Research increasingly demonstrates that healthy nutrition improves mental health, and an entirely new subspecialty has formed to support this. Nutritional psychiatry is expanding rapidly, with research growing 15-fold from 2000 to 2024, reflecting the increasing acceptance of diet's role in mental health.
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans aim to translate the most up-to-date nutrition science into practical advice for the public as well as to guide federal policy for programs such as school lunches. But the newest version of the guidelines, released on Jan. 7, 2026, seems to be spurring more confusion than clarity about what people should be eating. The latest dietary guidelines, published on Jan. 7, 2026, have received mixed reviews from nutrition experts.
This study is really good news for those who follow a vegetarian diet because they have a lower risk of five cancer types, some of which are very prevalent in the population. While being vegetarian appeared to be protective overall, the scientists also found that those who follow a vegetarian diet had nearly double the risk of the most common type of cancer of the oesophagus, known as squamous cell carcinoma, compared with meat eaters.
I grew up in a Mexican household where food was our love language - but there was also stigma and very little guidance around diabetes. When my aunt, and later my mom, were diagnosed, it took time to understand what healthy eating could look like for them. That's why this partnership means so much to me. Our culture and our food are not the problem - they're part of the solution.
Diet culture norms have led to a multibillion-dollar industry promoting diets that each come with their own set of rules, with each claiming it's the only way to be healthy or lose weight. When access to nutrition information is at an all-time high online, people are often left digging through conflicting information when trying to figure out what to eat or what a healthy diet look likes.
Featuring a menu brimming with black bean and avocado-forward foods, Taco Bell has always been a frontrunner among the best fast food chains for vegetarians, but its animal protein-based dishes are particularly rich in fiber, too. For example, at minimum, menu items like the chicken soft taco have at least one gram of fiber. The dish with the highest amount of fiber, the beef nachos bell grande, has about 13 grams.