’re not just ingesting the mineral, you’re getting fiber, phytochemicals, and other micronutrients that work together and that no pill can fully replicate. The daily doses. The official recommendations today indicate that the minimum levels of magnesium They are not unattainablesince for adult men between 400 and 420 mg per day are needed, while for women between 310 to 320 mg per day is sufficient. Low figures mean that they cannot be easily achieved with food by adjusting the shopping list without going to the pharmacy. Where can it be found. If the goal is to reach 400 mg daily, the strategy is not to look for supplemented foods, but to go back to the basics. In this case, science points because the food where we have the greatest amount of magnesium are seeds and nuts, where we find almonds, cashews and especially pumpkin and chia seeds. But in addition, it should also be noted that green leafy vegetables such as spinach or chard have chlorophyll in their composition, which also acts as a highly coveted magnesium reserve. All this without forgetting legumes and whole grains. Who needs supplements. Logically, they have a site, but it is by no means a universal recommendation for everyone who may have their requirements met with the diet. According to the ODS, there are different groups of people who may require this supplementation (under medical supervision). These are the following: Gastrointestinal disease such as celiac disease where nutrient absorption is compromised. Type 2 diabetes, since its pathophysiology causes a decrease in magnesium. Chronic alcohol consumption. Elderly people where absorption is naturally decreased. In these specific cases, the evidence indicates that supplementation can help improve parameters such as sleep quality or anxiety, but because they have an absorption problem. A previous visit to the doctor. Before starting supplementation of any type, it is best to go to your primary care doctor to verify in a blood test the nutritional deficiencies that you want to counteract. And our body does not store these minerals, meaning that anything taken in excess has no effect whatsoever. In Xataka | Which dietary supplements really work and which don’t, in a great graph

Science reveals that the weight returns four times faster than with a diet

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The era of “miracle” drugs to treat obesity is entering a phase of crude scientific maturity, thanks to the time that has passed since its launch on the market. In this way, despite the years with big headlines pointing to great weight losses with Ozempic, science is now able to provide more answers to the key question What we should ask ourselves: what happens when we stop pricking ourselves? The problem. When a drug is newly released to the market, long term effects It is something that is not known exactly, since patients need to be taking them long enough to see the effects they cause. And above all the effect that exists when the drug is removed from the body. To answer this with Ozempic we have a study led by the University of Oxford which is not minor at all, since it has analyzed more than 9,300 adults in 37 different clinical trials. And the conclusion they have been able to draw is quite clear: patients regain weight when they stop treatment at a rate of 0.4 kg per month. The comparison. At first glance, this figure seems really low, but if we compare it with other methods to lose weight, we see that the magnitude of the problem is not minuscule. The study itself indicates that in behavioral programs, such as a diet and an increase in physical activity, the effect after its withdrawal is an increase of 0.1 kg per month. This way, the rebound effect of slimming drugs It causes you to return to your initial weight in approximately a year and a half, while a change in eating and sports behavior takes around four years. New generation drugs. But this is a simple average between the different medications on the market. This implies that within GLP-1 agonists we can see that the most powerful drugs also have a much greater rebound effect. For example, in the case of Wegovy or Mounjaro, where the initial loss was 14.7kg, the rebound was seen to shoot up to 0.8kg per month. An effect that tells us that the body tries to recover lost ground at twice the speed of previous generation drugs. Cardiovascular health. Beyond the aesthetic, science pointed out that these drugs had the ability to reduce the risk of heart attacks and improve the metabolic health. But it seems these effects are completely temporary. Specifically, the study has seen that approximately a year and a half after stopping the medication, the majority of cardiometabolic markers return to their levels before starting treatment. For example, blood pressure increases, diabetes markers reverse their improvement, and total cholesterol also returns to its risk levels. Why the rebound is so fast. The answer to this could lie in our own biology. Science believes that this effect is due to the fact that by injecting massive doses of GLP-1 agonists (a hormone that is produced in small quantities when we eat) we could be destabilizing our own cell receptors. Or we would even be blocking our body’s natural production of this hormone that gives us satiety. That is why when withdrawing the drugthe system does not have the ability to produce this hormone again in the same way as before (as if it had to turn the system back on) and that is why the body’s satiety system goes deaf. The result? Well, logically, the appetite returns with great intensity, causing the patient to eat much more food, since they are not satiated and in this way the weight increases again. The myth of the magic bullet. There are hardly any miracles in medicine, even though we say that these drugs are. And the reality is that these drugs are not the definitive solution for obesity, since real data indicates that the majority of patients stop treatment after 12 months due to its high cost, the fatigue of injecting or side effects. But in addition, there is no awareness that this treatment is a simple aid to self-regulation, but that logically it must be accompanied by a dietary change and physical activity that must be continued once the treatment is finished. If not, we can be sure that the injections will be of absolutely no use. A paradigm shift. This meta-analysis marks a turning point. Science tells us that GLP-1 is extraordinarily effective, but it is not a cure. If we treat them as a six-month “crash plan”, we are condemning the patient to a more aggressive yo-yo effect than any miracle diet of the past. The solution, according to Qi Sun and the Oxford researchers, is not only in the syringe, but in public policy: taxes on ultra-processed foods, aid in the purchase of fruits and vegetables, and urban planning that encourages exercise. Without a change in environment, the drug is just a temporary truce in a war the body is programmed to win. Images | David Trinks Towfiqu barbhuiya In Xataka | If you want a “miracle” weight loss drug, you no longer turn to Ozempic: the competition is beginning to surpass it

