Podcasts about friedman school

On Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg, Dani speaks with Will Masters, a Professor in the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, with a secondary appointment in Tufts University's Department of Economics. They talk about U.S. tariffs on imported goods, how measuring the cost of a healthy diet can drive policy change, and the frustrating setback the world is seeing in efforts to advance global food and nutrition security. Plus hear about the recent remarks from the U.S., calling for a “back to basics” approach at the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, where funding for humanitarian aid stands after additional cuts, and one journalist's advice for young people. While you're listening, subscribe, rate, and review the show; it would mean the world to us to have your feedback. You can listen to “Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg” wherever you consume your podcasts.

As any parent knows, it is really important to help our children to make healthy food choices. I know as a father who cooks for my child, it is really critical that I introduce her to fruits and vegetables and encourage whole grains and try to manage the amount of additional sugars, but it's hard. We do this with the goal of trying to make sure that our child is able to eat healthy once she leaves the home. That she's able to make healthy choices there. But it's not just about the future. My child is making choices even today at school and outside of school, and the question is, can we help her make those choices that are going to lead to healthy food outcomes? Do food labels on products encourage children to make healthy food choices if it indicates good ingredients? Or would labels that warn against nutrients of concern actually discourage kids from using those or consuming those products? Today we're going to actually explore those questions in a particular context- in Chile. In 2016, the Chilean government implemented a comprehensive set of obesity prevention policies aimed at improving the food environment for children. Last year on this podcast, we actually explored how the Chilean food laws affected school food purchases. But now today, we're going to explore how food labels are influencing youth outside of school. It is my pleasure to welcome back my colleagues, Gabriela Fretes, who is an associate research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute, or IFPRI; and Sean Cash, who is an economist and chair of the Division of Agriculture, food and Environment at Tufts University at the Friedman School of Nutrition, Science and Policy. Interview Summary Gabi and Sean, I'm excited to discuss our new paper, Front of Pack Labels and Young Consumers an Experimental Investigation of Nutrition and Sustainability Claims in Chile that was recently published in a Journal of Food Quality and Preference. Gabi, let's begin with you. So why look at Chile? Can you explain the focus of the Chilean labeling and food environment policies there? So, the setting of our study, as in the previous study, was Chile because recently the country implemented the law of food labeling and advertising, which includes three main components. The first one being mandatory front of package warning labels on packaged goods and beverages. The second one being restrictions on all forms of food marketing directed to children younger than 14 years. So, including printed media, broadcast, and also all digital media. And the third component being at school regulations at different levels including preschool, elementary, and high school levels. Briefly, food manufacturers in Chile must place front of package labels on packaged foods or beverages that are high in specific nutrients of concern, including added sugars, saturated fats, sodium, and or energy. This law was implemented in three stages, starting in June 2016. The last stage was implemented in June 2019. So, it has been already six or seven years since the full implementation of the regulation. Specifically talking about the school component because this, yeah, it relates to children and adolescents. The law mandates that foods and beverages with at least one front of pack warning label cannot be sold, promoted, or marketed inside schools. And this includes the cafeteria, the school kiosks, and even events that are happening inside the schools. And additionally, food and beverages that have at least one front pack warning label cannot be offered as part of school meal programs. In addition to this front of pack warning label regulation, Chile also implemented voluntary eco labels starting in 2022 that provide information about the recyclability of food packages specifically. There is a certification process behind this labeling regulation and the eco label can be displayed if the food or beverage package is at least 80% recyclable. Wow. This is a really comprehensive set of policies to encourage healthier food choices, both at the school and then also outside of the school. I'm excited to discuss further what this may do to food choices among children. Sean, that really brings up the question, why is it important to look at young consumers and their food choices and what makes them unique compared to adults? Thanks for asking Norbert. This is an area where I've been interested in for a while. You know, young consumers play a crucial role in shaping the demand for food and long-term dietary habits. And young consumers might be more open to incorporating dietary advice into those long-term habits than adults might be. Just perhaps kids are less set in their ways. Children and adolescents are both current, but also future consumers with growing autonomy in what they choose around food as they get older. To marketers, we sometimes would say they might represent a three-in-one market. First, they spend their own money on snacks. What you could think of as the primary market. And how children spend money autonomously is really something that hasn't been studied enough by researchers. Although it's an area where I have tried to make a contribution. Second, kids influence household purchases. This is sometimes called pester power. You can think of a kid in the supermarket begging a parent to buy a favorite snack or a certain brand of cereal. But this can also be more socially positive in that kids might be agents of change within their households. Encouraging perhaps other family members to buy healthier food items if they get more interested in that. And third, this three-in-one market is rounded out by the fact that children represent future purchasing power as future adults. So, the habits that they're forming now might influence what they do when they're older. Despite this importance for marketers, but also for pro-social behavior change, there really hasn't been a lot of research on youth food purchasing behaviors. And this question that we are looking at here of how kids might respond to front to package labels has been particularly limited. In this project, we wanted to understand how Chilean adolescents might respond both to nutrition warning labels, but also eco labels, and how they consider price when choosing snacks. We were lucky to be able to recruit a sample of over 300 kids, aged 10 to 14, to participate in these experiments. I know we're going to chat a bit more about what we found, but in general, our results suggest that while price is perhaps the biggest factor in explaining what the kids chose in our experiment, that some of these youth showed preferences for the eco labels, which could be indicative of an emerging interest in sustainability issues. But overall, understanding these behaviors is really important because the food choices made during childhood and adolescence can persist in adulthood. And this can be really something that helps change long-term health outcomes.   Gabi, let's talk a little bit more about eco labels for a moment. What are they, and how do these echo labels influence children's snack choices? What did they tell us about their awareness of sustainability? That's a great question, Norbert. Thanks. In our study specifically, we found that eco labels, had a greater influence on adolescents' snack choices than nutrition warning labels these black and white octagons that are displayed on the front of the package of products in Chile. And this suggests that some young consumers are becoming more aware of environmental issues, or at least in our sample. One possible explanation for this could be that eco labels suggest positive emotions rather than warnings, as with the nutrition labels. Which might feel more restrictive. Unlike the nutrition labels that tell consumers what not to eat, eco labels, on the other hand, highlight a product's benefits, making it more appealing. This could be one of the reasons. Related to that, adolescents may also associate eco-friendly products with social responsibility aligning with increasing youth-driven environmental movements that are very prevalent around the world. However, not all adolescents in our sample responded equally to the eco labels that were presented to them in the snacks. Our study specifically found that those who receive pocket money were more likely to choose eco label snacks. And this could be possibly because they have more autonomy over their purchases and their personal values could be playing a bigger role in their choices. If eco labels are really influencing children and adolescents with choices, one intervention that could be potentially beneficial could be to incorporate sustainability messaging in school food and nutrition education in order to reinforce those positive behaviors. And make them part of the daily food choices that they make. In making sustainable food more affordable, government incentives or retailer promotions could encourage youth to choose more eco-friendly snacks. Given that price, as we saw in our study, remains a key factor for choice. Lastly, not all eco labels are created equal. And this suggests that clear standardization and regulation are needed to prevent misleading claims. And ensure that adolescents receive accurate information about the sustainability of their food choices. Ultimately, the eco labeling, of course, is not a silver bullet. It's not going to solve all the environmental issues, but it represents a promising tool to nudge consumers. So our better dietary and environmental behaviors. Gabi, you talked about how the eco labels have a bigger effect than nutrition warning. And overall, the nutrition warning labels didn't really have that big of an effect on snack food choices. Why do you think that's the case? Yes, this was really one surprising finding in our study. That front of pack nutrition warning labels did not significantly impact children's and adolescents' snack choices. And this kind of contradicts some previous research suggesting that warning labels can help consumers make healthcare choices. And there are several possible explanations for why this could be happening. The first one could be just lack of interest. So compared to adults, children and adolescents may be just more responsive to positive rather than negative messaging. Because negative messages related to nutrition might not seem relevant to them because they feel healthy in the present. They just are not interested in those kinds of messages. The second could be label fatigue. We discuss this in our paper and basically it is because Chile's regulation was already introduced in 2016. Given that it has been already some time since implementation, young consumers may have become habituated to seeing the warning labels on food products. So, like how adults also experience label fatigue, and this is documented in the evidence, children and adolescents might no longer pay attention or pay less attention to the warning. Third possible explanation is it relates to taste and brand loyalty. For this point, research shows that for youth specifically, taste remains the top priority when they choose food. So often outweighing any other factors including health concerns. If a favorite snack, for example, has warning labels but remains tasty and familiar to the kid, the label alone may not discourage them from choosing that snack. And lastly, social and environmental factors. Our study found, as we already mentioned, that eco labels had a stronger influence that nutrition warnings, and this could indicate that children and adolescents are just more responsive to messages about sustainability than to warnings, which they may perceive as less immediate. Thank you for sharing that. And at this moment in the US there is a conversation about front of pack labels. And the work that you are showing in this paper may even point to some of the things that may happen if we see similar front of pack labels here in the US. I'll be looking forward to see what happens with that effort right now. Sean, I want to turn to you and ask an economist type question. What role does price play in adolescent food choices? Not only price, but the availability of pocket money? And how do you think that should influence policy? Our study shows that price is the most significant factor influencing the snack choices of the kids in our study. And higher prices definitely reduce the likelihood of seeing a certain product being selected. It was kind of interesting. Interestingly, this effect was consistent regardless of whether the kids regularly received pocket money. Suggesting that even those that don't receive spending money still are paying attention to price. And this was a little bit different from what we found in some other studies that I've been able to work on, in the US and Germany, that suggested that previous experience with pocket money, or getting an allowance, was really important for understanding which kids might be most careful about spending their own money. I don't know if that's something different in the Chilean context than those other contexts. Or if that was just about what the kids in this particular study were paying attention to because we're asking about different things. But when we look more closely at the kids in our Chilean study, we found some important differences. As Gabi already mentioned, those kids who received pocket money were the ones who were more positively inclined to choosing products with the eco labels. And that suggests that they might be valuing sustainability a little bit more when making their own choices. Perhaps because they're already a little bit more familiar with some of those dynamics of spending their own money. Whereas those without pocket money were more likely to choose cheaper options or sometimes the healthier options like the apples that we provided as an option in our study. And suggesting they're focused more on affordability or health. So, what this means for policy, given the strong influence of price, it means that policy interventions that focus on price, like taxes on unhealthy foods or perhaps subsidies for healthier options, might be effective tools in guiding better choices for these kids. But also, programs promoting budgeting skills and food literacy might help adolescents make more informed decisions both about the nutrition and the sustainability of the foods they're eating. Finally, since some kids are responding positively to eco labels, integrating sustainability messages with the nutrition education could enhance the impact of food labeling policies. Overall, combining price policies and education labeling strategies could be really effective in driving meaningful changes in children and adolescent food choices. Sean, thank you. And it's really important to appreciate the differences that may occur when we think about a country like Chile versus the US or in some of your other work in Germany. And understanding that youth culture may be different and may be shaping these behaviors. But it's very clear that all people, it sounds like, are responding to price. And that's a constant that we're seeing here. Sean, here's my final question for you. What is the take home implications of this study? Well, first and foremost, our findings here suggest that nutrition labeling alone isn't necessarily going to be enough to drive healthier choices among children and adolescents. It can be part of an answer, but policymakers looking to promote healthier food choices might need to compliment labeling with education campaigns that reinforce the meaning of these warnings and integrate them into school-based nutrition programs. That said, I think that Chile has already been a leader in this regard, because the food items that get the warning labels in the Chilean context are the same ones that are subject to different restrictions on marketing or sales in schools, as well. I do think that we're going to see kids and eventually adults just become more familiar with these categorizations because of the consistency in the Chilean law. Also, on the eco label side, leveraging that kind of eco labeling alongside nutrition messaging might be an effective combination to help promote both healthier and more sustainable food choices. And finally we've been talking about new front to pack labeling schemes here in the United States. And it's really important to make sure we learn as much as possible from the experiences with such policies in other countries. Chile's really been a world leader in this regard and so I'm very happy to have tried to contribute to an understanding of how people use these labels through this study and through some of the other projects that Gabi, you and I have all been involved in. Bios Gabriela (Gabi) Fretes is an Associate Research Fellow in the Nutrition, Diets, and Health (NDH) Unit of the International Food Policy Research Institute. She received her PhD in Food and Nutrition Policies and Programs at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University, USA in 2022 and holds a master's in food and nutrition with a concentration on Health Promotion and Prevention of Non-Communicable Diseases from the Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology, University of Chile. Her research interests are at the intersection of child obesity prevention, food policy and consumer behavior, and her doctoral thesis involved evaluation of a national food labeling and advertising policy designed to improve the healthfulness of the food environment and address the obesity epidemic in Chile, particularly among children. She has worked with a broad range of government, international organizations, academia, public and private sector stakeholders and decision-makers in Paraguay, Chile, and the United States of America. Sean Cash is an economist and Chair of the Division of Agriculture, Food and Environment at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. He conducts research both internationally and domestically on food, nutrition, agriculture and the environment. He is interested in environmental impacts on food and beverage production, including projects on crop quality and climate change, consumer interest in production attributes of tea and coffee, and invasive species management. He also focuses on how food, nutrition, and environmental policies affect food consumption and choice, with specific interest in children's nutrition and consumer interest in environmental and nutritional attributes of food. He teaches courses in statistics, agricultural and environmental economics, and consumer behavior around food. He is currently Specialty Chief Editor of the Food Policy and Economics section of Frontiers in Nutrition, and has previously served as an Editor of the Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics as well as the Chair of the Food Safety and Nutrition Section of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

This is a rerun of an episode we did a year ago. As our last holiday rerun before we get into fresh content, this one helps to set the stage for our first couple episodes for 2025 which will discuss the "Make America Healthy Again" movement, aka MAHA. You might be surprised that many of our biggest problems today are the results of solutions to the problems we faced a few decades ago. This episode is all about nutrition in America: How did we get here? (Hint: there are actually some very good reasons for all the processed food) What problems is our diet creating? (Hint: it's more than just obesity) And what can we do to start fixing it? That's a huge topic, but our guest is one of the most qualified person to tackle it. Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian is a cardiologist, Jean Mayer Professor of Nutrition at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, Professor of Medicine at Tufts School of Medicine, and an attending physician at Tufts Medical Center. Recently he also became the founding Director of the Tufts Food is Medicine Institute. His work aims to create the science and translation for a food system that is nutritious, equitable, and sustainable. Dr. Mozaffarian has authored more than 500 scientific publications on dietary priorities for obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases, and on evidence-based policy approaches and innovations to reduce diet-related diseases and improve health equity in the US and globally. Areas of focus include defining healthy diets, nutritional biomarkers, Food is Medicine interventions in healthcare, business innovation and entrepreneurship, and food policy. He is one of the top cited researchers in medicine globally, he has served in numerous advisory roles including for the US and Canadian governments, American Heart Association, World Health Organization, and United Nations. His work has been featured in an array of media outlets. Thomson Reuters has named him as one of the World's Most Influential Scientific Minds In 2023, Dr. Mozaffarian was nominated by President Biden to serve on the President's Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition (PCSFN). Dr. Mozaffarian received his B.S. in biological sciences from Stanford University, M.D. from Columbia University. He took his residency at Stanford, and was a fellow in cardiovascular medicine at the University of Washington, where he also received his MPH. He earned a Doctorate in Public Health from Harvard. Before being appointed as Dean at Tufts in 2014, Dr. Mozaffarian was at Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health for a decade and clinically active in cardiology at Brigham and Women's Hospital. He is married, has three children, and actively trains as a Fourth Degree Black Belt in Taekwondo. For an overview of the initiatives that the Tufts Food is Medicine Institute is tackling ⁠see their fact sheet.⁠ If you want to learn more about the Food Compass drama that we briefly discuss in the episode, ⁠check out this blog post summarizing the situation.⁠ You can find ⁠the text of the SWEET Act here⁠, which is a proposal to tax sugar sweetened beverages and use the revenue from that tax to fund research on diet-related health conditions.

On this episode of “Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg,” Dani sits down with Dr. Marion Nestle, an author, nutritionist and the Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health, Emerita, at New York University and Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, a cardiologist and the Director of the Food is Medicine Institute at the Friedman School at Tufts University for a conversation about Food is Medicine. During the fireside chat, they dive into how effectively the U.S. healthcare system can help us address food and nutrition security through Food is Medicine programs, the politicization of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and the latest class of weight-loss drugs known as GLP-1s.  This conversation was part of a Summit at Climate Week NYC hosted by Food Tank, Flashfood, ReFED, Apeel, and Divert.  While you're listening, subscribe, rate, and review the show; it would mean the world to us to have your feedback. You can listen to “Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg” wherever you consume your podcasts.

Lisa Valente, a registered dietitian and Healthline nutrition editor, discusses essential nutrition and wellness strategies for midlife women. She debunks common nutrition myths, explores the importance of protein intake for women in perimenopause and menopause, and compares plant versus animal proteins.This episode covers how to increase fibre for gut and hormonal health, manage 'menopausal munchies,' and provides practical meal prep tips for busy schedules. Emphasizing a balanced approach, they encourage flexibility and self-kindness in diet. Lisa also highlights the value of learning from life's challenges, such as bad days or mistakes, and introduces the concept of breaking the day into quarters for better balance in nutrition and wellness.Episode Overview:0:00 Intro/Teaser4:31 Exploring Benefits of Protein Intake13:29 Benefits of Fiber in Diet18:09 The Importance of Dietary Fiber25:30 Importance of Pre and Post-Workout Nutrition30:48 Managing Hunger and Weight During Menopause36:19 Balancing Protein and Fiber Intake41:51 Tips for Increasing Protein Intake47:50 Navigating Meal Prep and Sweeteners57:57 Lessons in Imperfection and RecoveryResources mentioned in this episode:Lisa on Healthline - https://www.healthline.com/authors/lisa-valenteInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/healthlineBio:Lisa Valente is a registered dietitian with over a decade of editorial experience working with health and nutrition content. She loves breaking down complex science and health information, making it easier for people to understand while maintaining the accuracy and integrity of the content. Lisa holds a Master of Science in nutrition communications from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University and completed her dietetic internship at Massachusetts General Hospital.We are grateful to our sponsors:CAROL BIKEThis is my favourite cardio for speed drills! Five minutes and done! One of the coolest things about the CAROL Bike is that it is AI driven so it gives you custom workouts based on your very own fitness level. For a limited time, you can get $100 off a CAROL Bike. Use the code BETTER at https://carolbike.com.EQUIP COLOSTRUM GUMMIESCore colostrum contains growth and signalling factors that will help repair intestinal damage and connective tissue issues. You can take them with or without food anytime, and they are a delicious sweet treat that is going to help repair your digestive tract. If you are interested in learning more, go to https://EquipFoods.com/better and use code BETTER to save 20% off your first order.COLDTUREEmbrace the cold with Coldture, the simplest and most fun way to feel the benefit of cold water immersion from the comfort of your home without having to load up ice in the bathtub. Head on over to https://coldture.com/drstephanie. And you are going to get $600 off plus 0% financing for 12 months on your Coldture cold plunge tub.NOW OPEN! EVEN BETTER! PREMIUM MEMBERSHIP: When you join Dr. Stephanie Estima's EVEN BETTER! Premium Membership, you'll join a community of women focused on actionable health goals, performance, and a well-lived life. You'll get early and ad-free access to the weekly Better! podcasts; action guides; "Ask Me Anything," solo, and bonus episodes; insights from the guest discussions coupled with recommendations you can use to build habits and routines; bonus content; and exclusive discounts. Subscribe at  https://estima.supercast.com/.

