What is the impact of cooked vs. raw food on the gut? "Because cooking involves exposing food to heat, it tends to change the various foods' physical and chemical properties. But do these alterations change the delicate microbial environment of the gut? That is the question that researchers from the University of California, San Francisco, Harvard University, in Cambridge, MA, and other institutions recently set out to answer. "Our lab and others have studied how different kinds of diet, such as vegetarian versus meat-based diets, impact the microbiome," says the senior author of the new study, Peter Turnbaugh, Ph.D., an associate professor at the University of California, San Francisco.

Is Gluten Capable of Causing Problems to Healthy People? “Gluten” is an umbrella term for a mixture of various kinds of protein found in some grains. We’ve written extensively about gluten and gluten intolerance before, because there is a lot of general interest in gluten. Although it’s harmless for most of us, gluten can cause a lot of headaches for some people — or more specifically, bellyaches. However, the term “gluten intolerance” seems to be used improperly in many instances, and the market is taking advantage of this.     ‘“Lifestylers,” “free from,” or “people who avoid gluten” are individuals who avoid gluten as a lifestyle choice. American market research found that 44% of people buy gluten-free food for reasons other than gluten sensitivity and that 65% believe that a gluten-free diet is generally healthier. This trend has driven the worldwide gluten-free industry from values of $1.7 billion in 2011 to $3.5 billion in 2016, and it is forecast to reach $...