Marion teaches as Professor at the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies and Public Health at New York University. She is the author of highly influential books, including “Food Politics: How The Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health,” “Safe Food: The Politics of Food Safety” and “How to Eat.”
What’s Up with Mad Cow Disease?
You have to feel sorry for the beef industry. First pink slime, now a mad cow. Mad cow is the common name for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), a fatal disease caused by abnormal proteins (prions) in the brain and nervous system. Here’s what we know about the latest mad cow scare.
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Low-Income Families Want to Eat Healthy Too
I was invited to a press event to announce the results of a survey conducted by Share Our Strength’s “Cooking Matters” program. The program and the survey, “It’s Dinnertime – A Report on Low-Income Families’ Efforts to Plan, Shop for and Cook Healthy Meals,” were sponsored by the ConAgra Foods Foundation.
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Looking Ahead — Food Politics in 2012
What’s on the food politics agenda for 2012? Can we expect anything good to happen? By “good,” I mean actions that make our food system safer and healthier for consumers, farmers, farm workers and the planet. Ordinarily, I am optimistic about such things. This year? Not so much. The crystal ball is cloudy.
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“Let’s Move” Campaign Gives Up on Healthy Diets for Kids
In what “Obama Foodorama” calls “a fundamental shift in the Let’s Move campaign,” Michelle Obama announced in a speech last week that she will now focus on getting kids to be more active. Apparently, she has given up on encouraging food companies to make healthier products and stop marketing junk foods to kids. This shift is troubling.
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What to Do About Food Chemicals Eaten in Tiny Amounts?
I don’t understand why the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not ban aspartame, food colors, BPA, pesticides and all those other nasty chemicals in food. I can’t believe they are good for us.
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Good News at Last? Chocolate Is Good for You – Maybe
In the aftermath of Hurricane Irene, the British Medical Journal offers some cheery news. A review and analysis of studies on chocolate and health concludes that the flavonol antioxidants in chocolate reduce the risk for cardiometabolic disorders such as heart disease and stroke – by a whopping one-third. But that’s only part of the story.
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E. coli Outbreak in Germany: Should Americans Be Concerned?
There have been a lot of questions from readers about aspects of the devastating E. coli outbreak in Germany, and so I thought I might answer as many as possible in one article.
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Food Is Cheaper Because Costs Are “Externalized”
Food prices are going up for a number of reasons: Natural disasters, crop failures, commodity speculation, corn used for bio fuels, lack of research in agriculture, the declining value of the U.S. dollar and just plain greed. But we Americans still pay relatively less for food than anywhere else because so many of the costs of industrialized food production are “externalized.” We pay for them, but not at the grocery store.
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Sugary Drinks vs. Obesity: Power Politics in Action
It used to be that the “soda wars” referred to Coke vs. Pepsi. No more. Today’s soda wars are fought on the health front, as more and more evidence links sugary drinks to obesity and other health problems.
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The articles written by guest contributors are the sole responsibility of the individual writers in terms of factual accuracy and opinion and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher of this blog.
Related Articles:
- Anti-Soda Campaigns Make Progress Despite of Pushback from Beverage Industry
- Sugary Drinks vs. Obesity: Power Politics in Action
- Low-Income Families Want to Eat Healthy Too
- “Let’s Move” Campaign Gives Up on Healthy Diets for Kids
- Food Is Cheaper Because Costs Are “Externalized”
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