I'm Norbert Wilson, a professor of public policy at Duke university and director of the world food policy center. Now, I am an agricultural economist by training and today's podcast, we will explore a creative and down-to-earth book titled Food Economics. Now stay with me, gentle listener. I already can sense the wave of anxiety, math anxiety, and discomfort with economics. but hear me out. To make the food system work for everyone, we must understand the economics of food, agricultural production, business decisions, consumer behavior, and of course, government policies. Tufts University Professor, economist William Masters, and Allegheny College economist and nutritionist Amelia Finaret, developed a wonderfully engaging textbook that is friendly for readers and learners who do not love math or who have a complicated relationship with economics. Interview Summary So let's start at the very beginning. Why did you write this book? Will: Well, I'll start. I love the subject. And I love the opportunity to work with Amelia on something. And we talked about taking the course that she was a Teaching Assistant for and making it into a textbook. And finally being able to do it has been revelatory. I've learned a lot, learned a lot from Amelia, learned a lot from the process of writing. The motivation really is because the topic is so compelling. As you said, food economics is crucial to whether people can afford to and do have the material requisites of wellbeing, as the original definition of economics put it. And so, food is this really distinctive, strange thing that's, as I say, often hidden in plain sight. It's something that many economists want to teach about, but don't really know much about. And many people who work in food without economics would like to use some economics. So, putting the two together has been definitely a situation where two plus two is more than four. Putting the two together is something new and different. Amelia: I think also that food is a very special type of good. And so, when we're talking about economics we talk a lot about goods and services. And food is a special type of good in that you have to have it to live. And we also really found during the process of writing the book, as Will talked about, more and more examples that many of the fundamental lessons of economics can be learned with examples from the food system. So, we think that using a topic like food, which really resonates with a lot of our students, is a great way to teach econ and it can get them more excited than learning about widgets. I am really intrigued by this, and I want to pick up on this idea that food is special and that is something I think is a critical part of what you all are doing. But I also heard something new in this idea of using food as a pathway into economics. So, as you know, folks react really strongly to economics because of math or a disdain for capitalism or other issues. Why do you want people to understand the economics of food? Amelia: So food is something that all of us make choices about multiple times a day. And there's very few other things, maybe about our time management overall, that we make choices about so frequently. But food is one of those things that we make choices about multiple times every day, all of us. And that's whether it's about producing the food, doing something else to the food or consuming the food. And economics fundamentally is about understanding and analyzing those choices and those behaviors. So, people, of course, are going to be confused sometimes about how to make those choices. And that's one of the biggest and most important discussions in public health: how do we encourage folks to make better food choices? People are also just very confused because there's so much different information floating around. So, what we wanted to do is to provide an economics perspective of food choice because economics is really great at analyzing choices. And this, of course, helps people connect what's something that's personal to them, which is making those kind of frequent food decisions. Even if they're not thinking about it, they really are thinking like an economist frequently about food multiple times every day. And then connecting it to this discipline of economics to understand the formal logic of how we analyze those choices. Will: And I would add the opportunity that we've had in teaching economics to people who didn't like economics, chose not to do it, and wanted to do public health nutrition instead. For me, at Tufts in the Friedman School, and also with students from agriculture – I taught previously at Purdue students who didn't like economics because they wanted to work in agriculture – I really want to demystify a lot of what became a kind of high jargon of fancy language. For example, in economics, people would speak of an individual “optimizing.” And we just don't say that. Instead what we say is people are doing the best they can with what they have, and often it's the least bad of their options. Similarly, economists talk about an equilibrium, but it's not a “nice” thing. It's just a prediction of a model of an explanation. So, much of our task here, I think, is to demystify economics for students, but also to help economists find a better language because economists use that off putting technical jargon way too much to talk to each other. And that really harms our ability to communicate with people who, as you said, might have a disdain for the outcome, for example. They don't like the way capitalism is turning out and they want the vocabulary to change it. And we hope the book can provide that. I really appreciate this. Picking up particularly on Amelia's comment, I remember as a student at the University of Georgia, I had an amazing intro to agricultural economics teacher. His name is Joseph Broder. And he got me excited about this idea of how people make choices. And we were talking about it in the food and Ag space, and I just started to see that happen everywhere. I realized that this was a powerful tool to help me understand the choices that people were making and the choices that maybe they wanted to make but couldn't because they were facing different constraints. So, I really appreciate this effort of what you all are trying to do in this text. That raises the question of who do you really want to read this text? I mean, who was your target audience and why those individuals? Will: So, the number one audience is instructors, to make it easy for them to teach this material. Someone who comes from economics, works on some other topic, can teach a course in food economics just by picking up the book. A student who is assigned the book can get an explanation that is perhaps richer in detail with more examples. And then we also provide a lot of data analysis in the book that a student can read on their own. But I honestly believe that quite a few general readers can find it attractive to just pick it up and flip through it. When I wanted to learn about general nutrition, just vitamins, minerals, reading a nutrition textbook was actually great. And I hope that this textbook is something that people can just pick up and flip through. You can, because it's open access, you can just search for a word in the book, and you can flip around and see what catches your eye. And I hope people find that experience interesting and enlightening and useful. Amelia: And I think the book could be used by students, undergraduate and graduate students, and their instructors for all different kinds of courses that intersect with the food system. So, not just straight up economics courses, but also courses on the food system, maybe even on sustainable agriculture, on public health nutrition. And I think that, you know, for those courses, certain chapters could be selected and used in a course. So, we hope that people can use it really as flexibly as they want. Yeah, and then we also think that for economists who never learned about the food system, that it might benefit them as well, because we really do give a complete picture of what the food system is, what it looks like with all kinds of data. And they maybe haven't thought about, you know, economists know econ, of course, but they maybe haven't thought about the food system and how it's kind of a unique sector. And this I think would help them really to formalize that for themselves too. This is helpful. I'm going to bring up a different group of people who I think could be interested in this text. How do you see someone going into a department or ministry of agriculture or food or development agency, seeing policy differently based on the work of this text? Amelia: In terms of the policy aspects of the book, the material in each chapter can intersect with different types of food policies. So, for anyone who works at a ministry of health or a ministry of agriculture who's developing food policy, they might use the book to see, “okay, well, what am I going to be able to tell qualitatively? What will happen if this policy is implemented?” Of course, if they want to understand something about quantitative change, they would need to gather data and do some statistics and econometrics. But if they want to make a sketch of “okay, well, if I implement this policy, here's what I can expect qualitatively to happen to prices and quantities and imports and exports.” They can definitely do that using the material from this book. I think that it might also help because it spans everything from production to consumption and health, it will allow policymakers to really see those connections between those aspects of the food system. So not just consumers, and not even just consumers and farmers, but also thinking about input markets and food manufacturing and processing, as well as retail. I think that it gives that kind of that whole picture of the food system, which could be really helpful to those policy makers. Will: Another aspect of ‘whole picture' thinking that we tried to instill in the second half of the book is just showing a lot of data. And in particular, zooming way out so that we show all of the data. We believe, I think with pretty good evidence, that when people choose a case study, choose a narrative, choose an example, there's a lot of selection effect there. And when you zoom way out, as we do in the second half of the book to show scatter plots and line graphs, I think policy makers will see whatever decision they're making in that quantitative context. They'll get the qualitative insight that Amelia just described, plus the overall context. And that will really guide decisions, we hope, towards a more mindful and well-informed kinds of choices. Now, that's I think really powerful. And there's something else that's unique about this text is, you mention it, it's open access. And so that's really different for a textbook. And because it's open access, that means it's free for everyone. So as an economist, I have to ask, what does that mean? How do you make it free for everyone? So why did you choose that approach? And then this book also does something else a little differently. It doesn't use extensive citations or footnotes and references. What was your thinking in that approach? Will: Great question. I'll talk about the open access and Amelia can talk about the structure and the tone, the voice. Open access was an opportunity that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation provided because of their support for the Agriculture Nutrition Health Academy that I've been privileged to be a founder of, to create a community of researchers. The Gates Foundation does support open access fees that are quite high. For this book, it's $20,000, but the grant was willing to pay that. The total royalties that Amelia and I might've earned is very small compared to the effort in writing the book. And so, we really wanted to take advantage of that grant to have people be able to just click on the link and read the book. It takes all the delay and the challenge and the difficulty our and makes access seamless as well as free. So, it's not just low cost, but also low time transaction difficulty. You can put it on any device and refresh. You know pick it up on your phone, pick it up on any laptop at any time. And that makes a big difference, we hope. Amelia: Yes, the lower the barriers are for students to read the better for sure. And in terms of the structure of the book and having kind of the sprinkling of sources within the narrative text, what we really wanted was to create kind of a just a seamless narrative. So, we didn't want readers to have to flip to the end to see about where the sources were. But we kind of describe key thinkers, key economists, and also experts in other fields whose work has really influenced economics within the narrative text. And so, we feel that this kind of helps it flow better. And we also put all the data citations right next to the figure so that you can click out to that source and see the data yourself when the data are updated. You know, students and readers could make their own charts with that same data. So, for the data visualizations, all the citations are right there, ready to go. And then for anything else that you might include normally as a reference, it's all woven into the narrative. We also have a handbook chapter that has more than 300 citations for the health side of the literature. So people can use that if they want a guide to published papers that are individual studies. Great. This sounds like a wonderful opportunity and really a unique way of contributing to both the educational component, but also sort of this idea of outreach of what university professors do. So it sounds almost like more of a public service than I would think we would normally look at a textbook. I gotta ask this question, because you start and you end with a poem about kiwis. Not the small animal or the people from New Zealand, but little furry fruit. So why do you do this? What are you trying to tell us through this poem? Amelia: I mean, I think first is just to demonstrate that economics can be really fun. And also that the food system can be kind of confusing. Right? And that's right in the title of the poem. Why are kiwis so cheap? This was Will's poem. I'm going to let him talk about other reasons why you wanted to put it at the beginning and then at the end. Will: Yeah, the question came from a journalist asking why are Kiwis so cheap because they come from the other side of the world, right? And when I first got the question, I thought it was a kind of a silly question. And I didn't want to answer pedantically. And I had just written a sort of doggerel poem for my brother's birthday. I had like doggerel poetry on the brain and I was thought – I could just write a fun little poem. So, there you go.

Chef and USDA-NIFA National Needs Research Fellow at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, Suzi Gerber, talks about the new research paper with FAIRR on Nutrition and Protein. Subscribe! For plant-based media/branding consulting and public speaking, reach out at elysabeth@elysabethalfano.com. For more information, visit ElysabethAlfano.com. For more information, visit ElysabethAlfano.com. Connect with Elysabeth on Linked in here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elysabeth-alfano-8b370b7/ For more PBH, visit ElysabethAlfano.com/Plantbased-Business-Hour.  

Chef and USDA-NIFA National Needs Research Fellow at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, Suzi Gerber, talks about the new research paper with FAIRR on Nutrition and Protein. Subscribe! For plant-based media/branding consulting and public speaking, reach out at elysabeth@elysabethalfano.com. For more information, visit ElysabethAlfano.com. For more information, visit ElysabethAlfano.com. Connect with Elysabeth on Linked in here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elysabeth-alfano-8b370b7/ For more PBH, visit ElysabethAlfano.com/Plantbased-Business-Hour.  

Would consumers be healthier with fewer dollar stores?  While the plethora of expanding bargain chains across the country offer fewer nutrient-dense choices than other food retailers, Dr. Sean Cash, an economist on faculty at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, where he chairs the Division of Agriculture, Food and Environment, says that some consumers benefit from having a dollar store nearby.   “It's not necessarily the case that all consumers would be better off, or have healthier diets, if they had fewer dollar stores near them. The reality is more complicated: Dollar stores may make it harder for grocery stores to stay open in some areas, but in other places they are providing services where other retailers would not be operating regardless. And the people who rely most on dollar stores are generally very satisfied with them -- and as our research shows, may even be using the foods offered at dollar stores to free up funds that help them buy healthier items elsewhere,” says Cash. Dr. Cash advises dietitians to clarify WHERE their patients are shopping before making purchase recommendations and warms against hypervigilance in nutritionism, or focusing excessively on the nutritional value of foods. With this tendency toward hypervigilance, Dr. Cash explains, online shopping for grocery items presents a unique decision-making process that may result in making less nutritious choices. For more information on Dr. Cash and his work, visit him on LinkedIn and X.

Elizabeth J. Johnson, Ph.D. obtained her Ph.D. in nutritional biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her postdoctoral work was conducted at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Center on Aging at Tufts University where she began clinical studies on research on human metabolism of carotenoids. She currently has a faculty appointment at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science & Policy at Tufts University. She has over 30 years of experience in the study of nutrition and healthy aging with an emphasis on carotenoids and age-related visual and cognitive function and has over 100 peer-reviewed publications of which more than sixty are on the topic of carotenoids. She has been a member of the International Carotenoid Society since 2006 and presently holds the position of treasurer. Other memberships include the American College of Nutrition, Carotenoid Research Interactive Group, American Society for Nutrition, and the Brain and Ocular Nutrition Group. Dr. Johnson also has editorial roles at Nutrients and Journal of Nutrition in Gerontology and Geriatrics.

Elizabeth J. Johnson, Ph.D. obtained her Ph.D. in nutritional biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her postdoctoral work was conducted at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Center on Aging at Tufts University where she began clinical studies on research on human metabolism of carotenoids. She currently has a faculty appointment at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science & Policy at Tufts University. She has over 30 years of experience in the study of nutrition and healthy aging with an emphasis on carotenoids and age-related visual and cognitive function and has over 100 peer-reviewed publications of which more than sixty are on the topic of carotenoids. She has been a member of the International Carotenoid Society since 2006 and presently holds the position of treasurer. Other memberships include the American College of Nutrition, Carotenoid Research Interactive Group, American Society for Nutrition, and the Brain and Ocular Nutrition Group. Dr. Johnson also has editorial roles at Nutrients and Journal of Nutrition in Gerontology and Geriatrics.

This episode is all about nutrition in America: How did we get here? (Hint: there are actually some very good reasons for all the processed food) What problems is our diet creating? (Hint: it's more than just obesity) And what can we do to start fixing it? That's a huge topic, but our guest is one of the most qualified person to tackle it. Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian is a cardiologist, Jean Mayer Professor of Nutrition at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, Professor of Medicine at Tufts School of Medicine, and an attending physician at Tufts Medical Center. Recently he also became the founding Director of the Tufts Food is Medicine Institute. His work aims to create the science and translation for a food system that is nutritious, equitable, and sustainable. Dr. Mozaffarian has authored more than 500 scientific publications on dietary priorities for obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases, and on evidence-based policy approaches and innovations to reduce diet-related diseases and improve health equity in the US and globally. Areas of focus include defining healthy diets, nutritional biomarkers, Food is Medicine interventions in healthcare, business innovation and entrepreneurship, and food policy. He is one of the top cited researchers in medicine globally, he has served in numerous advisory roles including for the US and Canadian governments, American Heart Association, World Health Organization, and United Nations. His work has been featured in an array of media outlets. Thomson Reuters has named him as one of the World's Most Influential Scientific Minds In 2023, Dr. Mozaffarian was nominated by President Biden to serve on the President's Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition (PCSFN). Dr. Mozaffarian received his B.S. in biological sciences from Stanford University, M.D. from Columbia University. He took his residency at Stanford, and was a fellow in cardiovascular medicine at the University of Washington, where he also received his MPH. He earned a Doctorate in Public Health from Harvard. Before being appointed as Dean at Tufts in 2014, Dr. Mozaffarian was at Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health for a decade and clinically active in cardiology at Brigham and Women's Hospital. He is married, has three children, and actively trains as a Fourth Degree Black Belt in Taekwondo. For an overview of the initiatives that the Tufts Food is Medicine Institute is tackling see their fact sheet. If you want to learn more about the Food Compass drama that we briefly discuss in the episode, check out this blog post summarizing the situation. You can find the text of the SWEET Act here, which is a proposal to tax sugar sweetened beverages and use the revenue from that tax to fund research on diet-related health conditions.

Diet-related disease such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes create a crushing burden on individuals, families, and the healthcare system in the United States. However, Produce Prescription Programs where medical professionals prescribe fruits and vegetables and health insurers pay, promise to improve nutrition and health. Today we will talk with Dr. Kurt Hager from the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School and lead author of the largest assessment of Produce Prescription Programs to date. Interview Summary   So, let's get into it. Before we dig into the study itself, can you tell our listeners more about Produce Prescription Programs?   So, the programs that we evaluated in our study gave participants electronic cards. So, either a debit card, a gift card, or a loyalty card that they could use at retail grocery stores and some farmer market partners as well to get free fruits and vegetables of their choice. The food could be either fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables. These programs acknowledge that nutrition education alone likely is not sufficient to increase healthier eating for many low-income households, for which just the cost of healthier foods is really the primary barrier in improving their diet. These programs seek to overcome that barrier, and it's really exciting to see that clinics across the country are turning to these. I think physicians, from our conversations with the clinics we partnered with in this study, are really excited to have a tool they can use and provide to patients to offer higher-quality care and help improve their nutrition when they're talking with their patients about managing diet-related illnesses like diabetes, hypertension, or obesity.   Thank you, Kurt. Could you tell me a little bit about why you and the team decided to do this particular study?   Food insecurity has been consistently associated with poor health outcomes, higher healthcare costs, and lower dietary quality. Many food insecure households tend to have higher rates of diet-related chronic illnesses. We worked with a wonderful organization called Wholesome Wave. They have operated Produce Prescription Programs across the US, and they have been collecting data on these programs for about five years now. Wholesome Wave reached out to our research team at Tufts University's Friedman School. They wanted to see if these programs are working at improving health outcomes. The key thing, I think, to contextualize where this study stands, is prior to this work, there had been a handful of studies that had shown, not surprisingly, that Produce Prescription Programs can improve dietary quality and improve food insecurity. However, very few had gone that extra step to see if Produce Prescription Programs were associated with improvements in really important clinical outcomes. Things like hemoglobin A1C, which is an important measure of average blood sugar levels in the past three months. This is critical for managing diabetes, and outcomes like blood pressure and obesity and overweight. Previous studies had found mixed results on these outcomes, and most had been very small, maybe about 50 participants. We built on this by doing the largest analysis to date. Our study had nearly 4,000 participants from 22 programs across the US, from 12 states. These ranged from cities like Los Angeles to Minneapolis, to Houston, to Miami, Idaho - so all over the US.   So, it was the fact that previous studies have had relatively small samples, and some of these other studies did not take all of the sort of important measures of health into consideration. So, you were able to build on that past work in a unique way in this study?   Exactly. I think the key thing is that Wholesome Wave had excellent relationships with their partner clinics. This meant that the clinics were willing to share medical record data with us. This is always just very challenging and many other studies weren't able to go that extra step. We were blessed with access to a lot of medical record data and we were able to do analyses that looked at important clinical biomarkers. I will say though, our study is a step in the progression. I'll be the first to admit, we did not have a comparison group in this analysis. So, the results that we found also could have occurred due to other reasons. Such as, for example, perhaps when someone is referred to a Produce Prescription Program, their physician might also make other referrals, or perhaps change their medications because this patient has been identified as high need. We certainly built on previous literature by having a much larger sample size and pooling data across the US, and to me, our findings really provide us with a strong rationale to continue research into this area. But also, to confirm our findings with randomized trials similar to what you would do, for example, for drug research.   That is helpful to hear. One of the things that's really important about what I understand of this study is the fact that you worked with Wholesome Wave, and that allowed you access to a lot of different programs across the US as you described. Could you give us a little bit of a sense of what some of those programs were, and how did they provide the support that you were able to study in this project?   Most programs provided the benefits on electronic card. It's similar to in WIC or SNAP, where participants have an EBT card, they can use it at retail settings. It's administratively very simple. From interviews among SNAP participants and other research, this tends to be lower stigma - when you're using a card at a checkout. These cards gave about $50 a month for six months on average for the adult programs, and $110 a month for the pediatric programs. Some of the children's programs were also a little longer. Some of the child-focused programs that we include in the analysis were up to 10 months.   So I understand from this description that the Produce Prescription Programs also look different. There were some programs for children, some for adults. How did you manage that? There's a lot of other things that could be going on. How do you sort of do that in this work?   Participants were referred to these programs because they were either food insecure or were recruited from a clinic that served a low income community and were very likely to be food insecure. Individuals also had a risk factor for poor cardiometabolic health. So, this means that they either had diabetes, high blood pressure, or were overweight or obese at baseline. That was really the common thread across all of these programs. We did all the analyses for adults and children separately. So, we report changes in fruit and vegetable intake, and changes in self-reported health status separately. Food insecurity - we did assess at the household level, but then for other outcomes, for example, hemoglobin A1C, we restricted that to the adult population that had diabetes when they enrolled into the program. For blood pressure, we restricted those analyses to adults with hypertension at baseline. For Body Mass Index, we restricted analyses to adults who were overweight or obese at baseline, and then did those same analyses separately for children for age and sex, only looking at children with overweight or obesity at the start of the study.   This is really important then. Thank you for that clarification. You know, you've talked about some of these critical measures such A1C for diabetes. You've talked about obesity measured in BMI. Can you tell us a little bit more about the importance of these findings and what they mean in real terms for participants' health?   Absolutely. So, we found that participation was associated with improvements in dietary quality and food insecurity. For example, among adults, they were reporting that they were eating, on average, about 0.8 more cups per day of fruits and vegetables by the program end. And food insecurity rates were cut by about a third. So, the program seemed to be working as intended, which was excellent to see. But then looking at the clinical biomarkers, for example, hemoglobin A1C among those with diabetes dropped by 0.3 percentage points. And among those with uncontrolled diabetes, those having chronically high blood sugars that are very difficult to manage, dropped by about 0.6 percentage points. So, to put that in context, that's about half the effects of commonly prescribed medications to manage high blood sugar levels. So, for just a simple change in diet, that is I think fairly impressive and very encouraging to see. And the effects on the reductions on blood pressure were also about half as large as we would see with commonly prescribed medications. I think it's really important to highlight that, one, we don't know if these changes will be sustained long-term when the program ends. There might be some participants where this program caught them in a moment of crisis perhaps, in which this helped stabilize them, and maybe they would be able to maintain these new improvements in dietary intake long-term. But I suspect many participants might not be able to maintain this healthier eating because the cost of healthier foods was the main barrier to healthier eating at the onset of the program. And so, this is an area that we're really interested in looking at in future research. But I will say, if one were to maintain these improvements that we would see in hemoglobin A1C, blood pressure, and BMI among adults, they really were clinically meaningful. And if sustained long-term, it could reduce risks of things like heart attack or stroke years down the line. Any reduction in these biomarkers can really have a meaningful impact on patient quality of life. Things even like averting diabetes complications with damage to the circulatory system, to nerves, to the retinas in the eyes and having vision loss. So, sustained long term, I think these really are meaningful impacts on health and wellbeing. The last thing I'll say, is for children, we did not see a change in BMIs for age and sex. I'm not too surprised, given it's a relatively short program on average six months. But also, child BMI is a notoriously challenging metric to move. But I do want to highlight that among the households with children, we did see an improvement in fruit and vegetable intake, and reduction in food insecurity, and self-reported rates of higher health status. And I think if we're thinking about childhood development, to me, that is still an important success. We know that having enough access to food in the household and having higher dietary quality is really, really important for childhood development and wellbeing. There's certainly a nutrition causal pathway here. But it's important not to forget that there's so much stress and anxiety when someone is experiencing food insecurity, about not knowing necessarily where your next meal is going to come from. Just worrying constantly about managing household budget, about trade-offs, say between buying healthier food, paying for medications, paying for other needs. So, I suspect these programs are improving health outcomes both through a nutritional pathway, but also through like a mental health pathway, perhaps reducing anxiety for some households as well, which can also have an impact on things like blood pressure.   So, given these results, it says that there's some important implications of these Produce Prescription Programs for the health and wellbeing of the participants in this study. I mean the fact that just changing fruit and vegetable consumption through a program like this had an effect similar to half the effect of some medications is really a powerful finding. I have got to ask, what are the policy implications of this work?   There is very exciting momentum across the US federal programs, promoting produce prescriptions and other forms of, for better or worse, what is known as food as medicine. And these programs all provide free healthy food to patients in partnership with the healthcare system or through a physician's office. So, Produce Prescriptions are the focus of this study, but the other Federal programs also include things like medically tailored meals, which are healthy, home-delivered meals, often to patients with even more advanced chronic disease who also might have activity limitations or disabilities that makes it really challenging for them to shop and cook independently. Last fall there was a historic White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition & Health, in which the Biden administration in the summer prior engaged at a national level, major stakeholders in the anti-hunger space, large health systems, researchers, and government agencies to bring together a policy agenda to address hunger in the US, and the really high rates of diet-related chronic diseases. And it's important to note that, I think it is the first recommendation in the section of the final national strategy from this White House conference under the healthcare sector highlights Produce Prescriptions as a policy priority and expanding them in Medicare and Medicaid. So currently Medicaid, which is the federal health insurance program for individuals with low incomes or who have a disability, Medicaid is managed in partnership between each state and the federal government. And this means that states have some flexibility in how they manage their Medicaid program. They can apply for what is known as Section 1115 waivers. The federal government can approve these waivers if the state makes a good case that if they propose an innovative pilot, an innovative change, that they can make the case is likely to improve health outcomes and remain budget neutral, then the federal government can approve them to pilot this idea. So, currently in Massachusetts, we are several years into an 1115 pilot that is actually paying for produce prescriptions and medically tailored meals through the state Medicaid program. And currently about 10,000 people in Massachusetts have received some sort of nutrition support through the state Medicaid program. About 10 other states now have either similar waivers approved or pending approval to allow other Medicaid programs to do something similar. So, this is a really exciting area where expanding access to these programs is happening. And then in Medicare, which is the health insurance program for older adults, in Medicare Part C, which is the Medicare private health plans, those health plans can choose to cover Produce Prescriptions as a benefit. They're not required to, but they have the flexibility to offer that service if they would like. And then finally, I'll just say that there's also new pilots that were announced in Indian Health Services and the Veterans Health Administration. All these examples show that across the federal government there are exciting pilots and expansions occurring to cover Produce Prescriptions, and other foods and medicine programs. However, they remain unavailable to the vast majority of Americans who might benefit. And so, they're not a core component of any of those programs at the moment. And rather, these are pilots that are being tested, but very exciting movement, nonetheless.   Thank you for that really comprehensive set of examples of how policy is implicated in this work and potentially the need to expand this work. It makes me think of USDA's Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program. That would be another way that folks could access some of the benefits of federal dollars to support produce-type prescription programs. How do you hope to build off this study in future research?   At UMass Medical School, we're the official independent evaluator for the state Section 1115 waiver, which means we are essentially responsible for evaluating if things like the Produce Prescription Program in the Massachusetts Medicaid program is improving health outcomes. So, that is what we are working on right now. In our partnership with the state, we actually have access to all of the claims and encounters data within Medicaid. And we also are working with several health systems that are also sharing medical record data with us so we can evaluate the impacts of food as medicine programs on hemoglobin A1C, blood pressure, and BMI, so similar outcomes to this study. We actually have a large study funded by the NIH in partnership with former colleagues at Tufts University that is doing a deep dive on the Medicaid medically tailored meal program. And we're hoping to do something similar for the Produce Prescription Program in Massachusetts Medicaid. And the nice thing about these studies, they aren't randomized trials. Since this is a kind of a policy rollout, anyone who's eligible for these programs can receive the benefits. But we will be improving upon this study that we just published by leveraging two really strong comparison groups, and using some statistical techniques to make sure we're identifying patients who are as similar as possible to those who are receiving services, but ultimately didn't enroll. So, we're excited to have these results a couple years down the line and see if these programs are working in the context of a large state Medicaid pilot. Bio Kurt Hager is an Instructor in the Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences at UMass Chan Medical School. Dr. Hager's interests lay at the intersection of structural determinants of health, food insecurity, and government nutrition and health programs. He is currently evaluating the effectiveness of the Flexible Services Program, which addresses food and housing insecurity in Massachusetts Medicaid. His involvement in state and federal policy initiatives underscores his commitment to translating science into policy, including initiatives with the Task Force on Hunger, Nutrition and Health and the National Produce Prescription Collaborative.  

