March 26, 2020 — Perhaps we’re moving on from hoarding toilet paper in response to the coronavirus pandemic. We see nothing wrong with cleanliness. But new purchase trends point to a more nostalgic focus. In addition, it might be more nourishing. Plants and seeds for vegetable gardens are becoming hot items now. Maybe all this talk about the depression […]
March 24, 2020 — Risk is an abstraction. It’s invisible. So people have a tough time wrapping their heads around questions of risk. How immediate is the risk? Is it big? Does it affect me? Am I putting others in danger? These are just a few of the questions that shape how we think about knowing our risks. As […]
March 22, 2020 — Author: Jelena Kecmanovic Adjunct Professor of Psychology Georgetown University As the SARS-CoV-2 virus continues its global spread and the number of diagnosed COVID-19 cases continues to increase, anxiety related to the outbreak is on the rise too. As a psychologist, I am seeing this in my practice already. Although feeling anxiety in response to a […]
March 14, 2020 — Must everything be tribal and ideological? We think not. Yet avoiding this tendency is certainly hard for humans such as ourselves. Facing the health threat of COVID-19, we see a prime example of the importance of distinguishing science from ideology. It’s handwashing. The Most Effective Way to Prevent Transmission This is a matter scientific fact. […]
March 10, 2020 — Frank Mitloehner wants you to know that it’s not cow farts that are killing the planet. The big bovine brouhaha, he says, is a bit overblown. Really, we need to pay attention to the carbon released from carbon fuels. Of course, this line of thinking doesn’t go down well with angry vegan activists. “Let dairy […]
February 25, 2020 — The FODMAP diet is useful to help manage irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), but it’s becoming more popular. Now bloggers and so-called health gurus have jumped on board, claiming it can treat everything from acne to weight loss. While it would be great if the diet did help to manage these hard-to-treat conditions, these claims are […]
February 23, 2020 — People seem to be getting the message. Stop the sugar. Sugar is bad. A recent study tells us that traffic light labels are a good way to get that message across to consumers. Even if they don’t know much about healthy nutrition, they’re getting the message about sugar. In fact, these findings did not surprise […]
February 22, 2020 — Food and health fashion never ceases to amaze. Remember Slim Jims? Those processed meat sticks, shelf-stable forever, that people used to buy out of desperation at a convenience store? Well, suddenly they’re trendy and you can even buy upscale, grass-fed versions. We never would have guessed that processed meat sticks could become health food. A […]
February 20, 2020 — Just in case you’ve grown tired of fighting about meat, Walter Willett and David Ludwig would like to have a word with you about milk. With a review in the New England Journal of Medicine, they tell us we don’t need so much of it: In our opinion, the current recommendation to greatly increase consumption […]
February 17, 2020 — Why do we have so much obesity? One possible answer is evolution. By this, we don’t mean human evolution. Rather, we mean commercial evolution – of an obesogenic food supply. Many have suggested that the problem lies with addictive foods. Michael Moss tells a slick story about the evil food industry engineering hyperpalatable food that […]
