Taking a bite out of the dangerous notion that food is medicine

Pseudoscience and quackery love the food-is-medicine philosophy because it helps them sell their nutritional supplements, diet books and therapy sessions

Taking a bite out of the dangerous notion that food is medicineHippocrates supposedly said, “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” I disagree. Food is not medicine. I can hear people saying, “But Dylan, you have type 1 diabetes and a PhD in human nutritional sciences. Surely you of all people know that food has a powerful impact on health?” I do. But…

Three nutrition trends to stay away from

Skip the cleanses, alkaline diets and IV vitamin therapy; there's no evidence they work and plenty of evidence they can be harmful

Three nutrition trends to stay away fromIf you follow health tips in some media, you’d think the nutritional sciences are a mess: Is butter good for you or bad? Should I eat breakfast or skip it? Should I eat like a caveman? Or should I eat more like a bird? Alternative facts are not a new concept in the field of nutritional…

The diet shell game

Stick to the evidence when reporting on – and endorsing – food studies. We need real solutions to obesity and Type 2 diabetes, not sales jobs

The diet shell gameTwo of the best-known American food journalists have been telling readers that the DASH and Mediterranean diets aren’t best for our health. But the evidence tells a different story. The journalists are Gary Taubes, the author of The Case Against Sugar, and Nina Teicholz, the author of the bestselling The Big Fat Surprise. In their recent Los…