In partnership with the White House and the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Food Tank recently co-hosted the "Advancing Food Is Medicine Approaches" Summit in support of the National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health. On “Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg” listen to a two-part session from the event, where food policy and public health experts discussed research in support of community empowerment, the politics that can get in the way of data collection, and the need to balance stats and figures with stories.    Speakers from the panels include former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman; Dr. Christina Economos of the Friedman School; Dr Bisola Ojikutu of the Boston Public Health Commission; Diana Johnson of the Rockefeller Foundation; Dr. J. Robin Moon of the World Farmers Market Coalition; Kim Kessler of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene; and Lauren Fiechtner of Mass General Hospital for Children.   While you're listening, subscribe, rate, and review the show; it would mean the world to us to have your feedback. You can listen to “Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg” wherever you consume your podcasts.

This SHINE podcast episode is on how by facing and preparing for death, we are able to live more meaningful and purposeful lives. We all are born and we all will die. In this interview, we speak about how to talk about death as a way to foster deeper connection, healing, and growth at work, in our communities, and at home. We address the importance of bringing awareness and meditation practices to grieve effectively. Lastly, we talk about how bringing generations together over dinner can support us to solve some of the larger problems at work and in the world. This inspiring episode will support you to live a more meaningful life with less regrets. Episode Links: Compassion & Choices Death over Dinner What happens when death is what is for dinner? Ted Talk Reef Grief Article & coping resources Is this how you feel? Website formed to name and witness grief in community Book of Regrets SHINE Links: Thank you for listening. Want to build a high trust, innovative, and inclusive culture at work? Sign up for our newsletter and get the free handout and be alerted to more inspiring Shine episodes Building Trust Free Gift Carley Links: LinkedIn Consultation Call with Carley Book Carley for Speaking Leading from Wholeness Learning & Development Carley's Book Executive Coaching with Carley Well Being Resources: Inner Game Meditations Inner Game Leadership Assessment Social: LinkedIn IG Website Shine Podcast Page Imperfect Shownotes Hi, welcome to the shine podcast. My name is Carley Hauck. I'm your host, this is the fifth season of the shine podcast. I started the shine podcast as a way of doing research for my book on conscious leadership in business. And you will find interviews with scientists, researchers and business leaders on the intersection of conscious inclusive leadership, the recipe for high performing teams and awareness practices. My book debuted in 2021 Shine ignite your inner game of conscious leadership and was voted one of the best books to read in 2022. By mindful magazine, I facilitate two episodes a month of the shine podcast. And before I tell you about the topic for today, please go over to Apple podcasts or your favorite podcast carrier and hit the subscribe button so you don't miss any future episodes. The focus of this season is on the essentials for wellbeing. And that encompasses the intersection of our personal well being the collective well being of our workplace, and how that fosters and nurtures the planet's well being they are all connected. I focus on well being this season, because I really want to crack the code and inspire folks to prioritize their individual well being and therefore that will transcend into the collective and the planet's well being. And I have developed a inner game leadership assessment that I gave out to 100 different leaders last year. And the leadership assessment is based on the framework of the inner game, which is what we're cultivating on the inside to be conscious leaders. And it shows up on the outside when we cultivated the certain qualities. And two of the nine leadership competencies that were lowest from the sample of 100 leaders were psychological and physical well being. Therefore, that is why we are focusing on well being and if you're curious about where your strengths and gaps are around the qualities to become a conscious leader, you can take the assessment and find out your score for free. I recently opened to the assessment tool to the public, and the link will be in the show notes. Now onto our episode. Hello shine podcast listeners. I am here with my new friend Michael Michael HEB, who is the founder of death over dinner, drugs over dinner, and generations over dinner. He currently serves as a board advisor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts, and is the primary editor of COVID paper. His second book, let's talk about death was published by Hashem in the US, UK and Australia in October of 2018. and Russia, China, Taiwan, Indonesian, Poland and Romania in the fall of 2019, and will soon be published in Finland. Wow. That's incredible. Michael, so happy to have you here. Oh, my goodness, this conversation is going to be amazing. Can't wait. Thanks for being here. Of course, credit. Thanks for having me. So to start off in the deep end, which I know you and I swimmin. Often, I'd love if you could share some of your childhood story of losing your father to dementia, and how that experience inspired a movement to support millions in gathering and holding space as we prepare for death. Yeah, well, when I was in second grade, I didn't know that it would inspire valiance. For one, I was very much you know, just a regular seven year old, seven year old, eight year old and my father was quite a bit older than most fathers. He was born in 1904 in the Yukon Gold Rush in a minor shed and Dawson during the the like epicenter of the Yukon Gold Rush. And so he was 72 years old when I was born, which is becoming less and less unique. I think we just found out Al Pacino is going to have another child, but at at something, but back then this was quite a surprising thing. And I think it's a kind of an amazing thing in a challenging thing to be sold and to have a child because you don't know how long you're going to be around for them. But I was a bit of a surprise. And in second grade, my father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, full blown Alzheimer's, it wasn't early onset, his symptoms were severe at that point, and then was put into a, a nursing home. And those were really rough years, my mother was not resourced to know how to manage our lives. Very few would be, and we lived in a great deal of chaos. And he died when I was 13. On on Halloween, actually. And our family didn't know how to talk about his illness, didn't know how to talk about his inevitable death, didn't know how to talk about our grief. And so we started really avoiding each other, which in many way was was the healthiest thing we could do. Because when you have a secret or a traumatic centerpiece to your family relationship, every time you're around those family members, there's cortisol and all kinds of things flooding your system. And so we really grew apart pretty quickly. And it had a lot of impact on the family structure where you know, much later and we'll talk about death over dinner, it served as the inspiration for inspiring people to talk about death, mortality, life limiting illness, dementia, because I didn't want anybody else to have to go through what I experienced the type of alienation, isolation, depression, confusion, anger, and the whole rainbow of emotion that I had to go through, basically alone until many mentors started to show up in my life. But the the death itself on Halloween was, was a seismic event in my life, and not for the reasons you might think. The grief wasn't overwhelming immediately, there was a kind of void that I felt when I woke up the morning and Halloween, and I knew that he died even though there was no one telling me so there's just a known sense, I'd actually had the previous night woken up at 3:43am, the exact moment that his heart stopped without knowing why. And then when I woke up again, later on that day, I was very clear, like, my dad's died, and I ended up going to school, because I wasn't going to just hang out with my mom and my brother. That didn't seem like a good place to go, or to be. And so I went to school on Halloween and Halloween when you're 13 is a big deal. And I ended up going out with friends that night, I didn't tell a single person that day that my father had died. And looking back on it, I think that was a pretty smart strategy. The realization that I had either consciously or just knew in my bones, at that time was my friend group didn't have the ability to deal with the weight of that kind of information. Kids are much more emotionally intelligent these days than they were 30 some years ago. And so I went out with my friends on Halloween night and did the type of things that 13 year olds do. I think we TPT some houses and eggs, some cars and drink some and essentially were assholes. And this thing happened to me because I was holding this whole new reality that my my dad had died, which no one I knew could relate to. And looking around my friends and what we were involved in the way we related to each other, and really just the world. I had this sense of being separate from it and watching it almost film nicly seeing these things from a from a removed space and questioning. If we act like this, why do we relate to each other? Why is there conversation about meaning? Shit, I hope I can swear on your ad snapped to, I can totally be yourself. Yeah,apparently it's a sign of intelligence, I just read a recent report. But nonetheless, I felt separate from my social group. And in in that separation, I started to ask really big questions. And that is really where my spirituality took shape was in those questions, and their questions about what are we doing here? Is there something more than this? Is there a right way to live? Have people known about living connected to something larger than the cell in the past, and took a great deal of interest in poetry and Eastern spirituality and mysticism? Gnosticism a long list of question askers. And that really set me on a completely different course than I would have been happily skipping down. So really, really a big change for not not exactly the reasons you would expect, when you use the term seismic, you know, change? And I would say yes, for sure. And, you know, before this conversation, I did a lot of research and trying to get to know you, and different interviews and things that you have recorded. And I learned about your early meditation practice, and part of how that came to be. And I was touched, because we both started meditating, and really having these deeper questions and interest around the same time, even though I, I imagine we're probably a similar age. And I also grew up in a family where, and still have a family where I'm keenly sensitive to emotions of myself and others, and the planet, and my, you know, nuclear family is not. And in some ways, I felt like an alien. And really kind of stuffed those for a long time, but had to find other ways and other tools to really understand myself and similar to you, like, understand, why am I here? And you know, what is the reason that I am being called to be here at this time. And, you know, when we, when we think about meditation and Buddhism, Siddhartha had a very similar journey, right? He was he was living in this, you know, Castle, not no suffering, really, except that is that his mother passed at an early age. But then he went outside of the palace walls one day and saw the four heavenly messengers, you probably familiar of this, of this table, or fable, rather, one was a sick person, an old man, a corpse, and aesthetic. And so he went on, you know, the aesthetic path to try to understand why these things happen. But we all know that we're gonna die, like every single one of us is going to die. And we don't know when that is going to happen. And so I wanted to bring you on because of a lot of his own inquiry around death for myself, but also, how do we use death, knowing it's coming, knowing that in some ways, humanity is facing very grave ecological death, which we'll go into a little bit later, to live the most meaningful life that we can right now? Yeah, well, I mean, in many ways, we can unlock what our life's meaning is, without that kind of rupture, without facing our mortality. And for most people, it happens in the middle of their life. This is you know, what Richard Rohr calls the second half of life and talks about and falling upward. And that that is just kind of naturally an age where people that are meaningful to us start dying. Right, some of us are, you know, gifted or cursed with a meaningful death. early in life, if you don't embrace it, or let it embrace you or if you repress it, or run away from it, then it can be a curse. But if you do the hard work of facing, whether that's when you're 13, or 30, or 40, or 50, or 60, or 70. The gifts that you get are really the answers to why I'm here. It's it's in many ways, the strongest medicine there is and there's a lot of talk these days and a lot of experience around psychedelic medicine, for instance, many of your users or, or listeners are experienced or curious. almost everybody's read Michael Pollan's book, how to change your mind, it seems. And we talk about the strength of that medicine, right, because it allows us to connect to something larger than ourselves connect to our, our history, our traumas, some of these big questions we find in a lot of psychedelic plant medicines, experiences that are held in the right container. Death, it's arguably more powerful, a medicine, and it's sitting right here. Yeah, right beside us, whether we acknowledge it or not. And, and it's a little bit easier to integrate, quite frankly, and then a psychedelic experience. And, you know, a lot of those medicines, actually kind of the core thinking around those medicines is they give us the ability to die before we die, so that we don't have to die when we die. And this is the this was the reason that people went to Eleusis, the mysteries in in, in Greece for 2000 years, 30,000 people a year, would go to a Lusas, to drink BurgerTime beer, to have an experience where a part of themselves would die. So that they realized that life, what was important about life, what the meaning was, what they were doing there. And you know that that experience is available to all of us by turning and facing or grief or any number of things. I agree. And I you know, just to circle back to meditation. Gosh, there's so many, there's so many ways that we could go because I love to have the plant medicine discussion with you as well. And I, I believe you're very right. I think a lot of people in some ways are actually just using the medicine to escape again. And they're not actually integrating. I mean, you're finding this altered state of consciousness, which, frankly, you can find meditating. And I've done both. And there's not a lot of difference for me personally. And only the medicine just brings me to that point faster. But I've done years and years and years of silent meditation. And one of the things that I'm so grateful about meditation is that Vipassana, which is coming from the Tera Vaada. And Buddhist tradition, actually learned this several years ago, on a silent retreat at Spirit Rock meditation center, it means to grieve effectively, because every moment is passing this moment right now, between you and I will never happen again, quite like this, ever. And so I'm present to it. And there's a loss and that, here it goes. Yeah, letting it go. Yeah, sometimes we have to be well, I think we do have to build be able to face the big D, yes, the two really come to terms with the small D's that we face all of the time, and not grasp on to that which is constantly changing, right? Because that's what people's primarily, their primary complaints are really around the small days, you know, anxiety, depression, all of these things have that we suffer from on a regular basis have so much to do with dealing with the fact that things are constantly changing. Right? Right. Yeah. Yeah. And how do we how do we practice getting, you know, little and, and to be in flow with a world that is constantly changing? Right? And so that's why I told tell people and teach people that, you know, death is this really powerful medicine because one, you, you do want to drink from that cup, you, you will be facing the big D at some point. And you want to be present to that. And you want to be able to learn from the experience as the aperture of your life gets smaller and smaller. There's a lot of great richness in that I've seen people complete a whole hero's journey in their last hour on this planet and change things generationally, and do healing for people who, you know, their future ancestors, they'll never meet on death's door. Right? But not if we're grasping. Not if we haven't surrendered, not if we're not present to it. And in the present moment, same thing. We're not going to be able to have an access to the beauty of the moment, or whatever it is. It's not just beauty, the is of the moment if grasping, flailing, reacting struggling in fight or flight or freeze, unless we have some sort of practice round. I mean, some of my good friends started the flow Institute's flow Institute, Steven Kotler, and Jamie Weil. And there's a lot of talk about flow these days and to be in flow. And I give those guys a hard time. It's like you're teaching people all of these great techniques, but the most important technique you could be teaching it was to deal with death and go, yeah, and they've incorporated some of that. And we actually hosted the first flow Institute, gathering together years before their other best seller. So there's just a lot there. And it's scary for people. This isn't, I'm not saying this with the idea that you shouldn't have apprehension or that it's easy. But there have been a lot of people who looked at our impermanence, looked at death, looked at grief, and have lit those canyons, and lit those dark forests for us. So you're, you're not alone. And you will get immediate vitality, from the work that people do around this. And I know you work with leaders and, you know, one of one of the kind of most ironic slash funniest uses of death over dinner, which is a initiative I started to get people to talk about end of life and, you know, millions of people have taken part in this. I was gonna ask you about that. Yeah. If we'll come back to continue. Yeah, I'll give. I'll let you lead me into some framing but Deloitte, Europe, one of the leading firms, when it comes to giving advice and creating strategy for the biggest brands in the world, most people know Deloitte. Yes, started using Deloitte, Europe started using depth over dinner at the beginning of their, their corporate retreats for their big clients. And yeah, and found and people were able to have conversations about what do they want to be remembered for? What do they want to have happen to their body? You know, song would be one at their funeral. If they had 30 days left to live, what would they do with it? How would they feel that that unlocks so much connection between the people that were there and humanity, way below the watermark of their strategy, or with you know, their brand, and it also unlocked a tremendous amount of creativity? Right? People feel free to try out new ideas and to play with each other's ideas. So, you know, there's there's a lot, there's a lot there in this space that has big No Trespassing signs all over it for us. Thank you. Well, there's a couple of questions that I have that are bubbling. I mean, first, I'd love to hear well, and even before I, I asked you a question, just my responses, you know, in my experience, working with lots of different, you know, senior people, leaders and stakeholders and various companies, business is only as good as the relationships that people are forming. If there isn't psychological safety, trust, the ability to believe that this person has my back, and we are connected and we are connected towards something of greater purpose, people will not stay, they will not perform, they will not feel they belong, and they will not bring their best to work or that workplace. That has been my experience. And so, I think what we are craving most, and especially since the pandemic is connection, is meaning is purpose, and how do we build that together and then align, you know, in powerful actions together. And I just think that is that is what is happening in the workplace. There is a death of the old workplace that was profit above everything else, thank goodness, but it's slow. It's slow. There's there's still a certain you know, group of leaders that are holding on to that. Lynne twist has been a huge mentor to me and wrote the foreword of my book and I remember when I first heard her speak years ago, she said we are hospice sing out. You know, these Oh, have systems and structures that will not support the new world. Because we have to embrace that, or we don't have a path forward. And so I, I'm excited for the death let it die. But let's hospice it out, right? Because then we can let go more effectively. Yeah, well, I mean, the pandemic, arguably, threw a wrench in some of that, at least from the human connection side. It gave us something that we have in common to connect around, it made grief public, that made mental health public, it made that those topics went from being taboo, which we can talk about the word taboo if we want, because it's a completely misunderstood word. But from things that were not appropriate conversations, to being very appropriate, very common conversation, especially in the millennial communities, some of us that are a little bit older, catching up with millennials and that ability to talk about things openly. But it also just, it did separate us. And it's hard to create deep connections in the workplace, when this is how we're connecting when it's just over zoom, or maybe not even zoom, it's just over email. I hope Len is right below her very much. If you're listening, Man, I miss you. Let's talk soon. And I do I do really have hope that that is the direction that we're going. Right now, this seems like we're going a lot of different directions. So where it's hard to know,it's a little chaotic, for sure. Well, I want to hear more about the process of death over dinner, so you can share with our listeners of how they can engage in that, I also wanted to speak to you about how you have understood the difference between for example, sadness, and grief. Because it's a felt experience. And, you know, there's, there's a lot of numbing, there's a lot of avoiding that. And I just think that in order to really be more comfortable in talking about our own death, we have to be willing to feel the grief. So So start with that, the movement of death over dinner, the process, I'm gonna leave links in the show notes. And I have gone through the process a couple times, a couple dinners, and also have a guess, some insights that are not around that, but just even just some of the my own practices around death that I might insert in in our conversation if we have time. I love it. Well, death over dinner came out of the well, at this point. It's over 20 years of convening people to talk about difficult topics at the dinner table. I realized pretty early on in my career as an architect my backgrounds actually in architecture, that I didn't need to build any new structures, I was building places for people to gather and connect. As an architect. That was the focus of my young career. And then I realized that the dinner table does that, with me needing to file a building permit or raise millions of dollars for said structure. We just forgotten how to use the dinner table. And needed to remember, we've remembered how, to some extent to garden and farm and put great food on the table thanks to Alice Waters in the slow food movement, all this incredible work that's been done on the front side. But very little has been done around what happens when they actually sit down with that beautiful food or have that famous chef cook for us. And so we don't have a virtuous cycle. Back to the table. We have it as a kind of fetishized entertainment, almost like a Martha Stewart shot something not a oh, I want to be there having that experience. How do I get back there that richness comes from people being vulnerable, sharing stories around their lives. And now we just talked about succession when we get to a dinner table or whatever people are watching on TV. Probably 75% of the dinner conversation is happening over tables and or we're not paying attention to the Food, you know, or being even mindful of our consumption. I started off in the corporate space, engaging people in meditation through mindful eating of chocolate. I did not do the raisin that was not going to get their attention. But I've I've always really loved just bringing people's attention. Yes to, to food to connection to our connection to food, and therefore the greater the greater world. Yeah, which is great work. But then we also have to connect with the people at the table. And that was the kind of soft architecture that I got really interested in, what is the history of it? What is the history of the Athenian symposium that brought together you know, Plato and Aristotle was the history of the Jewish Seder. What's the history of the Bloomsbury group? Gertrude Stein's tables, so the Black Panthers Sunday brunches, like, what what has been this role how people use this space, the dinner table, because we're drawn to it naturally. It's like the watering hole on the savanna, all different types. For food, we, we come and we get saved, save it, and then we go back to her our lives. If we were eating together, a lot of people don't eat together. But so I started doing dinners with incredible folks and Presidents and Nobel Prize winners and people that are living on the streets and people that are struggling with mental illness, and you name it, dinner after dinner after dinner in every country, or every continent, and so many places, so many just wild settings. It's hard to even think about, and I've had to forget many of them, because there's been too many, and having hard conversations like how do we end genocide? How do we enhance closeness? How do we end the gender gap? Then I realized that I wasn't going to be able to reach the number of people that I wanted to reach. And I also didn't want to just be working with leaders. I don't believe in a trickle down model. I believe in a grassroots model, I really even think change actually happens from the ground up. And so wanted to create a social ritual that people could enact, all over the world could scale and was free very much like the Jewish Seder, actually, the ER a Shabbat dinner, but with a little bit more of a program, a theme. And so death over dinner was our answer to that. I was working with some great designers and graduate students, I was teaching at the University of Washington, in the Graduate School of Communications and decided to teach a course entirely based around building a platform called death over dinner. And we did and now it's become this global phenomenon. And what it is, is, it's an invitation. First and foremost, we're talking about facing mortality, or death, grief and people Oh, that's great. And you say that there's ways into this, but how well, here's one. Like, we're gonna give people an invitation that isn't a thick book, it is a dinner party, and you liked dinner parties. And so here's the invitation, come to dinner and talk about death. And it can be because you're grieving, because you have a loved one who has a terminal diagnosis, it could be because you have early onset Alzheimer's, you don't know how to talk to your family about it, but it's gonna be more and more of us. And so we built this beautiful website and its limitation and then created scripts for people. So your intention, why you want to have the dinner, or the conversation, you select on the website, and then it auto generates the scripts and allows you to pick some homework based upon that intention. So very different scripts for somebody who's grieving versus somebody who's interested for spiritual or religious reasons in a conversation. And then people sit down, and they have this experience where they don't have to think about what are the questions, it's all laid out. And there's a ritual in the beginning and a ritual in the end, and it works. Good, give people some good food and some structure and have someone you know, kind of hold the space for it, lead it, you know, who is whoever is inviting the conversation? Yeah, it's, it's beautiful. And then I've only done three, you know, personally, and I, I actually invited my parents, maybe like two months ago, and they they turned me down. They said, No, we don't want to talk about this, because we have a lot of friends that are dying right now. And it was it was too much, but I am not giving up. Because I I just think it's so important to talk about. Yeah, I'll just leave it at Yeah. Well, I mean, let's talk about that. Because if If you are lining up and saying like, Oh, I want to do I want to have that conversation, if someone's listening to this podcast and be like, I'm interested in that, or if there's any like, no, no, no, you know, putting their fingers in their ears. We can talk to both of those people right now. So if you are excited about it, and you're saying, I want to have this conversation with my parents, my spouse, my best friends, my co workers, my kids, you are gonna get nose? Yep. You if you're excited about it, you are more excited about it than many of the people in your life, I promise you. And so here's the thing. The people in your life do want to talk about it. Yeah. But inviting them is tricky. can be tricky. It's not tricky. Some people are just gonna be like, hell yes. And I'm gonna bring all my friends too. And some people will be like, Hell, no, I'm never gonna have this conversation. But here's the thing. If we acted like, most people act, or at the end of life conversation, the death conversation, if we acted that way, like we do around love and work, we would never find love, and we would never have a job. So your parents said, No. But you know, how did you ask them? And you tried one way. And there are many different ways. And I think of it more of as a courtship. Right? Well, and and just just to share a little more, I sent that to them over email, as an initial conversation. I actually, at that time, was living in Costa Rica. And we hadn't had a deeper discussion, I had no idea that my father had a law school friend that was like literally going to be dying a week from that moment. So it was really bad timing on my end. And I went through a very deep process at the end of last year, where I spent five days in a very powerful workshop, really facing my death every single day. So it started on a Monday, anyone Friday was dying, like it was happening. And