January 12, 2026 — Justin Sung and Dana Small are two neurobiologists offering us some very basic wisdom. It is wisdom with roots in a sophisticated understanding of biology. We should take care not to lose the pleasure of food. In PLOS Biology, they offer a very cogent argument in defense of the pleasure of food. Their bottom line […]
January 8, 2026 — Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. yesterday announced muddled new Dietary Guidelines for Americans in which everyone can find plenty to love or hate – or both. These are the perfect guidelines for our era. TikTok nutrition influencers can spin them any way they want. RFK can tell everyone that he’s owning the so-called nutrition […]
January 4, 2026 — The new year has brought a new natural experiment on the effects of restricting availability of “non-nutritious” foods. That’s a euphemism for junk foods. Policymakers who are opposed to regulating the availability of junk food – “a threat to freedom” – have no reluctance about regulating the freedom of people who need food assistance. Thus, […]
January 1, 2026 — The slate is clean. All is forgiven. We have a fresh new year ahead. So that has us thinking about the trends that are likely to define 2026 in obesity, nutrition, and health. Here are five that floated to the top of our mind. 1. Healthy Weight for Life We have said it before. Weight […]
December 31, 2025 — This has been quite a year that we are closing out on this New Year’s Eve. As we start another new year, we will be leaving behind an ample collection of curses we suffered and blessings we enjoyed in 2025. No doubt, you have your list. So here is our own brief list of the […]
December 28, 2025 — Yet another careful study of shifts in spending on food and restaurant purchases tells us that yes indeed, GLP-1s will likely reshape markets for food. Food systems already feel it and are beginning to adapt. But truthfully, this is probably just a faint, flickering indication of what’s to come. A Careful Analysis of Food Purchasing […]
December 27, 2025 — This was a year of great change in nutrition, physical activity, and wellness. RFK Jr. and his MAHA agenda came in with the new administration, “guns-a-blazing,” as our president might say. The result has been some very interesting cross-currents and attention-grabbing headlines. Here are five of the biggest stories we’ve been watching this year. 1. […]
December 22, 2025 — We’ve had a lot to write about this year and you, our readers, have been doing a lot of reading. This running commentary is simply a labor of love. We don’t sell advertising or anything else here, but we do take pleasure when you read what we write and we do pay attention. So with […]
December 18, 2025 — For addressing diet-related diseases – especially obesity – a great deal of attention goes toward the demand for food in comparison to the supply. Think about all the effort that goes into nudging people toward healthier diets. Nutrition Facts labels insinuate what is “healthy” to eat and what is not. We have epic battles about […]
December 17, 2025 — A new systematic review in Annals of Internal Medicine underscores something we’ve long said in obesity and nutrition science. The science of saturated fat is complex, and nuance is its first casualty when the headlines start spinning. A Risk-Stratified Analysis Steen and colleagues conducted a risk-stratified analysis of 17 randomized trials. It is the largest […]
