With the world’s biggest sporting showcase kicking off in London Friday, researchers are warning that physical inactivity has become a contributor to the burden of disease similar to tobacco smoking or obesity, responsible for 5,3 million of the 57 million deaths that occurred globally in 2008.

Oral immunotherapy is in the news again as a possible solution to food allergy. It involves the feeding of the allergy-producing food over time, in gradually increasing doses, in order to coax the immune system to tolerate it with few or no reactions. Previous studies have suggested that it works with common childhood allergens like milk and peanuts — and now with eggs, too.

Claims about how sports drinks, supplements and shoes/trainerswill help regular or elite athletes train harder and achieve better results are usually based on no or flawed evidence, researchers have revealed.

A new paper in the SA Medical Journal argues the public health case for a total ban on alcohol advertising in this country. Evidence from burden of disease and economic costing studies amply indicate, it says, that the public health burden from hazardous and harmful use of alcohol in South Africa warrants drastic action.

As many countries confront the growing epidemic of obesity among children and adults, a team of University of Colorado School of Medicine obesity researchers concludes that a new battle plan is needed - one that replaces the emphasis on widespread food restriction and weight loss with an emphasis on helping people achieve "energy balance" at a healthy body weight.

The UK Department of Health has released its long awaited National Diet Survey which measured the dietary consumption of salt in English adults (aged 19-64 years) and found no statistically significant change in salt intake from 2008. This, says the Salt Institute, is despite the intense, well-funded anti-salt campaign waged by WASH (World Action on Salt and Health) and the UK Food Standards Agency, as well as the concerted effort by the food industry to reduce the salt in processed foods.

A new study published in the Journal of American Medical Association challenges the notion that “a calorie is a calorie” and has found that people following a Mediterranean-style diet may have the best chance of keeping weight off — and doing it without causing negative side effects

From the time humans are born, everything they put in their mouths ultimately affects the body’s immunological response and how they metabolize food ... read more about the points made by Jose Saavedra (left), Head of Medical and Scientific Affairs, Nestlé Nutrition, and Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Gastroenterology, and Nutrition, at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, in his talk “Diet and the Epidemics of Today: Opportunities for Change” presented as a Beacon Lecture at this week's IFT General Meeting & Food Expo in Las Vegas.