over the course of five days, I was being told you have four days to live, you have three days to live, you have two days to live, you have one day to live, you have 30 seconds to live, what are you going to do and I was buried, literally buried, I did write my eulogy. And I have been wearing a bracelet around my wrist, it's just a black thread. That reminds me, I'm gonna die. And it's been so powerful and so potent. And so you know, some of that experience I've been sharing with my parents. That's the courting I suppose. And I spent my birthday with them intentionally this year. But I haven't done in many, many years. And as part of my birthday dinner, I said, you don't know how I want to die. And I don't know how you want to die. And we have not talked about Advanced Directives. And I really want to know, so that I can honor your wishes. And my parents are probably going to hate that. I'm going to say this out loud. But they said we haven't even talked about it. We don't know. So at least I have started that inquiry. And I said, Well, I would like to be cremated. And this is where and I should probably put this in writing. Because I don't know when that is going to happen. And I want you to know. Yeah. So that's, that's, that's part of I think, what I have been dealing with it all. I'll just share one other piece of that. I want to bring it back to you, Michael. But I wasn't planning on sharing this. But it's so interesting. Yesterday, I was flying back to California from Florida from visiting my my family, my parents, and we were approaching Albuquerque. And they were crazy winds like the plane is rattling and it was just like it was it was crazy. And I'm like, Oh, my gosh, I have not reviewed the emergency protocol. Okay, the 510. Net didn't actually go through it at the beginning. Sometimes they do sometimes they don't. And I thought okay, what, what if you were to die right now? You know what that feels like? You have gone through the experience. And I just allowed myself to feel it. I was actually buried in the sand. I was I was in the sand. They left me there for an hour. And when they came to get me during this five days, I didn't want to come out Michael. I felt so at peace. I felt so held by the Earth just the weight of her on me. And so many people had very different experiences. They couldn't wait to get out. It scared the hell out of them. But I reminded myself of that embodied acts experience if if this were to happen, this is what you know, in your body that death is and it was, it was wonderful. I didn't have I didn't have fear and I was able to transport myself back in that place on the plane yesterday as it's rattling and shaking and Okay. Okay. And well, let's imagine your parents, yeah, that would have had very different experiences being buried for one, they wouldn't have gone to Costa Rica to die off and five days. But they have maybe like an anxious attachment relationship to it. Or an avoidant perhaps. And, you know, there are these, you know, we can take, we can use attachment styles for debt too. And going straight up to somebody who is so avoidant. And, you know, putting your finger right on the nose of it is going to be, you know, can can be a thing that has them seize up, right, of course, of course, you know, and this isn't just to you this is to people are listening, because you're not, you're no, I love, you're using this as a teachable moment. And frankly, I have not shared what I just shared with you, I think with only three people. But now here we go. Like, yes, it's been buried. But yes, there there is a there is avoidance, there is anxiety. And it's unknown, of course. Yeah. But there's a way in. So, you know, similarly with courtship, and with a job that you really want, you get creative. And you think about that person. Right? What what are they interested in? Does your mom love Tuesdays with maurey? Perhaps? No, didn't love the movie? Does you know, do they watch dramas that haven't includes our true crime? Or, you know, like, there's, there are ways in and a legacy legacy might be away? And what do you want to be remembered for? Let's get way out, you know, and what stories from your life, we want to make sure that your grandchildren know that that is a death conversation. There's a lot of things that yes, I agree, don't present as much as like, your advanced care directives, and what happens to your body when you die. Right there, there are things that are a little bit more adjacent, where people can open up and before you know it, you're gonna get all of their wishes. It's an unfurling. Because they've been, you know, we're in a society that denies it. And, and is obsessed with it. So we have an unnatural, we have this very unhealthy relationship to it, we're obsessed with that. Death is central to all the top TV shows, books, clickbait it's everywhere. But but our own is, is a real challenge for some people. And the other thing is we can experience it. Right? So it's one of those human experiences that we'll never have, why? Until we have it. And so, it's not something that we can imagine ourselves in. And we also think we're gonna have that other bias in our brain that has it that we're an exception to the rule. We all think we're an exception to the rule. Not gonna happen to me. Yeah. You know, that's just baked in. And so there's a lot but I love that you're trying, and I'm confident that you're gonna find I am pretty persistent. But yes, it's about right timing. And so I appreciate that you used my example as a teachable moment, but I there's so many different places we could go. I'd love to, you know, end on on two questions. One is, how have you maybe found the distinction within yourself but also happen to be in conversation with with folks around the difference between sadness and grief? Well, the thing is, grief is is not one thing. You know, sadness, it has a certain tonality to it. Grief is all of all of the colors all of the sounds of the emotions so you can be a grieving and being laughing. You can be ecstatic and grieving you can be grieving and be horny you can be grieving and be devastatingly depressed. You can be grieving and be inconsolable. You can And all of this is included in grief, grief is is not singular in that way. And, you know, sadness, I'm not an expert on sadness. I mean, then I'm Sam a little bit more expert on grief. And one of the things that I know to be true about grief is one, it's not linear. There, there are no stages. So many people think that Elisabeth Kubler Ross determined the five stages of grief, what Elisabeth Kubler Ross did was create the five stages that happen when we come to terms with our own death. That's what that is. That's what the stages of grief, as we call them, were originally written as she suggested that it might work for grief. And then she retracted it. Some people have taken her suggestion and made careers on it. And the culture has had a bonanza around this idea of grief, having five stages, it doesn't, it's for ever, grief doesn't go away doesn't mean that it's always awful. But the fact that the person is gone, and that whole, that shape of that person will always be in your heart. But the the way to heal that, if that's even the right word, or the way to orient around that is not to try to get back to normal. Or to forget about it or reintegrate into society. It's to honor them. It's called continuing bonds theory. And it's actually the healthy way of grieving. And a lot of countries do this very well, Mexico, India, Japan, where they elevate their relationship to the loved one as opposed to repress it. Right? This, this is going to be with you forever. Turn the beautiful part on and some of the sadness, sadness can be beautiful, poignant, leads to some amazing things inspires us to get in motion sometimes, but elevate that person in your life, build an altar, have some remembrance, turn their body, you know, their cremated remains into things like parting stone or a diamond or have some way where they live in your everyday life is the is the way forward with grief, even though we talk about it in such unhelpful ways. Thank you. Well, and I and my experience with any feeling, you know, the more that we witnessed it, and we witnessed it in community or even with one other person, and in some ways, we're shining the light on it. And it has that opportunity to heal and transform. And that's I think some of what you're doing with this conversation is we're taking it out of the ground, so to speak. We're giving it life and a chance for people to talk about it and therefore grieve together and heal together. Right. And you know, this idea of the word taboo, we'll just talk briefly because I think you have one last question. But taboo is not doesn't mean forbidden. What it actually it's a comes from a Polynesian term, taboo, Tipu. And what that that was referred to places that were sacred places that you have to like, we know for some reason, we know that a burial ground and you know, an Indian or Native American or indigenous burial ground, that we know, for some reason is taboo. Why do we know that? Because that's actually true. It's a sacred place. That's one of the things that was identified as taboo or taboo is a holy place, a sacred place where we actually have to cleanse ourselves or prepare ourselves or being a different state of mind, to go into that space. And that's a rich and meaningful space. Taboo is actually an invitation. It's an invitation and but it's not the regular Friday, your regular Tuesday, it is, I'm going to do I'm going to prepare myself when people go into a mosque, they cleanse themselves. You know, there is there's something about this, that we've forgotten that, yes, we can talk about the hardest things we can talk about trauma. We can talk about sex, we can talk about, you know, history of abuse, we can talk about anything gender, politics, we you name it, if we prepare ourselves properly, and create the right container. There's nothing that's off limits. It's when we don't take the care to do that, that we run into difficulty I agree. Thank you. So in the topic of death and grief, and this is something that has taken a lot of my heart and mind space and continues to. And I think I'm not alone in this, you know, what's happening with our planet, and the extinction of species, and all of the reports that have been coming in for a long time around what is happening with the warming of our planet, and especially the most recent reports, there is an ecological death that is happening. And I think that it is overwhelming for many people to even really look at and feel, feel the grief around the species that are gone for good, and that will be gone. But also, I don't feel like we're prepared with the skills and the resources to navigate what is coming with the fires, with the migration that is going to be happening across our world of people of beings. And I just feel curious, does ecological death or grief come up at all, in these death over dinner conversations? And how can we inspire people to start talking about it, and prepare, skillfully to talk about it? Because we need to talk about it? Because we can't avoid it? It's here. Yeah, and, you know, I think one of the things that we do is weaponize our own grief around this our own urgency as opposed to create space for people to that's inviting to be able to have their own experience of grief around the natural world. Right? A lot of us have had that experience. And we've been we can't believe that others haven't, you know, has woken up to it. Right? Wake up and notice. Wake up and notice is not how I want to be woken up. That doesn't work. I try I have a 14 year old if I come in and shake her or throw water on her or tell her all of the things that she hasn't done or shouldn't be doing. No, that's not how we want to wake somebody up to this. You know, a good morning, I love you. You know, can I? Can I get your coffee? Would you want toast? Or do you want a croissant? Do you want fruit for breakfast? Right? Like, this morning, I gave her some of those choices. She was so touched, she was like, I would love a coffee. She didn't even drink it. But justit's through love. Of course, you're loving, it's tender. And a gentle is about creating space. If you do want people to start to see the world in some way that resembles your way of seeing. Right? One you don't know if they're gonna have the same experience and come to the same conclusions. But until you invite somebody in to look at it themselves and feel it. You've already told them that they're not allowed unless they have a certain set of experiences generally are a certain kind of fire under them to make change is the only way you can be a ticket holder into this conversation. Right this. So you know, there's an incredible book called The Persuaders that just came out. And now Anons going to destroy his last name that is about the right and the left, and how we need more on ramps into these these movements. And I highly recommend that to anybody. But I would also put a little little plug that in my book, I have also created some practices for how to navigate the deep grief and feelings around this. And also, you know, I started experimenting with this practice many years ago when I was teaching at Stanford and I'd, I'd bring the students out into the grass. And I'd ask them to tell me what they loved most about nature, and what they really got from nature. And from that love. What are we willing to fight for? Right? What just like anything, you know, like our family, our friends, if we love something enough, we care for it. We want to protect it and I think that that is I believe the most palpable way into the conversation and to feel the heartbreak around what's happening and you know, a lot of it we have caused, and then we have a choice of what actions we're going to take because pa I couldn't believe we can we can reverse it right? There's there's 100 ways to reverse this. But it requires a certain level of activation of all of us. Yeah. And then, you know, we did create a dinner model called Earth to dinner, which was in partnership with the Paris accord. And the earth in Paris movement in the UN was one of our partners, and we got 1000s of people to have conversations about climate change. But I'll leave you with one story. Because it's, it hasn't asked Yeah, what what evolved from that? Yes. But feel free to feel free to leave the story as well.Yeah, I mean, that. That was, it was incredibly powerful. And I got to work with Jack Black, which was fun. And one of those famous like internet famous cats, I can't remember his name. But nonetheless, the, the story I'll leave you with around it, because I still think it should happen. And I was in Iceland, and got inspired by the glacial melt in Iceland. And, you know, the fact that we are, we're very action oriented, when it comes to those people that are working on climate change, action is really the currency. And I realized that there's a step before action, which is great that we're missing. And so started working on a project to build a table out of the glacier and got, like, the leading ice sculptor in Iceland, to we went out into tests and took, can we cut a table out of the glacier. And then we have the arc at angles, one of the leading sustainable architects in the world cetera to design the table. So the arc angles, gonna design the table, and then how we were started to form this dinner around it. And Bjork said yes, and Sigur Ros was coming. And the president of Iceland was involved. And all of this was happening. And the idea was, okay, we're going to build this table out of ice, and we're going to have a dinner on it that we're going to film and then leave it for people to come visit it while it melts. But the dinner itself was called the goodbye glacier dinner. And the idea very simply was, you know, let's read this together. Let's talk about a world without ice and how that makes us feel. Let's talk a world of burial without glacier. Let's talk about the sixth extinction, that we're in the middle of let's have these conversations from what are we going to miss? How is that going to feel? Which is something that's not politicized? Alright, that's just like, how's it gonna feel? No, full stop. Not now, I want you to make sure you recycle. And you can't wear those, you know, you can't wear fur, or you can't do this, or you can't eat this, or there's no need for you know, let's just grieve. And so and then unfortunately, the idea was so popular that a friend of mine decided to build a whole festival around this and a thought leadership festival. And it got way too big and fancy. And then the whole thing exploded. But the the reason we were doing it in the first place was the goodbye glacier dinner, and the goodbye glacier table. And so it still hasn't happened. And maybe somebody is listening. Maybe someone will listen and they'll say, let's start. Yeah, I love it. Okay, if you want to do it, I'm up for it. Michael's up for reach out. That was your story. Beautiful. Well, I know you have as I shared at the beginning of introducing you, you have a couple other movements, generations over dinner, and that feels like a wonderful opportunity for people of all different ages to come together towards talking about some of these big conversations that were hospice sing out to create something new. Yeah. So yeah, generations over dinner, I'll just be briefly partnership with Chip Conley, Chip Conley, the founder of modern elder Academy, and I'm sure he's been talked about maybe he's been on this podcast he has and chip has a new book, and he's going to be on it again. So I am very inspired by Chip and his work at modern elder Academy and the emphasis on intergenerational wisdom sharing. Yes, this idea that a modern elder is as as curious as they are wise. And that it is about sharing, as as well as being you know, just that curiosity, that desire to learn. And that's the hallmark of what we need an elders right now. We're also age, we have an age apartheid, if you will. Don't know if we can Bandy around the term apartheid. So I apologize if that's offensive. But we have a divisiveness and separation around age we do not know, people of different ages, generally speaking, we are not age diverse, in our country are really very much around the world is one of those American ideas that has been exported, to really just spend your time around people same age and not live with people of different ages, etc. And so we decided to create another social ritual that is generations over dinner. And that's a challenge to see how many generations you can get at a dinner table. And these dinners are happening all over the world as well, there have been already to seven generation dinners, not of the same family, but the generations like boomers, greatest silent millennia, we've gotten all seven living at tables, or people have I haven't even done it, people got inspired by it. And they're like, we'll do it. And two of those dinners, one in Australia, one in the US have happened. And they're these dinners happening of work, mentioned that there were a lot of enterprise or workplace has the most intergenerational opportunity, for sure. Right. And, in many ways, the most generational division. So Chevron, Uber and LinkedIn are three companies that have taken on generation over dinner and are using it at scale. But the project that I'm most excited about you, we talk to you most excited about, and it's like, I get pretty excited about death, obviously. But this work with generations that we're doing in senior living, uh huh. The most the thing I'm most excited about. So there's, I don't know the percentage, there's a lot of us that are in senior living, and a lot of people that we love. And I had this realization one day that senior living, whether that's assisted care, independent living, etc, represents the largest and most concentrated reservoir of wisdom on the planet. And it's just sitting there and we are not tapping it. And we are not in conversation with it. And, you know, my mom, neighbor, and her senior living establishment is former governor Barbara Roberts, the first female governor of Oregon, who's unbelievable human being, no one goes to see her her family does, but she should, she would mentor people all day. And so we started working with senior living and was like, Sure if if we bring you generations over dinner, and also bring you the young people or you just open your doors to young young folks or people in the middle age one, you'll get more people who want to live in or work in senior living. But the loneliness epidemic that's happening at the oldest and the youngest, can be cured. And so now we're in like, 1000, Senior Living. Oh, I love hearing that. Well, my parents live and Valencia lakes, which is in Sun City, Florida, which is a quite a large 55 and older retirement village. And I was just spending a lengthy visit with them. And one of the things and I'm, I've always been an old soul, I have always had people in their 60s. In my life, I'm I'm in my early 40s. But I would go to the fitness center, this is just kind of a fun story. And I'd have lots of folks that I would just interact with, and they would just want to come up and give me wisdom. I saw a little lady, you know, like, like this, this man that was 90, which I wouldn't have known. He's like, don't stop moving. Like, okay, I'm not planning on it. And then this, this other man who was 66. But I want to respect their desire to share and it was it's beautiful, but you can't really get a workout in. But I love that. I love that, Michael, this conversation has been so meaningful. I just really appreciate how you have just started the conversation literally in so many important areas and your service. And I hope that we will be able to continue to converse, and I'm just very passionate about helping you amplify all these incredible movements. So thank you know, thanks for having me. And to those listening out there. It's all available. It's all free. Kind of never charged for any of these initiatives. So grab them, enjoy if death isn't the topic or psychedelic drugs had the topic that you're interested in generations over dinner is kind of for everybody. It is and all these links will be in the show. My notes, and Michael is also on LinkedIn. And he's got a website. And he's got a fabulous TED Talk. So all these all these links will be in the show notes, Michael, thank you again. Thanks so much talk soon. Hey, folks, thanks so much for listening to this wonderful conversation with Michael and I are on the intersection of grief and death. And therefore, how we want to fully live our lives. I wanted to share a few more thoughts and prompts, and resources, so that you could engage in this deeper inquiry around life and death for yourself when you're ready. And I'll start off with this, there is always a cycle of birth and death, and all things it's part of life. And nothing endures but change. And accepting this reality has the potential to transform the dread of dying into joyful living. I started working with cancer patients in my early 20s. And it informed me at an early age on the preciousness of life, I'd also had a meditation practice for probably a couple years before that journey of working with cancer patients. So I was already informed on how important being here for the present moment is. And I saw a lot of the patients that I was serving go through incredible changes when they knew they were about to die. I also saw some people that didn't have a chance to really pivot and had regrets on their deathbed. And last year, I knew that I needed a deeper reset for myself. And I took about 10 weeks sabbatical in Costa Rica, which is a place I've been going to for about 10 years. And I spent the first month in silence. And I have spent a lot of my life in the last 1314 years in silence. So I'd been getting myself ready to take a month, in some ways, because I had taken two to three weeks a year for many years. And it was incredibly nourishing for myself. And after I came out of silence, I prepared to die. Essentially, I had already decided to do a workshop with a teacher and a guide that I respected. And I shared a little bit about my experience with Michael, in the interview that you just listened to. But I had five days to live and die. And there were lots of very potent exercises that I did in preparation. And it was a real embodied experience. So much so that at the very end of the week, I was buried. And it gave me a lot to think about on how I wanted to live my life and what had the most urgency right now. And what came through were some really life changing insights. And I have as much as I can really try to orient my life around those insights into actions. And so one of the biggest aha was for me, when I knew I was about to die was I needed to invest in home, I needed to have a place to die. That was a place I felt safe, where I had loved ones where I had community where I deep roots. And I didn't have that. And I am cultivating that now I lived in the Bay Area for a lot of my adult life and because of how expensive it is, and because of some of what I chose to do during those many years, I couldn't invest in a property. And I frankly put the work of helping clients and companies above my own well being and my own happiness. And I wrote a book for almost four years. So there was a way that I was sacrificing my self in support of a purpose that I believed was more important. And that has really shifted I am no longer willing to make those same types of sacrifices for for the rest of my life. Because life is short, isn't it? And I think many people have been going through those same kinds of changes and acknowledgments over the past couple of years with the pandemic. And so as a result of facing my own death, I put some actions in place So that might be inspiring for you to hear. So I chose to spend three weeks with my parents in May, to nurture more connection really have meaningful time with them in these years where they're still healthy and able, and a lot of my life I have lived in California, and my family's in Florida, and it was incredibly sweet and tender. And I'm so grateful for it. And I hope that we will all have more time like that to connect, and get to know one another. There are ways that I know my parents now that I didn't know when I was a teenager, or even in my early 20s. And I think there are ways that they're getting to know me, as well. I have also recently moved to a community where I am really excited to invest more time and energy, in community in play in friendship, and belonging. And I'm holding greater boundaries around what is my right work, and what do I need that supports me to do that right work in a way that is balanced. So these are just some of some of the things that I have been putting into play. And frankly, one of the things that is also driving this greater motivation is that based on the warming that is occurring in the planet, and not knowing what is going to happen with our planet, and not really knowing how humanity is going to show up in this time, I know it's going to be hot, how hot it's going to be is up to us. And based on that there will be more adaptations, there will be more floods and fires and smoke and scarcity of water and resources. And therefore, in order to really enjoy my life, in addition to the My deeper purpose, to help solve some of these big problems we have created. I don't want to miss out on the beauty that is here. Speaking of the intersection of grief, and ecological death, I wanted to share with you some practices that I wrote about in my book that I think will be really helpful for you, if you like me, are also looking for those tools and resources to help you navigate what is here, what is coming. And so in chapter nine of my book, there is a practice. There's a couple practices actually one of them is turning emotional upset into inspired action. And I do believe that by having greater emotional resilience, we will have greater climate resilience. So allow yourself to just listen in to this excerpt from my book. I presented at Planet home in 2019, which is a gathering of changemakers scientists, Hollywood activists and musicians who are bringing greater awareness to climate problems as well as their solutions. During planet home, I led the participants of my workshop through a hike in nature in the Presidio of San Francisco. I invited those on the hike to notice what they love about Nietzsche, and based on that love what feelings arose when they thought about the Amazon burning, the glaciers melting, and the massive amounts of species dying every day. People shared deep grief, anger, fear, uncertainty and hope. Embracing the discomfort allows us to inform ourselves about how we want to act in service of the earth. So hearing that, I invite you to go out in nature once a week, and walk barefoot on the ground. Listen to the earth. Allow yourself to feel the nourishment from your connection to nature. And notice your love and appreciation of your surroundings. Let yourself feel all the feelings that arise about the destruction of our planet. And if the feelings are too much to bear, drop down to the earth with your hands and knees and let the earth hold some of your fear grief and rage. Yell if you have to let the emotions release from your body. You don't need to hold them in. From a deep place of feeling. Ask yourself how do I want to show up in service of To the earth, and then whatever answer arises, follow it. This will help you to stand in your commitment to be a good steward of this planet. And a couple of prompts for you, in addition to that practice before we end. When we think about using death as a catalyst to live a more meaningful life, there is another book that could also be helpful for you. There's so many, but this one came to mind. So Daniel Pink, an author that I respect, wrote a book about regrets. And he spoke about the five most common regrets that people had in life. So here they are, one, I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me to. I wish I hadn't worked so hard. Three, I wish I had the courage to express my feelings. For I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends, five, I wish that I had allowed myself to be happier. So in thinking about this conversation, what you've heard for me from Michael, if you're curious how you will start your journey to use death as a way to live a more meaningful and purposeful life. If you enjoyed this episode, please give me a five star review helps so much and then other folks can find the shine podcast, share with friends, family colleagues on LinkedIn, we are all in this together and sharing is caring. Are you seeking a catalyst to increase trust in your team upskill your leadership create a flourishing culture. I am your person. These are my areas of genius. And I love solving problems creating strategy, enrolling stakeholders related to these topics. And I've had incredible results with amazing companies. Reach out to me on LinkedIn, and book a consultation. I would love to help. I have some incredible interviews coming in the rest of this podcast season so make sure you subscribe to the shine podcast. Additionally, there's a lot of resources in the show notes around some of the pieces that Michael and I spoke about. Thanks so much for listening. And until we meet again, be the light and shine the light