We have been obsessed with the Mediterranean diet for decades. Turns out the Nordics had a much better solution

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If we go back to 2009, many of us will remember a program known as The Deadliest Warrior (Deadliest Warrior). The premise was to pit two combatants from different eras against each other to see who would win in a duel to the death. Although on the screen we saw the Viking measure his axes against a Samurai, and the Gladiator against an Apache, we never got to see the direct duel between the colossus of the north and the warrior of the Mediterranean. That “fight of the century” was left hanging on television, but in the field of nutrition, the Roman side (the Mediterranean diet) has been the undefeated champion for decades. However, science has decided to simulate that combat in the laboratory in 2025, and this time the Viking’s ax has nipped Mediterranean leadership in the bud. According to the latest studies, the Nordics have a much better solution. A new discovery. Given that we live in the Mediterranean area, it seems impossible to do without olive oil and wheat. But, as nutritionist Dawn Jackson Blatner explains in National Geographica “cousin to the Mediterranean diet in colder climates” has emerged that is demonstrating surprising results. Originally created in 2004 by a committee of scientists and chefs—under the premise that health is not incompatible with gastronomic pleasure—the “new nordic diet” It does not seek longevity, but rather does so with a focus on local sustainability that the Mediterranean model often ignores outside its borders. The most recent milestone is the study published in Frontiers in Endocrinology. After analyzing a young and middle-aged population, researchers led by Abdelgawwad El-Sehrawy found that those who strictly follow the Baltic Sea dietary pattern have a 42% lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes. If the strictest adherence index is used, protection rises to a staggering 52%. This finding is crucial because it shows that the benefits act as a preventive shield from youth, and not only in old age. A shield against modern diseases. The robustness of this diet is supported by an “artillery” of previous research that already pointed in this direction. As a 2024 study details published in Scientific Reportsthe Nordic diet is one of the best tools to combat non-alcoholic fatty liver, reducing its risk by 58%. Added to this is that the benefits do not remain in the metabolism. According to a 2022 meta-analysis published in Diabetology analyzed data from more than a million people, confirming that those who follow this lifestyle have a 26% lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, a 22% lower risk of premature death from any cause, and a 14% lower chance of dying from cancer. As Dr. David L. Katz states“all good diets are made up of real foods, mostly plants; the Nordic diet is a masterful variation on that same theme.” What does it mean to eat like a Nordic? Many will surely have thought that it would be something like “eating aranques every day”, but (happily) it is not like that. The mainstay is canola (rapeseed) oil, rich in omega-3 fatty acids and more affordable than olive oil, along with: Whole grains: Rye, barley and oats (essential due to their low glycemic index). Forest fruits: Blueberries, raspberries and wild berries. Tubers and cruciferous vegetables: Beets, carrots, cauliflower and cabbage. Fatty fish: Salmon, mackerel and herring. Fermented dairy: Like skyr or kefir. Beyond diet. One of the points to highlight about the diet is that, according to research by British Journal of Nutrition, Women who followed the Nordic diet reached old age with significantly greater physical performance, easily passing walking and strength tests. The Nordic diet has an ‘inevitable’ side effect: weight loss. And it does this by hacking the feeling of hunger. The NORDIET study put to the test to subjects with high cholesterol and the result was a drop in weight and blood pressure without the stress of measuring each gram. But the most compelling data came from the NND trial. in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition: Participants with abdominal obesity lost an average of 4.7 kg by eating on demand, without quantity restrictions. Compared to the few kilos lost by those who followed a normal diet, the Nordic system appears to be much more efficient. A solution for everyone. What the north teaches us is that health is not the exclusive property of one geography. As dietician Joan Salge Blake points out,the success of this diet lies in its ability to add strength. It’s the mix of fiber, healthy oils and antioxidants that really matters, acting as a balm against inflammation. It is there, in that inflammation that fuels the diseases of our century, where the Nordic diet fights and wins its most important battle.” You don’t have to live in Oslo to benefit. The key, according to experts, is to prioritize whole foods, choose fatty fish (even if they are frozen or canned due to their affordability) and replace white bread with whole rye. The Nordics seem to have found the recipe for a long, strong and sustainable life. In 2025, the fight is over: the Viking knows how to take better care of himself. Image | Unsplash Xataka | Although it may not seem like it, chickens and pigs are not the most farm-raised animals. Prawns are

