PROCEESSED FOOD

Study estimates proportion of adolescents living with overweight and obesity in England has increased by 50% between 2008 and 2023

European Association for the Study of Obesity

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New research to be presented at this year’s European Congress on Obesity (ECO 2025, Malaga, Spain, 11-14 May) shows that the proportion of adolescents living with overweight or obesity in England has increased by 50% from 2008-2010 (22%) to 2021-2023 (33%). The research, presented in two studies, is by Dr Dinesh Giri, Consultant Paediatric Endocrinologist, Bristol Royal Hospital for Children and Honorary Senior Lecturer, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK, and Dr Senthil Senniappan, Consultant Paediatric Endocrinologist, Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, Liverpool, UK, and colleagues.

Previous research has shown overweight and obesity during adolescence are associated with increased morbidity. In this study, the authors aimed to estimate the prevalence of overweight and obesity among adolescents in England using routinely collected healthcare data. They also investigated the association between adolescent body mass index (BMI) and the onset of comorbid conditions during adolescence.

The authors used linked primary (Clinical Practice Research Datalink [CPRD]) and secondary (Hospital Episode Statistics) care data for their analysis. Among adolescents aged 12-17 years registered at a CPRD contributing practice (around 20% of practices nationwide contribute) from 2008-2023 with BMI readings and using the UK 1990 growth reference centiles (a widely used reference for studies of this type). Overweight was defined as at or above the 91st centile and obesity as at or above the 98th centile [1].

Three-year rolling prevalences for overweight and obesity were calculated, since these provide more stable estimates, and a clearer picture of the longer-term trends rather than focusing on small year-to-year changes. The authors explain this helps to smooth out any random ups and downs that might happen in a single year.

Adolescents with a healthy weight BMI, at or above the 2nd and below the 91st centile, were included as a comparator. The sociodemographic and clinical characteristics for adolescents were described at first BMI recording. The incidence of new comorbidities (see figure 1 full abstract) during adolescence was compared between adolescents living with overweight or obesity and those with healthy weight using statistical modelling.

The period prevalence of overweight and obesity increased from 22% in 2008-2010 to 33% in 2021-2023. There was evidence of a steeper increase during / following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Among 139,258 adolescents living with overweight, 140,990 with obesity and 560,789 with healthy weight, higher proportions with overweight (26%) or obesity (31%) than healthy weight (22%) resided in the most deprived geographies (calculated by decile, or groups of 10%).

Higher proportions of those living with overweight (8%) and obesity (27%) had lived with obesity during childhood than those with healthy weight (1%). New onset of mental health (obesity: 8.6% vs overweight: 7.8% vs healthy weight: 7.1%), physical (11.6% vs 10.7% vs 9.3%) and cardiometabolic (3.1% vs 1.2% vs 0.5%) comorbidities during adolescence was higher in adolescents living with obesity than overweight and lowest in those with healthy weight

The second study investigated other comorbidities in more detail. Out of the 15 comorbidities investigated, the risks of 14 were significantly higher in adolescents living with overweight or obesity compared to those with healthy weight.

Over a mean follow-up of 6 years, the risk (Figure 1 of second abstract) of many comorbidities was higher in adolescents living with overweight (n=139,258) or obesity (n=140,990) than those with healthy weight (n=560,789), specifically; obstructive sleep apnoea (3 times higher [overweight] and 8 times higher [obesity]), type 2 diabetes (3 and 11 times higher) and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (3 and 12 times higher), prediabetes (2 and 4 times higher)and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) (2 and 4 times higher).

The authors conclude: “The burden of overweight and obesity among adolescents in England is substantial and increased between 2008-2023. There is a significantly higher risk of early onset of many, particularly cardiometabolic, comorbidities among adolescents living with overweight or obesity, with risk increasing as BMI increases.”