Date: 16.05.2023 Join Sharjeel Ahmad and Saad Ahmed for Tuesday's show from 4-6pm where we will be discussing: “Eat Veggies" and "Save Water" Eat Veggies Healthy eating and healthy living are crucial for our overall well-being. A nutritious diet that includes a variety of fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and whole grains provides our bodies with the essential nutrients and energy we need to thrive. Eating healthy can lower our risk of chronic diseases. In addition to eating well, regular exercise and a healthy lifestyle can also help prevent these diseases and promote longevity. Save Water Water is a fundamental resource that sustains all life on earth. Climate change and population growth are increasing pressure on our water supply, leading to more frequent and severe droughts that threaten our ecosystems, agriculture, and public health. The UKs National Droughts Group has begun to implement hosepipe bans in over 640,000 houses in the Southwest as they expect major droughts this summer across the country. Join us on today's show as we explore the importance of water conservation while reflecting on the teachings of Islam. Guests Dr Susan B. Roberts (PhD in Nutrition from University of Cambridge, England. Professor of Nutrition at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy and Professor of Psychiatry and a Senior Staff Member in Pediatrics at Tufts University School of Medicine USA) Christine Hancock (Founder and Director of a non profit organization C3 Health) Leticija Petrovic (Msc in sustainable Agriculture and food security from Newcastle University and currently she works as a City Food policy lead at Thefoodfoundation) Mark Field (Director & Founder at Prof Consulting Group) Mumin Islam (Head of Price Review at South Staffs and Cambridge Water- leading the company's next Business Plan (covering the period between 2025 to 2030). Board member for Waterwise) Karen Gibbs (Senior Leader on environmental matters for the Consumer Council for Water (CCW) which is the voice for water consumers throughout England and Wales) Producers Durr-e-sameen Mirza, Prevish Huma and Nadia Shamas

In 2016, the Chilean government implemented a comprehensive set of obesity prevention policies aimed at improving the food environment for children. Results from a multi-year study of that regulation, published in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, can now tell us if Chilean children are better off as a result of the policy. Guests on this podcast include: Dr. Gabriela "Gabi" Fretes. She is an Associate Research Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute. Dr. Camila Corvalan is the Director of the Center for Research in Food Environments and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases Associated with Nutrition at the University of Chile. And, Dr. Sean Cash is an economist, Associate Professor of Agriculture, Food, and the Environment, and the Bergstrom Foundation Professor in Global Nutrition at Tufts University. Interview Summary   Sean, let's set the stage for this conversation. When crafting food policy, what should policymakers consider with respect to children and adolescents, both as current and future consumers in the food system?   I would argue that children and adolescents should be a priority, if not the priority in how we consider dietary policy for a few reasons. In the United States and elsewhere, we often argue quite heatedly about the proper role of government, with the arguments for health-promoting policies seemingly running into conflict with concerns about paternalistic interventions and restrictions on personal choice. These are important and perhaps unavoidable discussions to have. But when it comes to kids, we've already long had standards for school meals, what packaged snacks can be sold in schools, etc. We don't treat children as legally independent in other ways. So while there's still a lot of room for disagreement, it may be less daunting to actually keep child nutrition in the forefront when we consider how food policies around diet need to evolve. Perhaps more importantly, I would note that food marketers have long seen children as an important three-in-one market. One, kids have influence over food choices within their households. Think of a kid shopping with a parent in a supermarket and pointing at things she'd like mom or dad to buy. We sometimes call this pester power. Two, kids have their own spending money, and much of what they choose to spend it on is food. Often the types of energy-dense, nutrition-poor snack foods that are exactly the foods subject to labeling under the Chilean law we're talking about today. And three, kids grow up to be adult consumers, and their preferences and knowledge are heavily influenced by the things to which they're exposed in childhood. For the same reasons that food marketers are interested in children, policymakers should be. Kids have influence in in their households now. They're buying food on their own now. What they do now will influence their future behaviors and future health.   Thank you, Sean. I have got to say, I went grocery shopping with my child yesterday and I appreciate your thoughts on how we should think about what policymakers should engage, not just in the U.S. but anywhere when we are thinking about helping kids make good choices that will have long-term implications. Thank you for that. I want to turn our attention to the research paper that we're discussing now, titled, "Changes in Children's and Adolescent's Dietary Intake "After the Implementation of Chile's Law "of Food Labeling, Advertising, and Sales in Schools." So, Gabi, my question to you is this. One of the key components of the Chilean law was regulating food offerings in schools. Can you explain the focus of that policy and how it is intended to work?   Yes. Before we speak about schools, we should speak about Chile's law in general. Chile's law of food labeling and advertising includes three main components. The first one being mandatory front-of-package warning labels on packaged foods and beverages. The second being restrictions on all forms of food marketing directed to children younger than 14 years. The third one is school regulations at the preschool, elementary, and high school levels. Briefly, food manufacturers must place front-of-pack warning labels on packaged foods and beverages that are high in added total sugars, saturated fats, sodium, and energy. This law was implemented in stages starting in June, 2016. The law mandates that food and beverages with at least one front-of-pack warning label cannot be sold, promoted, or marketed inside schools. That includes school kiosks, cafeterias, and events that happen inside schools. Additionally, food and beverages with front-of-pack warning labels cannot be offered as part of the school meals program or as free samples or gifts. Chile's set of regulations is unique because it includes a package of interventions covering several aspects of the school food environments, such as the availability of foods for sale inside schools, school meal program standards, and restrictions on food marketing directed to children.   Wow, Gabi, this is a very comprehensive law. So what did the team hope to test in the longitudinal study? Could you explain the main findings?   Yes. So with this study, our team aimed to assess if children and adolescents' intake of total sugars, saturated fats, and sodium consumed at school changed after the initial implementation of the regulation. The team was also interested in exploring how children navigated different food environments. We also evaluated changes in intake at home and different settings from home and school. So, what did we find? Intake of most nutrients of concern, those nutrients under the scope of Chile's law, including total sugars, saturated fats, and sodium significantly declined at school both for kids and adolescents. At home, we also found significant declines in kids' total sugar intake, but no changes for adolescents. What makes this more interesting even is that we found evidence of partial compensatory behavior at restaurants, corner stores, street food, among others. Which means that kids and adolescents were consuming less healthy foods outside their school and home.   Thank you, Gabi. I want to now turn to Camila. I'm really curious about this compensatory behavior. The study found this evidence of students compensating somewhat for the healthy foods at school by eating more sugars, saturated fats, and sodium at other locations outside of school. Why do you think this happened?   Norbert, I believe this is a very interesting finding, and there are probably three main reasons why we observed this result in the study. First of all, we know that children, as they age, start to consume much more food from places outside of home. This is something that has been shown previously. We know that when kids start to age, they start to get more sugar, more saturated fat, more energy from restaurants and fast food outlets. This is something that we would expect in a longitudinal study such as the one that we conducted. Secondly, the Chilean law did not include regulation around the schools - so in the neighborhoods that surround the school. This was originally part of the regulation. But, during the discussion and designing, we had to drop this component of the regulation. Basically what we approved is that there were restrictions in the schools, but outside there was no restriction in terms of marketing or the offer of unhealthy foods to children. Finally, it's likely that the regulation influenced some kids in a positive way. They really changed their behavior. But it's also possible that other kids did not really change their behavior. Once they had the opportunity of going outside of the school, they just kept buying unhealthy foods with high content of sugar, saturated fat, and sodium.   Thank you so much for that. It does reflect the complexity of the decision patterns that children have in terms of how they eat. I think this is true for all of us. If we are trying to improve in one area, there may be some changes in other areas. But I want to pick up on something you said about why you believe the result occurred the way it did. It had to do with dialogue that went on in Chile about the law. So, I want to ask now, how can we best center the needs and voices of communities in the development of similar regulations? It sounds like some of this happened in Chile. Could you share your thoughts about this?   Yes. So, during the process of developing the regulation in Chile, the Ministry of Health held some participatory discussion throughout the country with families, parents, school teachers, and different stakeholders to actually get their ideas and also assess their concerns about the different components of the regulation. We do believe it's very important to include the community's views when we define this kind of policies or programs because what we actually want to modify is people's behaviors. We really want to understand what is the best way of actually achieving that transformation. We really need to get their view for doing that. In Chile, we did not have a very strong civil society organization that could coordinate these views, and that is why the Ministry of Health had to actively engage the community through participatory dialogues that actually delay a little bit the implementation of the law. But, we believe that certainly strengthened their application.   It's really interesting to hear about this deliberative process and to see what ultimately came out of that. I want to turn my attention back to Gabi. In the big picture of policymaking, what can we actually learn from Chile's experience with the food labeling law?   Thank you, Norbert, and I think that we can learn a lot. But, I will highlight three things that we learned from this study. First, I want to say that Chile was the first country in the world that implemented front-of-pack warning labels on packaged foods and beverages high in sugar, sodium, saturated fats, and calories. So, the first thing that I want to highlight is that what's unique about Chile is that it wasn't only a labeling regulation but a comprehensive set of actions that included restrictions on marketing as well as school regulations. Food environments as a whole should be conducive to healthier and sustainable diets, and therefore isolated actions would be limited in scope. However, we need to acknowledge that the policy process in Chile was not without complications because there was significant pushback from the food and beverage industry. This is something that countries in the process of designing or implementing similar regulations should expect to happen. They should be prepared to respond with arguments based on evidence. The second highlight is that our results showed that the set of policy interventions may be promising to improve kids and adolescents' diets at school, but that actions in out-of-school settings should be strengthened to improve overall diets. So for example, I will cite some actions that could complement these regulations, such as the introduction of junk food taxes, the reinforcement of nutrition education in schools and the community, particularly relevant now as we move into the post-COVID-19 era, social marketing campaigns, actions in other settings such as menu labeling in restaurants, improving the availability and acceptability of healthier foods by street vendors, among other actions. And lastly, the third point that I want to highlight is that moving forward, countries should consider equity aspects to overcome structural barriers that limit people's ability to choose healthier foods and combine mutually-reinforcing strategies to stimulate a holistic food systems response where everyone has access to and can afford healthier foods.   Thank you for those comments, and I really do appreciate this idea of even though this was a comprehensive law, that there are some other spaces that the law could touch on or think about because of the results that we saw with this compensatory behavior. Thank you for sharing that. Sean, my last question is for you. I'm wondering if you could share your thoughts on whether Chile might serve as an example to inform the current front-of-package label discussions we're having right now in United States.   Oh, absolutely. Chilean law has already served as a model for consideration in many other countries in the region and around the globe, including in our top food trading partner, Mexico, which enacted a Chilean-style labeling law in 2020. Several multilateral health organizations have also expressed support for the Chilean approach to be used elsewhere. And it's hard to argue against the logic of policymakers in the United States paying close attention to what works well and what doesn't work in other countries in considering any policies around dietary guidance that we choose to pursue here. But for me, one particularly compelling part of the Chilean law that we should pay attention to in the U.S. is how the standards are consistent, and that the same foods that bear the front-of-pack warning labels are those that are restricted in schools and cannot be marketed to children. Looking for opportunities for similar types of harmonization across different areas of dietary guidance and policy within the U.S. moving forward would certainly help with consumer education, and I think would make sense in other ways. And one interesting thing to keep in mind when talking about the use of mandatory warning labels in a U.S. context is that there are some potentially binding limits on what the government can or can't compel food manufacturers to put on a food pack. Think of cigarette labels for a moment. We've long required that cigarette packages have the rather bland, plain text Surgeon General's warning that we're all familiar with seeing. But in the late 2000 aughts, the FDA proposed rolling out a series of graphic warning labels modeled, in part, on similar images used in other countries. And in that case, the effort was scrapped because of a widespread concern that requiring tobacco manufacturers to put a picture of a body in a morgue with a body tag on it, for example, is interpretive language that appeals to an emotional response, and that this would actually be a form of government-compelled speech that runs up against our First Amendment protections in a way that a scientifically-factual, text-only statement would not. While I personally don't know that the Chilean labels would be interpreted in the same way here, I'm quite certain that legal challenges would be raised to clarify this question in the U.S. context. So, it might be a little bit tougher to take some warning label approaches here in the United States than what we've seen enacted elsewhere.     Bios   Gabriela (Gabi) Fretes is an Associate Research Fellow in the Nutrition, Diets, and Health (NDH) Unit of the International Food Policy Research Institute. She received her PhD in Food and Nutrition Policies and Programs at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University, USA in 2022 and holds a Masters in Food and Nutrition with a concentration on Health Promotion and Prevention of Non-Communicable Diseases from the Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology, University of Chile. Her research interests are at the intersection of child obesity prevention, food policy and consumer behavior, and her doctoral thesis involved evaluation of a national food labeling and advertising policy designed to improve the healthfulness of the food environment and address the obesity epidemic in Chile, particularly among children. She has worked with a broad range of government, international organizations, academia, public and private sector stakeholders and decision-makers in Paraguay, Chile, and the United States of America.   Camila Corvalán is a surgeon, a Master in Public Health, and holds a PhD in Nutrition. She is the Director of the Center for Research in Food Environments and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases Associated with Nutrition (CIAPEC), at the Public Health Unit of the Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology (INTA) of the University of Chile. CIAPEC is dedicated to the population study of the early nutritional determinants of obesity and associated chronic diseases, particularly metabolic diseases and breast cancer. Their work focuses on carrying out longitudinal epidemiological studies (both observational and intervention) in stages considered critical for the appearance of these diseases, such as pregnancy, childhood, and adolescence, considering various determining factors in both the environment food (set of factors that define population feeding patterns) as individual. CIAPEC is a part of the international network INFORMAS for monitoring food environments, and also carries out policy evaluations such as the Chilean Labeling Law; CIAPEC works in coordination with several governmental bodies.   Sean Cash is an economist and associate professor of agriculture, food and environment at Tufts University. He conducts research both internationally and domestically on food, nutrition, agriculture and the environment. He is interested in the environmental impacts in food and beverage production, including projects on crop quality and climate change, consumer interest in production attributes of tea and coffee, and invasive species management. He also focuses on how food, nutrition, and environmental policies affect food consumption and choice, with specific interest in children's nutrition and consumer interest in environmental and nutritional attributes of food. He teaches courses in statistics, agricultural and environmental economics, and consumer behavior around food. He is currently Editor of the Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics and on the editorial board of Agribusiness, and has served as the Chair of the Food Safety and Nutrition Section of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.  

2.3 billion people, or 30% of the world's population, are food insecure. This isn't just a problem in low-income countries – an estimated 34 million people in the United States, including one out of every eight children, have constrained diets because of a lack of access to food. Furthermore, malnutrition and obesity are common since most people's diets have some deficiencies, or some excesses because of the costs of food, and a lack of knowledge about what constitutes healthy eating. What are the causes of hunger? What makes for a healthy diet, and what does it cost to provide this to a family, both in the United States, and around the world? Will Masters joins EconoFact Chats to discuss these and other questions. Will is a professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition at Tufts University. He is also an elected fellow of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

2.3 billion people, or 30% of the world's population, are food insecure. This isn't just a problem in low-income countries – an estimated 34 million people in the United States, including one out of every eight children, have constrained diets because of a lack of access to food. Furthermore, malnutrition and obesity are common since most people's diets have some deficiencies, or some excesses because of the costs of food, and a lack of knowledge about what constitutes healthy eating. What are the causes of hunger? What makes for a healthy diet, and what does it cost to provide this to a family, both in the United States, and around the world? Will Masters joins EconoFact Chats to discuss these and other questions. Will is a professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition at Tufts University. He is also an elected fellow of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

In this episode, Uzair talks to Dr. Erum Sattar about the Indus Waters Treaty, its history, and India's notice to amend the agreement. We dive deep into some of the capacity constraints on the Pakistani side and why we should be paying attention to ongoing events related to the treaty. Dr.Erum Sattar is the Former Program Director of the Sustainable Water Management Program and a Lecturer at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University.