It’s tempting to start a “miracle diet” against the clock to get to Christmas. The experts have something to say

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We have reached December and, with it, Christmas lights turn on and also a silent race that repeats itself every year. While company dinners, meetings with friends and family gatherings accumulate, thousands of people begin what we could call “the last sprint”: losing weight quickly before sitting down at the table at Christmas. But behind this sprint There is a much more complex phenomenon. One that has social, emotional and biological roots, and that hides a perverse effect. Express diets teach the body to be more efficient in saving energy, which ends up causing us to regain it and sometimes even more after losing weight quickly. The pre-Christmas sprint. Every December, an almost automatic reflex is activated, the feeling of having to “get there safely” to the holidays. The psychologist specialized in Eating Disorders (ED), Sara Bolo, He explained to us in Xataka that this phenomenon is not coincidental, but a pattern that repeats itself year after year. “Christmas is a special time, where we see family or friends again that we don’t see every day. And with that, comments about the body reappear: ‘I look thinner at you’, ‘you’ve gained weight’…” This dynamic, as common as it is harmful, multiplies aesthetic pressure and turns coexistence into a silent body examination. Another ingredient is added to this context, the purposes that were not fulfilled. “We arrived in December with the idea of New Year, New Me that we announced in January – says Bolo – and the urgency appears to show that we have achieved something.” That mixture of self-demand and closure of the cycle pushes many people to make drastic decisions in a very short time. One more factor. And it’s not just aesthetic pressure or frustration, there’s also anticipatory fear. According to Bolo, it is common for some people to restrict their diet in the weeks before, thinking that this way they “compensate” for Christmas meals in advance. “It becomes a defensive preparation. I don’t want them to tell me anything, I don’t want to feel guilty, so I start restricting before,” he details. This urgency is exactly what dietitian-nutritionist Laura Jorge also observes, director of the centers that bear her name. Since your consultation, December always has the same profile, more requests for “quick fixes”, more promises of express weight loss and more anxiety. “Every year we see an increase in people looking to lose X kilos ‘before the holidays’. It is a very clear pattern,” he explained to us in an interview. Three elements are repeated: urgency, guilt and dichotomous thinking – “now I restrict myself, and at Christmas I will eat” -. What starts as a sprintBoth experts agree, it usually ends up being an emotional and metabolic trap. The hidden enemy. Science explains it bluntly, when we subject the body to extreme and sudden caloric restriction, the body activates survival mechanisms, not weight loss. As Jorge details, the metabolism slows down, hunger increases, satiety decreases and the body begins to use muscle mass as a source of energy. This not only makes it difficult to maintain weight loss, but also reduces basal metabolic expenditure, making it easier for us to gain weight later. Scientific research supports these observations. A study of New England Journal of Medicine showed thatafter losing weight, leptin—the satiety hormone—was still low and ghrelin—the hunger hormone—was still elevated even 12 months later, even though the person had already recovered part of their eating routine. The authors conclude that these adaptations create “a physiological environment that favors the recovery of what was lost.” In addition, the factor of genetics must be taken into account. A study from 2024 published in International Journal of Obesity points out that not everyone responds the same; some people, after repeated cycles, develop a greater risk of insulin resistance or visceral adiposity. The other side. Rapid weight loss has an immediate emotional effect and makes it seem like a success. “You get on the scale, you see fewer kilos and you feel immediate euphoria,” admits Sara Bolo. But it is a mirage. When the weight returns – as it usually does – the emotional collapse appears: guilt, frustration, shame, absolute thoughts (“I am a failure”, “I have no willpower”). Furthermore, the environment reinforces this dynamic because thinness is praised and gain is censored, even with “innocent” comments. This back and forth deteriorates self-esteem and fuels restrictive behaviors that, far from solving the problem, intensify it. A door that is better not to open. “The restrictive diet is the first step of any eating disorder,” he says. the psychologist Rigid control, obsessive calorie counting, avoiding social meals, or classifying foods as good or bad are early signs. And Christmas is one of the moments where they manifest themselves the most. Laura Jorge agrees: “In these weeks we see people who begin to talk obsessively about compensating, skipping meals or doing compulsive exercise. These are signs that should not be ignored.” The combination of aesthetic pressure, abundance of stimuli and comments can activate a latent ED or aggravate an existing one. When the comment is “innocent”, it is not. Social responsibility is evident. The experts remember that comments as common as: “Oops, are you repeating yourself already?” “That’s good, you’re thinner.” “After these meals, tomorrow on a diet.” Behind all these phrases, a thin laugh follows that for many sounds like a roar. And as experts say, they are not only unnecessary, but potentially harmful. “You have to take care of your language,” summarizes the nutritionist. “Do not congratulate people for losing weight, do not comment on their own or other people’s bodies, do not pressure them to eat or stop eating.” Aesthetic pressure often begins with a comment that seemed harmless. So how can we accompany? For those who live Christmas meals with fear of losing control, the key is not in the plate, but in the environment. The psychologist Sara Bolo insists that accompany It does not mean guarding, but offering a safe space. His advice … Read more

