Can vitamin patches help you gain focus, lose weight or sleep? Experts are skeptical.

Patches are becoming the next big thing in supplement delivery, as they transmit nutrients directly to the bloodstream through the skin. One menopause-relief patch promises “instant and lasting results all night long.” But these patches might violate Food and Drug Administration rules regarding the marketing of supplements. Read more at The Washington Post …

Impossible Foods founder says his project is meat because it fills meat’s function

Consumers eat meat from animals because that’s how it’s always been done, says Patrick Brown, Impossible Foods’ CEO and founder. Because his plant-based burgers and other products have the same flavor profile, sensory profile and nutrition, they should be called meat as well, he said. Not everyone agrees, however. Read more at QZ.com …

CBD oil users who say it helps relieve pain, anxiety frustrated to learn product is illegal in Ohio

The use of CBD oil is increasing as people find it eases pain from arthritis, multiple sclerosis, injuries and more. Although cannabidiol is made from cannabis plants, it doesn’t make people high, as THC does when they consume marijuana. CBD will be legal when Ohio’s medical-marijuana program starts, but that could still be months away. Read more at the Akron Beacon Journal …

Here’s the ugly truth about the ugly produce movement

Is the “ugly food” movement taking nutritious food away from low-income residents who need it? A venture-capitalist company that buys surplus “ugly” produce around Oakland, California, sells it through a subscription service. That diversion, says an unnamed representative of Phat Beets Produce in North Oakland, takes food resources for the underprivileged out of the community. Read more at The New Food Economy …

Scientists are retooling bacteria to cure disease

A clinical trial over the summer might help determine if microbes can be medicine. Researchers in the field of synthetic biology have been looking at how genes work together and manipulating that network. Now, they are trying to create microbes that can treat humans from inside the body. Read more at The New York Times …