Expert: "Sustainable nutrition will gain in importance"

Thoughts on Healthy Eating Day on March 7

07-Mar-2024 - Vegetarian or meat-based? Sustainable or not? Diet is playing an increasingly important role in our society. For young people in particular, a healthy lifestyle - usually inspired by social media - is more important than ever. To mark Healthy Eating Day on 7 March, Dr. Juliane Heydenreich, ...

How plant-derived nutrients can affect the gut and brain

Study tests link in overweight adults

12-Oct-2023 - Can plant-derived nutrients alter gut bacteria to affect brain function? Scientists from the University of Leipzig Medical Center, the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences and the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research investigated this question in a study of ...

How nanoplastics can influence metabolism

13-Mar-2023 - PET, the plastic used to make bottles, for example, is ubiquitous in our natural environment. In a joint study, scientists from Leipzig University and the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) investigated the negative effects that tiny plastic PET particles can have on the metabolism ...

Claims on infant formula products hardly scientifically proven

28-Feb-2023 - Most health and nutrition claims on food products for infants, i.e. substitutes for breast milk, are hardly or not at all supported by high-quality scientific evidence. This is the conclusion of an international study from 15 countries in which scientists from Leipzig University Medical Center ...

Researchers develop efficient process for chemical terpene synthesis

Potential applications in food, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries

20-Feb-2023 - A team of scientists led by Professor Tanja Gulder at Leipzig University’s Institute of Organic Chemistry, together with colleagues from the University of Regensburg, has developed a simplified and efficient method for the artificial production of terpenes. Terpenes are a very extensive and ...

What does poor diet do to our blood vessels?

23-Nov-2022 - Through the course of the last several decades, the rate of obesity has progressively increased and is now one of the leading causes of death worldwide – 650 million adults are classified as obese. The World Health Organization defines obesity as the accumulation of excessive fat in the body ...

Newly discovered enzyme breaks down PET plastic in record time

Research finding could help make biological recycling more commercially viable

18-May-2022 - Plastic bottles, punnets, wrap – such lightweight packaging made of PET plastic becomes a problem if it is not recycled. Scientists at Leipzig University have now discovered a highly efficient enzyme that degrades PET in record time. The enzyme PHL7, which the researchers found in a compost heap ...

More than 330 kilograms: What a German eats per year

12-Jan-2021 - Which foods end up on plates in Germany and how healthy are they? While the national trend is positive, meat consumption remains too high. This is the conclusion reached by the German Nutrition Society (DGE) in its latest Nutrition Report. “In order to counteract the rising trend of obesity in ...

Obesity gene TMEM18 can influence the development of body fat in humans

15-Oct-2019 - Dr Kathrin Landgraf received the journal Molecular Metabolism’s Young Investigator Award for best abstract at this year’s Helmholtz Diabetes Conference, which took place at the end of September. As a member of the team led by Professor Antje Körner, the biologist from Leipzig was able to show in ...

Bacteria in fermented food interact with our immune system

27-May-2019 - Lactic acid bacteria are good for the body and play a central role in our health. Just why this is the case has so far been largely a mystery. Now scientists at Leipzig University have discovered that humans and apes have a cell receptor that is activated by signals from bacteria found in ...