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Cheetos & Doritos Get Dye-Free Makeover With New ‘Simply NKD’ Line
U.S. News & World Report reported:
Bright orange fingers may soon be less common for some snackers. PepsiCo announced that it will begin selling new versions of Cheetos and Doritos that contain no artificial colors or flavors. The company said these snacks will offer the same taste people expect, just without synthetic dyes.
“We are reinventing our iconic — and most famous — brands to deliver options with the bold flavors fans know and love, now reimagined without any colors or artificial flavors,” Hernán Tantardini, CMO of PepsiCo Foods U.S., told CBS News. The change follows growing pressure from U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has urged food companies to remove synthetic dyes from products sold in the United States.
“NKD is an additive option, not a replacement, introduced to meet consumer demand,” Rachel Ferdinando, CEO of PepsiCo Foods U.S., told CBS News. Many existing versions of the chips contain dyes like Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Red 40 and Blue 1, which give snacks their bright colors.
The Rise, Fall, and Potential Return of the Food Pyramid
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump’s Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary and man on a mission to “Make America Healthy Again,” has made no secret of his plan to change what he claims to be the country’s poison-riddled food culture. And he may soon bring back a relic from the past to help make that happen.
Bloomberg reported that the Trump Administration is considering reinstating the food pyramid when HHS and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) jointly update the U.S. Dietary Guidelines next month. “We’re about to release dietary guidelines that are going to change the food culture in this country,” Kennedy told reporters earlier this month. HHS and USDA update the guidelines every five years.
An HHS spokesperson told Bloomberg Thursday that “Kennedy is committed to new dietary recommendations that are rooted in rigorous science” and that “the 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans will be a big part of the Trump Administration’s commitment to Make America Healthy Again.” A USDA spokesperson said the updated guidelines “will address the chronic disease epidemic plaguing our nation, by prioritizing whole, healthy, and nutritious foods.”
TIME has reached out to both departments about the potential return of the food pyramid. Unnamed sources told Bloomberg that the visual is expected to focus on protein and whole foods, which Kennedy has long endorsed as he aims to steer the public away from ultra-processed food products.
Ultra-Processed Foods Quietly Push Young Adults Toward Prediabetes
Increasing consumption of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) in young adults sharply raises their risk of developing early blood sugar problems tied to diabetes. The study suggests that cutting back on UPFs could help protect long-term metabolic health.
More than half of the calories people consume in the U.S. come from UPFs, which include items such as fast food and packaged snacks that tend to contain large amounts of sodium, added sugars and unhealthy fats. While studies in adults have firmly connected these foods to type 2 diabetes and other chronic conditions, far less is known about how UPFs affect younger populations.
The study followed 85 young adults for four years. During this period, the researchers found that higher consumption of UPFs was tied to an increased likelihood of developing prediabetes, an early stage of elevated blood sugar that can progress to diabetes. Young adults who ate more UPFs also showed signs of insulin resistance, a condition in which the body becomes less efficient at using insulin to manage blood sugar.
The findings, published in the journal Nutrition and Metabolism, were supported in part by the National Institutes of Health.
Ultra-Processed Foods Linked to Colon Cancer Risk
U.S. News & World Report reported:
Younger adults who eat lots of ultra-processed foods are more likely to develop polyps that can become colon cancer, a new study says. Women under 50 whose diets contained the largest amounts of ultra-processed foods had a 45% higher risk of developing pre-cancerous polyps in their colon, researchers reported Nov. 13 in JAMA Oncology.
“Our findings support the importance of reducing the intake of ultra-processed foods as a strategy to mitigate the rising burden of early-onset colorectal cancer,” said senior researcher Dr. Andrew Chan, chief of the Clinical and Translational Epidemiology Unit at the Mass General Brigham Cancer Institute in Boston. “The increased risk seems to be fairly linear, meaning that the more ultra-processed foods you eat, the more potential that it could lead to colon polyps,” he added in a news release.
The findings might partially explain a rapid increase in colon cancer cases among younger adults. Diagnoses of advanced-stage colon cancer among people under 55 doubled from 11% in 1995 to 20% in 2019, according to a 2023 American Cancer society report.
Ultra-processed foods are made mostly from substances extracted from whole foods, like saturated fats, starches and added sugars. They also contain a wide variety of additives to make them more tasty, attractive and shelf-stable. Examples include packaged baked goods, sugary cereals, ready-to-eat or ready-to-heat products and deli cold cuts.
Lobster with a Side of Microplastics? Canadian Researchers Find Traces of Polyester, PVA in Meat
A new study from Nova Scotia’s Dalhousie University found microplastics in 100 per cent of the lobsters they tested, leading researchers to suggest plastic is more prevalent than most seafood lovers may think. On average, they found six to seven microplastic particles in a single gram of meat. “The implications are that with every bite of seafood, you’re ingesting microplastics,” said lead researcher Amber LeBlanc of Dalhousie’s School for Resource and Environmental Studies.
Researchers bought 16 lobsters from local retailers that were caught off the coast of Nova Scotia and obtained tissue samples from the tails of the animals. “The idea was to be like a consumer who would buy the lobster and then go home and cook it and eat it,” LeBlanc explained.
Their analysis found microplastics in the meat of all 16 animals, with samples including specks from polyester clothing fibres and polyethylene vinyl acetate, or PVA.