If you want your body to be biologically eight years younger, science has a recipe for you: vegan diet

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We humans have many desire to appear as young as possiblealways seeking eternal youth. This has meant that its search has ceased to be the exclusive terrain of the alchemy to become one of the hottest fields in biotechnology, with many treatments that seek to literally make us younger or even extend our lives. Now, the vegan diet It is at the center of supposed iron health, and science has wanted to verify whether consuming it leads to an increase in the years of life. The twin experiment. Traditionally, doing research on how a person ages has been a problem because of genetics. And comparing two therapies between two people to see if they age more or less quickly makes us wonder if the result is due to the treatment or diet or because one of the members has very good genetics. To eliminate this variable from genetics, science has found the best way to work: use identical twins. In this way, their genetics will be exactly the same and the effect of the intervention we perform will be directly related. The study. They recruited a total of 21 pairs of healthy adult identical twins. One of each pair was assigned a healthy omnivorous diet; on the other, a strict vegan diet. In total, for eight weeks the impact was measured using epigenetic clocks with algorithmic tools that estimate biological age based on in DNA methylation. Methylation is the process by which small chemical groups called methyls are added to certain parts of DNA with the aim of being able to ‘turn genes on or off’, causing some instructions to be read and others not. Something that is related to agingsince it changes over time. The results. In this case, what the researchers saw was very interesting, because despite the short time the diet was maintained, it was found that the vegan group showed significant reductions in estimated biological age. This is something that was seen in decreased DNA methylation in pathways related to inflammation and metabolism. All of this adds up to improvements in fasting insulin and a reduction in LDL cholesterol, leading to better old age. But although everything seems very good, caution was already requested with these results. Because. It’s okay that the vegan diet seems to offer good results, but the big question is why this happens. And the summary tells us that it was not just because they left meat aside, but because they stopped eating in general. This is the most important point, because the vegan group consumed fewer calories simply because the calorie density, and therefore the calorie restriction in the end It is one of the few methods which has been proven to extend life in animal models. This also adds up to weight loss, as the vegan participants lost more weight than their omnivorous counterparts. Critics point out that rapid weight loss can alter epigenetic markers on its own, regardless of the food source. The problem. Although the fact of being on this diet for such a short time and under the study means that longitudinal research is still needed to know if this translates into years of real life gained. And although the biological clock slowed down in this case, researchers warn about the long-term risks of having a poorly planned vegan diet. One of the consequences is the vitamin B12 deficiencyalthough today the supplementation that is done in foods makes this a minor problem. Added sugar. The other culprit of aging and to which we pay less attention. A study published in 2024 I was quite clear about the consequences of its consumption, in some cases without knowing it because we did not read the labels of the foods we consumed. In this case, a study with 242 middle-aged women used epigenetic clocks to measure cellular damage to correlate it with their consumption. The results in this case were quite clear: each extra gram of sugar added was associated with an increase in epigenetic age. However, there is a brake that we find in our Mediterranean diet, which is rich in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. That is why eliminating up to 10 grams of added sugar per day could reverse the biological clock in approximately 2.4 months. The lesson. Scientific literature points out in this case that what matters in food is quality, not just the label. This is why a varied diet with fruits, vegetables or legumes is directly associated with lower mortality and a decrease in chronic diseases. On the contrary, a vegan diet that is based on ultra-processed foods (even if it has very little meat) can be really harmful in the end. Images | Anna Pelzer In Xataka | The truth about intermittent fasting to lose weight: deciding whether its benefits have a scientific basis or are pure hype

