Category: Media Coverage
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Michael Moss Deconstructs the Potato Chip for The Atlantic
During a recent interview with Atlantic journalist Joe Fassler, author Michael Moss discussed “the language of junk-food addiction” and the role of salt, sugar, fat, and texture in snack foods allegedly engineered to promote “mindless eating—where were [sic] not really paying attention to what we’re putting in our mouths.” According to Moss, who spoke with…
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HBR Article Examines Current Books About “Big Food”
Writing in the May 2013 edition of the Harvard Business Review (HBR), the editorial director of the HBR Press, Tim Sullivan, considers the questions raised by three new books that examine the evolution of the food industry and its relationship to consumer health. Turning to Michael Moss’s Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us,…
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Mother Jones Dismisses New BPA Findings, Citing Industry Ties
Food writer Tom Philpott has authored a March 13, 2013, Mother Jones article taking issue with a meta-analysis of bisphenol A (BPA) studies that toxicologist Justin Teeguarden recently presented at the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the meta-analysis covered 150 exposure studies and 130 toxicity studies,…
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NYT Reports on “Anti-Bloomberg” Bills Gaining Traction at State Level
The New York Times has reported that an “anti-Bloomberg” bill intended to curtail the ability of local governments to pass food regulations has gained significant support in Mississippi, where Governor Phil Bryant (R) is expected to sign the measure into law. “It is easy to view the new Mississippi law with an ironic eye,” writes…
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Sunstein Focuses on the Nanny State in Book Review
According to Law Professor and former White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Administrator Cass Sunstein, a new book addresses the intersection of recent findings on human behavior with the paternalism many Americans equate with “big government” regulations, such as New York City’s restrictions on the size of sugar-sweetened beverages. Sarah Conly’s Against Autonomy: Justifying…
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WSJ “Numbers Guy” Questions Usefulness of BMI
Wall Street Journal columnist Carl Bialik recently authored two related articles questioning whether body mass index (BMI) is a reliable data point insofar as it “lumps together all body mass, including bone, muscle and beneficial fat, rather than singling out the more dangerous abdominal fat, which most researchers see as the real threat to health.”…
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Psychiatry Professor Calls for Anti-Tobacco Initiatives to Address Obesity Epidemic
In a University of Oxford Press (UOP) blog post titled “From cigarettes to obesity, public health at risk,” University of Florida Psychiatry Professor Mark Gold advances his food addiction hypothesis and suggests, “If overeating is due to food acquiring drug-like or tobacco-like brain reinforcement properties, then the current globesity and overeating-related health crisis might have…
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NYT Chronicles Push to Unionize Fast-Food Workers
A recent article in The New York Times has highlighted the efforts of Fast Food Forward, a campaign seeking to unionize fast-food workers in New York City. According to Times labor and workplace reporter Steven Greenhouse, the campaign has worked with 40 full-time organizers with the support of community and civil rights groups to recruit…