Donate Deakin

Less is not more: how excluding major food groups may impact your health

If you look at the menu at your local café, you’ll likely notice a range of options for your meal; gluten-free, low-carb, Paleo friendly. Australians are choosing to avoid certain foods more than ever, and approximately one in three Australians are eliminating gluten, dairy or meat from their diets....

Feeling stressed? It probably affects your eating as well. 

Stress – it’s that all too common feeling that has somehow become synonymous with modern day life.  But aside from the tension and worrying thoughts, how else does stress hijack your body? If you’re someone that reaches for the chocolate in the shadows of a looming deadline to find...

Eating alone? Join the club!

Social interaction and support from family, friends, and colleagues has long been associated with positive health outcomes. Having meaningful relationships helps us to manage stress and anxiety, improve physical and mental health, and increase overall quality of life. Conversely, social isolation, loneliness and living alone have been shown to...

Recap of Gut Revolution: A Catalyst special – Part 2: Obesity (Garry’s story)

Airing on ABC’s catalyst series last month, Gut Revolution was a two-part feature seeking to sort the facts from the faeces. Hosted by Dr Joanna McMillan, we followed the path of two people with debilitating gut issues, on their quests for better health. Food and Mood Centre director, Professor...

Recap of Gut Revolution: A Catalyst special – Part 1: IBS (Melissa’s story)

Airing on ABC’s catalyst series last month, Gut Revolution was a two-part feature seeking to sort the facts from the faeces. Hosted by Dr Joanna McMillan, we followed the path of two people with debilitating gut issues, on their quests for better health. Food and Mood Centre director, Professor...

Polyphenols: Do we all just need a little more chocolate?

For many of us, we instinctively turn to chocolate when we are in a bad mood. Is it the taste or are we programmed to choose these foods because of their mood-boosting benefits? Chocolate, along with fruits, vegetables, spices, tea, coffee and red wine all contain nutritive compounds called...

Diet and the Gut Microbiome

You may already believe that many of your behaviours and choices – smoking cigarettes, having a few too many drinks, or routinely choosing Netflix over the gym – can impact your health in a big way. Researchers are starting to understand how some of these factors influence the types...

What is the Gut Microbiome?

For those who follow health news, you might be familiar with words like ‘probiotic’, ‘kombucha’ or even hard-to-pronounce bacterial names like bifidobacteria or lactobacillus. Gut-related messages are everywhere, both in popular media and in science too. With the arrival of so many new supplements, health drinks and advertisements promising...

Diet in pregnancy

If you are pregnant or know someone who is, then you may have heard that maternal health and wellbeing is important as your baby grows and develops your womb. Over the last thirty years scientists and medical researchers have come to understand the importance of the in utero environment...