They add: “Over the past 15 years, obesity in adolescents has risen significantly due to a combination of increased consumption of ultra-processed foods, sedentary lifestyles driven by excessive screen time, inadequate sleep, and rising mental health challenges. Additionally, reduced opportunities for physical activity and socioeconomic disparities have further contributed to an environment that promotes unhealthy lifestyles.”

On comorbidities, they say: “For many weight-related comorbidities, overweight and obesity in adolescence are associated with a higher risk during both adolescence and adulthood. Change of BMI in adolescence may have long-term impact on the risk of developing comorbidities. Increased focus on weight-management in adolescence could lead to long-term improvement in overall health.”

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Article Publication Date

12-Apr-2025

COI Statement

The authors (Dr Giri and Dr Senniappan) have not received any payments from Novo Nordisk or other sources for authorship of the abstracts. Two co-authors of the abstracts are employees of Novo Nordisk. The study was funded by Novo Nordisk.

Footprints of tail-clubbed armored dinosaurs found for the first time

Taylor & Francis Group

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image: 

Calla Scott and Teague Dickson consolidating the Ruopodosaurus holotype before moulding in Aug2024: Royal BC Museum fossil preparator Calla Scott and former University of Victoria MSc student Teague Dickson apply consolidants to the type specimen of Ruopodosaurus before making a silicone mould in August 2024. 

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Credit: RBCM

Victoria, BC— For the first time, footprints of armoured dinosaurs with tail clubs have been identified, following discoveries made in the Canadian Rockies. The 100-million-year-old fossilized footprints were found at sites at both Tumbler Ridge, BC, and northwestern Alberta.

There are two main groups of ankylosaurs. Nodosaurid ankylosaurs have a flexible tail and four toes, while ankylosaurid ankylosaurs have a sledgehammer-like tail club, and only three toes on their feet.

Unlike the well-known ankylosaur footprints called Tetrapodosaurus borealis found across North America, which have four toes, these new tracks have only three—making them the first known examples of ankylosaurid ankylosaur footprints anywhere in the world. The expert team named the new species of this ankylosaurid ankylosaur Ruopodosaurus clava. It means 'the tumbled-down lizard with a club/mace,' referencing both the mountainous location in which these tracks were discovered and the distinctive tail clubs of these dinosaurs.

A research team including Dr. Victoria Arbour, the curator of palaeontology at the Royal BC Museum, alongside researchers from the Tumbler Ridge Museum and the Tumbler Ridge UNESCO Global Geopark, report their findings in the peer-reviewed Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

“While we don’t know exactly what the dinosaur that made Ruopodosaurus footprints looked like, we know that it would have been about 5-6 metres long, spiky and armoured, and with a stiff tail or a full tail club,” says Arbour, an evolutionary biologist and vertebrate palaeontologist who specializes in the study on ankylosaurs. “Ankylosaurs are my favourite group of dinosaurs to work on, so being able to identify new examples of these dinosaurs in British Columbia is really exciting for me.”

Dr. Charles Helm, scientific advisor at the Tumbler Ridge Museum, had noted the presence of several of these three-toed ankylosaur trackways around Tumbler Ridge for several years, and invited Arbour to work together to identify and interpret them during a visit in 2023. Eamon Drysdale, curator at the Tumbler Ridge Museum, Roy Rule, geoscientist at the Tumbler Ridge UNESCO Global Geopark, and the late Martin Lockley, formerly of the University of Colorado, contributed to the study.

The tracks date back to the middle of the Cretaceous period, about 100 to 94 million years ago. No bones from ankylosaurids have been found in North America from about 100 to 84 million years ago, leading to some speculation that ankylosaurids had disappeared from North America during this time. These footprints show that tail-clubbed ankylosaurs were alive and well in North America during this gap in the skeletal fossil record. The discovery also shows that the two main types of ankylosaurs—nodosaurids and ankylosaurids, including this new three-toed species—coexisted in the same region during this time.

