A three-year study led by researchers found that offering frozen fruit smoothies during lunch increased the amount of fruit students selected and consumed while sharply reducing waste. The work also showed something broader: Asking adolescents what they want — and involving them in designing a solution — can change their food choices.

Dr. Emily Flanagan, Assistant Professor and Director of the Developmental Physiology Laboratory at LSU’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center, has been awarded a prestigious National Institutes of Health R01 grant totaling up to $3.55 million to investigate how energy intake and expenditure influence infant growth during the first year of life.

The five-year grant from the NIH’s National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases will support Flanagan’s project, “Characterization of Infant Energy Balance to Optimize Early Life Growth.” The study will examine the fundamental drivers of infant growth and could help improve how energy needs are estimated during a critical period of development.

A study of 575 children with cerebral palsy found that nutritional status was linked to motor function, feeding ability, and daily activities. Children born before 32 weeks of gestation were more likely to experience moderate undernutrition than those born at term. The findings suggest that gestational age, nutrition, and functional abilities should be considered together when planning rehabilitation and closely monitoring children with cerebral palsy, especially those born very preterm.

“There are many valuable macro- and micronutrients in high-quality bread made from wholegrain flour, and it is also an excellent source of fiber,” says Adrienn Szabó, a dietitian at Semmelweis University. The expert thus dispels the misconception that bread is unhealthy and fattening because it contains carbohydrates.

The National Institute of General Medical Sciences has awarded $11.6 million to the University of Louisville through a five-year Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (CoBRE) grant to increase research focused on nutrition and metabolic health. With this funding, UofL will launch the Nutrition and Metabolic Health Center (NMHC), where researchers will seek new understanding about how foods affect health, how the body processes food and how environmental exposures affect metabolism.