A specific gut microbe could help with long-term weight-loss goals.

New research published in the journal Nature Medicine tested whether a pasteurized (not live) gut bacterium, called Akkermansia muciniphila MucT, could help people keep weight off after losing it.

The study enrolled 90 overweight and obese adults from the Netherlands in an eight-week, low-energy diet where they were instructed to lose 8% of their body weight, according to a press release.

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The participants then started a 24-week weight-maintenance phase and were randomly assigned to take either the gut bacterium or a placebo.

People taking Akkermansia regained less weight than those taking the placebo, at an average of 2.6 pounds versus 7.1 pounds — a statistically significant difference, according to the study results.

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The researchers noted that the efficacy of the treatment depends on a person’s existing gut microbiome. There were no serious adverse events reported.

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The study’s short duration and small sample size may not be enough to prove long-term benefits, the team noted. Another limitation is that participants ate whatever they wanted instead of following a standardized diet.

Dr. Peter Balazs, MD, a hormone and weight loss specialist practicing in New York and New Jersey, called this a “well-designed” trial.

“The finding that a single gut microbe, pasteurized Akkermansia, significantly reduced weight regain is particularly compelling,” the expert, who was not involved in the research, told Fox News Digital. “Most probiotics have demonstrated far less efficacy, making these results especially noteworthy.”

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Balazs pointed out that pasteurized Akkermansia isn’t a live probiotic, but works through “components of the bacteria, particularly a protein called Amuc_1100.”

“This protein helps strengthen the gut barrier, reduce low-grade inflammation and support healthy metabolic function,” he said. “After weight loss, the body naturally tries to regain fat, but Akkermansia appears to help quiet some of those biological signals, making it easier to maintain results over time.”

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While the study results are promising, the doctor cautioned that Akkermansia is not a miracle pill.

“It helps with maintenance, not initial loss,” he said. “Long-term use is plausible; however, it hasn’t been proven beyond 24 weeks. This does not replace diet, exercise or medical advice.”

The latest beverage trend is far from clean – and it’s raising red flags with doctors.

Known as a “dirty soda,” it’s a soft drink that also includes a combination of added ingredients, such as flavored syrups, creamers, fruit juices and other garnishes. The result is a sweet beverage that’s a combination of a soda, mocktail and dessert.

Dirty sodas can easily deliver 250-400 calories and 55-70 grams of sugar in a single drink – which is often more than double the American Heart Association’s daily added sugar limit, according to Erin Palinski-Wade, a New Jersey-based registered dietitian.

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“It’s more like a dessert beverage than a soft drink, even if people use diet soda as the base,” she told Fox News Digital.

The drinks are most dangerous for those with insulin resistance, prediabetes or diabetes, Palinski-Wade warned.

“The combination of rapidly absorbed sugar plus cream can cause sharp blood sugar spikes and crashes, driving hunger, fatigue and higher insulin demands,” she cautioned.

The trend is said to have originated in Utah years ago at a specialty soda shop, Swig, reportedly due to people in the Mormon faith seeking an alternative to coffee. The drink was then popularized by social media and TV shows, such as “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” according to Eater.com.

The dirty soda trend is widely credited to Swig, a Utah-based soda shop founded in 2010. The concept reportedly gained popularity in Utah, where many members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints abstain from coffee and alcohol, helping create demand for customizable, non-alcoholic drinks.

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“There are multiple soda shops in most suburbs here,” one Utah resident wrote on Reddit. “I have many coworkers who stop at one daily on their way to work [because] they don’t drink coffee, but will drink dirty sodas.”

Trend goes mainstream

Dirty sodas have recently grown in popularity, appearing on many restaurant menus and grocery store shelves. Coca-Cola has launched its Coca-Cola Cherry Float, which is designed to mimic the soda-and-cream experience, while PepsiCo offers a Dirty Mountain Dew Cream Soda.

McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Sonic and Dunkin are among the fast-food brands that include dirty soda options in their beverage line-ups.

Perhaps taking the cake is Crumbl, which recently launched a dirty soda that includes multiple sweet ingredients on top of an already sugary soda base.

“Crumbl needs to be stopped,” Dr. Mark Hyman wrote in a recent social media post. “Their new ‘dirty soda’ contains 186 grams of sugar, the equivalent of eating 19 Krispy Kreme donuts. This is a metabolic disaster and should be illegal.”

Experts warn of health risks

Dr. Marc Siegel, Fox News senior medical analyst, echoed the warnings about dirty sodas being “very unhealthy.”

“They are loaded with processed sugar, empty calories and saturated fats,” he told Fox News Digital. “They are also highly addictive, especially because of the high sugar content, and are about 400 calories per serving.”

