June 23, 2020 — Tamar Haspel tells a positively appealing story in the Washington Post this week. We don’t have a problem with obesity because of carbs, she writes. Nor fats, nor processed foods. The problem is the food environment. Cheap, convenient food surrounds us, with endless prompts to eat it. All these food cues, coaxing us to eat […]
June 21, 2020 — We’ve seen quite a range of responses to the observation that obesity leads to worse outcomes with COVID-19. But most of them are unhelpful. First, of course, was denial. Now we have the anger phase. Over in the U.K., folks are murmuring that we should blame the food industry. Writing in the BMJ, Monique Tan, […]
June 15, 2020 — Now, there can be no doubt. This new coronavirus is indeed a cruel one. It is radically reshaping our dietary habits. Many of us are having to cook at home. But it’s worse than that. As a few of us start venturing out and staying at newly sanitized hotels, something is missing. No more DIY […]
June 9, 2020 — The expectations are low, so it’s not getting much attention. The 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee is trying to wrap up its work on a report. That report goes into a black box at FDA and USDA. Then sometime around the end of the year, the 2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans will pop out from […]
June 7, 2020 — No fair! So says the Sugar Association. “Big sugar” petitioned FDA last week because they want food labeling to call out non-caloric sweeteners. Not just sugar. You can’t really blame them for trying. Righteous food activists have been beating up on sugar so much, for so long, that per capita consumption of sugar and caloric […]
May 22, 2020 — Remember when Blue Apron was poised for a hot IPO? It’s only been three years, but it seems like a lifetime. Along with the rest of a flock of fledgling meal kit services, Blue Apron has been down in the dumps since its IPO. It seems that beautiful images and romantic notions of cooking with […]
May 13, 2020 — Two new papers give us a mixed picture of results from the holy war to drive sweet drinks from the American diet. On the front lines in Oakland, California, economists tell us that a beverage tax has had negligible effects. But the good news is that perhaps that doesn’t matter. Researchers have discovered that sweetened […]
May 6, 2020 — As the coronavirus pandemic rages on, politicians discuss a quick return to normal – whatever that is. But we see many mounting mashups of wildly contradictory extremes. Perhaps none is more striking than the growing contradiction between massive food waste, insecurity, and hunger. Food Banks Overwhelmed Food banks are facing unprecedented demand for their services. […]
April 29, 2020 — We have the meats! So says Arby’s in its advertising. Likewise, the U.S. government is stepping up to make sure we can all say this. Last night, President Trump signed an executive order for meat packing plants to stay open during the pandemic. Some have been closing because of rising deaths among workers due to […]
April 13, 2020 — You’ll find lots of speculation about the implications of the COVID-19 lockdown on nutrition. Much of it promotes familiar themes about bad dietary habits. Nutrition guilt trips should be banned in the lockdown, but apparently, they’re not. However, a more interesting and related subject is how the lockdown is totally disrupting the production and distribution […]
