September 26, 2022 — Something is up with our food supply that’s helping to drive the ever-rising prevalence of obesity. But the precise nature of the problem with the food supply is open for debate. People have many strong opinions. We’re too dependent on factory-farmed meat, say some people. Others are pushing for a food supply that promotes more […]
May 31, 2022 — Hope springs eternal. Hype sells better than mere facts. Imagined benefits are better than objective documentation. Thus, plant-based ultra-processed foods that simulate the experience of eating meat are still enjoying a health and environmental halo. But will these plant-based meats actually help to save the planet and our health? The Big Plant-Based Health Halo In […]
May 17, 2022 — The British strategy to reverse trends in the health effects of obesity is “falling apart.” So says the distinguished obesity expert Jamie Oliver. He’s a chef, a celebrity, and thus an authority on the complex mix of biological, social, and political science that defines the public health struggle with obesity. But despite his wishes to […]
April 30, 2022 — In food policy, there’s plenty that people are ready to fight about. Dairy and meat come to mind. Anyone who’s reading this will doubtless have their own list of hot topics. But one subject that gets most people nodding their heads is marketing junk food to children. So for more than a decade, the World […]
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 […]
March 26, 2022 — Not every study in PLOS Medicine is thoroughly impressive, but this one is pure genius. Researchers at the University of Oxford have discovered that if grocers don’t promote Easter candy, they will sell less of it. But wait, there’s more. Those same researchers showed that promoting “healthy items” – like low fat potato chips – […]
February 25, 2022 — Authors of a new study in PLOS Medicine tell us that they have encouraging new evidence for an effective anti-obesity policy. They conclude “These findings provide support for policies that restrict HFSS [high fat, salt, or sugar] product advertising as a tool to reduce purchases of HFSS products, as a way of improving population diet […]
February 11, 2022 — “Whether you like it or not, processed food is here to stay,” says professor Ciarán Forde. But wait, Barry Popkin writes that we must “reverse the rapid shift to diets dominated by a stage of high ultra-processed food intake” if we want to stem the global tide of non-communicable diseases arising from obesity. The dominant […]
February 7, 2022 — Throwing in some flaxseed seems like a good way to paint a health halo. Right now, our pantry has an open box of multigrain crackers with whole wheat and flaxseed. Sounds healthy, tastes good. But on the other hand, we’ve noted that not all of the research about the marvelous health benefits of flaxseed stands […]
January 6, 2022 — We knew that 2022 would bring more plants into the food we eat, with plant-based diets continuing to be a hot topic. This long-term trend would also bring some faddish ultra-processed foods along the way, we wrote. Six days into the new year, KFC and Chipotle are fulfilling the promise with new offerings of fake […]
