Nutrition
LabBook August 10, 2012
Welcome to LabBook, our weekly roundup of University of Chicago Medicine & Biological Sciences research news from around campus and the world wide web. Each Friday, LabBook will recap the week on the blog, link to news stories about our faculty and studies, and briefly summarize a handful of recent publications by our researchers. This […]
Artificial Sweetener: Tastes Great, But Unfulfilling
Modern life is a junk food paradise, with a multitude of options for sweet or salty satisfaction available at the corner store. But humans haven’t always lived in such resource-rich environments, and our brains evolved at a time when finding sufficient food was the preeminent struggle in life. That has led some scientists to propose […]
Food Allergies vs. Food Intolerance
By Matt Wood Adverse reactions to foods, including eggs, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, wheat, shellfish and soy, are on the rise, especially among children. The CDC reports (PDF) that between 1997 and 2007, food allergies increased 18 percent in children under the age of 18. While we generally categorize all adverse reactions as “allergies,” they […]
The All-Out Assault On Diabetes
By Dianna Douglas Imagine your doctor says he plans to increase your oral medication to control your diabetes. You do not like taking pills. Should you: A. Not rock the boat with your doctor and agree to take the increased dosage? B. Agree, but keep taking the same number of pills? C. Try to discuss […]
Year in Review: UChicago Research 2011
As another year comes to a close we’d like to look back at the fascinating research breakthroughs and inspiring patient stories from 2011. ScienceLife ran 168 posts this year, and while we wish we could highlight all of them, here are a handful of our favorites from each month. January Patrick Wilson found out that […]
The Gut’s Tenants and Food Allergies
If you are an avid reader of food packaging materials or a parent of an elementary school student, you might get the feeling that food allergies are on the rise. Statistics back up this notion, with the CDC reporting an 18 percent increase [pdf] in child food allergies between 1997 or 2007. That puts current […]
Dr. FAQ: Stefano Guandalini and Lara Field on Celiac Disease
By Matt Wood Celiac disease is an inherited autoimmune disorder that affects the digestive process of the small intestine. When a person who has celiac disease consumes gluten, a protein found in wheat, rye and barley, the individual’s immune system responds by attacking the small intestine and inhibiting the absorption of important nutrients into the […]
Lactose Tolerance in the Indian Dairyland
The ability to drink animal milk into adulthood is something that most of us take for granted. But lactose tolerance is a genetic marvel, an exclusive human trait facilitated by a genetic mutation that only appeared in the last 10,000 years. In fact, the persistent production of the enzyme lactase (which digests lactose) has been […]
Linkage 8/19: 1200 Patients, Stressed-Out Finches
The future of genetic medicine comes in many flavors, from the discovery of the rare mutations responsible for uncommon diseases to the cataloging of variants that may be responsible for common diseases such as high blood pressure and diabetes. A segment from last night’s ABC 7 Chicago news focused on both aspects of this potential, […]
Linkage 6/3: Quantrell Award and Gloopy Transplants
Teaching with Treadmills Inside the Biological Sciences Learning Center on the Medical Center campus is a laboratory that looks more like a gymnasium. Six state-of-the-art treadmills and six futuristic exercise bikes sit around the room, each connected to a computer alongside modified oxygen masks and suction cup sensors. Instead of dissecting frogs or mixing chemicals, […]
