November 17, 2025 — Marion Nestle has a new book that reflects decades of insights gleaned from navigating the perverse economy of food. It is well worth your time. Not because we agree with every word. But precisely because we do not and you may not either – yet her words reflect careful thought and consideration of how our […]
November 1, 2025 — We’re packing our bags and scanning the meeting app for ObesityWeek in Atlanta, November 4-7. This promises to be a very intense week, with the biggest attendance yet for this signature meeting of the Obesity Society. The agenda for the week has a lot of options and we are still processing them all. But for […]
October 29, 2025 — In 2016, the use of the word “numbskull” in English literature soared to a new high. It has remained high ever since. Though we cannot be sure why, we are confident that members of Congress are earning that label as they crash toward creating an utterly unnecessary American hunger crisis by cutting off SNAP food […]
October 26, 2025 — Slogans are great. They serve as a tool for selling products, ideas, and, yes, even policies, because they stick with people and can attract support. But they don’t always hold up well under scrutiny and over time. As slogans go, Food as Medicine is having a good run. But it is wearing a little thin […]
October 19, 2025 — 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 […]
September 22, 2025 — Don’t look up statistics on hunger, says USDA. It only causes “fear mongering.” To make sure we don’t have to worry about that, the agency is canceling the survey research on food insecurity it’s been doing for 30 years. That’s right. USDA announced over the weekend that measurement of food insecurity is unnecessary: “The U.S. […]
September 13, 2025 — This week brought us a new report from the MAHA Commission, calling it “a sweeping plan with more than 120 initiatives to reverse the failed policies that fueled America’s childhood chronic disease epidemic.” But on reflection, it seems like MAHA bluster met the reality of health policy and turned into something that looks more like […]
August 24, 2025 — We are hearing much sound and fury about making America healthy and the noise is largely about improving the quality of the U.S. food supply. It would indeed be nice if MAHA brought us a better food supply. But in a thoughtful piece for The Atlantic, Yasmin Tayag says a more likely outcome may be […]
August 9, 2025 — Making America Healthy is an industry with very low barriers to entry. Lots of people have fun with it. They also make lots of noise. The trouble is that because of those low barriers to entry, most of them, including some academics, do very little to actually make Americans healthy. Instead, they generate headlines and […]
May 15, 2025 — Who needs 164 pages of nutrition mumbo jumbo? The U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, yesterday told the House Appropriations Committee he will be releasing a four-page document that sounds a lot like U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Dummies. He says it will be done by August: “We have until January, […]
