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Reference Terms
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Healthy diet

A healthy diet contains a balance of food groups and all the nutrients necessary to promote good health. Human nutrition is enormously complex and a healthy diet may vary widely according to an individual's genetic makeup, environment, and health. Healthy eating is the practice of making choices about what and/or how much one eats with the intention of improving or maintaining good health. Typically, this means following recommendations for a healthy diet. The concept of healthy eating is primarily a problem in rich countries where the lifestyle includes a modicum of outdoor physical activities, high but not always high-quality food consumption, and a trend towards industrially-produced foods instead of locally-sourced, locally-prepared meals.

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Health & Medicine News

December 19, 2025

Researchers have revealed that so-called “junk DNA” contains powerful switches that help control brain cells linked to Alzheimer’s disease. By experimentally testing nearly 1,000 DNA switches ...
In a rare and historic achievement, Children’s Hospital Colorado successfully completed its first dual heart and liver transplant in a pediatric patient. The life-saving surgery was performed on 11-year-old Gracie Greenlaw, whose congenital heart ...
Spending a few hours a week helping others may slow the aging of the brain. Researchers found that both formal volunteering and informal acts, like helping neighbors or relatives, were linked to noticeably slower cognitive decline over time. The ...
A small tweak to mitochondrial energy production led to big gains in health and longevity. Mice engineered to boost a protein that helps mitochondria work more efficiently lived longer and showed better metabolism, stronger muscles, and healthier ...
After injury, the visual system can recover by growing new neural connections rather than replacing lost cells. Researchers found that surviving eye cells formed extra branches that restored communication with the brain. These new pathways worked ...
Firefighter turnout gear is designed to shield first responders from extreme heat and danger, but new research suggests it may also introduce chemical exposures. A U.S. study found that brominated flame retardants are present across multiple layers ...
Scientists have discovered that T cell receptors activate through a hidden spring-like motion that had never been seen before. This breakthrough may help explain why immunotherapy works for some cancers and how it could be improved for ...
More than 20% of young adults say they use cannabis or alcohol to fall asleep, with cannabis leading by a wide margin. Researchers warn this strategy can backfire, disrupting sleep quality and increasing the risk of long-term sleep and substance-use ...
AI tools designed to diagnose cancer from tissue samples are quietly learning more than just disease patterns. New research shows these systems can infer patient demographics from pathology slides, leading to biased results for certain groups. The ...
Researchers have identified a previously overlooked protein that helps regulate appetite and energy use in the body. This “helper” protein supports a key system that decides whether the body burns energy or stores it, and when it does not ...
A missing brain molecule may be disrupting neural wiring in Down syndrome, according to new research. Replacing it in adult mice rewired brain circuits and improved brain flexibility, challenging the ...
A rare tick-borne allergy linked to red meat has now been confirmed as deadly for the first time. A healthy New Jersey man collapsed and died hours after eating beef, with later testing revealing a severe allergic reaction tied to alpha-gal, a sugar ...

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