November 20, 2024 — With detailed reporting in New York Times Magazine, Tomas Weber suggests that GLP-1 medicines “turn consumers off ultra-processed foods” and threaten to “crush the junk-food business.” He has woven a great collection of anecdotes into an appealing narrative. For instance, Kathleen Kenney has lost more than 100 pounds on these advanced medicines. She tells a […]
October 29, 2023 — Unassailable definitions of healthy food and healthy eating are elusive. Is whole milk a healthy beverage? Or one that should be banned from school lunches? We have great sympathy for the task that the scientific advisory committee for the 2025 edition of Dietary Guidelines for Americans has taken on. But what if perceptions of healthy […]
April 24, 2023 — For an accounting for the food that is fueling a relentless rise in obesity, NIH researcher Kevin Hall is a good source. At the Obesity Medicine 2023 conference in New York Saturday morning, this is exactly what we heard. Systematically, Hall described his work to understand how food can be an important input into a […]
November 24, 2022 — Much research goes into understanding how our environment prompts relentlessly rising problems with obesity – with good reason. Much of that research focuses on the substance of the food itself. The characteristics of ultra-processed food is a favorite topic right now. So we find delight in recent research that focuses instead on the broader context […]
April 15, 2022 — The drumbeat is growing louder. “Ultra-processed foods are trashing our health – and the planet,” say four nutrition scientists from Deakin University. It would be hard to find a clearer definition of these products as our enemy. Yet another set of distinguished nutrition scientists argue that ultra-processed alternatives to meat and dairy can offer valuable […]
November 24, 2016 — Bounty and blessings are two distinct aspects of this Thanksgiving day in America. Many images of the holiday evoke a bountiful feast. In a classic study, Melanie Wallendorf and Eric Arnould described Thanksgiving as a consumption ritual. Thanksgiving Day is a collective ritual that celebrates material abundance enacted through feasting. Thanksgiving Day both marks and proves […]
