Health Claims

A plant compound called vanillic acid can kill tough antibiotic-resistant bacteria and stop them from forming slimy layers, which might help keep cosmetics safe from contamination.

Mechanistic

Extracts from saffron flowers can fight certain bacteria better than those from the costly saffron threads, which could make them a cheaper natural preservative option.

Descriptive

An essential oil from a plant called Ferulago stellata can stop the growth of several harmful germs at very low amounts, which makes it a promising natural ingredient to keep cosmetics from going bad.

Descriptive

Cinnamon extracts, especially when processed with certain solvents, can kill common harmful bacteria at relatively low concentrations, which means they might work as natural preservatives in skincare products.

Descriptive

The kinds of gut bacteria you have, especially if you eat a lot of meat, might be linked to higher levels of a substance in your blood called TMAO, which could mean your diet over time helps shape which bacteria stick around.

Correlational

In mice, certain nutrients and a gut chemical they produce can slow down the body's ability to remove cholesterol — but only if the gut bacteria are active.

Mechanistic

Giving mice a supplement called L-carnitine every day makes artery disease about twice as bad, but if you wipe out their gut bacteria with antibiotics, that effect goes away — meaning the gut bugs are behind the harm.

Mechanistic

If someone has high levels of L-carnitine in their blood, they might be more likely to have heart problems — but only if they also have high levels of another substance called TMAO.

Correlational

If you eat meat and take L-carnitine, your gut bacteria might turn it into a substance that could clog your arteries. But if you're vegan or vegetarian, your gut bugs don’t do this much, so you’re less likely to make that substance.

Mechanistic

If you plan meals based on how well your body can actually absorb nutrients—like iron and zinc from meat—instead of just counting total nutrients, it ends up costing 50% to 89% more each day to meet your needs.

Quantitative

It might be really hard for women between 19 and 50 to get enough iron and zinc from affordable, everyday foods—even if they're trying to eat the cheapest healthy diet possible.

Descriptive

When figuring out the cheapest way to eat healthy, models show that most people in the U.S. end up with foods like beef, milk, eggs, and fish in their diet — meaning animal foods often make the most sense when you want good nutrition at the lowest cost.

Descriptive

Beef gives you key nutrients like protein, B-12, and zinc for less money than other foods when you consider how well your body can actually use them — at least in theory, according to diet models.

Descriptive

Pomegranate peel might help fight bacteria that cause tooth decay and food spoilage, thanks to natural compounds in the peel.

Mechanistic

We don't have enough proof yet that the plant chemicals in pomegranate peels actually help people feel better or stay healthy, and scientists need to study how our bodies process them and what effects they might have over time.

Descriptive

Adding pomegranate peel extract to foods like juice, yogurt, and meat might boost their natural freshness and keep them from spoiling, without changing how they taste or smell — kind of like a plant-based version of artificial preservatives.

Mechanistic

Pomegranate peel contains natural compounds that might help protect cells from damage by fighting harmful molecules in lab and animal studies.

Mechanistic

Pomegranate peel has powerful natural chemicals that make it way better at fighting inflammation and damage in the body than the juicy part — and it could be a cheap way to boost health foods with good-for-you ingredients.

Mechanistic

Eating meat affects iron levels more in women who still have periods than in men or women who don’t — probably because those women need more iron and lose it monthly.

Correlational

If you're a premenopausal woman, especially an endurance athlete, eating more meat might help keep your iron levels up and reduce your chances of being low on iron.

Correlational

Even if vegetarians eat more iron than meat-eaters, they might still be more likely to be low on iron because the kind of iron in plants isn't as easily absorbed by the body.

Correlational

Eating red meat every day might help your body store more iron than eating chicken or fish — one study says people who eat red meat daily have nearly a third more stored iron in their blood.

Quantitative

Eating more red meat—like beef or lamb—might help women of childbearing age in rich countries keep healthier iron levels, especially if they eat between a small steak and a large one every day.

Correlational

If healthy young adults eat raw carrots or drink carrot juice with a bit of oil, it boosts their body's β-carotene levels a lot—but that doesn’t actually improve their overall antioxidant power in the blood over the next day.

Quantitative