Duke-NUS study finds the Nutri-Grade initiative, comprising labels that indicate how healthy drinks are, to be effective at creating behavioural change.

The study shows that households reduced purchases of sugar from pre-packaged beverages by 18%, while purchases of less healthy beverages dropped by 44 per cent.

In response, manufacturers reformulated their drinks and lowered sugar content by 21 per cent.

An international team, including the University of Tokyo, has created a sensor inspired by the lateral line in fish – their “sixth sense” organ – which measures the pulse of lab-grown 3D heart tissue (cardiac organoids). The device, called a biomechanical well plate, looks like a small white box containing four liquid-filled wells. When an organoid is placed in a well, each beat causes the liquid to bulge into an air cavity below, changing the air pressure. This change bends a cantilever sensor, which sends live data wirelessly to an app. The device is precise, reusable and less labor-intensive than some other methods. Due to its scalability, hundreds of tests could potentially be monitored simultaneously, with advantages for drug screening and future personalized medicine. 

New research suggests that although low hand grip strength is a valuable indicator of overall health and frailty, it is not a reliable standalone predictor of increased prostate cancer risk among older men.

Researchers from Italy conducted the SocialMS study, a nationwide questionnaire-based study involving 1,039 adults with MS receiving care at 68 MS centres across the country. Participants were asked about the impact of MS on four key social determinants of health: education, work, financial resources and social life.