There's nothing like fear to generate abnormal behavior. And in the age of COVID-19 there's plenty of fear going around (so expect a lot of it). In the past few months, we've seen that one of these odd behaviors is attributed to a significant number of health-news headlines recommending vitamin C to purportedly assist one's immune response to COVID-19. Let's take a closer look.
Food & Nutrition
Be honest. Few of us actually read nutritional labels. That said, marketing specialists have studied which labels may make a difference, and to whom. Can we use their findings to help us make other choices?
There’s a new diet that’s the talk of the town. It advocates eating more calories, not less. So is it all fad, or is there a grain of truth to it?
Dr. Mark Hyman, who pushes alternative medicine and nutrition pseudoscience, compares processed food to the Holocaust, fabricates statistics, and takes a swipe at the American Council on Science and Health. That was inadvisable.
How about a little something not COVID-19? Coffee is, far and away, one of our most popular beverages, with an estimated 400 billion cups poured annually in the U.S. Despite that figure, powered by Starbucks, McDonald's and other big brands, we aren't even in the Top 10 consuming countries. So while sipping that cup of java or mocha, let's take a look at the history of coffee.
A European study found that 44% of "antibiotic-free" animal feed samples tested contained antibiotics.
Hating on “seed oils” is the latest dietary fad. Here’s why it’s misguided.
The pandemic has accelerated on-line grocery sales as the fear of shortages has given way to the fear of being out and about.
How did drinking a large glass of expensive celery juice every morning become the latest health fad? It beats us.
In the world of nutrition, potatoes seem to have fallen from grace. Meanwhile, sweet potatoes still -- largely -- get away scot-free. What is this travesty? We examine the evidence.
"Recency bias" states that more recent memories come to mind more quickly. But specific ideas and objects that have “stood the test of time” can overcome recency bias. How do we take longevity into account when making judgments? Are old conserved ideas better than the novel? In the attention economy novel wins, but what about in our day-to-day lives?
The singer Adele, and her significant slim down, has been credited to a combination of exercise and eating so-called “sirtfoods.” So what is the sirt diet -- and could it work for you? Let's take a look.