“Ever since two young boys discovered an ankylosaur trackway close to Tumbler Ridge in the year 2000, ankylosaurs and Tumbler Ridge have been synonymous. It is really exciting to now know through this research that there are two types of ankylosaurs that called this region home, and that Ruopodosaurus has only been identified in this part of Canada,” says Helm.

“This study also highlights how important the Peace Region of northeastern BC is for understanding the evolution of dinosaurs in North America – there’s still lots more to be discovered,” says Arbour.

This find gives us a new piece of the puzzle about the ancient creatures that once roamed what is now Canada.

New dinosaur footprints dubbed Ruopodosaurus clava were made by armoured ankylosaurid dinosaurs. While the exact species that made these footprints is unknown, it was likely similar to Gobisaurus or Jinyunpelta, both known from China.

Credit

Illustration copyright Sydney Mohr.

Ruopodosaurus hand and footprints from Tumbler Ridge: Ruopodosaurus footprints from Tumbler Ridge

Credit

Credit V. Arbour/C. Helm.

Palaeontologists from the Tumbler Ridge Museum and Royal BC Museum created a silicone mould of the type specimen of Ruopodosaurus in August 2024. From left to right, Eamon Drysdale (Tumbler Ridge Museum curator),  

Credit

Royal BC Museum

Victoria Arbour with Ruopodosaurus holotype in the field in Aug2023: Victoria Arbour (Royal BC Museum) with the type specimen of Ruopodosaurus still in the field at Wolverine River in August 2023.

Credit

Credit to Royal BC Museum

Journal

Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology

DOI

10.1080/02724634.2025.2451319 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

Animals

Article Title

A new thyreophoran ichnotaxon from British Columbia, Canada confirms the presence of ankylosaurid dinosaurs in the mid Cretaceous of North America

Article Publication Date

14-Apr-2025

 SPACE/COSMOS

Scientists may have solved a puzzling space rock mystery

Carbon-rich asteroids are abundant in space yet make up less than 5 per cent of meteorites found on Earth. An international team of scientists scoured the globe to find an answer

Curtin University

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An international team of researchers may have answered one of space science’s long-running questions – and it could change our understanding of how life began.

 

Carbon-rich asteroids are abundant in space yet make up less than 5 per cent of meteorites found on Earth.

 

An international team of scientists from Curtin University’s School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, the International Centre for Radio Astronomy (ICRAR), the Paris Observatory and more scoured the globe to find an answer.

 

Published today in Nature Astronomy, researchers analysed close to 8500 meteoroids and meteorite impacts, using data from 19 fireball observation networks across 39 countries — making it the most comprehensive study of its kind.

 

Co-author Dr Hadrien Devillepoix from Curtin’s Space Science and Technology Centre and Curtin Institute of Radio Astronomy (CIRA) said the team discovered Earth’s atmosphere and the Sun act like giant filters, destroying fragile, carbon-rich (carbonaceous) meteoroids before they reach the ground.

 

“We’ve long suspected weak, carbonaceous material doesn’t survive atmospheric entry,” Dr Devillepoix said.

 

“What this research shows is many of these meteoroids don’t even make it that far: they break apart from being heated repeatedly as they pass close to the Sun.

 

“The ones that do survive getting cooked in space are more likely to also make it through Earth’s atmosphere.”

 

Carbonaceous meteorites are particularly important because they contain water and organic molecules — key ingredients linked to the origin of life on Earth.

 

Paris Observatory’s Dr Patrick Shober said the findings reshape how scientists interpret meteorites collected so far.

 

“Carbon-rich meteorites are some of the most chemically primitive materials we can study — they contain water, organic molecules and even amino acids,” Dr Shober said.

“However, we have so few of them in our meteorite collections that we risk having an incomplete picture of what’s actually out there in space and how the building blocks of life arrived on Earth.

 

“Understanding what gets filtered out and why is key to reconstructing our solar system’s history and the conditions that made life possible.”