wants to be the center of your daily diet

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Mercadona It no longer wants to be the place where you make your purchases. Or not alone at least. What he aspires to now is to become the default place where you eat, where they prepare your food, heat it, devour it and even have your mid-morning or after-dinner coffee. The first step to achieve this was taken already some years with the launch of its section ‘Ready to Eat’ and since then he has not stopped doubling the bet, spreading it to its wide local network. Now he has gone one step further. In addition to cooking you an omelette, a Teriyaki chicken, a sandwich, some stuffed eggplants, a poke salmon or even a Valencian paellaMercadona wants to serve you freshly ground coffee. AND seen the data of the sector makes a lot of sense. To Mercadona to drink coffee That there are people (many) who go to Mercadona in search of coffee is nothing new. In fact some of their articles have become so popular that they have their own followers. What is new is that people do not go to Juan Roig stores looking for packages, bags of grain or capsules for their machines, but to prepare freshly ground coffee and serve it in a glass ready to drink, which is what the company has started to do in Valencia. So confirmed it the company to The Economist in March, when he revealed that he was taking a test in dozens of stores spread throughout the Valencian geography. “In some stores in the province we have incorporated the option that the boss, which is what we call our customers, can take freshly ground coffee. It is a laboratory,” they explained. The idea started in 58 points and four products: black coffee, coffee, with milk and cappuccino. Everything (or almost everything) related to Mercadona generates excitement inside and outside the networks and its coffee service has been no exception. In x, instagram either TikTok It didn’t take long for videos to appear of people showing the new machines in Roig’s stores and even testing the result, as Cafemaxpag did in one piece (with a bittersweet balance) that soon gained thousands of views. You can even see photos that show the same service in Portugal. Expectation is no guarantee of success, but the chain made it clear that I would be attentive to the answer in its stores in the province of Valencia. “We plan to expand this laboratory after the summer and the coffee can be purchased in stores in the Community of Madrid,” advanced in March. Today the service is announced already on their website, where a map confirms that it offers freshly ground coffee in several locations throughout Madrid and the Valencian Community. In Cuenca it has an establishment that also incorporates a machine for consumption. At this point, the question is… Why is Mercadona launched, which in 2024 achieved a net profit of 1,384 millionto the adventure of freshly ground coffee? Three words: ‘Ready to Eat’ Coffee is not an experiment disconnected from Mercadona’s global strategy. On the contrary. The company itself recognize that connects with a much broader initiative, worked on and whose origins can be traced back to at least 2018: ‘Ready to Eat’a branch of the company that aspires to turn Roig’s stores into the food reference for Spanish families. The central idea is what we mentioned at the beginning of this report: that people not only go to the supermarket to buy food to fill the refrigerator at home, but that they leave there with food already prepared. Or even eaten. In summary, the service consists of a section within Mercadona stores in which a series of products are sold. ready-made dishes. And that includes everything from different starters and appetizers to pizzas, burgers, sandwiches and main dishes such as lentils, meatballs, pasta, paella, chicken, sushi assortments or Teriyaki chicken. In 2024 the list was expanded with salmon with vegetables, ribs and seafood salad. Now Mercadona completes it with a freshly ground coffee service. In some stores the idea is not only that the customer finds their food already ready, but that they can taste it right there. Without leaving the premises. “You can heat any dish in one of our microwaves, grab cutlery and, in some of our stores, you can consume right there,” explains the company. The model is not exclusive from Mercadona. Other chains, such as Alcampo, The English Court either Carrefour (to name just a handful of examples) they have also opted for prepared dishes. Sometimes with spaces to taste them. Because at Mercadona they are convinced that, to a large extent, the future of supermarket chains is not so much about marketing food for customers to prepare at home, but rather offering them already prepared and ready dishes. Instead of chicken, potatoes, oil and salt, you are offered the tray with the roasted thighs directly. Instead of coffee packets, they switch to freshly ground coffee. I explained it clearly Roig himself during the last presentation of results. “I said it and I maintain it: in the middle of the century there will be no kitchens.” All to save you time Beyond the rhetoric Mercadona seems to be betting on that conviction in its stores. In his last annual report The company explains that last year the service was incorporated into one hundred and a half new stores, which brings the total network to 1,260 supermarkets, 1,200 in Spain and the existing 60 in Portugal. Taking into account that the chain has a little more 1,600 establishments In Spain, the level of implementation is more than considerable and already exceeds 70%. The company does not publish detailed financial data for its different business areas, but ensures that the ‘Ready to eat’ section, “has not stopped growing”. In 2024 the entire company invoiced 38,835 millionwhich allowed him increase by 37% its net profit to reach 1,384 million. Mercadona’s bet (like that of chains such as Alcampo or … Read more

