THE RISK OF NOT TRYING NEW FOODS

There’s actually a scientific term for the fear of tasting unfamiliar dishes: food neophobia. It’s not just the name that can be scary. A study from Finland and Estonia found that people with this trait eat lower-quality diets overall and have an increased risk of type 2 diabetes—regardless of their age, sex, or weight. To add more variety to your diet, you’ll need to be persistent. “An individual may need to try a new food 10 to 15 times before getting accustomed to it,” says study coauthor Heikki Sarin.

Diabetes Drug May Help Treat Breast Cancer

In a new study, researchers treated certain types of breast cancer cells in the lab with metformin, a medication used to help lower the blood sugar levels of people with type 2 diabetes. With less sugar to feed on, these cells developed a sugar “addiction,” which made them work harder to break down the sugar. That extra effort, in turn, made the cancer more vulnerable to treatment with anticancer drugs. Researchers found that when metformin was combined with a cancer treatment, the cancer cells’ growth slowed by 76 percent. This new approach is particularly promising for treating triple-negative breast cancer, an aggressive form of the disease that doesn’t respond well to existing treatments.

ANTIBACTERIAL CLEANERS MAY HELP FUNGI FLOURISH

In a study comparing rural and urban homes, researchers found that while the city apartments generally had fewer bacteria, they actually had more fungi. The study’s authors speculate that this may be due to city dwellers’ use of antibacterial cleaning products.