A few areas of nutrition and health science that I've read about recently:
Tim Spector's research on the gut microbiome and its impacts on health (if what he says is true, it's probably contributing to the results mentioned above about the negative effects of processed food): The Diet Myth is his book; there are excerpt/articles and videos like "What Role Does our Microbiome Play in a Healthy Diet?" from the Royal Institute floating around. Apparently he's been doing this research for some time, but it probably still counts as 'new' since it's not widely known or accepted by doctors and science journalists...? To promote the health of one's own gut microbiome with diet, he advises maximizing diversity with different foods from as many sources as possible, as well as emphasizing fibers, fermented foods, and polyphenols.
A few months ago I saw a TED talk (Segal, "What is the best diet for humans?") about this 2015 study, Personalized Nutrition by Prediction of Glycemic Responses, which found that the "ideal diet" actually varies tremendously from person to person because which foods cause blood glucose spikes varies from person to person. "Glycemic Index" is supposed to tell you how much of a blood glucose spike an individual food will produce (hence you'll get things like 'But ACTUALLY white rice has a higher glycemic index than [carb-based dessert food]'), but it's based on average values that aren't guaranteed to hold true for any individual.
I recently read a short recommendation for The Salt Fix, a 2017 book by a cardiologist claiming that salt has been erroneously blamed for high blood pressure without other factors being adequately controlled, and that a diet too low in salt is more dangerous to the health than a diet with more salt than your body needs. I gather there isn't really enough research to support this position right now and that it all hinges on arguing about how studies have been interpreted, so I doubt this book is going to provide me with a definitive answer, but I intend to read it anyway, not least because I'm always suspicious of 'accepted wisdom' medical advice about which doctors are as passionate as they are about the salt one.
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Tim Spector's research on the gut microbiome and its impacts on health (if what he says is true, it's probably contributing to the results mentioned above about the negative effects of processed food): The Diet Myth is his book; there are excerpt/articles and videos like "What Role Does our Microbiome Play in a Healthy Diet?" from the Royal Institute floating around. Apparently he's been doing this research for some time, but it probably still counts as 'new' since it's not widely known or accepted by doctors and science journalists...? To promote the health of one's own gut microbiome with diet, he advises maximizing diversity with different foods from as many sources as possible, as well as emphasizing fibers, fermented foods, and polyphenols.
A few months ago I saw a TED talk (Segal, "What is the best diet for humans?") about this 2015 study, Personalized Nutrition by Prediction of Glycemic Responses, which found that the "ideal diet" actually varies tremendously from person to person because which foods cause blood glucose spikes varies from person to person. "Glycemic Index" is supposed to tell you how much of a blood glucose spike an individual food will produce (hence you'll get things like 'But ACTUALLY white rice has a higher glycemic index than [carb-based dessert food]'), but it's based on average values that aren't guaranteed to hold true for any individual.
I recently read a short recommendation for The Salt Fix, a 2017 book by a cardiologist claiming that salt has been erroneously blamed for high blood pressure without other factors being adequately controlled, and that a diet too low in salt is more dangerous to the health than a diet with more salt than your body needs. I gather there isn't really enough research to support this position right now and that it all hinges on arguing about how studies have been interpreted, so I doubt this book is going to provide me with a definitive answer, but I intend to read it anyway, not least because I'm always suspicious of 'accepted wisdom' medical advice about which doctors are as passionate as they are about the salt one.