Author: Emilio Greenberg

More and more people are developing food intolerances, is it the same as food allergies ? Find the differences between food allergies and food intolerances

From the first bite until the last bite absorbed by your organism, learn how your body works and how food provide the energy you need daily.

It has been known now for almost a hundred years that the best way of extending the life of animals is to limit the amount of calories that they eat. It is a quite robust observation, and it works for different types of animals, including worms, flies and rodents. Although it is not clear if calorie restriction also extends lifespan in humans – it is difficult to control what someone eats throughout his life! – what seems beyond doubt is that eating less is beneficial for our health. The places of the world that have the highest proportion of people…

Our bodies need a constant supply of energy. Some people believe that they gain weight because their cells are lazy and don’t break enough nutrients, letting the excess accumulate. They claim to have a “slow metabolism”. But does it really exist? And if so, can it be accelerated?

We have a natural tendency to avoid fats when we are on a diet. And there is a good reason for it, as they are exactly what we are trying to get rid of. However, when we talk about ‘fats’ we are actually referring to a large group of molecules with different biochemical and nutritional properties. And ingesting some types of fats is crucial to keep our bodies healthy. Fats are also called triglycerides and one of their main features is that they are insoluble in water, which is probably the reason why they evolved into storage molecules: by displacing…

Let’s start by saying that there are no miraculous solutions to losing weight, and that nothing can replace a balanced diet. But once clearly stated that, many people wonder why science hasn’t already invented some kind of pill to lose weight. Metabolism, or understanding how our body uses the energy contained in the food that we eat, is a very active field in biomedical research. But although the basic principles are simple, it is surprising how little we know about the details. Our bodies follow the same physical principles that rule the Universe. One of those principles states that energy…

Alcohol is probably the most popular substance in the world. It’s the quintessentially social facilitator, the one substance that makes us feel more relaxed and at ease. But like every drug, it has some drawbacks. We are all aware of the health problems associated with drinking too much alcohol, which range from a terrible hangover after a night of binge drinking to liver-associated problems such as fatty liver or cirrhosis. But is it OK to drink a beer or two when trying to lose weight? The first thing to note is that alcohol has calories. Ethanol, which is the main…

Our body accumulates the excess of nutrients we ingest in the form of fat. One of the reasons for this is that fat provides more than twice the energy per gram than sugar or proteins. Another reason is that fats are hydrophobic, meaning that they don’t mix with water. (Yes, that’s why oil stains are so hard to remove!). Since fats displace water, it’s easier to pack them and they weight less because they don’t have water molecules attached. But though fat is the main nutrient reserve in our bodies, it’s not the only one. A small proportion of sugars…