Videos: 6 minutes ago : Elon Musk Shared Terrifying Message (8:39) You're Not Going To Believe This! | Mark Steyn & Eva Vlaardingerbroek (3:03) Tulsi Gabbard News Live/ Tulsi Shares The True Reason Of Her Exit (3:13) Neil Oliver – ‘…it's a toxic hell…' (START @ 9:00) So THIS is how they plan to screw these companies, from inside out | Redacted with Clayton Morris (2:48)   Pomegranate juice found to combat systemic inflammation throughout the body University of Bologna (Italy) & University of Auckland (New Zealand), November 18, 2022 The researchers from the University of Bologna and the University of Auckland looked at the effects of the juice of the pomegranate in particular, which has already been shown to help conditions like diabetes, atherosclerosis and prostate cancer. Chronic inflammation, a response by the body to infection and tissue damage, has been linked to the development of disorders such as inflammatory bowel disease, asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and psoriasis. After analyzing an extensive number of existing studies on pomegranate, they found plenty of evidence that shows pomegranate juice can indeed help inflammation-related diseases, although they pointed out that a definitive relationship has not been officially established. Most of the scientific research on pomegranate's health benefits has been carried out on cell culture or animal models, they point out, and clinical trials with humans are generally lacking. They found that pomegranate seems to show the most promise in fighting cardiovascular diseases, metabolic syndrome and diabetes, but the researchers urge care, calling on further studies to determine its specific effects and explain why the fruit juice seems to help chronic inflammatory diseases. A Case Western study published in the Journal of Inflammation, for example, found that the extract of pomegranate significantly inhibited the buildup of damaging proteins associated with Alzheimer's disease by as much as a half. This effect is being attributed to its ability to protect against the oxidative stress that leads to beta-amyloid deposits. Researchers have also demonstrated its potential to help those with prostate, colon and breast cancer. In studies where tumor cells were treated with pomegranate, cell migration dropped and the cancer was stopped from spreading to other areas of the body. Pomegranate juice came out on top in a study of beverages known for their antioxidant content carried out by the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of California – Los Angeles's David Geffen School of Medicine. While all of the beverages examined – blueberry juice, acai berry juice, green tea, white tea, Concord grape juice, orange juice, pomegranate juice and red wine, had impressive amounts of antioxidants, pomegranate juice outperformed them all when it came to polyphenols and protective benefits. Its antioxidant potency composite index was a full 20 percent higher than any of the other drinks that were put through the rigorous testing. (NEXT) Handful of walnuts daily cuts risk of asthma University of North's Carolina, November 20, 2022 Here's another reason for you to eat more walnuts as a type of vitamin E, found in these nuts, may prevent the risk of asthma attacks by reducing airway inflammation. According to researchers, sufferers of a common breathing condition, taking it as part of the study, were also found to have less sticky mucus in their lungs. Gamma-tocopherol is a major form of vitamin E, which is abundant in nuts like walnuts and pecans and in the legume peanut, as well as seed oils such as corn, soybean and sesame. Senior study author Professor Michelle Hernandez from the University of North's Carolina school of medicine said epidemiologic data suggested that people with high amounts of vitamin E in their diet were less prone to asthma and allergic disease. The team randomly analysed participants into two groups, one that received gamma tocopherol supplement and other that received a placebo for two weeks. After a three-week period break, the findings indicated that when people were taking the vitamin E supplement, they had less eosinophilic inflammation. In addition, those who were taking vitamin E were also found to have lower levels of proteins called mucins, which affect the stickiness of mucus. Mucins are often elevated in asthmatics. (NEXT) Using vapes may set the stage for dental decay Tufts University, November 23, 2022 A vaping habit could end up leading to a tarnished smile, and more frequent visits to the dentist. Research by faculty from Tufts University School of Dental Medicine found patients who said they used vaping devices were more likely to have a higher risk of developing cavities. With CDC surveys reporting that 9.1 million American adults—and 2 million teenagers—use tobacco-based vaping products, that means a lot of vulnerable teeth. The findings of this study on the association between vaping and risk of caries—the dental term for cavities—serve as an alert that this once seemingly harmless habit may be very detrimental, says Karina Irusa, assistant professor of comprehensive care and lead author on the paper. The study was published in The Journal of the American Dental Association. Irusa says that the recent Tufts finding may be just a hint of the damage vaping causes to the mouth. “The extent of the effects on dental health, specifically on dental decay, are still relatively unknown,” she says. “At this point, I'm just trying to raise awareness,” among both dentists and patients. This study, Irusa says, is the first known specifically to investigate the association of vaping and e-cigarettes with the increased risk for getting cavities. She and her colleagues analyzed data from more than 13,000 patients older than 16 who were treated at Tufts dental clinics from 2019-2022. While the vast majority of the patients said they did not use vapes, there was a statistically significant difference in dental caries risk levels between the e-cigarette/vaping group and the control group, Irusa found. Some 79% of the vaping patients were categorized as having high-caries risk, compared to just about 60% of the control group. The vaping patients were not asked whether they used devices that contained nicotine or THC, although nicotine is more common. It's also been observed that vaping seems to encourage decay in areas where it usually doesn't occur—such as the bottom edges of front teeth. “It takes an aesthetic toll,” Irusa says. (NEXT) Study finds link between foods scored higher by new nutrient profiling system and better long-term health outcomes Tufts University, November 22, 2022 The idea that what we eat directly affects our health is ancient; Hippocrates recognized this as far back as 400 B.C. But, identifying healthier foods in the supermarket aisle and on restaurant menus is increasingly challenging. Now, researchers at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts have shown that a holistic food profiling system, Food Compass, identifies better overall health and lower risk for mortality. In a paper published in Nature Communications, researchers assessed whether adults who ate more foods with higher Food Compass scores had better long-term health outcomes and found that they did. Introduced in 2021, Food Compass provides a holistic measure of the overall nutritional value of a food, beverage, or mixed meal. It measures nine domains of each item, such as nutrient ratios, food-based ingredients, vitamins, minerals, extent of processing, and additives. Based on scores of 10,000 commonly consumed products in the U.S., researchers recommend foods with scores of 70 or above as foods to encourage; foods with scores of 31-69 to be eaten in moderation; and anything that scores 30 or below to be consumed sparingly. For this new study, Food Compass was used to score a person's entire diet, based on the Food Compass scores of all the foods and beverages they regularly consume. For this validation study, researchers used nationally representative dietary records and health data from 47,999 U.S. adults aged 20-85 who were enrolled between 1999-2018 in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Deaths were determined through linkage with the National Death Index (NDI). Overall, researchers found that the mean Food Compass score for the diets of the nearly 50,000 subjects was only 35.5 out of 100, well below ideal. “One of the most alarming discoveries was just how poor the national average diet is,” said O'Hearn. “This is a call for actions to improve diet quality in the United States.” A higher Food Compass diet score was associated with lower blood pressure, blood sugar, blood cholesterol, body mass index, and hemoglobin A1c levels; and lower prevalence of metabolic syndrome and cancer. A higher Food Compass diet score was also associated with lower risk of mortality: for each 10-point increase, there was a 7 percent lower risk of death from all causes. Food Compass also boosts scores for ingredients shown to have protective effects on health, like fruits, non-starchy vegetables, beans and legumes, whole grains, nuts and seeds, seafood, yogurt, and plant oils; and lowers scores for less healthful ingredients like refined grains, red and processed meat, and ultra-processed foods and additives. “We know Food Compass is not perfect,” said Mozaffarian. “But, it provides a more comprehensive, holistic rating of a food's nutritional value than existing systems, and these new findings support its validity by showing it predicts better health.” (NEXT) Acupuncture can relieve lower back and pelvic pain often experienced during pregnancy Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, November 21, 2022 Acupuncture can significantly relieve the lower back and/or pelvic pain frequently experienced by women during their pregnancy, suggests a pooled data analysis of the available evidence, published in BMJ Open. And there were no observable major side effects for newborns whose moms opted for the therapy, the findings indicate, although only a few of the published studies included in the analysis evaluated outcomes, such as premature birth, note the researchers. To add to the evidence base, the researchers trawled research databases for relevant clinical trials that compared the pain relief afforded to pregnant womengiven acupuncture, alone or when combined with other therapies, with other/no/dummy treatments, as well as the potential impact on their newborns. The final analysis included 10 randomized controlled trials, involving 1,040 women. Every study was published between 2000 and 2020, and carried out variously in Sweden, the UK, the U.S., Spain and Brazil. The moms-to-be were all healthy, 17 to 30 weeks into their pregnancy on average, and had lower back and/or pelvic pain. Pooled data analysis of the trial results for nine studies suggested that acupuncture significantly relieved pain during pregnancy. Four of those studies reported on the potential of acupuncture to restore physical function, and the results showed that this was significantly improved. Quality of life was recorded in five studies. When the results of these were pooled, the findings suggested that acupuncture significantly improved this too. Pooled data analysis of four studies indicated that there was a significant difference in overall effects when acupuncture was compared with other or no interventions. The researchers conclude that acupuncture merits closer attention for its potential to ease pain at a time when it's preferable to avoid drugs because of their potential side effects for mother and baby. (NEXT) 6 Health Benefits Of Rutin, And Where To Find It GreenMedInfo, November 24, 2022 Rutin is an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory powerhouse found in a variety of delicious food that may boost your health via multiple avenues, from promoting healthy circulation to providing pain relief. Rutin is one of about 4,000 types of flavonoids that are found abundantly in plants. Also known as rutoside and vitamin P, rutin is a flavonol that acts as an active constituent in tea leaves, apples, buckwheat, most citrus fruits and passion flower, for example, with nutraceutical effects that have been valued since ancient times. Medicinal plant compounds often have a range of biological activities that are both impressive and varied. Rutin is no exception, with a number of pharmacological activities that include: Six Top Reasons to Try Rutin Rutin is perhaps best known for its ability to ward off oxidative stress via potent antioxidant properties. This makes it valuable in a number of disease conditions and even as a tool for healthy aging. Rutin, for instance, reduces skin aging by strengthening dermal density and elasticity, and is found in more than 130 registered therapeutic medicinal preparations. GreenMedInfo.com has additionally compiled nearly 70 pharmacological actions related to rutin, along with 136 diseases that it may be useful for. Some of its top health benefits follow. Protection From Neurodegenerative Disease Rutin has demonstrated benefits to the central nervous system, including prevention of neuroinflammation, anticonvulsant activity and antidepressant effects. Rutin may be useful for recovery after stroke and also shows promise for Alzheimer's disease. With an ability to cross the blood-brain barrier, rutin may benefit the cognitive and behavioral symptoms of neurodegenerative diseases and helps to remove the inflammatory component of neurodegeneration. Relieve Arthritis Pain Rutin not only has analgesic and antinociceptive effects but also antiarthritic effects, making it an ideal natural option for arthritis.The plant compound has been found to suppress oxidative stress in people with rheumatoid arthritis,while also inhibiting both the acute and chronic phases of inflammation in an arthritis rat model. Antidiabetic Effects Rutin has beneficial effects on the endocrine system, including antidiabetic and anti-hypercholesterolemic effects. Rutin helps fight diabetes by decreasing carbohydrates absorption from the small intestine, increasing the uptake of glucose into tissues and stimulating the secretion of insulin from beta cells, leading to antihyperglycemic effects as well as protection against the development of diabetic complications. Rutin is also useful for protecting against age-related metabolic dysfunction, with research suggesting it inhibits age-related mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress, as well as endoplasmic reticulum, or ER, stress, which is related to proteins that are not properly folded. Promote Healthy Circulation and Reduce Blood Clots Consuming rutin, either from foods or supplements, may be an effective way to block the formation of blood clots. Research by Harvard Medical School researchers suggests that rutin is effective against both platelet-rich clots that form in arteries and fibrin-rich clots that form in veins. Rutin was found to be a “champion compound” for inhibiting protein disulfide isomerase (PDI), which plays a role in the initial stages of clot formation. A nano-formulation of rutin was also found to exert powerful antithrombotic effects by inhibiting PDI,while rutin may also augment the production of nitric oxide in human endothelial cells, which is useful for blood pressure and cardiovascular system health. In terms of improved circulation, rutin is a venoactive compound, which means it may be useful for symptoms of chronic venous diseases (CVD). The compound has been demonstrated to reduce severity of lower leg pain, leg cramps, heaviness and itching, as well as edema (swelling), in people with CVD. Anticancer Effects Rutin's anticancer properties have been extensively studied. In human leukemia cells, rutin led to a significant reduction in tumor size, and it's known to inhibit cancer cell growth by cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. It also inhibits proliferation and metastasis of colorectal cancer cell lines and shows promise for use in ovarian and color cancers, as well as neuroblastoma. Support Gastrointestinal Health Rutin has antiulcer effects, as it inhibits the gastric proton pump that sends acid to your stomach. It also has potential against inflammatory bowel disease, not only due to its antioxidant effects but also by suppressing the release of proinflammatory mediators and the expression of inflammatory proteins. Top Sources of Rutin As noted in the Saudi Pharmaceutical Journal, “An ancient saying ‘an apple a day, keeps doctor away' seems to be true as rutin, one of the important constituents of apples, has a wide array of biological activities.”

This week I am joined by Dasha Algounik, a registered dietitian, 5x published nutrition researcher, and 2x award winning bikini athlete. She graduated from the top Nutrition graduate program in the country, Tufts University's Friedman School. Her research and coaching focuses on optimizing metabolic and digestive health through nutrition and exercise. CorePerform has helped over 500 people (and growing) get results in just 3 months with 100% success. She recently won Friedman's 100k Pitch competition for her patent pending protein and was welcomed into the US Food and Innovation Council with leaders in the industry like Kellogg, Campbell, Nestle and more. Click here for $5 OFF of CorePerform's bloat free protein powder! Connect With Dasha Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dashafitness/ Website: https://coreperform.com/ Blog: https://coreperform.com/blogs/learn Connect With Giulia Instagram - https://bit.ly/3b8TcyV TikTok - https://bit.ly/3vmZRw2 YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYFbtZh_Y63YlJD6TI4Vdeg Resources ⚡️ Join the Manifest Your Dream Life Waitlist Here

Generations Over Dinner is designed to alleviate ageism and loneliness by encouraging different generations to go deep at the dinner table. Learn how the founders joined a think tank of leaders in the aging space to create a turn-key program that any individual or senior living community can implement. About Michael Michael Hebb is the Founder of Over Dinner (Death Over Dinner, Drugs Over Dinner, Generations Over Dinner) and the author of Let's Table About Death (Over Dinner). He currently serves as a Board Advisor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts, is the primary editor of the COVID Paper; and in the recent past served as a Partner at RoundGlass and Senior Advisor to Summit Series, Theo Chocolate, CreativeLive, Architecture For Humanity, and Mosaic Voices Foundation. In 1997 Hebb co-founded City Repair and Communitecture with architect Mark Lakeman, winning the AIA People's Choice Award for the Intersection Repair Project. In 1999 Michael and Naomi Pomeroy co-founded Family Supper in Portland, a supper club that is credited with starting the pop-up restaurant movement. In the years following they opened the restaurants clarklewis and Gotham Bldg Tavern, garnering international acclaim. After leaving Portland, Hebb built Convivium, a creative agency that specialized in the ability to shift culture through the use of thoughtful food and discourse-based gatherings. Convivium's client list includes: The Obama Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, TEDMED, The World Economic Forum, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Clinton Global Initiative, X Prize Foundation, The Nature Conservancy. Key Takeaways Generations Over Dinner is the framework you need to have the experience. The turnkey program includes nine dinner scripts with three primary topics: love and relationships, purpose, and the future. Senior living communities can have their own Generations Over Dinner secure platform where they can plan dinners and invite residents and their kids, grandkids, and friends from outside the community. Loneliness is not alleviated by having more conversations or by being around more people. It is only alleviated by having high quality conversations and real connection.

The ability to cook has become a lost skill in our current age, which is a big factor in deteriorating health. Today's guest, Deborah Kennedy, shares why cooking is the only way you can own your health. In this episode, we talk about: How our physical health is connected to our ability to cook Letting children play with food so they can get familiar with it Defining what it means to cook Using culinary techniques to starting liking the taste of certain foods Starting small with incremental healthier changes Deborah's book and her modular approach to healthy cooking What to expect from Deborah's Food Coach Academy The growing health coach industry and the positive impacts it will have   Memorable Quotes “Any opportunity you have to create something yourself is adding health to your body.” “There is and never will be this magic food that you can eat that will get rid of all the negative consequences that an ultra processed diet brings you.” “Even the smallest changes can have a biochemical effect in your body, which can lead towards health.”   Deborah Kennedy PhD is the CEO of The Food Coach AcademyTM, Build Healthy Kids®, and Culinary Rehab®, which establishes nutrition and culinary competencies, modular learning opportunities, prescriptive delivery methods and outreach programs for various populations. She received her PhD in Nutritional Biochemistry from Tufts University, Friedman School of Nutrition, Science and Policy. Dr. Kennedy has studied food from an early age - learning to cook at age 4, worked as a chef in Canada, obtained her doctorate in nutrition, authored three books on children and nutrition and five in Culinary Medicine, and developed a prescriptive algorithm for dietary changes. She served as the first Chair for Best Practices in the Teaching Kitchen Collaborative (a Harvard and CIA initiative) and serves on the board of Chefs for Humanity. Mentioned In This Episode:The Culinary Medicine Textbook: The Basics    Links to resources:Health Coach Group Websitehttps://www.thehealthcoachgroup.com/ Leave a Review of the Podcast

Videos: The Truth About Ivermectin: A new short documentary by Filmmaker Mikki Willis – 13:42 Neil Oliver: This supposed utopia we're having rammed down our throats isn't working – 9:58 New Rule: Cancel Culture is Over Party | Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO) – 6:45   Antioxidants protect against cartilage damage Skeletal Biology and Engineering Research Center (Belgium), September 12 20228. An article appearing in Science Translational Medicine adds evidence to the role of antioxidants in protecting the body's cartilage from the damage that contributes to osteoarthritis. Acting on the finding that the protein ANP32A, which is involved in a number of processes in the body, was downregulated in osteoarthritic cartilage in mice and humans, Frederique Cornelis of the Skeletal Biology and Engineering Research Center in Belgium and colleagues discovered that ANP32A protects against oxidative damage in the joints, thereby helping to prevent the development of osteoarthritis and its progression. It was determined that ANP32A increases levels of the enzyme ATM, a regulator of the cellular oxidative defense, in response to oxidative stress in joint cartilage. The discovery suggests that antioxidant therapies could help protect against further damage in patients with osteoarthritis, as well as providing a benefit in other disorders. Administration of the antioxidant N-acetylcysteine (NAC) to the drinking water of mice that were deficient in ANP32A was shown to decrease cartilage damage and arthritis symptoms. It was additionally revealed that ANP32A deficiency was associated with osteopenia and a neurologic disease known as cerebellar ataxia in mice and that NAC helped with these conditions. “Aging, a key risk factor for the development of osteoarthritis, is associated with elevated oxidative damage of DNA, proteins, and lipids, and accumulating evidence indicates that oxidative stress is a major physiological inducer of aging,” the authors write. “We observed reduced expression of ANP32A in aged mouse cartilage and in human cartilage from patients with osteoarthritis, and we showed that Anp32a-deficient mice develop spontaneous osteoarthritis upon aging. Thus, ANP32A can be considered as a key coordinator of oxidative stress and aging in joints.” “Our findings indicate that modulating ANP32A signaling could help manage oxidative stress in cartilage, brain, and bone with therapeutic implications for osteoarthritis, neurological disease, and osteoporosis,” they conclude. Consuming Soy Peptide May Reduce Colon Cancer Metastasis University of Illinois, September 18, 2022 After a recent University of Illinois study showed that injection of the soy peptide lunasin dramatically reduced colon cancer metastasis in mice, the researchers were eager to see how making lunasin part of the animals' daily diet would affect the spread of the disease. “In this new study, we find that giving lunasin orally at 20 mg/kg of body weight reduced the number of metastatic tumors by 94 percent — we went from 18 tumors to only one. And that was done using lunasin alone; no other type of therapy was used,” said Elvira de Mejia, a U of I professor of food chemistry and food toxicology. “We learned in that study that lunasin can penetrate the cancer cell, cause cell death, and interact with at least one type of receptor in a cell that is ready to metastasize,” said Vermont Dia, a postdoctoral associate in the de Mejia laboratory. Using mice that had been injected with human colon cancer cells, the scientists began by feeding the animals 8 mg/kg of lunasin daily, which reduced the number of new tumors in the liver by 55 percent. They increased the dose five times, at last achieving a 94 percent reduction in tumors at 20 mg/kg of lunasin. “We were very impressed by the reduction, but the results were short of statistical significance from the control group. More animals are needed to strengthen the power of the analysis. It's a small study but very promising,” de Mejia said. The scientists said that consuming the equivalent of 20 to 30 mg/kg of lunasin in soy foods would be daunting in terms of number of servings per day. “But it would certainly be possible if food companies began to offer lunasin-enriched soy milk or yogurt,” she said, noting that lunasin-enriched flour is already on the market. Globally, diets are not much healthier today than they were thirty years ago Tufts University, September 19, 2022 On a scale from 0 to 100 of how well people stick to recommended diets, with 0 being a poor diet (think heavy consumption of sugar and processed meats), and 100 representing the recommended balance of fruits, vegetables, legumes/nuts and whole grains, most countries would earn a score around 40.3. Globally, this represents a small, but meaningful, 1.5-point gain between 1990 and 2018, researchers from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University report today in the journal Nature Food. The study, one of the most comprehensive estimates yet of global dietary quality—and the first to include findings among children as well as adults—highlights the challenges worldwide to encourage healthy eating. Although global gains were modest, there was notable variation by country, with nutritious options becoming more popular in the United States, Vietnam, China, and Iran, and less so in Tanzania, Nigeria, and Japan. “Intake of legumes/nuts and non-starchy vegetables increased over time, but overall improvements in dietary quality were offset by increased intake of unhealthy components such as red/processed meat, sugar-sweetened beverages, and sodium,” says lead author Victoria Miller, a visiting scientist from McMaster University in Canada who started this study as a postdoctoral scholar with Dariush Mozaffarian, Dean for Policy and Jean Mayer Professor of Nutrition at the Friedman School, and senior author on the paper. Miller and colleagues addressed this gap by measuring global, regional, and national eating patterns among adults and children across 185 countries based on data from over 1,100 surveys from the Global Dietary Database, a large, collaborative compilation of data on food and nutrient consumption levels worldwide. The researchers' primary outcome was the 0 to 100 scale known as the Alternative Healthy Eating Index, a validated measure of diet quality. Regionally, averages ranged from as low as 30.3 in Latin America and the Caribbean to as high as 45.7 in South Asia. The average score of all 185 countries included in the study was 40.3. Only 10 countries, representing less than 1 percent of the world's population, had scores over 50. The world's highest scoring countries were Vietnam, Iran, Indonesia and India, and the lowest scoring were Brazil, Mexico, the United States and Egypt. Globally, among adults, women were more likely to eat recommended diets than men, and older adults more so than younger adults. Yogic breathing shows promise in reducing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder University of Wisconsin-Madison September 11, 2022 One of the greatest casualties of war is its lasting effect on the minds of soldiers. This presents a daunting public health problem: More than 20 percent of veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have post-traumatic stress disorder, according to a report by RAND Corp. A new study from the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds at the Waisman Center of the University of Wisconsin-Madison offers hope for those suffering from the disorder. Researchers there have shown that a breathing-based meditation practice called Sudarshan Kriya Yoga can be an effective treatment for PTSD. Standard treatment interventions for PTSD offer mixed results. Some individuals are prescribed antidepressants and do well while others do not; others are treated with psychotherapy and still experience residual affects of the disorder. Sudarshan Kriya Yoga is a practice of controlled breathing that directly affects the autonomic nervous system. While the practice has proven effective in balancing the autonomic nervous system and reducing symptoms of PTSD in tsunami survivors, it has not been well studied until now. The CIHM team was interested in Sudarshan Yoga because of its focus on manipulating the breath, and how that in turn may have consequences for the autonomic nervous system and specifically, hyperarousal. Theirs is the first randomized, controlled, longitudinal study to show that the practice of controlled breathing can benefit people with PTSD. The CIHM study included 21 soldiers: an active group of 11 and a control group of 10. Those who received the one-week training in yogic breathing showed lower anxiety, reduced respiration rates and fewer PTSD symptoms. Cognition May Decline With Old Age, But Well-Being Actually Improves University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, September 19, 2022 Children and adolescents usually want to grow up as soon as possible, but most older adults will say they want nothing more than to turn back the clock. Research out of the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine gives both the old and the young reason to envy each other. Scientists say that while older adults usually see a decline in thinking skills, well-being typically increases as we grow older. More specifically, scientists report that healthy older adults display greater mental well-being than younger adults, but also score lower on cognitive performances. The UCSD team is hopeful that the underlying neural mechanisms identified during this project contributing may inspire new interventions to promote healthy brain function in the future. Researchers sampled a total of 62 healthy younger adults in their 20s, and 54 healthy older adults over 60. Each subject's mental health was measured via a survey asking about symptoms including anxiety, depression, loneliness, and overall mental wellbeing. Participants also took part in a series of cognitively demanding tasks, all while their brain activity was measured using electroencephalography (EEG). Results show that young adults experience far more anxiety, depression, and loneliness than older adults. On the other hand, older individuals show higher levels of well-being. Regarding cognition, older adults, unsurprisingly, were much weaker. The EEG recordings provided further insight, detailing greater activity in the anterior portions of the brain's default mode network among older adults. This brain area is active when we ruminate, daydream, etc., and is usually suppressed during goal-oriented tasks. Notably, several other brain regions appeared to improve cognition. Strong cognitive scores among young adults were associated with more activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which is part of the brain's executive control system. For older adults, though, those with strong cognitive scores actually displayed greater activity in their inferior frontal cortex, a brain region known to help guide attention and avoid distractions. The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is known to break down as the body ages. Consequently, researchers theorize that the increased inferior frontal cortex activity among cognitively strong older individuals may be an avenue for older minds to compensate during mentally tougher tasks. Drinking plenty of tea may reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, finds study in over a million adults Wuhan University of Science and Technology (China), September 17, 2022 A systematic review and meta-analysis of 19 cohort studies involving more than 1 million adults from eight countries finds that moderate consumption of black, green or Oolong tea is linked to a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The findings, being presented at this year's European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) Annual Meeting in Stockholm, Sweden suggest that drinking at least four cups of tea a day is associated with a 17% lower risk of T2D over an average period of 10 years. While it's long been known that regularly drinking tea may be beneficial for health because of the various antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anticarcinogenic compounds tea contains, less clear has been the relationship between tea drinking and the risk of T2D. So far, published cohort studies and meta-analyses have reported inconsistent findings. Overall, the meta-analysis found a linear association between tea drinking and T2D risk, with each cup of tea consumed per day reducing the risk of developing T2D by around 1%. When compared with adults who didn't drink tea, those who drank 1-3 cups daily lowered their risk of T2D by 4%, while those who consumed at least 4 cups every day reduced their risk by 17%. The associations were observed regardless of the type of tea participants drank, whether they were male or female, or where they lived, suggesting that it may be the amount of tea consumed, rather than any other factor, that plays a major role. “While more research needs to be done to determine the exact dosage and mechanisms behind these observations, our findings suggest that drinking tea is beneficial in reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes, but only at high doses (at least 4 cups a day)”, says Li. She adds, “It is possible that particular components in tea, such as polyphenols, may reduce blood glucose levels, but a sufficient amount of these bioactive compounds may be needed to be effective. It may also explain why we did not find an association between tea drinking and type 2 diabetes in our cohort study, because we did not look at higher tea consumption.”

