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ANH News Beat (23/2026)

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Our weekly roundup of the latest natural news from across the globe in one place. This week: Rob Verkerk - new podcast; Synbio 'foods' unsafe; Obesity isn't a disease; Gene silencing pesticides; Updates from ANH-USA and much more...

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Natural News

  • In a thought-provoking episode of Ancient Wisdom, Modern Science, host Michelle Hammond sits down with ANH founder, Robert Verkerk PhD, to explore why modern healthcare is failing and what a nature-aligned alternative might look like. Drawing on 40 years spanning ecology, agriculture, and integrative medicine, Rob argues that chronic disease is not inevitable but rather the predictable result of systems built to manage illness rather than create health. From the erosion of medical ethics and the corporate capture of science, to the importance of metabolic flexibility, resilience, and reconnecting with nature, Rob makes a compelling case for bottom-up change. A timely conversation for anyone questioning the status quo and seeking a more empowered approach to their own wellbeing. Listen to their conversation. Read the transcript.

>>> Towards a unified theory of health—and why natural health matters more than ever

  • What exactly are we being asked to drink? Following revelations in 2023 about the safety of “synbio milk” by John Fagan PhD, he’s authored a new study published in Scientific Reports casting fresh doubt on the rush toward “precision-fermented” synthetic milk products. His research found major nutritional differences between natural cow’s milk and its synbio counterpart — along with 93 previously unidentified fungal metabolites and 263 fungal proteins that have never been part of the human diet. Despite industry promises that these lab-made foods are “safe and sustainable,” the authors call for far more rigorous toxicity and allergenicity testing. As synthetic biology companies race products onto supermarket shelves, critics are asking whether consumers are becoming unwitting participants in a vast food experiment – the results of which are, as yet, unknown.

>>> Frankenfoods v2: Exploiting the Bioequivalence Principle

  • Could the key to maintaining weight loss lie in the gut microbiome? A new study published in Nature Medicine, suggests that a specific gut bacterium, Akkermansia muciniphila —key to maintaining gut lining integrity— may help reduce the amount of weight regained after dieting. Researchers found that participants taking a supplement containing pasteurised Akkermansia regained significantly less weight following an intensive diet programme compared with those given a placebo. The researchers suggested the benefits come from components of the bacterial cell rather than live microbes. The findings add to growing evidence that the trillions of microbes living in our gut play a major role in metabolism, appetite regulation, and long-term weight management.
  • It’s now widely accepted that bad diet harms the body — but what about the brain? A new systematic review and meta-analysis published in Nutritional Neuroscience has some sobering findings. Researchers analysed what happens to brain function when rats fed high-fat, high-sugar diets are returned to healthier nutrition. Encouragingly, their analysis found improving diet quality does benefit memory. But here’s the catch — those improvements were incomplete. Memory deficits caused by high-sugar diets showed almost no evidence of full recovery, even after switching to healthy food. The culprit? Added sugar emerged as the definitive barrier to neurological healing. The message is clear: when it comes to your brain, prevention beats cure.
  • An op-ed published in Nature contests the growing push to classify all obesity as a chronic disease – particularly by Big Pharma selling weight-loss products. It argues that even people with the same BMI can have radically different health outcomes — making a blanket disease label fundamentally at odds with the evidence. In 2025 an international commission of experts proposed distinguishing between clinical obesity — where excess fat directly impairs organ function — and preclinical obesity, where weight is elevated but health is otherwise preserved. The author, Prof Francesco Rubino, argues that treating risk as equivalent to disease distorts care, policy and science alike. Ultimately the solution to the obesity issue is to look upstream for the underlying causes and for people to regain metabolic flexibility and become adaptive and resilient.

>>> Ready to transform your health through food? Pick up a copy of Reset Eating (Revised 1st Edition) and discover how to turn every meal into powerful medicine.

  • A controversial paper from Neil Z Miller, exploring a possible association between vaccination timing and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), has been removed from the journal Toxicology Reports following concerns over its methodology and interpretation of data. The article’s removal has reignited wider debates around scientific transparency, peer review, censorship, and the role of open scientific discourse in public health. Critics of the removal argue that contested research should be debated rather than erased, while others maintain that flawed analyses risk undermining public trust and spreading misinformation. Rebekah Barnet has all the details, while Steve Kirsch explains how he approached the journal editors requesting supporting evidence for the removal and their response brushing his concerns aside.

>>> How the Nobel Prize Summit sold out on real science

  • The Belgian government has granted emergency approval for the use of a gene -silencing RNA interference (RNAi) pesticide targeting the Colorado Beetle. Critics argue that the emergency authorisation was sought in Belgium specifically to bypass the standard European Union approval process. The decision has sparked a strong backlash over the lack of safety data surrounding RNAi-based pesticides. Environmental organisations POLLINIS and Nature & Profrès Belgium have launched legal action, calling for the approval to be withdrawn. Big Ag is pushing ahead with the development of biologicals across a multitude of sectors and applications as it moves away from traditional pesticides, particularly in countries where there are fewer regulatory protections.
  • A High Court judgment has handed a significant victory to advocacy group Beyond GM, finding that the government’s “light touch” gene-editing regulations were unlawfully rushed through. The Court found that the Defra Farming Minister was wrongly advised about his legal powers, leading to a failure to investigate the consequences of removing safeguards on transparency, traceability, and labelling for gene-edited crops and foods. The absence of mandatory labelling, the judgment noted, places additional burdens on organic and non-organic supply chains, making it more difficult and costly for farmers, businesses, and consumers wishing to avoid GMOs, as well as for exporters trading with the EU. The regulations are now expected to be revisited in the coming weeks. The judgement once again demonstrates the power of grassroots action to challenge pro-industry legislation rather than protecting consumers and the environment. 
  • A new report from the European Non-GMO Industry Association (ENGA) highlights growing concern over proposed changes to GMO regulation that could see genetically modified organisms, including those produced using newer gene-editing techniques, brought to market under significantly weakened oversight. Critics argue that the push for faster approvals is being made without sufficient independent safety assessment, transparency, or long-term monitoring of potential environmental and health impacts. The report raises broader questions about regulatory capture and the direction of current GMO policy, warning that speed and innovation are being prioritised over precaution and public accountability.

>>> Bioengineering and GMO 2.0: ready to make an informed decision?

ANH-USA Update

  • A new scientific paper and expert panel has challenged the simplistic “ultra-processed food” narrative and has been instrumental in redefining US policy in this area. But does it go far enough? How does it deal with the growing amount of ‘synbio’ or bioengineered food hitting US supermarket shelves? Read more…
  • New legislation—the Dietary Supplement Access Act—would allow Americans to use up to $500 annually in HSA and FSA funds for dietary supplements, removing current barriers that require a physician prescription. ANH-USA supports the bill as a major step toward preventive healthcare and health freedom, giving consumers greater flexibility to use tax-advantaged healthcare dollars on wellness tools they already rely on. Support the new bill…

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