Tag Archives: Kiwi

In the News: Fewer Peanut Allergies, Possibly Improving Obesity Rates in U.S., Best Fruit for Constipation

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10/20/25 NY Times: Peanut Allergies Have Plummeted in Children, Study Shows “The new study, published Monday in the journal Pediatrics, found that food allergy rates in children under 3 fell after those guidelines were put into place — dropping to 0.93 percent between 2017 and 2020, from 1.46 percent between 2012 and 2015. That’s a 36 percent reduction in all food allergies, driven largely by a 43 percent drop in peanut allergies.”

Referenced article (Open Access!): S Gabryszeweki et al. Pediatrics e2024070516. Guidelines for Early Food Introduction and Patterns of Food Allergy

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10/16/25 ABC News: Obesity remains high in the US., but more states showing progress, a new report finds “For the first time in more than a decade, the number of states with rates of obesity of 35% or more dropped, an encouraging sign that America’s epidemic of excess weight might be improving.  But cuts to federal staff and programs that address chronic disease could endanger that progress, according to a new report released Thursday. Nineteen states had obesity rates of 35% or higher in 2024, down from 23 states the year before, according to an analysis of the latest data collected by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention”

M Warren et al. Trust for America’s Health. Open Access! The State of Obesity 2025 Report (140 pages)

Related blog post: Worldwide Trends in Underweight and Obesity (2024)

10/13/25 NBC News: What to eat to ease chronic constipation, according to new guidelines This article revies the new dietary guidelines from the British Dietetic Association.

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Briefly Noted: Kiwi for IBS-C

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R Gearry et al. AJG 2022. DOI: 10.14309/ajg.0000000000002124.Open Access! Consumption of 2 Green Kiwifruits Daily Improves Constipation and Abdominal Comfort—Results of an International Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial

Participants included healthy controls (n = 63), patients with functional constipation (FC, n = 60), and patients with constipation-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-C, n = 61). Mean age 35 years.

Key findings: Consumption of green kiwifruit was associated with a clinically relevant increase of ≥ 1.5 CSBM (complete spontaneous bowel movement) per week (Functional constipation; 1.53, P < 0.0001, IBS-C; 1.73, P = 0.0003) and significantly improved measures of GI comfort (GI symptom rating scale total score) in constipated participants (FC, P < 0.0001; IBS-C, P < 0.0001)

Related blog post: Small Study: Kiwi For Constipation

Small Study: Kiwi For Constipation

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Healio Gastroenterology: Kiwi fruit effective, well tolerated in treating chronic constipation

From a randomized (Virtual) ACG 2020 study from Samuel W. Chey and colleagues (University of Michigan), n=79 adults:

  • “All three treatments improved complete spontaneous bowel movement (P .003). Prunes demonstrated the largest magnitude of response at 67% vs. 64% for psyllium vs. 45% for Kiwi fruit”
  • “The highest proportion of participants – 68% – reported treatment satisfaction with kiwifruit while similar proportions of those receiving prunes and psyllium – 48% – reported satisfaction”
  • “The kiwi group had the lowest proportion of participants reporting treatment dissatisfaction at 7%….Participants receiving prunes and psyllium were more likely to report abdominal pain and bloating than those receiving kiwi”