President Biden says he aims to end hunger and food insecurity in the United States by 2030. Next week the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health will consider the policy changes needed to reach that goal. The last conference on hunger and health was in 1969 during the Nixon administration, and it led to many of the nation's major health policies like child nutrition assistance and food stamps. We'll talk about what hunger and food insecurity looks like in the U.S. now, and what it would take to ensure no Americans go hungry. Guests: Ahori Pathak, director of policy, Poverty to Prosperity Program at Center for American Progress Kassandra Martinchek, research associate, Urban Institute Dariush Mozaffarian, cardiologist and professor of nutrition, Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University; co-chair of the Task Force on Hunger, Nutrition and health - an independent task force working to help inform the White House Conference

STUDY: ICE CREAM IS BETTER FOR YOU THAN A MULTIGRAIN BAGELA new study from Tufts University in Massachusetts suggests that ice cream is a healthier choice than a multigrain bagel and other foods like saltine crackers. In the research, experts at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts developed a "Food Compass" to rank any type of food from 1 to 100 based on nutrition; the higher the number, the healthier the food. When comparing foods, the study gave an ice cream cone with nuts and chocolate ice cream a 37, while a multigrain bagel with raisins received a 19 and saltine crackers a 7. This is a pretty shocking study. Are the researchers right? Are multigrain bagels worse for you than an ice cream cone with nuts and chocolate?Healthy living expert who's become a national thought leader on prevention and finding the root cause of health issues DR. JOEY SPEERS

Vax Whistleblower – Mary Hollen Anna Maria Mihalcea – D-Dimer elevation in the Unvaccinated. A Marker of Shedding? Why You Should Have Faith  Plandemic – Indoctrination    Green tea compound shows promise for treating rheumatoid arthritis Washington State University August 25, 2022 A compound found in green tea could be an effective treatment for rheumatoid arthritis, according to the results of a new study. Green tea being poured into a cup] EGCG – a compound found in green tea – could help treat rheumatoid arthritis, new research suggests. In the journal Arthritis and Rheumatology, researchers from Washington State University (WSU) in Spokane reveal how the compound – called epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) – reduced ankle swelling in a mouse model of the disease. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a disease that affects the joints of the body, most commonly the joints of the hands, feet, wrists, elbows knees and ankles. In RA, the immune system mistakingly attacks the synovial tissues surrounding the joints, causing inflammation, swelling and pain. This can cause damage to the cartilage and bone. Current treatments for RA include non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS), corticosteroids and JAK inhibitors. But study leader Salah-uddin Ahmed, of the WSU College of Pharmacy, notes that some of these treatments are expensive, reduce immune system activity and can be unsuitable for long-term use. In their study, Ahmed and colleagues suggest that the compound EGCG may be a promising alternative to current treatments for RA. EGCG targets key signaling protein to reduce RA inflammation EGCG is a chemical compound that belongs to a class of flavanols known as catechins. After giving EGCG to mouse models of RA for 10 days, the team noticed that treatment with the compound led to a significant reduction in ankle swelling. The researchers found that EGCG reduces the activity of TAK1 – a key signaling protein through which pro-inflammatory cytokines transmit their signals to trigger the inflammation and tissue damage found in RA. What is more, the team says that EGCG reduced inflammation in RA without interfering with other cellular functions – unlike some current medications for the disease. According to Ahmed, their study suggests the green tea compound may be highly effective against RA. Antioxidant-rich pomegranate juice may aid blood sugar management for diabetics: Human data Jordan University of Science and Technology, August 20, 2022 Daily consumption of pomegranate juice may help control blood sugar levels in type-2 diabetics, as well as improving the function of beta cells in the pancreas, say data from a human trial. Scientists from the Jordan University of Science and Technology report that pomegranate juice at a dose of 1.5 mL per kg of body weight (or 105 mL for a 70 kg human) was associated with reductions in fasting glucose levels in type-2 diabetics. “Studying the effects of pomegranate consumption (in a juice form) on the reduction of blood glucose levels in type-2 diabetes patients could lead to a dietary approach to control this disease,” they added. “Since there are many herbs and fruits that are easily available and of value in controlling this disease, this study may contribute to a better understanding and improved management of type 2 diabetes by the individual.” To investigate this, they recruited 85 people with type-2 diabetes and assigned them to receive 1.5 mL of the juice per kg of body weight. Blood sugar and insulin levels, and beta cell function were assessed three hours after ingestion. (Beta-cells are found in the pancreas and their primary function is to store and release insulin.) Results showed that pomegranate juice was associated with significantly lower fasting glucose levels (8.5 mmol/L) compared with the control participants (9.44 mmol/L). However, this result was an average for the whole cohort and about 20% of the participants did not experience this benefit. Going with the flow: Study shows canals and rivers help boost your mood King's College London, August 31, 2022 Researchers report that the combination of blue and green space with wildlife, has a greater impact on well-being than spending time in an environment that is characterized by only green space. The researchers used Urban Mind, a smartphone-based app, to collect thousands of real time audits about participants' location and mental well-being. Results from this first of its kind study showed positive associations between visits to canals and rivers and mental well-being, as well as a positive experience for feelings of safety and social inclusion relative to all other types of environments (such as indoors, or outside in an urban environment, or near green spaces). Andrea Mechelli, Professor of Early Intervention in Mental Health, King's College London, said, “Canals and rivers contain not only water but also an abundance of trees and plants, which means their capacity to improve mental well-being is likely to be due to the multiple benefits associated with both green and blue spaces. Canals and rivers also provide homes to a range of wildlife, and we know from other research that there is a positive association between encountering wildlife and mental well-being. Taken collectively, these findings provide an evidence base for what we thought about water and well-being and support the proposal that visits to canals and rivers could become part of social prescribing schemes, playing a role in supporting mental health.” The study found that visiting canals and rivers was associated with a greater improvement in mental well-being, and this relationship was still present when accounting for individual variation due to age, gender, education, ethnicity, and a diagnosis of a mental health condition. People also reported continued improvements in their mental well-being for up to 24 hours after the visit had taken place.”The powerful mix of blue, green and wildlife-rich space shows that although built for industry, repurposed canals are actually amongst our most important places of health and well-being in our towns and cities. Men, people over 65 sleep better when they have access to nature University of Illinois College of Agricultural, August 24, 2022 Men and persons age 65 and older who have access to natural surroundings, whether it's the green space of a nearby park or a sandy beach and an ocean view, report sleeping better, according to a new University of Illinois study published in Preventive Medicine. In the study, Grigsby-Toussaint worked with both U of I researchers and scientists from the New York University School of Medicine. The team used data from the CDC's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, which surveyed 255,171 representative U.S. adults, to learn whether there was an association between self-reported days of insufficient sleep and access to green space. The team also used a USDA index that scores the country's geographical areas for their natural amenities, using hours of sunlight, which is important in regulating a person's circadian rhythm, and temperature. In response to the survey question about sleep quality in the last month, the researchers found that the most common answer was that respondents had slept poorly for less than one week. “Interestingly, though, across the entire sample, individuals reporting 21 to 29 days of insufficient sleep consistently had lower odds of access to green space and natural amenities compared to those reporting less than one week,” she said. For men, the relationship between sleep and exposure to green space was much stronger than for women. And males and females 65 and over found nature to be a potent sleep aid, she added. Grigsby-Toussaint noted that living near green landscapes is associated with higher levels of physical activity and that exercise in turn predicts beneficial sleep patterns. But men appeared to benefit much more from their natural surroundings. The researcher speculated that women may take less advantage of nearby natural settings out of concern for their safety, but she added that more research is needed. New study links ultra-processed foods and colorectal cancer in men Tufts University and Harvard University, August 31 ,2022 For many Americans, the convenience of pre-cooked and instant meals may make it easy to overlook the less-than-ideal nutritional information, but a team led by researchers at Tufts University and Harvard University hope that will change after recently discovering a link between the high consumption of ultra-processed foods and an increased risk of colorectal cancer. In a study published in the BMJ, researchers found that men who consumed high rates of ultra-processed foods were at 29% higher risk for developing colorectal cancer—the third most diagnosed cancer in the United States—than men who consumed much smaller amounts. They did not find the same association in women. “We started out thinking that colorectal cancer could be the cancer most impacted by diet compared to other cancer types,” said Lu Wang, the study's lead author and a postdoctoral fellow at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts. “Processed meats, most of which fall into the category of ultra-processed foods, are a strong risk factor for colorectal cancer. Ultra-processed foods are also high in added sugars and low in fiber, which contribute to weight gain and obesity, and obesity is an established risk factor for colorectal cancer.” The study analyzed responses from over 200,000 participants—159,907 women and 46,341 men—across three large prospective studies which assessed dietary intakeand were conducted over more than 25 years. The analyses revealed differences in the ways that men and women consume ultra-processed foods and the prospective associated cancer risk. Out of the 206,000 participants followed for more than 25 years, the research team documented 1,294 cases of colorectal cancer among men, and 1,922 cases among women. The team found the strongest association between colorectal cancer and ultra-processed foods among men come from the meat, poultry, or fish-based, ready-to-eat products. “These products include some processed meats like sausages, bacon, ham, and fish cakes. This is consistent with our hypothesis,” Wang said. The team also found higher consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, like soda, fruit-based beverages, and sugary milk-based beverages, is associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer in men. However, not all ultra-processed foods are equally harmful with regard to colorectal cancer risk. “We found an inverse association between ultra-processed dairy foods like yogurt and colorectal cancer risk among women,” said co-senior author Fang Fang Zhang, a cancer epidemiologist and interim chair of the Division of Nutrition Epidemiology and Data Science at the Friedman School. Overall, there was not a link between ultra-processed food consumption and colorectal cancer risk among women. It's possible that the composition of the ultra-processed foods consumed by women could be different than that from men. “Foods like yogurt can potentially counteract the harmful impacts of other types of ultra-processed foods in women,” Zhang said. 8 Benefits of Pine Bark Extract for Your Brain GreenMedInfo, August 31, 2022 Our brains can be harmed by many factors such as disease, stress from the environment, physical injuries or natural aging but pine bark extract may be one key to a healthier brain Pine bark extract (PE), trade name Pycnogenol (pronounced “pig-nah-gen-all”), has many beneficial properties such as being anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and neuroprotective. It can help with memory, cognition, inattention, hyperactivity, mood, thinking and various symptoms of brain injuries, aging and neurological diseases. Fights Inflammation and Protects the Brain In a systematic review and meta-analysis of Pycnogenol supplementation on C-reactive protein (CRP) — a marker of oxidative stress — researchers examined five trials including 324 participants. Pycnogenol supplementation had a significant effect in reducing CRP and demonstrated a strong anti-inflammatory effect.[i] In a study of gerbils, pine bark extract was administered at 100 milligrams (mg) per kilogram (kg) once a day for seven days before the brain was submitted to a brain ischemic injury. The PE treatment markedly inhibited the death of neurons in the brain, significantly decreased the pro-inflammatory cytokines — interleukin 1β and tumor necrosis factor α — and showed a strong activation effect on anti-inflammatory cytokines of interleukin 4 (IL-4) and interleukin 13 (IL-13). Pine bark protected the brain and decreased inflammation.[ii] Improves Attention, Memory, Executive Functions and Mood in Healthy People In a study over eight weeks, Pycnogenol supplementation improved sustained attention, memory, executive functions and mood ratings in 53 healthy students compared to an equivalent control group.[iii] In a trial of 60 healthy professionals from 35 to 55 years old, half of the participants supplemented with Pycnogenol of 50 mg three times a day for 12 weeks in combination with a controlled health plan — regular sleep, balanced meals and daily exercise — and the other half followed only the health plan as the control group. PE significantly improved mood by 16%, mental performance by 9%, attention by 13% and memory by 4%, and reduced oxidative stress by 30%, outperforming all results of the control group.[iv] Prevents Brain Aging and Cognitive Decline Brain aging is a complex process involving changes in the brain's structure, neuron activity and biochemical profile that has been linked to age-associated variations in cognitive function. Increased oxidative stress may also be an important factor related to reduced cognition in older people. In a systematic review of over 100 research trials and animal studies, the antioxidant Pycnogenol significantly improved cognitive function after chronic administration.[v] Improves Cognition and Stress in the Mildly Impaired or Highly Oxidative Stressed Eighty-seven healthy subjects with mild cognitive impairment scores were included in a trial with one group given standard management (SM) and the other half given Pycnogenol supplements for two months. The median increase in mild impairment scores was 18% with Pycnogenol compared to 2.48% in the SM group, largely due to its effects on oxidative stress levels.[vi] In a study of 88 healthy patients ages 55 to 70 who had high oxidative stress, half were supplemented with 100 mg per day of Pycnogenol for 12 months and the other half were the control group followed as a reference point for a year. Those in the pine bark group had significantly improved cognitive function scores, attention and mental performance and lowered oxidative stress levels compared to those in the reference group.[vii] Increases Cognitive Function and Helps Symptoms in Parkinson's Disease Researchers studied 43 Parkinson's disease (PD) patients who had been diagnosed at least one year before the trial. The condition was considered “mild,” with minimal progression. The standard management (SM) for PD — carbidopa/levodopa — was used in a similar-sized reference group of PD subjects for comparison purposes. The trial subjects were supplemented with Pycnogenol of 150 mg per day along with SM for a period of four weeks. Cognitive function was significantly higher with the Pycnogenol group. Target symptoms including tremors, rigidity, bradykinesia — slow or impaired movements in limbs — and speech were improved in the PE group compared to the control group. Oxidative stress was also significantly lower in the pine bark group at four weeks.[viii] Enhances Memory and Prevents Harmful Plaque and Tau Buildup in Alzheimer's Disease In Alzheimer's disease (AD), the release of amyloid-beta (Aβ) is a marker. Aβ aggregates into oligomers, then plaques, which induce inflammatory responses, synapse loss and misfolding of tau, a second hallmark of AD. Accumulation of tau misfolding leads to tangles in the brain and neuron cell death impacting brain synapses in a pattern of progression closely related to cognitive decline, which can happen years before memory loss symptoms even appear.[ix] Pycnogenol significantly decreased the number of plaques in both pre-onset and post-onset treatment paradigms and improved spatial memory in the pre-onset treatment only in an AD-induced mouse model.[x] In an in vitro study of AD-induced animals, pine bark — Oligopin — prevented and halted the progression of AD preclinically by inhibiting oligomer formation of not only Aβ1-40 and Aβ1-42, but also tau in vitro.[xi] Reduces Inflammation and Improves Outcomes for Traumatic Brain Injuries In a scientific trial of 67 traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU), the intervention group received 150 mg of the PE supplement Oligopin with enteral nutrition — tube feeding through stomach or intestine — for 10 days while the control group received a placebo.[xii] Pine bark supplementation significantly decreased inflammatory biomarkers of IL-6, IL-1β and CRP compared to the control group after 10 days. In addition, pine bark reduced clinical scores for acute physiology and chronic health evaluation as well as sequential organ failure. The Nutric score — a way to measure if a patient is under-nourished and at critical risk of dying[xiii] — was reduced compared to the control group as well. Overall, the survival rate was 15% higher in the pine bark group compared to the placebo group. PE supplementation for TBI patients in ICUs reduced inflammation, improved their clinical status and malnutrition score and, thereby, reduced their mortality rate. Improves Attention, Focus, Thinking, Behavior and Antioxidant Levels in ADHD Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impulsivity, distractibility and hyperactivity. One of the factors associated with ADHD is oxidative stress. Pycnogenol consists of bioflavonoids, catechins, procyanidins and phenolic acids.[xiv] Pycnogenol acts as a powerful antioxidant stimulating certain enzymes, like superoxide dismutase (SOD) and endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), which can defend against oxidative stress. In the pathophysiology of ADHD, damage to adrenaline, noradrenaline and dopamine metabolism occurs in the brain. These changes can modify attention, thinking and acting.[xv] In a trial of 43 children ages 6 to 14 with ADHD, patients were administered Pycnogenol — 1 mg per kg of body weight every day — or a placebo of look-alike pills daily for a month. The PE group had a significant decrease in GSSG and a highly significant increase in GSH levels as well as improvement of GSH/GSSG ratio in comparison to the placebo group. The total antioxidant status (TAS) decreased in children with ADHD who took pine bark, showing a normalization of TAS in ADHD children.[xvii] In a crossover study of 20 children with ADHD, participants experienced two experimental units — four weeks of pine bark supplementation with 25 or 50 mg PE and four weeks with placebo supplementation — separated by two weeks of a washout period. PE supplementation caused a significant reduction in inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity measures.

Videos: Neil Oliver – ‘…they're herding people like sheep… Large Observational Study On COVID-19 Vaccines Impact of Women's Menstrual Cycles Post Vaccination – Trial Site News The Dark Side of Electric Cars – Jhonny Harris  4.How The US Stole The Philippines – Jhonny Harris    Cardamonin shows promise for treating aggressive breast cancer Florida A&M University, August 3, 2022 Cardamonin—a natural compound found in the spice cardamom and other plants—could have therapeutic potential for triple-negative breast cancer, according to a new study using human cancer cells. The findings also show that the compound targets a gene that helps cancer cells elude the immune system About 10-15% of breast cancers are triple-negative, which means they don't have receptors for estrogen or progesterone and don't make excess amounts of a protein called HER2. These tumors are difficult to treat because they don't respond to the hormone-based therapies used for other types of breast cancer. They also tend to be more aggressive and have a higher mortality rate than other breast cancers. “The fact that cardamonin has been used for centuries as a spice and, more recently, as a supplement shows that its intake is safe and may bring health benefits,” said Mendonca. “Our research shows that cardamonin holds potential for improving cancer therapy without as many side effects as other chemotherapeutic agents.” For the new study, the researchers investigated how cardamonin affected the expression of the programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) gene, which is found in tumor cells. PD-L1 is overexpressed during breast cancer progression and plays a critical role in helping breast cancer cells evade the body's immune system. They found that cardamonin treatment caused a dose-dependent decrease in cell viability in both cell lines. It also reduced PD-L1 expression in the Caucasian cell line but not the African American cell line, indicating that cells from different races may respond differently to cardamonin because of genetic variations among races.  Persistent Low Wages Linked to Faster Memory Decline in Later Life Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, August 2 2022Sustained low wages are associated with significantly faster memory decline, according to a new study by Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. While low-wage jobs have been associated with health outcomes such as depressive symptoms, obesity, and hypertension, which are risk factors for cognitive aging, until now no prior studies had examined the specific relationship between low wages during working years and later-life cognitive functioning. The findings are published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.”Our research provides new evidence that sustained exposure to low wages during peak earning years is associated with accelerated memory decline later in life,” said Katrina Kezios, Ph.D., postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Epidemiology at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and first author. “This association was observed in our primary sample as well as in a validation cohort.”The researchers found that, compared with workers never earning low wages, sustained low-wage earners experienced significantly faster memory decline in older age. They experienced approximately one excess year of cognitive aging per a 10-year period; in other words, the level of cognitive aging experienced over a 10-year period by sustained low-wage earners would be what those who never earned low wages experienced in 11 years.”Our findings suggest that social policies that enhance the financial well-being of low-wage workers may be especially beneficial for cognitive health,” said senior author Adina Zeki Al Hazzouri, Ph.D., assistant professor of epidemiology at Columbia Mailman School and the Columbia Butler Aging Center. “Future work should rigorously examine the number of dementia cases and excess years of cognitive aging that could be prevented under different hypothetical scenarios that would increase the minimum hourly wage.”Research links red meat intake, gut microbiome, and cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) in older adultsTufts University, August 3, 2022Over the years, scientists have investigated the relationship between heart disease and saturated fat, dietary cholesterol, sodium, nitrites, and even high-temperature cooking, but evidence supporting many of these mechanisms has not been robust. Recent evidence suggests that the underlying culprits may include specialized metabolites created by our gut bacteria when we eat meat.  A new study led by researchers at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University and Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute quantifies the risk of ASCVD associated with meat intake and identifies underlying biologic pathways that may help explain this risk. The study of almost 4,000 U.S. men and women over age 65 shows that higher meat consumption is linked to higher risk of ASCVD—22 percent higher risk for about every 1.1 serving per day—and that about 10 percent of this elevated risk is explained by increased levels of three metabolites produced by gut bacteria from nutrients abundant in meat. Higher risk and interlinkages with gut bacterial metabolites were found for red meat but not poultry, eggs, or fish. The study, published in the journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology (ATVB) on August 1, is the first to investigate the interrelationships between animal source foods and risk of ASCVD events, and the mediation of this risk by gut microbiota-generated compounds as well as by traditional ASCVD risk pathways such as blood cholesterol, blood pressure, and blood sugar. Highlights In this community-based cohort of older U.S. men and women, higher intakes of unprocessed red meat, total meat (unprocessed red meat plus processed meat), and total animal source foods were prospectively associated with a higher incidence of ASCVD during a median follow-up of 12.5 years. The positive associations with ASCVD were partly mediated (8-11 percent of excess risk) by plasma levels of TMAO, gamma-butyrobetaine, and crotonobetaine. The higher risk of ASCVD associated with meat intake was also partly mediated by levels of blood glucose and insulin and, for processed meats, by systematic inflammation but not by blood pressure or blood cholesterol levels. Intakes of fish, poultry, and eggs were not significantly associated with ASCVD. The 3,931 study subjects were followed for a median of 12.5 years, and their average age at baseline was 73. The study adjusted for established risk factors such as age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, smoking, physical activity, other dietary habits, and many additional risk factors. Diets higher in calcium and potassium may help prevent recurrent symptomatic kidney stones, study findsMayo Clinic, August 2, 2022Kidney stones can cause not only excruciating pain but also are associated with chronic kidney disease, osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease. If you've experienced a kidney stone once, you have a 30% chance of having another kidney stone within five years.Changes in diet are often prescribed to prevent recurrent symptomatic kidney stones. However, little research is available regarding dietary changes for those who have one incident of kidney stone formation versus those who have recurrent incidents.Mayo Clinic findings show that enriching diets with foods high in calcium and potassium may prevent recurrent symptomatic kidney stones.The findings, which were published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings, show that lower dietary calcium and potassium, as well as lower intake of fluids, caffeine and phytate, are associated with higher odds of experiencing a first-time symptomatic kidney stone.Of the patients who had first-time stone formation, 73 experienced recurrent stones within a median of 4.1 years of follow-up. Further analysis found that lower levels of dietary calcium and potassium predicted recurrence.Fluid intake of less than 3,400 milliliters per day, or about nine 12-ounce glasses, is associated with first-time stone formation, along with caffeine intake and phytate, the study finds. Daily fluid intake includes intake from foods such as fruits and vegetables. Low fluid and caffeine intake can result in low urine volume and increased urine concentration, contributing to stone formation. Phytate is an antioxidant compound found in whole grains, nuts and other foods that can lead to increased calcium absorption and urinary calcium excretion.Low dietary calcium and potassium was a more important predictor than fluid intake of recurrent kidney stone formation, says Api Chewcharat, M.D., the article's first author. The study concludes that diets with daily intake of 1,200 milligrams of calcium may help prevent first-time and recurrent kidney stones.Dr. Chewcharat says the takeaway is that patients should add more fruits and vegetables that are high in calcium and potassium to their diets. Fruits that are high in potassium include bananas, oranges, grapefruits, cantaloupes, honeydew melons and apricots. Vegetables include potatoes, mushrooms, peas, cucumbers and zucchini.Could acupuncture help ward off diabetes?Edith Cowan University, August 2, 2022 A new study from Edith Cowan University has found acupuncture therapy may be a useful tool in avoiding type 2 diabetes. The research team investigated dozens of studies covering the effects of acupuncture on more than 3600 people with prediabetes, a condition which sees higher-than-normal blood glucose levels without being high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes.The findings showed acupuncture therapy significantly improved key markers, such as fasting plasma glucose, two-hour plasma glucose, and glycated haemoglobin, plus a greater decline in the incidence of prediabetes.There were also no reports of adverse reactions among patients. Green tea helps support healthy glucose in metabolic syndrome patients Ohio State University, August 1 2022. Findings from a trial reported in the supplement of Current Developments in Nutrition revealed that consuming green tea extract improved glucose levels in adults with metabolic syndrome: a cluster of factors that increase the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Supplementation with green tea extract was also associated with improvement in intestinal health, including a reduction in leaky gut.  The trial was a follow-up to a study published in 2019 that found protective effects for green tea against inflammation induced by nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) in mice. In the current crossover trial, 21 individuals with metabolic syndrome and 19 healthy participants received 1 gram of green tea extract or a placebo for 28 days. This period was followed by another treatment period in which participants who previously received the extract were given a placebo and those who received a placebo received the extract. Fasting blood glucose, insulin and lipid levels were measured at the beginning of each treatment period and at days 14 and 28.   Supplementation with green tea extract was associated with lower fasting glucose and markers of intestinal inflammation in comparison with the placebo. In separately published findings, green tea extract was associated with decreases in small intestinal permeability (leaky gut).  

