Todays Newsbites

Your fancy fitness-tracking gizmo probably isnt measuring your calorie expenditure very accurately. A new Japanese study in JAMA Internal Medicine compared a dozen such devices, including the popular Fitbit and Jawbone, with two "gold standard" laboratory methods of measuring energy expenditure.

Dont count on extra vitamin D to improve arthritis in your knees. Although some observational studies have suggested that vitamin D supplements might benefit knee osteoarthritis, a new clinical trial published in JAMA proved disappointing.

Nearly 60% of calories consumed by average Americans come from "ultra-processed" foods, according to a new study published in BMJ Open. Researchers from the University of So Paulo in Brazil, along with Dariush Mozaffarian, MD, DrPH, dean of Tufts' Friedman School, analyzed what 9,317 people reported eating in a 24-hour span.

Two faculty at Tufts' Friedman School have been named to Thomson Reuters' list of the World's Most Influential Scientific Minds. The listing identifies scientists in 21 fields who published the most papers between 2003 and 2014 cited highly by other scientists. Named to the list were Dariush Mozaffarian, MD, DrPH, and Jeffrey B. Blumberg, PhD.

Keeping your kitchen uncluttered and calm might help prevent you from munching empty calories. A recent Cornell University experiment, published in Environment and Behavior, compared the snacking habits of 100 young women.

Losing even a modest amount of weight could reduce your risk of osteoarthritis, a new Dutch study suggests. Researchers followed 353 overweight and obese women, average age 56, for two and a half years.

Whether for emotional highs or lows, Americans still turn to indulgent "comfort food" - especially pizza.

More evidence that Americans are getting the message about the negatives of added sugars in liquid form comes from a report showing a sharp drop in the percentage of adults drinking at least one sugar-sweetened beverage a day.

If you're the "canary in the coal mine" who's always the first to get sick from that undercooked burger or picnic potato salad, blame your genes.

Efforts to increase whole grains' share of total grain consumption are slowly paying off, but most Americans still fall far short of targets for whole-grain intake.