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, […]
May 6, 2025 — Coffee and chicken are fueling nutrition headlines this week. “Black coffee improves insulin sensitivity in women,” say headlines sparked by one study. “Eating chicken could shorten your lifespan, raise cancer risk,” according to headlines from another study. Coffee good, chicken bad. Got it. Eating Chicken Isn’t Killing You Please, don’t hit the panic button if […]
April 24, 2025 — Can obesity prevention be as simple as telling people to chew more slowly? That’s what the principal investigator of a new study published in Nutrients, Professor Katsumi Iizuka, says: “These are easy, money-saving measures that can be started right away to help prevent obesity. “Incorporating the proposed eating behavior into school lunches and other programs […]
April 20, 2025 — Morgan Gates sums up his approach to nutrition for the Wall Street Journal succinctly: “I found that if I prioritized protein and half-assed the rest of everything else, it gave me the body I wanted.” Gates is 28-year-old sales rep. He’s a consumer who has clearly absorbed a certain thread of health claims from food […]
February 28, 2025 — Typically, the news we read about adherence to dietary advice is a little depressing. We read report after report saying our diets are terrible. But here is a bright spot. For some time now, doctors – especially pediatricians – have been telling us: “Juice is not healthy.” Whole fruit is better. Surprisingly, people seem to […]
January 11, 2025 — Yes. This is a relief. We are in the midst of what used to be called “diet season.” Yet we are not getting an onslaught of advice about Atkins, paleo, vegan, or an assortment of obscure dietary approaches for fast weight loss. Instead, we are getting tips for healthy eating – such as this advice […]
December 31, 2024 — The best thing about this day is that we can finally say we are done with 2024. We can savor the good news it brought and put the bad behind us. And while you are shaking off that bad news, we want to offer you some bad ideas on obesity, nutrition, and health that perhaps […]
December 22, 2024 — For the first time in 30 years, FDA has handed the food industry a better tool for marketing their products as “healthy.” But that’s not all. The agency is also working on a seal – an FDA-approved symbol – food marketers can put on their products if they meet the agency’s definition for healthy food. […]
September 30, 2024 — The abrupt and immediate departure of Sima Sistani as CEO of Weight Watchers prompts us to ask: Is the diet industry dead? Weight Watchers grew from its origins in the early 1960s to become the iconic brand that dominated this field. For decades now, the popular impulse to reject diet culture has been growing. In […]
September 29, 2024 — 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 […]
