The prevalence of obesity has become a global health concern, with significant impacts on quality of life and mortality rates. Recent research has highlighted the role of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) in driving the obesity epidemic. UPFs undergo extensive processing, often containing high levels of sugars, fats, and additives, while lacking essential nutrients. Studies have linked UPF consumption to obesity and cardiometabolic diseases, underscoring the importance of dietary patterns rich in whole foods. Thus, the aim of this narrative review is to elucidate the correlation between ultra-processed foods and the increased trend of obesity and its related complications. These foods, prevalent in modern diets, contribute to nutritional deficiencies and excessive caloric intake, exacerbating obesity rates. Lifestyle factors such as busy schedules and quick meal management further drive UPF consumption, disrupting hunger regulation and promoting overeating. UPF consumption correlates with adverse health outcomes, including dyslipidemia, hypertension, and insulin resistance. Promoting whole, minimally processed foods and implementing school-based nutrition education programs are crucial steps. Also, numerous challenges exist, including unequal access to healthy foods, the industry’s influence, and behavioral barriers to dietary change. Future research should explore innovative approaches, such as nutrigenomics and digital health technologies, to personalize interventions and evaluate policy effectiveness. Collaboration across disciplines and sectors will be vital to develop comprehensive solutions and improve public health outcomes globally.

Knowledge about the mechanisms of transmission and the processing of nociceptive information, both in healthy and pathological states, has greatly expanded in recent years. This rapid progress is due to a multidisciplinary approach involving the simultaneous use of different branches of study, such as systems neurobiology, behavioral analysis, genetics, and cell and molecular techniques. This narrative review aims to clarify the mechanisms of transmission and the processing of pain while also taking into account the characteristics and properties of nociceptors and how the immune system influences pain perception. Moreover, several important aspects of this crucial theme of human life will be discussed. Nociceptor neurons and the immune system play a key role in pain and inflammation. The interactions between the immune system and nociceptors occur within peripheral sites of injury and the central nervous system. The modulation of nociceptor activity or chemical mediators may provide promising novel approaches to the treatment of pain and chronic inflammatory disease. The sensory nervous system is fundamental in the modulation of the host’s protective response, and understanding its interactions is pivotal in the process of revealing new strategies for the treatment of pain.

Recent findings showed that obesity represents an additional risk factor to developing brain illness such as cognitive impairments and psychopathological disorders. However, some benefits of overweight in the elderly have been identified and an “obesity paradox” has been shown. Currently, it is still unknown how obesity and brain functioning could be linked, and the process by which body fat independently injures cognitive abilities and psychological well-being remains unclear. To establish the independent role of obesity on cognitive abilities and mental health, clarifying the role played by several factors and understanding their interaction is essential. In this review, we discuss the relationship between obesity and brain illness and underline the role played by confounders and other covariates to determine this link.

Recent literature highlights that the use of smartphones during meals increases the number of calories ingested in young people. Although the distraction interferes with physiological signals of hunger and satiety, a social facilitation effect has also been suggested. Cognition is a pivotal component in regulating food intake, and activities requiring high perceptual demands should be discouraged during meals.

Orexins, or hypocretins, are excitatory neuropeptides involved in the regulation of feeding behavior and the sleep and wakefulness states. Since their discovery, several lines of evidence have highlighted that orexin neurons regulate a great range of physiological functions, giving it the definition of a multitasking system. In the present review, we firstly describe the mechanisms underlining the orexin system and their interactions with the central nervous system (CNS). Then, the system’s involvement in goal-directed behaviors, sleep/wakefulness state regulation, feeding behavior and energy homeostasis, reward system, and aging and neurodegenerative diseases are described. Advanced evidence suggests that the orexin system is crucial for regulating many physiological functions and could represent a promising target for therapeutical approaches to obesity, drug addiction, and emotional stress.

Decreased upper-extremity/visuomotor abilities are frequently encountered in healthy aging. However, few studies have assessed hand movements in the prodromal stage of dementia. The evaluation of visuomotor skills in patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment (PwMCI) may have non-negligible clinical relevance both in diagnostic and prognostic terms, given the strong relationships with executive functioning and functional autonomies. In the present review paper, these issues will be disclosed by describing general pathophysiological and neuropsychological mechanisms responsible for visuomotor deficits, and by reporting the available experimental results on differences in visuomotor functioning between PwMCI, healthy controls and/or patients with dementia. Moreover, the relationships binding visuomotor and executive domains to functional autonomies will be then addressed. Finally, we will propose insights for future research.