URBANA, Ill. – Fiber-rich food is important for gastrointestinal health, but most Americans don’t get enough in their typical diet. While fiber supplements can help, they can also cause unpleasant side effects such as excessive bloating and gas.

Two new papers from the University of Illinois make it easier for food manufacturers to amplify fiber in foods and beverages for health benefit without digestive discomfort.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head or neck were 93% less likely to die of any cause during the first three years after diagnosis if they ate a healthy diet high in nutrients found to deter chronic disease, researchers found in a recent study.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Black adolescents who lived in poverty and were less optimistic about the future showed accelerated aging in their immune cells and were more likely to have elevated insulin resistance at ages 25-29, researchers found.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — An individualized diet program that empowers users to create their own plan based on targeted levels of protein and fiber shows promise at helping people lose extra pounds and keep them off.

The Individualized Diet Improvement Program is a self-guided approach that involves easy-to-use tools, according to the nutritionists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who created iDip.

URBANA, Ill. – Transition to middle school can be a stressful time for adolescents. They must adjust to a new peer group and social environment while going through the developmental changes of puberty. A recent University of Illinois study looks at how emotional aspects of parenting can help youth better cope with peer stressors during this transitional period.

URBANA, Ill. – The U.S. shortage of both liquid and powdered infant formula that has created struggles for parents seeking supplies highlights the critical need for improved detection methods aimed at preventing formula shortages.

URBANA, Ill. – New research from the University of Illinois suggests high levels of dietary cholesterol make mice sicker when infected with influenza. The study is the first to link cholesterol in the diet with exacerbation of a viral infection.

URBANA, Ill. – For individuals in a committed relationship, there is a well-established two-way association between relationship quality and each partner’s mental health. But what exactly about relationships shapes mental health? And which direction is stronger – from mental health to relationship quality or relationship quality to mental health?

URBANA, Ill. – In neighborhoods lacking tree cover, residents suffer poorer health and incur hundreds of dollars more in medical costs than neighbors on leafier blocks. That’s according to a new University of Illinois study of 5 million Americans over a 13-year period.

URBANA, Ill. – Scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Mie University in Japan have developed monoclonal antibodies that prevent lung cell death in mouse models for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and acute respiratory disease syndrome (ARDS). The advance, along with new, non-invasive diagnostic tools presented in the same study, could be a critical step in treating the deadly diseases, for which few effective therapies currently exist.