September 13, 2023 — The 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee just finished an afternoon of taking public comments at its third meeting. They are well on their way to producing a scientific report that might guide the guidance when it emerges in time for the dawn of 2025. Right now, it does seem like everyone is ultra-worried about what […]
September 12, 2023 — People are beginning to discover a major side effect of advanced meds for obesity that is not gastrointestinal – it’s economic disruption. Retailers, food makers, and participants in the huge business of health systems are all just starting to wrap their heads around the disruptive potential of more accessible and effective obesity treatment. Already, the […]
August 7, 2023 — The headlines are great. “Pecans: the surprising superfood for obesity prevention and wellness” says one. “Pecans pack a punch in fighting obesity, diabetes and inflammation” according to another. All this magical thinking about pecans comes from a study of mice on a high-fat diet. What does this mean for humans? Mainly it means that the […]
July 30, 2023 — We know that meat has a substantial impact on the planet, and that plant-based diets are more environmentally sustainable. But exactly how much impact does the food we eat have on environmental outcomes and what difference would following a vegan diet make compared to consuming a high meat, or even low meat diet? We studied […]
July 29, 2023 — Two publications this week set up a stark contrast in views of how bad the abundance of ultra-processed food is. In the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, Kevin Hall tells us that these foods present us with a huge challenge. He writes that we must: “Transform the current food system to one that […]
July 24, 2023 — We’re hearing quite a buzz at Nutrition 2023 about ultra-processed foods. Presenting in a session on scientific questions regarding ultra-processed foods, Distinguished Professor Rick Mattes offered one statement that perhaps everyone concerned with this subject can agree upon: “An abundance of epidemiologic evidence shows, very convincingly, that there is an association between consumption of ultra-processed […]
July 14, 2023 — The WHO has taken its skill for exquisitely confusing messages on public health to new heights. One of its agencies, the IARC, declared yesterday that aspartame is “possibly carcinogenic.” At the same time, a separate committee of WHO, the JECFA, reaffirmed that it’s no problem if a person consumes up to 40 mg per kg […]
July 13, 2023 — A new study in the Journal of Nutrition reports that people can eat 91 per cent of their calories from ultra-processed foods and still be eating a pretty healthy diet. Hold Onto Your Socks This is not opposites day. Rather, it might be that the we are living in a time of peak demonization of […]
July 2, 2023 — The impulse to attach health claims to food is growing stronger among many advocates and agencies for food and health policy. The FDA is moving to put nutrition information on the front of food packages. This news comes in addition to the agency’s seven-year quest to define healthy for food marketing claims. The Food Is […]
June 25, 2023 — We take it as a given – we want to eat healthy. Since 2016, FDA has been working on developing an updated definition for the meaning of “healthy” if a food seller wants to say that about one of its products. The agency is still struggling with this question today. So we were glad to […]