mice that do not fattens although they consume a fat diet

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What makes us fat? The question is simple, but the answer is not. We could simply say that it is a mathematical issue, calories that enter through calories that burn, but it would be to simplify the matter too much, forgetting that each body metabolizes food differently and that different foods and combinations of food can lead to slightly different results. A simple protein. The deficiency of a simple protein, CD44, Avoid in an experiment that a group of mice will gain weight even being subjected to a high diet in fat. The team responsible for the experiment tried to inquire into the role that this protein plays in metabolic health and obesity, a role, according to the results, of great importance. “We had previously pointed out that the deficiency of CD44 suppressed neuroinflamation. Give Metabolic, ”he explained In a press release Cheng Sun, co -author of the study. CD44. But what exactly is this protein and what do we know about its function in the body? CD44 is one Transmembrane proteina protein located in the cell membrane that crosses this layer that covers the cell. As explained by the team itself, this protein “plays an essential role in transcending extracellular stimuli within intracellular signal waterfalls”, thus contributes to metabolic regulation. This protein is also of special importance for cancer cells. Closing the step. The team genetically modified a group of mice to force the lack of this protein. In doing so, they observed that, even when they were provided with a high fat diet, the modified mice did not fat while the control population (not modified mice) did gain weight until developing obesity. The team responsible for the study He also points out The possible mechanism behind this relationship between lack of protein and thinness. They explain that this relationship can be attributed to the suppression of the so -called adipogenesis in the white adipose tissue. That is, the creation of the cells responsible for storing precisely where we accumulate more is avoided. The details of the study were published In an article In the magazine The American Journal of Pathology. A new route. The team compares this path for weight loss with the one used by drugs such as Ozempicthe so-called LPG-1 (since its competence active emulates the effects of the peptide similar to type-1 glucagon). Very different routes in each case. As detailed by the team itself, the agonists of the GLP-1 receptors regulate the appetite and the metabolism of the glucose; Inhibition of the CD44 protein, meanwhile, acts preventing the formation of fat cells. This difference, they emphasize, implies that protein inhibitors could be used as accessories to treatments such as Ozempic when weight loss is sought. In Xataka | The Greek yogurt has conquered the supermarket yogurts. All thanks to the magic word: protein Image | EMW / I Yunmai

There are people on the Internet following a diet based on potatoes. Science suggests that it is a bad idea

