A recent study quantifies some of the previously undocumented benefits of the Green Revolution. The results are nothing short of stunning.
nutrition
Are "ultra-processed" foods addictive? Some scientists say yes, pointing to experiments with sugar-craving rats and the difficulty many people have losing weight and keeping it off. Taken in isolation, these observations lend themselves to a food addiction model, but there's actually little evidence to support the theory.
Can avoiding certain foods reduce your dementia risk? One nutritional psychiatrist seems to think so, but the evidence is much messier than it looks at first glance.
Social workers, forgotten members of the care team. Can music really soothe us physiologically? A pill that results in 15% weight loss, and what we eat has more to do with our values than nutrition.
Pregnancy and pediatric "advice" comes from all directions when you're a soon-to-be parent, and most of it is scientifically dubious. In part one, I examined the potentially harmful suggestions my wife and I received from friends and family. This time, I'll cover the less deadly but still ridiculous recommendations.
America eats a lot of potatoes, well over 100 pounds per person annually. According to Harvard’s School of Public Health, a potato is not to be considered a vegetable. What up with that?
Can nudging consumers to make more nutritious grocery choices work? Can discounts and coupons alter our choices? A new study looks at personalized grocery shopping, with an eye towards nutrition and a gentle push motivated by savings.
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.
The internet is brimming with nutritional nonsense. A new book teaches us how to spot the myths.
Are those cheery ads, featuring celebrities with a milk mustache, actually beckoning you towards a shorter life and telomeres? Or is this just another "nutritional nowhere" situation? A recent study reports definitively, perhaps.
A controversial article on red meat had an unintended consequence: it unmasked the ties between science and industry. Not the meat industry, but the "anti-meat" health-advocacy industry, which reaches into academia and commercial interests. JAMA takes a stance. Good for them, which is good for us.