Carb-heavy foods drove weight gain without more calories by lowering energy burn

Carbohydrate-rich foods such as bread, wheat, and rice increased body weight and fat mass in mice without a significant rise in total caloric intake, primarily by reducing energy expenditure rather than promoting overeating. Metabolic changes included elevated blood fatty acids, decreased essential amino acids, hepatic fat accumulation, and upregulation of genes involved in lipid synthesis and transport. Discontinuing wheat flour intake rapidly reversed weight gain and metabolic abnormalities.

Shigenobu Matsumura et al, Wheat Flour Intake Promotes Weight Gain and Metabolic Changes in Mice, Molecular Nutrition & Food Research (2026). DOI: 10.1002/mnfr.70394

No Evidence Fluoride In Drinking Water Harms IQ, Finds Decades-Long Study

There is no evidence that adding low levels of fluoride to community drinking water affects children's IQ or brain function later in life, according to a new study that tracked more than 10,000 people from their teen years through to old age.

In many regions of the world, fluoride is added to water to improve communities' dental health: it's proven to strengthen teeth and reduce decay.

The new study, which draws on longitudinal data from 10,317 high school seniors from 1957 to 2021, when participants were 80, finds no association between community water fluoridation exposure and IQ, or other measures of cognitive function later in life.

But in 2025, a widely misinterpreted paper found that exposure to high doses of fluoride, well above the 0.7 mg/L recommended by the US Public Health Service, may be associated with lower IQ in children.

Skeptics, however, were quick to point out that the data used for this review are of poor quality and provide no reason to worry about fluoride in US drinking water.

The 2025 paper mainly reviewed studies conducted in China and India. No studies from the US were available. The studies also did not control for contaminants in water.

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2536005123

DNA is in the air
The air around us is teeming with the DNA of various organisms, ranging from people to viruses. Over the past decade, researchers have been learning how to collect airborne DNA and use it to study the movement of individual species, entire ecosystems or even attacks with biological weapons. But some hurdles remain: scientists still aren’t sure for how long DNA can persist in the air, or how far it can travel. And some experts worry that DNA plucked from the air could inadvertently reveal the characteristics of people that haven’t consented to such analysis.

Airborne genetic material can be used to paint a picture of ecosystem health, watch for invasive species and even identify humans.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-01099-2?utm_source=Live+...