September 14, 2024 — For reasons that escape us, it has become fashionable to preach that food is medicine. So food marketers are looking for snippets of research they can use to persuade people to buy their latest formulations of food-like and ultra-processed products, Standing in unflinching opposition are food policy advocates who (though they favor the food-is-medicine catchphrase) […]
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. […]
June 10, 2022 — The theme is a meme. Food is medicine. Exercise is medicine. Now yet again, a big study tells us that people who drink coffee live longer. So should we be on the lookout for a coffee is medicine campaign, funded by big java? Gosh, we hope not. Another Large Observational Study Stirring this subject up […]
March 30, 2022 — Objectivity about the risks of drinking alcohol is not easy to find. Just like sweet beverages, alcohol has been part of human culture and a source of pleasure for thousands of years. An awareness of its health risks also has a very long history. Because humans can rationalize just about anything, we embrace assurances from […]
April 14, 2018 — Is there any objective difference between the pleasure we feel in viewing Monet’s paintings or eating M&Ms? Perhaps this seems like an odd question. But it’s the subject of intense scientific controversy. And it’s relevant to our thinking about food. Hungry for Pleasure Julia Christensen started this scientific scuffle last year by publishing a provocative […]
