August 19, 2024 — “There must be a pony somewhere.” So goes the punchline of a joke about a manure pile that has circulated in various forms for more than a century. A new report in BMC Nutrition brings this joke to mind. From a great muck of uncontrolled data about dietary nudges in a single hospital convenience store, […]
May 27, 2024 — The top dishes for this Memorial Day in the U.S. are hamburgers, hot dogs, barbecue ribs, grilled chicken, corn on the cob, coleslaw, and potato salad. Homemade, none of it (except maybe the hot dogs) belongs to the current boogeyman category of ultra-processed food. Nor does it qualify as the bedrock of a healthy diet. […]
February 19, 2024 — Global food systems are a slow-rolling disaster, gaining momentum, and costing the global economy $15 trillion per year. That’s the bad news from a new policy report of the Food System Economics Commission (FSEC). The good news is that we have options, they report, which could produce economic and health benefits adding up to as […]
February 12, 2024 — Forget the Kansas City Chiefs and Taylor Swift. Well before the game ever started, it was very clear who would win the Super Bowl – the snack industry. The snacking industrial complex has been locked into hyperdrive for weeks, if not months, in preparation for last night’s event. The enticements were everywhere. The clickbait was […]
January 6, 2024 — We are hearing a cacophony lately – lots of noise about food noise. Part of what we hear is a celebration. Some people are finding blessed relief from it when they take advanced medicines for obesity like semaglutide or tirzepatide. Others see a threat in the relief that those people are finding. They deny that […]
March 11, 2023 — Belief in the power of food stores and markets to shape outcomes in obesity runs deep. Perhaps it’s unshakable. But still, recent PR spin claiming that food stores “drive” bariatric surgery outcomes takes confusion of correlation with causality to new heights. In a press release from Ohio State University, the lead author of two new […]
January 23, 2023 — In plain view, we have an interesting study of contrasts in cultural concepts for healthy eating. Americans have our Food and Drug Administration looking for criteria it can use to award a claim of “healthy” to some foods and not to others. For example, a freshly baked French baguette won’t qualify. Not enough whole grain. […]
November 21, 2022 — Macronutrient explanations for obesity have had a rough ride. Too much fat was supposed to be the culprit. Then the focus turned to refined carbs and sugar. By themselves, those were not especially enlightening tangents for the public. Some people still push back on excessively fatty foods. Sugar still counts as a dietary bad actor. […]
November 12, 2022 — It’s interesting to trace the slow evolution of thinking about the food environment and efforts to understand why it seems to be triggering ever more obesity. Food policy advocates have shifted from worrying about too much fat, to a focus on sugar, and now toward thinking that the problem must be ultra-processed foods with too […]
October 29, 2022 — We totally understand. ObesityWeek is coming up in San Diego and it’s a little overwhelming. For lots of us, this will be the first time in quite a while to connect with colleagues who share a hunger for insights into the complex chronic disease of obesity. Plus, a lot is happening in the field. Both […]
