Todays Newsbites

Scientists who succeeded in sequencing the genome of carrots have identified the gene, dubbed DCAR_032551, responsible for carotenoids, which make carrots and other produce orange and provide humans with vitamin A.

Is an avocado healthier than a sugary bowl of raisin bran? Not according to the FDA's labeling rules for "healthy" foods, which the agency recently announced it would review.

Only 1 in 16 Americans manages all five healthy lifestyle factors considered most important to warding off chronic disease, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

After a two-year review period, the US Food and Drug Administration formally adopted changes to the Nutrition Facts panels that appear on some 800,000 food products. The updated labels will be required on products by July 26, 2018, except for small producers who will get an extra year to comply.

Here's another reason besides blood pressure to hold the salt: New Australian research says salt causes you to eat more food and consume more calories. Researchers tested four different combinations of macaroni and sauce on 48 volunteers, mixing high- and low-salt choices with high- and low-fat.

If you're dining alone, you're in great company. New consumer research by the Hartman Group says that eating alone is "the new normal," as American increasingly ditch sit-down family meals for continuous snacking and "ad hoc" eating behavior.

Worried about drinking enough water? Our Special Report on hydration in the June newsletter should help. And there's also this update from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, published just after we went to press: Most Americans are getting roughly enough fluids, though only about a third comes in the healthiest form of plain water.

Even just walking to the bus stop or train station might help commuters control their weight, according to a large British study.

Does buying organic food really turn you into a jerk? That was the popular interpretation of a widely publicized 2013 study that linked exposure to organic food to "moral licensing" - making self-righteous consumers more judgmental and less inclined to help others. But a new attempt to replicate those findings concluded that "organic food exposure has little to no effect on moral judgments and prosocial behavior."

The American Society for Nutritions 2016 Scientist, Clinician, Educator/Mentor and Young Investigator Awards, presented at the groups annual meeting, included honors for four faculty at Tufts' Friedman School.