 

The study also found meteoroids created by tidal disruptions — when asteroids break apart from close encounters with planets — are especially fragile and almost never survive atmospheric entry.

 

“This finding could influence future asteroid missions, impact hazard assessments and even theories on how Earth got its water and organic compounds to allow life to begin,” Dr Shober said.

 

Other institutions involved in the study were the Astronomical Institute of the Romanian Academy, National Museum of National History and Aix-Marseilles University.

 

The study was supported by funding from the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research.

 

Perihelion history and atmospheric survival as primary drivers of the Earth’s meteorite record was published in Nature Astronomy.

 

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Journal

Nature Astronomy

DOI

10.1038/s41550-025-02526-6 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Perihelion history and atmospheric survival as primary drivers of the Earth’s meteorite record

Article Publication Date

14-Apr-2025

 

High blood pressure? Eat more bananas

New mathematical model demonstrates ratio of potassium to sodium intake key to regulating blood pressure

University of WaterlooFacebook

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New research from the University of Waterloo suggests increasing the ratio of dietary potassium to sodium intake may be more effective for lowering blood pressure than simply reducing sodium intake.

High blood pressure affects over 30 per cent of adults globally. It's the leading cause of coronary heart disease and stroke and may also lead to other afflictions like chronic kidney disease, heart failure, irregular heartbeats, and dementia.

"Usually, when we have high blood pressure, we are advised to eat less salt," said Anita Layton, professor of Applied Mathematics, Computer Science, Pharmacy and Biology at the University of Waterloo and the Canada 150 Research Chair in Mathematical Biology and Medicine. 

"Our research suggests that adding more potassium-rich foods to your diet, such as bananas or broccoli, might have a greater positive impact on your blood pressure than just cutting sodium." 

Potassium and sodium are both electrolytes – substances that help the body send electrical signals to contract muscles, affect the amount of water in your body and perform other essential functions. 

"Early humans ate lots of fruits and vegetables, and as a result, our body's regulatory systems may have evolved to work best with a high potassium, low sodium diet," said Melissa Stadt, a PhD candidate in Waterloo's Department of Applied Mathematics and the lead author of the study. 

"Today, western diets tend to be much higher in sodium and lower in potassium. That may explain why high blood pressure is found mainly in industrialized societies, not in isolated societies." 

While previous research found that increasing potassium intake can help control blood pressure, the researchers developed a mathematical model that successfully identifies how the ratio of potassium to sodium impacts the body. 

The model also identifies how sex differences affect the relationship between potassium and blood pressure. The study found that men develop high blood pressure more easily than pre-menopausal women, but men are also more likely to respond positively to an increased ratio of potassium to sodium.

The researchers emphasize that mathematical models like the one used in this study allow these kinds of experiments to identify how different factors impact the body quickly, cheaply, and ethically. 

The study, Modulation of blood pressure by dietary potassium and sodium: sex differences and modeling analysis, was recently published in the American Journal of Physiology-Renal Physiology. 

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DOI

10.1152/ajprenal.00222.2024 

 

Nature’s plan for delaying pest resistance deciphered

A new study cracks the code for increasing sustainability of the pest-killing proteins in genetically engineered crops.

University of Arizona

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Farmers in dozens of countries have embraced crops genetically engineered to produce proteins from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) bacteria that kill some key pests yet are safe for people and wildlife. Although this biotech approach reduces reliance on insecticide sprays thereby providing economic and environmental benefits, resistance to Bt crops has evolved in at least 11 species of pests. Thus, effective ways to combat such pest resistance are urgently needed.

A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences identifies a natural strategy for thwarting pest resistance to Bt proteins. The researchers at the University of Arizona and Nanjing Agricultural University discovered that a Bt protein kills one of the world’s most damaging crop pests via two different pathways. “So, the protein’s efficacy is more durable because even if the pest blocks one pathway, the other pathway remains lethal and the pest is not resistant unless both pathways are disarmed,” said Bruce Tabashnik, one of the study’s authors and head of the Department of Entomology at the University of Arizona.