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Over time, regular consumption of these types of sugary beverages can train the brain to seek repeated dopamine and endorphin releases, Siegel warned. This can increase the risk of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, dementia and other chronic illnesses.

Tanya Freirich, a registered dietitian nutritionist in Charlotte, North Carolina, echoed that daily added sugars increase the risk of obesity, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

“Additionally, the creamy mix-ins featured in dirty sodas are generally high in saturated fat, another nutrient that should be consumed in limited amounts,” Freirich told Fox News Digital.

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“If you’re looking for a mocktail or fun non-alcoholic beverage, consider using a base of plain seltzer water for a bubbly drink,” she recommended. “Even with the same add-ins, your end result will contain considerably less sugar, but still taste sweet.”

Kenneth J. Perry, M.D., an emergency physician in Charleston, South Carolina, also noted that dirty sodas represent a continuation of the trend toward highly sugary beverages.

“Their effects are short-lived, prompting individuals to consume excessive amounts,” he warned. “This combination of low nutritional value, high sugar content and poor satiety can have significant health implications.”

Each additional highly sugary beverage consumed daily increases the risk of developing diabetes, high blood pressure or heart disease, Perry cautioned.

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The World Health Organization recommends limiting free sugars – such as those found in beverages with added sugar – to less than 10% of total daily energy consumption, the doctor noted.

“Beverages with added sugar are one of the most easily modifiable risk factors for various downstream health issues,” Perry added.

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For those who do decide to try the dirty soda trend, Palinski-Wade recommends choosing a small size, using a diet soda base and limiting it to a rare treat.

“It really belongs in the same category as a cake or a milkshake – occasionally, and in smaller portions.”

Americans born after 1970 are dying faster than their parents did, data shows.

New analysis from Tufts University reveals that Gen Xers and millennials are failing to outlive their predecessors, dying at higher rates from common chronic illnesses and external causes than previous generations did when they were the same age.

Data shows that U.S. life expectancy has steadily improved for most of the 20th century, meaning each generation generally lived longer than the one before it.

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However, that changed starting with individuals born in the 1950s. While Americans born in the 1940s experienced steadily improving survival rates at every stage of life, those born in the 1950s saw that progress slow or reverse.

The downward trend has continued with each subsequent generation, with the biggest change seen in Americans born after 1970.

The research, which tracks 45 years of American mortality data from 1979 to 2019, was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, according to a Tufts press release.

Between the ages of 30 and 49, Americans born after 1970 experience higher death rates from heart disease, cancer and external causes (such as drug overdoses, suicide, homicides and traffic accidents) compared to older generations when they were in that same age bracket.

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Why are younger generations dying sooner?

Because the study focused on mapping patterns rather than conducting clinical trials, researchers say it can’t point to a single definitive cause for the decline.

However, the study points out two distinct issues affecting American life expectancy. The first is generational decline, meaning that newer generations are entering middle age while carrying higher risk factors than their predecessors.

Additionally, a separate, nationwide setback began around 2010, negatively impacting almost every living adult simultaneously, regardless of their birth year. Researchers say this period was marked by a slowdown of decades-long progress against cardiovascular disease.

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U.S. life expectancy improved by just 0.26 years between 2010 and 2019. In comparison, the country gained an average of 1.78 years of life expectancy per decade over the previous 50 years, according to the analysis.

This has caused the U.S. to fall further behind on a global scale. The life expectancy gap between the U.S. and the top-performing nation grew from 2.6 years in 1983 to 4.7 years by 2009.

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Shifting health risks

Earlier generations were heavily impacted by cigarette smoking. In contrast, younger generations face rising obesity rates and related conditions, such as colon cancer, data shows.

The researchers noted that the rise of the opioid epidemic also significantly accelerated overdose deaths for post-1970 generations starting in the late 1990s.

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The team cited widening economic inequality, social instability and chronic stress as larger issues that could be driving multiple causes of death at the same time.

Because Americans born after 1970 are still in the middle stages of life, the full impact of these elevated mortality rates has not yet fully registered in overall national life expectancy figures, they noted.

“Although this study does not provide direct evidence, we can speculate about some interventions to explore,” lead study author Leah Abrams, an assistant professor of community health at Tufts University, said in the press release.

“To reduce deaths from cardiovascular disease, we may want to address risk factors such as diabetes, hypertension and obesity. Addressing colon cancer mortality among younger individuals may involve related factors and benefit from improving diet.”

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Looking ahead, the researchers plan to analyze newly released 2024 mortality data to understand how the pandemic may have affected U.S. mortality trends.