Medical Bulletin 30/July/2026

The study included 43 families (father, mother, and newborn) in Brazil.

Ultra-processed foods include products such as soft drinks, packaged snacks, cookies, processed meats, and other heavily processed foods that are often high in sugar, unhealthy fats, salt, and additives but low in nutrients.

Researchers believe these foods may affect the father's sperm health before conception. A diet high in ultra-processed foods can increase inflammation in the body and cause epigenetic changes—chemical changes that affect how certain genes work without changing the DNA itself. These changes can be passed to the baby.

One important gene, called IGF-II, is inherited only from the father and plays a key role in fetal growth. Previous research suggests that a father's diet can influence how this gene functions.

Interestingly, the researchers found a different pattern in mothers. Eating more ultra-processed foods during early pregnancy was linked to lower birth weight, shorter length, and smaller head size in babies, possibly because these foods provide fewer nutrients needed for healthy placental development.

Although the study was small, the findings highlight that a father's nutrition matters just as much as a mother's when planning a pregnancy.

The researchers say larger studies are needed to confirm these results. However, they believe future family planning advice should encourage both parents to eat a healthy, balanced diet before conception to give their baby the best possible start in life.

REFERENCE: Carvalho, M. R., et al. (2026) A higher paternal ultra-processed food consumption is directly associated with parameters of neonatal anthropometry. Nutrition Research. DOI: 10.1016/j.nutres.2026.04.015.

Scientists Discover Plant Polymer Lignin May Boost Future Bone Repair

Could trees help heal broken bones? Scientists have turned a plant material into a bone-friendly scaffold.

A natural substance that helps trees stay strong may one day help repair broken bones. Researchers have discovered that lignin, a major structural material found in plants, can be converted into a bone-friendly biomaterial that supports bone healing and new bone formation.

The study, published in ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering, suggests that this plant-based material could become a more sustainable alternative to traditional bone graft materials, many of which come from animal sources or synthetic products.

Lignin is one of the most abundant natural polymers on Earth and is produced in large amounts by agriculture and the paper industry. Although it is known for its antioxidant and antibacterial properties, its potential for bone repair has remained largely unexplored.

In the new study, researchers extracted two different forms of lignin from sorghum plants and tested them alone and together with silica, another natural material found in plants.

One type of lignin performed especially well. Within two weeks, calcium began building up on its surface. Over the next four weeks, phosphorus was deposited and hydroxyapatite—the mineral that gives bones and teeth their strength—gradually formed. The material also slowly broke down under normal body conditions, allowing it to be replaced by newly formed bone during healing.

The team also tested how bone-forming cells responded. At suitable concentrations, the lignin material was biocompatible and even stimulated the growth of pre-osteoblasts, the cells responsible for building new bone. Lignin combined with silica also supported healthy cell growth while degrading at a desirable rate.

Although animal and human studies are still needed, the findings suggest that renewable plant-based materials could one day provide a safer, more sustainable option for repairing damaged bones while reducing dependence on animal-derived and mined materials.

REFERENCE: Palakurthy, S., et al. (2026). Plant-Based Matrix for Bone Apatite Biomineralization: In Vitro Bioactivity, Biocompatibility, and Degradability of Lignin and Lignin-Silica Composites. ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering. DOI: 10.1021/acsbiomaterials.5c01871.

Scientists Uncover Genetic Clues Behind Lung Cancer Risk in Smokers and Non-Smokers

Genes may determine how much DNA damage smoking and other exposures cause, study finds

A new study has provided the first direct evidence that a person's inherited genes can influence how much DNA damage builds up after exposure to cancer-causing agents such as cigarette smoke or sunlight. The findings may help explain why some lifelong smokers never develop lung cancer, while some non-smokers do.

The research, published in Nature, suggests that inherited genetic differences shape not only the risk of developing cancer but also how cancers evolve after DNA damage occurs.

To investigate this, researchers bred four genetically distinct strains of mice with different natural susceptibilities to liver cancer. The animals represented a level of genetic diversity similar to that seen in humans.

Each mouse received the same dose of the cancer-causing chemical diethylnitrosamine (DEN) at 15 days of age. DEN is found in tobacco smoke and certain processed foods and is known to damage DNA in liver cells.

Because every mouse experienced identical exposure under controlled conditions, researchers were able to eliminate lifestyle and environmental differences that often make human studies difficult to interpret.

The team then analyzed nearly 600 liver tumors, sequencing their genomes and studying gene activity to reconstruct how each cancer developed.

They found that tumors across all mouse strains almost always developed mutations that activated the MAPK signaling pathway, a key driver of cell growth and many cancers.

However, genetic background strongly influenced what happened next. Depending on the inherited genes of each mouse, tumors accumulated different patterns of mutations, activated additional cancer-related pathways, and often developed whole-genome duplication—a process in which cells gain an extra copy of all their chromosomes, creating additional genetic material that can acquire further mutations.

Although the study was conducted in mice, the results suggest that inherited genetic differences could play an important role in determining individual cancer risk in humans.

REFERENCE: Aitken, S.J., Connor, F., Feig, C. et al. Genetic background sets the trajectory of experimental cancer evolution. Nature (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10821-z