Insights from disabling Bt receptors in the Asian corn borer

To kill insect pests, Bt proteins must be ingested and bind to specific receptors in the lining of the gut. Because humans and other animals lack such receptors, they are not harmed by Bt proteins. But as with disease-causing germs and antibiotics, pests can evolve resistance to Bt proteins. The most common and most potent mechanism of Bt resistance entails changes in the receptors that reduce or eliminate their binding of Bt proteins. Three of the receptors implicated in many cases of Bt resistance are gut proteins called ABCC2, ABCC3, and cadherin.

The team of scientists used gene editing to disable ABCC2, ABCC3, and cadherin in caterpillars of the Asian corn borer (Ostrinia furnacalis), the major pest of corn in China and elsewhere in Asia. They determined how disabling the three receptors singly and in pairs affects the pest’s responses to Bt proteins Cry1Ab and Cry1Fa, which are used widely in Bt corn that targets corn borers and other lepidopteran pests.

The researchers discovered that Cry1Ab kills the caterpillars via two different toxic pathways. One pathway requires ABCC2, while the other requires cadherin and ABCC3. This means that if a mutation in the pest blocks one pathway, the other pathway can still deliver a lethal blow. Only when both pathways are knocked out does the pest become resistant. This “backup system” for Cry1Ab makes it much harder for resistance to evolve, because the pest needs mutations simultaneously inactivating two separate pathways to survive.

Cry1Fa, on the other hand, uses only one pathway, the one with ABCC2. If that’s blocked, the pest survives exposure to Cry1Fa. Thus, a single mutation in the pest disrupting ABCC2 can make it highly resistant to Cry1Fa.

To check the predictions from the results summarized above, the scientists did the reverse experiment by modifying a cell line from another lepidopteran pest (the fall armyworm) to produce the receptors from the Asian corn borer. The results from the modified cells support the conclusions from the caterpillars with disabled receptors. For example, while the unmodified cells were not killed by Cry1Ab or Cry1Fa, cells modified to produce ABCC2 were killed by both Bt proteins, confirming the conclusion that ABCC2 facilitates a toxic pathway for both. Also, cells modified to produce cadherin and ABCC3 were susceptible to Cry1Ab but not Cry1Fa. As expected, this modification provided the second pathway for Cry1Ab, which does not exist for Cry1Fa.

Potential solution of a mystery about a major pest in North America and Europe

The new results with the Asian corn borer could elucidate a previously unexplained pattern observed in its close relative that is a major pest in North America and Europe, the European corn borer (Ostrinia nubilalis). In the lab and field, the European corn borer has evolved resistance slower to Cry1Ab than Cry1Fa. For example, in Canada, practical resistance reducing the efficacy of Bt corn against this pest in the field was not evident after 21 years of exposure to Bt corn producing Cry1Ab whereas practical resistance was first documented after just 12 years of exposure to Bt corn producing Cry1Fa. One plausible explanation is that, like the Asian corn borer, the European corn borer has two toxic pathways for Cry1Ab but only one for Cry1Fa. This idea could be tested directly by conducting the same type of experiments with the European corn borer that were used to analyze the Asian corn borer.

Implications for enhancing sustainability

Tabashnik noted, “Functional redundancy, the use of more than one toxic pathway by a single Bt protein, is not limited to Cry1Ab and the Asian corn borer – it also occurs with other Bt proteins and other major lepidopteran pests. This natural strategy for delaying pest resistance could be harnessed to enhance sustainability by seeking native Bt proteins or designing novel Bt proteins that attack pests via multiple pathways.”

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Journal

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

DOI

10.1073/pnas.2503674122 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Animals

Article Title

Functional redundancy in the toxic pathway of Bt protein Cry1Ab but not Cry1Fa against the Asian corn borer

Article Publication Date

18-Apr-2025