November 14, 2023 — Please. We don’t need fake controversies and false comparative claims. But in reporting on an excellent new study of the effects of cutting salt on blood pressure, we’re getting a little bit of both. The study that is generating this frenzy simply doesn’t line up with the headlines that reporters are spinning out of it. […]
February 26, 2023 — Quietly and systematically, Tera Fazzino has been working with colleagues to define a concept of hyper-palatable foods that might explain the apparent effect of ultra-processed foods on body composition and thus, obesity. The latest chapter in this quest appeared recently in Nature Food. In short, a narrative is taking shape that we may have a […]
October 14, 2021 — It only took five years. But then, the U.S. government has been through a lot in those five years. Yesterday the FDA finally released voluntary guidelines aiming to cut sodium in prepared foods by 12 percent over the next two and a half years. In a joint statement, Acting Commissioner Janet Woodcock and CFSAN Director […]
May 17, 2019 — Kevin Hall is a bit of a myth buster. In a number of studies, he has put popular ideas about obesity and nutrition under the microscope of objective data. And by doing so, he proved them wrong. But in a new study published yesterday, he proved himself wrong about ultra-processed food. In a carefully controlled […]
April 4, 2019 — It’s a impressive factoid. According to a new study in Lancet, poor diets are a factor in one fifth of the world’s deaths every year. The biggest culprits are too much salt, along with too little fruit and whole grains. All of this comes from the Global Burden of Disease project at the University of […]
October 2, 2018 — France has one of the lowest obesity rates in the world. But it’s growing and the French parliament knows why. Le Big Mac. Burgers outsold baguettes for the first time ever in 2017. Burgers are on the menus in 85 percent of French restaurants. They sold 1.5 billion of them last year. So naturally, when the parliament […]
May 10, 2017 — What could be simpler than salt? Plenty, it seems. New research in the Journal of Clinical Investigations suggests that some basic concepts about dietary salt are way off the mark. You think it makes you thirsty so you’ll drink more water? As it turns out, that’s not how it works. Instead, salty food and drink […]
August 7, 2016 — When consumers define healthy food, they look for the absence of junk. Is the food nutritious? That’s just about the last thing consumers think of, according to new research from the International Food Information Council (IFIC) Foundation. When asked, how do you define a healthy food, the top answer consumers give by far is that it “does […]
April 22, 2013 — Labeling food to guide consumers to healthier choices is a tricky business. Ask Campbell’s, which had to execute a messy u-turn in 2011. Sales slumped when they went too far in reducing salt content for some of their soups and low-sodium claims backfired. A new study, though, suggests that deftly-executed salt labeling can help guide […]
December 26, 2012 — The World Health Organization recommends no more than 5 grams of salt per day, but it’s very hard for Americans to meet that goal given our biological drive to seek it and the fact that many processed foods contain high levels. But some food companies are trying to reduce salt in their products using a […]
