A new USC study found that bad eating habits persist even when the food doesn’t taste good. In the experiment, movie-goers who said they typically ate popcorn at the movies were given a bucket of either stale or fresh popcorn.  They ate about the same amount of popcorn whether it was fresh or stale.  In [...]

Although most kids don’t really write the family food shopping list, a research team from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that children do use manipulative nagging to get mom to buy specific items which may not be too healthy.  The researchers found that kids’ tendency to nag about particular products is the [...]

With the recession eating away at profits, restaurants’ appetite for space has shrunk dramatically, so reports Laura Kusisto in Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal.  New owners are trying to avoid the huge rents that brought down many of their predecessors.  In New York where rents are sky-high, a 1,500- to 2,500-square-foot space in the East Village [...]

A new study verifies what moms and mom authors have been saying for some time: sneaking vegetables into kids’ foods increases their veggie intake and reduces their consumption of calories.  In a new article in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers at Penn State’s Nutritional Sciences report they added pureed vegetables to foods given [...]

Babies born to women who took DHA (omega-3 fatty acids) during their pregnancy got fewer colds and shorter illnesses at one, three and six months of age, so say researchers at Emory University in Atlanta. The study published online on August 1 in Pediatrics followed 1,100 pregnant women and 900 babies in Mexico. [...]

With national childhood obesity rates continuing as a major issue, a new study by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the August 2011 issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association have found that kids are eating more fast food at home and eating more store-prepared food away from [...]

It’s not just the elderly and those with health challenges who benefit from owning a pet — the American Psychological Association reports that pets serve as important sources of social and emotional support for everyone.  The report, published this week, found that pet owners were just as close to their animals as they were to [...]

Move over blueberries and red wine– there’s a new celebrity flavenoid!  This time it’s an ingredient in strawberries and other fruits that lessens the complications of diabetes type 1 and may help improve some neurological disorders.  Researchers at the Salk Institute have discovered that fisetin, a naturally-occurring flavonoid that’s abundant in strawberries, may help manage [...]

Artsy barcodes are now turning up on a range of products in effort to forge a greater connection between a brand and its customers and communicate core brand assets, says a recent Wall Street Journal article.  Many manufacturers such as Nestle and Kellogg have turned to the lowly barcode to communicate or reinforce brand messages. [...]

Olive oil marketers take note!  A French study reported this week in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, suggests that  “high intensity” consumption of olive oil may prevent stroke in older people.  Intensive use meant using olive oil for both cooking and as dressing or with bread.  Researchers looked at nearly [...]