Chobani increased its yogurt serving from industry-standard 5.3 oz to 6.7 oz. Why? So they can claim 20g of protein per serving! That made Danone hopping mad because its yogurt has 20g in a 5.3-oz serving. So they're suing. @marionnestle.bsky.social reports www.foodpolitics.com/2026/07/late...

“Cal-Maine—the only of the 3 companies that is public & reports quarterly financials—reported a profit of $1.22 billion for FY2025. Under its settlement agreement with the states, the company would pay $1.5 million and donate 30M eggs.” This is like someone making $100,000/yr paying a fine of $123

In fact, this study seems even worse than the news reports suggest. 1) they only study people being scanned for chest pain, which may introduce distorting selection bias 2) They appear to have gone fishing, testing 28 different body composition measures and focussing on the significant ones.

Every story about govt handouts to farmers have the line about how farmers really don't want the checks. But not only do they take them, they lobby for them, and their business plans depend on getting those checks every year. Small government for thee ... www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

lotta noise to mine right here

This is a super silly study! There's a control group they don't even test, literally because they don't have the $. Their conclusion about the 2 groups they DO test (gratitude vs. psychotherapy) is "no significant differences in clinical outcomes." celiaroberts.com.au/wp-content/u...

I keep thinking about this. A civil society requires all of us to keep our worst impulses in check, but this administration has given people permission to give their most heinous ideas voice. And e-mails like this is what we get.

It's great to see something that's unbelievable in a good way.

What @mikegrunwald.bsky.social meant to say was, "no COMMA soy is good!" Because actually all soy is good.

I wrote a piece about sugar. I said it's not great, mostly because it encourages overeating. This is an actual e-mail I got this morning. What on earth are we coming to?

This is the antidote ...

I just don't get why vertical farms are still being touted as climate solutions. They use energy from the grid (instead of the sun) to grow baby lettuce for rich people. foodinstitute.com/focus/high-r...

Huh, $55 billion seems like a lot for one year when I've been repeatedly assured that farmers don't want handouts. www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...

6/26/26 Palindrome Day

Government payouts - aka your tax dollars - will come to ONE THIRD of total farm income this year. That's $55 billion in payments directly to farmers. ONE THIRD of their income. This administration has hobbled farmers and farming, but just throws money at it. www.agdaily.com/news/white-h...

How bad is sugar? It's kinda bad, but not because it wreaks metabolic havoc. Yes, large amounts can raise some risk factors, but mostly it's not worse than other calories. The real problem is that it's calories without nutrition, we love it, and it drives overeating. (Gift link.) wapo.st/4vwQZ41

If you're reporting observational studies as causal, you're contributing to the rampant misunderstanding of human nutrition. I'm a big @economist.com fan but this piece on butter is terrible. Let me count the ways. Super cranky 🧵 www.economist.com/science-and-...

"Real world data" is an almost meaningless phrase. Our new @bmj.com paper pushes the more helpful phrase "routinely collected data" and explains the many limitations of such for research purposes. doi.org/10.1136/bmj-... #Statistics #StatsSky

Hot take: every streaming service should have a "show me stuff you've never showed me before" button.

The administration canceled $1B+ helping small farmers sell into schools. Some of those farmers had already bought equipment and planted crops in anticipation of that money. A bipartisan bill wants to rebuild. More: https://ow.ly/T4qi50ZfnFV Food & Society at the Aspen Institute

NEW: Judge scraps SNAP junk food rules, dealing a blow to MAHA @politico.com www.politico.com/news/2026/06...

Watching our all-Brazilian crew of Gerald, Ezekiel, and Fabrizio raise the 3 roof beams of our 2-story garage & apartment. Each beam is 24 feet & weighs about 150 pounds They bring it up a ladder and raise it to the apex with no machines. Fabrizio: "I am the machine." Writing sure is a cushy job.

Springer Nature charges $3k - $15k to publish a book or a part of it. Surprise, surprise, they end up publishing stuff that has to be retracted. Via @retractionwatch.com retractionwatch.com/2026/06/22/s...

Dunno how they snuck this one past Motor Vehicles ...

Curious about peptides? @undark.org has an excellent @saratalpos.bsky.social story about the origin of one of them. It sure doesn't read like the discovery of a cure-all compound. undark.org/2026/05/29/s...

