URBANA, Ill. ­– Mealtimes are a central aspect of family life, affecting the health and wellbeing of both children and adults. Although the benefits of healthy mealtimes are straightforward, helping all families realize those benefits is quite complicated, new research from University of Illinois shows.

URBANA, Ill.  – Lettuce is an important food commodity in the U.S., popular for its health and nutrition benefits. But leafy greens can be carriers of foodborne disease, leading to frequent product recalls.

URBANA, Ill. – It’s officially cookie-baking season, and University of Illinois food scientists and chefs are showing their Illinois pride with a new cookie recipe, fully vegan, baked in the shape of the beloved Illinois “Block I.”

And as an even-bigger nod to Illinois, the cookie’s featured ingredient is pumpkin. After all, Illinois is the highest pumpkin-producing state in the nation. 

URBANA, Ill. – Eating avocado as part of your daily diet can help improve gut health, a new study from University of Illinois shows. Avocados are a healthy food that is high in dietary fiber and monounsaturated fat. However, it was not clear how avocados impact the microbes in the gastrointestinal system or “gut.”

URBANA, Ill. – Carrots are a good source of beta-carotene, which is a precursor of vitamin A. But to get the full health benefits of this superfood, you need an active enzyme to produce this vitamin.

URBANA, Ill. – Millions of Americans vulnerable to hunger receive support from public food assistance programs, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). But they also rely on private charities such as Feeding America, the umbrella organization for food banks across the country.

Unless you’re a companion animal lover, a vegan foodie, or a science geek, the word “extrusion” might not hold much meaning. However, extrusion is an everyday term that describes a process crucial to the food and feed industries.

URBANA, Ill. – Food additives get a bad rap, but a natural ingredient from orange peels and apple skins, pectin, is a thickener safely added to many food products, most notably jellies. The additive is also the subject of a University of Illinois experiment highlighting both the power and the challenges of public-private partnerships in university research.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — From tweeting photos of delicious meals to reviewing restaurants, social media give foodies numerous opportunities to indulge their passion for edibles. But these media and other digital communications — including recipe websites and food-delivery apps — also generate a rich trove of text data for food scientists and food industry researchers to study what people eat, how nutrition affects health and many other food-related topics. Read more from Illinois News Bureau.