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The Self -Experimentation It is present in many fields and that of nutrition and diets is among them. He last example we have encountered It is frankly surprising, these are people who have tested a diet based on potatoes … and little else. The results they report are positive, but the idea of ​​trying this form of self -experience does not seem to be so good. Potato diet? We have seen, over the last years, an immense variety of diets, some that we could consider, in one sense or another, extreme. An example of this are diets based on a single food or food group, and an example of these is found in the potato -based diet. There are different versions, more or less lax, of this diet, but in essence it is about subsisting based on potatoes (approximately between one and 2.5 kg daily) for a brief period of time (between three and five days). Other versions can incorporate This type of diets might seem a contemporary fashion or a meme that goes too far, but the chronicles place their origin At least in the nineteenth century. One of his first drivers could have been the writer British Lord Byron. But is there evidence? Studying the effects of this type of diets is complicated by the risk they imply. Although focusing our diet on a single element can help us control the calories we consume and therefore lose weight, No food It is sufficiently varied in nutrients to guarantee our body the proper micro-and macronutrient supply. This is especially True for potatoes. The caloric density of this food has made it one of the bases of sustenance both in South America where it is originally in Europe. However for a while, Some experts In nutrition they see it as a lower food compared to other carbohydrate sources, A notion discussedyes indeed. Some studies made with animal models They have given us some clue that, at theoretical level, could support the idea that potatoes can help us control our weight. A compound present in the potato and called proteinase II inhibitor could play a role in this relationship. “It works for me. ” A priori it is not easy to distinguish a “Miracle diet“Of the diets contrasted by the scientific community and therefore backed by studies and experiments. That a person has had a satisfactory experience with a diet does not imply that this diet is healthy. The effects of dietary changes may not be evident or can occur in the longer term, so while we perceive a change for better, our body may be suffering consequences that are not directly apparent. Nor does it mean that this diet will adjust to our specific needs, which can be very different depending on our context. In Xataka | Intermittent fasting is the fashion diet. At least among scientists who study their effects on microbioma Image | CONGERDESIGN

We have discovered a relationship between olive oil and risk of death by dementia, a point in favor of the Mediterranean diet

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Someone could think that everything is already said, all investigated, on one of the fundamental axes of the Mediterranean diet, olive oil. Nothing is further from reality: research on this food continues and continues to reveal striking aspects of the liquid. And as regards striking relationships, perhaps the palm is taken by the fact that they keep the consumption of this derivative of the olive and dementia. 28%. A study published a few months ago established existence of this relationship. Specifically, the analysis responsible for the analysis observed a 28% reduction in the risk of death associated with dementia between people who consumed at least Seven grams of olive oil per day, compared to those who did not consume this liquid or did it rarely. Until now, some studies They had indicated us an inverse relationship between the Mediterranean diet and the cognitive deterioration associated with age. From there, establishing relationships between different aspects of these variables can help us better understand the link between Mediterranean diet and healthier aging. Changing ingredients. In its analysis, the team also studied the effects of replacing different sources of fat. Through a substitution modeling, they estimated that replacing five grams of margarine or mayonnaise daily with an equivalent amount of olive oil could be related to a decrease in the risk of mortality associated with the dementia of between 8% and 14%. A similar analysis did not detect similar effects when these fats were replaced by other vegetable oils or butter. 92,383 participants. The study was conducted from the macro -conformation Nurses’ Health Study II and Health Professionals Follow-Upwhich allowed to obtain Information about 92,383 participants. These filled surveys on eating habits every four years over a 28 -year period. The team divided these participants depending on their olive oil consumption: those who never consumed olive oil or did it less than once a month; who consumed up to 1.5 grams per day, who consumed between 4.6 and 7 grams per day; and a group for those who consumed more. The team extended its analysis over 18 years of the study and controlled aspects such as the general quality of the diet or the genetic predisposition to suffer from the disease. The details of the study were published In an article In the magazine Jama Network Open. What is happening? When establishing a causal relationship, it is always convenient to understand what mechanisms are operating behind this relationship between olive oil consumption and death risk associated with dementia. “Olive oil is rich in monounsaturated fats and contains components with antioxidant activity that can play a protective role for the brain,” He explained to the environment UPI Anne-Julie Tessier, co-author of the study. In Xataka | Extra virgin olive oil is one of the purest products in the world. And it is also full of microplastics Image | Pixabay

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