"We know the problem. We know the solutions," says Jessica Grose about our food environment. And she's half right! We have a pretty good handle on the problem. But we absolutely positively do not know the solutions. Lots have been tried! With basically zero results. www.nytimes.com/2026/06/17/o...

My friend and colleague @TimCarman is looking for backyard chicken people, and I know a few of you are out there. Help a reporter out!

You think you're dying and then you remember the beets.

Frog and Toad understand the obesity epidemic better than most.

pepperoni pizza

We're taking down our garage, which was probably built in the 1950s. We took a window out and found this teeny tiny book of bible verses, put there by whoever built the building, presumably to somehow bless it. I'm as godless as it's possible to be, but I think I'll put it back when we rebuild.

All I want is to take a nice bird photo but it always turns into "Can you find Mr. & Mrs. Osprey?"

Good morning from beautiful Cape Cod! Wish me fish.

New post! @nikomccarty.bsky.social and I have been writing regular round ups for a little while now, but so much has happened recently that this month’s post feels like it contains a year’s worth of breakthroughs. Read it here!

Here's a new study of organic & conventional farming. The 2 big findings: - Organic farms didn't store more carbon; organic matter was the same in both systems - Organic yields were 31% lower (primarily N availability) www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

🧠📑 The Bernese tool #RegCheck uses AI to systematically compare clinical trial registrations with published articles. This makes #OutcomeSwitching and #HARKing visible and strengthens the evidence base for reliable systematic reviews 👇 ▶️ sohub.io/gl4r @jamiecummins.bsky.social

Fast food chains are taking the Impossible and Beyond burgers off menus, and focusing on vegetable-based beef alternatives. www.restaurantbusinessonline.com/food/burger-...

Newsroom Managers, Editors, and Communications Directors: Recruiting for a staff position? Want freelancers to see your call for pitches? Then share your opportunity to our NASW Job Bank! Post a #SciWriJobs ad at www.nasw.org/node/ad... or on our homepage at www.nasw.org/product...

I'm glad @paris.nyc and @consumerreports.org are testing foods for additives & contaminants. The process by which ingredients are declared "generally recognized as safe" is terrible. But the stuff that's out there in the open is the bigger threat. www.consumerreports.org/health/food-...

Anybody got an idea what's for sale here?

I had this brief, exquisite moment at Huong Viet recently. I was compelled to write about it: to figure out how it happened and why it’s important. Gift link: wapo.st/4fv98Kz

Bean PSA! Don't ask me why it took me decades of bean-eating to figure this out, but if you're reheating leftover beans in the microwave, add some liquid or they dry out. Or use the stove top, also with some liquid. Gonna tag bean guy @ranchogordo.bsky.social, if he wants to confirm or deny!

The editorial: diabetesjournals.org/care/article... The WaPo article: www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...

Sad events here at #ADA26 - ADA has chosen the side of this administration - pretending it's unsafe to an invited federal speaker to hand out an editorial - over supporting its own leadership who've dedicated countless volunteer hours to the org's right to protest. www.nytimes.com/2026/06/05/w...

I think the @nytimes.com is burying the lede here. Researchers were thrown out of the conference WITH THE COOPERATION OF THE AMERICAN DIABETES ASSOCIATION. The executive team is below. The cooperation scares me more than the cops. www.nytimes.com/2026/06/05/w... diabetes.org/about-us/exe...

Helen is totally right here. If we had a name for "calorie-dense, nutrient-sparse foods designed to be overeaten" it might catch on. There's "junk food" but that doesn't really capture it. Suggestions welcome.

You might as well change your mind about ultra-processed foods now because I will keep flogging it until you do.

UPFs are *designed* to be overeaten. They tend to be crappy, with few nutrients & high calorie-density. So we overeat them! And they're not healthful! But there are plenty of non-UPFs like that too. Also a few UPFs that are good. We know crap food when we see it, and UPF is just a distraction.

Most wrong food stuff is rooted in boring statistical stuff. That's why it never stops. Food is fun! Epidemiology isn't. So it just keeps coming.

I think drinking raw milk is a risk adults should be allowed to take, with informed consent. I do not think they should be allowed to give it to kids. PS Please don't drink raw milk.