Posts Tagged ‘evidence informed policy’

News surfaced this week that NCI is redirecting resources from serious cancer research into a highly speculative study aimed at showing ivermectin can “kill cancer cells.” Let’s face it. In matters of health, including public health, there is demand in certain corners of the public right now for baloney. Fact-based dialogue about evidence or risks […]

FDA and the MAHA Commission seem to be making health labels for food and beverage products a priority. But it looks like the front-of-pack label in the current proposal is relatively ineffective. At least that’s what we’re seeing in a new randomized controlled study by Anna Grummon et al in JAMA Network Open. It was […]

The sincerity and passion of Dariush Mozaffarian is easy to recognize and admire. His deep belief in the opportunity for good food to make us healthier is familiar. It echoes the impassioned pitch of a politician before Senate hearings this week. Too many Americans have too many “diet-related” diseases. Time’s a wastin’! Let them all […]

God bless the people who put their time into the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. It fits the textbook definition of a thankless task. Years of work go into producing a scientifically sound set of recommendations for a new edition of dietary guidelines to emerge sometime next year. But no matter what those recommendations are, people […]

Evidence is mounting linking ultra-processed foods (UPF) to risk of chronic disease. Typically, UPF are foods that are energy-dense, high in fat, sugar, and salt, low in fibre, and with a long shelf life. Examples include biscuits, chips, candy, instant noodles, mass-produced bread, sweetened breakfast cereals, ready-to-eat meals, and reconstituted meats. Dietary recommendations encourage people […]

What’s the harm? For many “interventions” to reduce obesity prevalence, this rationale seems to be good enough to spur implementation. Menu labeling is a good example. Restaurants in the U.S. and in numerous other places must publish the number of calories in food portions they sell. This went into effect based upon suppositions. Policy makers […]

The Obesity and Energetics Offerings from the Indiana University School of Public Health and the University of Alabama at Birmingham NORC certainly got our attention this week with an entry titled “Cherished Hypotheses Meet Hard Facts.” That entry links us to two new systematic reviews of randomized controlled trials to assess prevention of obesity in […]

The perils of ultra-processed foods received widespread coverage in recent months – thanks in no small part to the publication and promotion of TV presenter and doctor of virology Chris Van Tulleken’s book Ultra-Processed People. Ultra-processed foods, in short, are commercially manufactured food products that include ingredients you wouldn’t cook with at home. Some of this […]

Some things never change. Half a century ago, editors of the Lancet proclaimed that “most obesity could, with care, be prevented.” Drugs have “limited usefulness” for treating obesity, they explained, and so, “we need to be more vigilant about preventing obesity throughout childhood.” After 50 years of relying on this advice, obesity prevalence has tripled. […]

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 […]