Vitamin and mineral supplements are the most commonly used dietary supplements by populations worldwide. They are called supplements because that is the intention: to fill in nutritional gaps in your diet, not to make up for a bad diet.No supplement replaces a healthy plant forward diet but what should you take to help make sure you are getting all the nutrients you need for good health? The aisles are full of vitamins, minerals and all kinds of supplements – in all kinds of forms – promising all kinds of benefits.Today we interview nutrient researcher Dr Jeffry Blumberg, Professor Emeritus in the Friedman School of Nutrition Science at Tufts University. He unpacks the real evidence on supplements to help you personalize what you should take.Key Messages on the Facts about Vitamin and Mineral Supplements:Children, young women, older adults, vegetarians, and vegans are at the greatest risk of several deficiencies.A diet rich in whole, nutrient-dense foods is the best way to prevent deficiency.Taking more than the recommended dose could result in toxicity.Consult your physician if you suspect you have a nutrient deficiency and to check if your medications could interfere with nutrient absorption.Form doesn't matter (eg pill vs gummy vs liquid). What matters is to take your supplements regularly.Supplements do not prevent chronic disease.Supplements lack standardization so one multivitamin can be very different from another.ResourcesCenter for Science and Public InterestNational Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements Linus Pawling Institute at Oregon State University Your physician, registered dietician and pharmacist

Kathleen Merrigan authored the law establishing standards for organic food and the federal definition of sustainable agriculture. On this week's episode, she talks with Ron about her life's work, including her time in USDA, where she led the Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food initiative to support local food systems, and was a key architect of Michelle Obama's “Let's Move!” campaign. In 2010, Kathleen was celebrated by Time Magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2010. Currently, she serves as the Kelly and Brian Swette Professor in the School of Sustainability and executive director of the Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems at Arizona State University. Before that, she was the Executive Director of Sustainability at the George Washington University. From 2009 to 2013, Kathleen was deputy secretary and COO of the United States Department of Agriculture. And, was the first woman to chair the Ministerial Conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Prior to USDA, she was a professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, Administrator of the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, and served on the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry. Kathleen is a board member of Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, and a Trustee of CIFOR and ICRAF. She is a partner in Astanor Ventures and an advisor to S2G Ventures, two firms investing in ag-tech innovation. Merrigan holds a PhD in Public Policy and Environmental Planning from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MPA from University of Texas at Austin, and BA from Williams College. The interview was conducted on Feb. 10, 2016. Additional links this episode: National Sustainable Agriculture Oral History Archive U.S. Department of Agriculture -------- Liked this show? SUBSCRIBE to this podcast on Spotify, Audible, Apple, Google, and more. Catch past episodes, a transcript, and show notes at cfra.org/SustainbleAgPodcast.

video: 1. 87% of Clinical Trial Data Hidden from Medical Journals; Fmr FDA Director: Not Our Job to Correct Faulty Drug Data in Articles – Roman Balmakov from Matter of Fact  (10:00) 2. Sotomayor Voices Strong Defense Of Clarence Thomas (4:17) 3. Lara Logan Rapid Fires Truth Bombs On Ukraine Propaganda & The Democrat Narratives Of The Day (2:57) 4. There was an unexpected 40% increase in ‘all cause deaths' in 2021 (8:28) 5. New Rule: I Want My Lawyer! | Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO) ( 8:27)   Resveratrol may turn white fat into ‘healthier' brown-like fat Washington State University, June 26, 2022 Resveratrol, a polyphenol from grapes and red wine, may convert excess white fat into calorie-burning brown-like fat, suggests a new study from Washington State University. According to data from lab mice, supplementing a high fat diet with resveratrol reduced weight gain by about 40% compared with control mice fed the high fat diet only. Professor Min Du and his co-workers demonstrated that mice fed a diet containing 0.1% resveratrol were able to change their excess white fat into the active, energy-burning ‘beige' fat. The researchers also showed that an enzyme called AMPK, which regulates the body's energy metabolism, stimulates this transition of white fat into the brown-like fat.  “We provide evidence that resveratrol induces the formation of brown-like adipocytes in mouse [white adipose tissue in the groin] by increasing the expression of genes specific to brown adipocytes and stimulating fatty acid oxidation, which appeared to be primarily mediated by AMPK-alpha1,” wrote the researchers in the International Journal of Obesity   “These data demonstrate, in addition to the inhibition of adipogenesis and stimulation of lipolysis, a novel browning role of resveratrol in white adipose tissue, which contributes to the beneficial effects of resveratrol in metabolism. Higher serum antioxidant vitamins predict lower risk of respiratory illness and mortality National Institutes of Health, July 1 2022.  A pooled analysis published in Respiratory Research concluded that having lower serum levels of vitamins C and E was associated with a greater risk of suffering from wheeze or respiratory diseases, and that lower vitamin A, C and D were associated with an increased risk of dying from respiratory diseases. Paivi M. Salo and colleagues analyzed data from 16,218 men and women who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III (NHANES III), and 17,838 adults who were continuous NHANES participants who had information available concerning at least one serum antioxidant vitamin level.  Forty-two percent of the participants reported using vitamin supplements.  Lower vitamin C levels were associated with a greater risk of wheeze. Among smokers, lower levels of the alpha-tocopherol form of vitamin E were associated with increased wheeze and chronic bronchitis/emphysema.  A higher risk of death from chronic lower respiratory disease was associated with lower levels of vitamin C. Among smokers with lower levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D, chronic lower respiratory disease and influenza/pneumonia deaths were increased. Greater influenza and pneumonia mortality was also associated with lower vitamin A levels. In pooled analysis of NHANES III and continuous NHANEs participants, vitamin C deficiency doubled the risk of dying from influenza or pneumonia in comparison with sufficiency.  Eat dark chocolate to beat the midday slump? Northern Arizona University, July 1, 2022 Larry Stevens eats a piece of high-cacao content chocolate every afternoon, which is in part because he has developed a taste for the unsweetened dark chocolate. Research shows that eating a piece of high-cacao content chocolate every afternoon lowers blood pressure and his new study reveals that it improves attention, which is especially important when hitting that midday slump. The study, published in the journal NeuroRegulation, examines the acute effects of chocolate on attentional characteristics of the brain and the first-ever study of chocolate consumption performed using electroencephalography, or EEG technology. EEG studies take images of the brain while it is performing a cognitive task and measure the brain activity. Stevens and his colleagues in the Department of Psychological Sciences performed the EEG study with 122 participants between the ages of 18 and 25 years old. The researchers examined the EEG levels and blood pressure effects of consuming a 60 percent cacao confection compared with five control conditions. The results for the participants who consumed the 60 percent cacao chocolate showed that the brain was more alert and attentive after consumption. Their blood pressure also increased for a short time. The most interesting results came from one of the control conditions, a 60 percent cacao chocolate which included L-theanine, an amino acid found in green tea that acts as a relaxant. This combination hasn't been introduced to the market yet, so you won't find it on the candy aisle. But it is of interest to Hershey and the researchers. “L-theanine is a really fascinating product that lowers blood pressure and produces what we call alpha waves in the brain that are very calm and peaceful,” Stevens said. “We thought that if chocolate acutely elevates blood pressure, and L-theanine lowers blood pressure, then maybe the L-theanine would counteract the short-term hypertensive effects of chocolate.” For participants who consumed the high-cacao content chocolate with L-theanine, researchers recorded an immediate drop in blood pressure. “It's remarkable. The potential here is for a heart healthy chocolate confection that contains a high level of cacao with L-theanine that is good for your heart, lowers blood pressure and helps you pay attention,” Stevens said. Only seven percent of adults have good cardiometabolic health Tufts University, July 1, 2022 Less than 7 percent of the U.S. adult population has good cardiometabolic health, a devastating health crisis requiring urgent action, according to research led by a team from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University in a pioneering perspective on cardiometabolic health trends and disparities published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.  Researchers evaluated Americans across five components of health: levels of blood pressure, blood sugar, blood cholesterol, adiposity (overweight and obesity), and presence or absence of cardiovascular disease (heart attack, stroke, etc.). They found that only 6.8 percent of U.S. adults had optimal levels of all five components as of 2017-2018. Among these five components, trends between 1999 and 2018 also worsened significantly for adiposity and blood glucose. In 1999, 1 out of 3 adults had optimal levels for adiposity (no overweight or obesity); that number decreased to 1 out of 4 by 2018. Likewise, while 3 out of 5 adults didn't have diabetes or prediabetes in 1999, fewer than 4 out of 10 adults were free of these conditions in 2018. The study looked at a nationally representative sample of about 55,000 people aged 20 years or older from the 10 most recent cycles of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.  Generations Were Raised To Believe Processed Fruit Juice Was Health Food When It's Actually Junk Food Prevent Disease, June 30, 2022 There was a time when fruit juices were marketed as the ultimate health drink. A glass of sunshine packed with vitamins and energy. However, one of the great scams of the industrial food cartel is the so-called “fresh” juices sold in supermarkets. Many of these “fresh” juices can be stored for a year, so how fresh are they? The idea goes back to the 1920s, when American nutritionist Elmer McCollum blamed a condition called acidosis, an excess of acid in the blood, on diets rich in bread and meat. His solution was lots of lettuce and — paradoxically — citrus fruits. At the time orange juice was not hugely popular, but juice got an even bigger boost thanks to World War II when the U.S. Government wanted a new way to get a product rich in vitamin C to troops overseas. It poured money into research.  In 1947 — just in time for the post-war consumer boom — scientists invented a way to remove water from juice and freeze the concentrate into a palatable product.  The blocks of this concentrate could be sold to the new fridge-owning U.S. consumers or stored by manufacturers for months at a time, and sales exploded.  Turns out there's a lot more to making juice than simply squeezing some citrus. As part of the mass-production process, big-name brands like Tropicana, Minute Maid, Simply Orange, and Florida's Natural add artificial flavouring in order to make sure your juice tastes consistent from carton to carton–and to make sure it tastes like oranges. Pasteurized, not-from-concentrate orange juice takes up a lot of storage space. In order to keep it from spoiling without adding chemical preservatives, the companies “deaerate” (or strip the oxygen out of) the juice. (Another surprise: During production, deaerated juice often sit in million-gallon tanks for as long as a year before it hits supermarket shelves.) The process strips the juice of flavour, which has to be added afterwards.  Findings of a Consumer Reports investigation about arsenic and lead levels in apple juice and grape juice have prompted the organization to call for government standards to limit consumers' exposure to these toxins. Mediterranean diet plus olive oil or nuts associated with improved cognitive function Institute of Biomedical Investigations (Spain), July 2, 2022 Supplementing the plant-based Mediterranean diet with antioxidant-rich extra virgin olive oil or mixed nuts was associated with improved cognitive function in a study of older adults in Spain but the authors warn more investigation is needed, according to an article published by JAMA Internal Medicine. Previous research suggests following a Mediterranean diet may relate to better cognitive function and a lower risk of dementia. However, the observational studies that have examined these associations have limitations, according to the study background. Emilio Ros, M.D., Ph.D., of the Institut d'Investigacions Biomediques and coauthors compared a Mediterranean diet supplemented with olive oil or nuts with a low-fat control diet. The randomized clinical trial included 447 cognitively healthy volunteers (223 were women; average age was nearly 67 years) who were at high cardiovascular risk and were enrolled in the Prevencion con Dieta Mediterranea nutrition intervention. Of the participants, 155 individuals were assigned to supplement a Mediterranean diet with one liter of extra virgin olive oil per week; 147 were assigned to supplement a Mediterranean diet with 30 grams per day of a mix of walnuts, hazelnuts and almonds; and 145 individuals were assigned to follow a low-fat control diet. The study found that individuals assigned to the low-fat control diet had a significant decrease from baseline in all composites of cognitive function. Compared with the control group, the memory composite improved significantly in the Mediterranean diet plus nuts, while the frontal and global cognition composites improved in the Mediterranean diet plus olive oil group. The authors note the changes for the two Mediterranean diet arms in each composite were more like each other than when comparing the individual Mediterranean diet groups with the low-fat diet control group. “Our results suggest that in an older population a Mediterranean diet supplemented with olive oil or nuts may counter-act age-related cognitive decline. 

Join us this month to learn more about the challenges facing kids and adults with Mito when it comes to nutrition. What are the goals for Mito patients, and how are they different from nutrition goals for the typical population? About The Speaker Abby Usen received her B.S. in Food and Nutrition Sciences and Dietetics from the University of Vermont. She completed her dietetic internship at the Frances Stern Nutrition Center and received her M.S .from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. Since gradating from Tufts, she worked as a clinical dietitian/clinical nutrition manager at the Massachusetts Hospital School in Canton, Ma where she specialized in nutrition for children and adolescents with developmental disabilities. Most recently she has been an outpatient dietitian specializing in Pediatric Gastroenterology at Floating Hospital for Children at Tufts Medical Center. A great portion of her time is specifically working with patients with failure to thrive, gastrointestinal dysmotility and mitochondrial disease. She also spent 3 years working with patients having Inborn Errors of Metabolism and is the current Chair, of the Massachusetts Pediatric Practice Group.

A record-breaking heatwave has been wreaking havoc across the subcontinent, impact the wheat and mange harvest, setting fire to forests, and giving us a trailer of what climate change can do to our world. In this episode, Uzair talks to Dr. Erum Sattar of what is the latest research showing about where the world is headed and what actions governments and individuals must take to day to reduce the likelihood of the worst-case scenarios becoming a reality. Dr.Erum Sattar is the Program Director of the Sustainable Water Management Program and a Lecturer at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University. She is also an Adjunct Professor at the Elizabeth Haub School of Law, Pace University and has taught at Northeastern University School of Law, and the National University of Singapore School of Law where she taught the school's first-ever course on water law and policy. Reading Recommendations: - Diplomacy and Capitalism: The Political Economy of U.S. Foreign Relations - Water: A Biography by Giulio Boccaletti - Invisible China: How the Urban-Rural Divide Threatens China's Rise by Natalie Hell and Scott Rozelle - Metabolical: The truth about processed food and how it poisons people and the planet by Robert H. Lustig

Researchers have identified several molecular pathways at a cellular level, including within the mitochondria, which appear to influence both aging and age-related chronic disease. These cellular changes associated with aging are cumulatively referred to as age-associated cellular decline, or AACD. Identifying AACD risk factors and intervening with cellular nutrients earlier in the aging process, before major mobility disabilities and disease driven limitations emerge, could help improve overall healthy aging.  A set of three podcast discussions from the panel of the What's Hot on Cellular Nutrition and Its Influence on Age-Associated Cellular Decline, explores various elements of AACD and the care of older adults. This episode focuses on the nutritional interventions that have the potential to extend human health span, as well as those that may slow age associated cellular decision and may impact longevity.  Download the Transcript Guest: Sai Krupa Das, PhD Scientist I, Energy Metabolism Team Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging Associate Professor, Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University Host: Roger A. Fielding, PhD Associate Director, Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, Tufts University Lead Scientist and Senior Scientist Nutrition, Exercise Physiology, and Sarcopenia Team, Tufts University Professor of Nutrition Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University Professor of Medicine, Tufts University School of Medicine Associate Director, Boston Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center This podcast series was developed by The Gerontological Society of America (GSA).  This program has received a grant from Nestle Health Science. 

Dr. Shibani Ghosh joins the PIN Podcast to tell us about her work as Research Associate Professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University and Director for the USAID Feed the Future Food Systems for Nutrition Innovation Lab. Feel free to connect with us: Guest: Dr. Shibani Ghosh Twitter: @ShibaniGhosh1 Interviewers: Ph.D. students, Kripa Rajagopalan, @Kripa_UsRaj; Elizabeth Centeno Tablante, @CentenoTablante; Masters student, Nidhi Shreshta, @nidhi__shreshta; and Postdoc, Dr. Samantha L. Huey, @slhuey; Cornell University's Division of Nutritional Sciences Program in International Nutrition, @Cornell_PIN; Theme music: Elena Cherchi, @elenacherchicom

In this episode, Dr. William Masters discusses the economics of nutrition and food prices. He debunks the misconception that healthy eating must be expensive and explains what can be done to improve food affordability for all families. Will Masters is an economist at Tufts University, in the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. He studies the development of agriculture, food production and food choice around the world. “In these communities, where people are marginalized in various ways, it's often difficult to get enrolled and remain enrolled because there are sets of hurdles to demonstrate eligibility, where it's just hard to demonstrate. People are eligible, but it's difficult to comply with the program. And so, we do have people who are eligible, as intended by congress, but then the state administrative bodies that run the program may not be able to reach everyone.” Question of the Day: What makes a food “affordable” and “healthy”? What are some examples of your favorite healthy and accessible foods? On this Episode you will Learn: Economics and Policy for Food Systems Misconceptions Surrounding Cost of a Healthy Diet Affordability and Accessibility of Healthy Eating Policy Improvements for Food Affordability Chronic Disease Management and Prevention through Healthy Diets Connect with Yumlish! Website Instagram Twitter Facebook LinkedIn YouTube Connect with William Masters! Website Twitter LinkedIn Key Points: 00:00 - Intro with Shireen! 1:32 - Why did you decide to pursue a career in economics and policy for food systems? 02:34 - How can we use the economics of nutrition to improve healthy eating? 04:44 - What are some common misconceptions people have around the cost of a healthy diet? 07:50 - Your current research with Food Prices for Nutrition at Tufts University focuses on monitoring food prices across countries in order to guide agricultural production and food markets for improved nutrition. Can you discuss more about your work here, specifically what you have learned about food prices and the affordability and accessibility of healthy eating in the United States? 14:32 - What happens when families cannot afford the cost of nutritional adequacy? 17:49 - What policy improvements and government actions are needed to increase food affordability? 21:35 - Can concrete data on the price of a healthy diet help the management and prevention of chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and obesity in the United States? If so, how? 29:20 - How can our listeners connect with you and learn more about your work? 30:46 - Outro with Shireen! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/yumlish/message

Dasha Agoulnik is a registered dietitian, 4x published nutrition researcher, and 2x award winning bikini athlete. She graduated from the top Nutrition graduate program in the country, Tufts University's Friedman School. Her research and coaching focuses on optimizing metabolic and digestive health through nutrition and exercise. CorePerform has helped over 300 people (and growing) get results in just 3 months with 100% success. Check out coreperform.com for free anti-inflammatory recipes and exclusive early access to CorePerform's NEW optimized protein powder. Find Dasha:  https://www.instagram.com/dashafitness/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/359139741759181/ coreperform.com

Today, we're going to speak about micropantries as a form of community resilience in the face of the food insecurity exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Our guests today are Reverend Wendy Miller Olapade of the United Church of Christ in Medford, Massachusetts, professor Norbert Wilson, who's Professor of Food Economics and Community at Duke University, and lead author of a recent paper on micropantries in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, Sara Folta, with the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition, Science, and Policy. Interview Summary   Sara, let's start with you. Can you describe what a micropantry is? I know a lot of people won't be familiar with that term, and explain why you decided to study these as a community coping strategy during the pandemic.   Sara - Sure, so the best way to describe them, I think, is if people are familiar with little free libraries, they're very similar to that. So the usual structure is a box on a pole, and the box you would fill with food. Sometimes they have other configurations and people have done things like convert old newspaper boxes and so forth, but the general idea is that it's a small box in a neighborhood where people can put food and take food. They're also sometimes called blessing boxes or little free pantries.   The way they work is there's often a volunteer or an organization that takes oversight of them and has primary upkeep, but they're anonymous and open to all to contribute or take from them. And the way I got interested is because there's actually one in my neighborhood. And honestly, I became pretty obsessed with it. Early in the pandemic, I started taking walks around the neighborhood as I was working at home. I'd go by this one and just became very fascinated with what's in there, what's going in, what's coming out, and started putting stuff in myself. And as I learned more, I realized there were these little free pantries or micropantries all across the city. And then I realized they were across the country, too.   So, as a nutrition professor, I've studied food choice among very low income folks, and I was also very much aware of how the pandemic had disrupted the food supply. And realized that micropantries were a part of the solution and had many advantages, in fact, in a pandemic situation. So I became very curious about their role. You know, I thought it was an interesting phenomenon to learn more about, and what I put in, I saw it go out, and I wanted to know the stories behind what was coming out.   It's a fascinating concept. And so, nobody from outside the community is stocking this, a bank or a food pantry or anything? It's all done by people who are residing in the community, it sounds like. We'll talk about the study that you did and published, but before we do that, before you started officially studying, what kind of things did you observe about the kinds of foods going in? Was there a lot of in and out? Was it heavily used?   Sara - You're right in saying that it's not stocked by a food bank or a pantry. It's entirely neighbors helping neighbors, so it's people in the neighborhood putting things in for their neighbors. And there's obviously a lot of nonperishable canned goods and such, and certainly saw a lot of that in the micropantries. And I saw very high turnover. I think that was one of the things that really caught my eye at first and fascinated me, you know, was just seeing even stuff I would put in, I'd go a couple hours later and it was already out. Going on my morning walk, and then the next morning, everything had completely turned over and there were new things in there. So realizing what a need it was filling. You name it, it was in there. A lot of it was very healthy food, I saw a lot of canned beans, like legumes, some canned fruits and vegetables, relatively healthy for a non-perishable. I also saw, every so often someone will put in sweets, which drives me crazy. Not that people don't want sweets every now and then, but that it would cause an ant problem in the micropantry. So, you know, everything in moderation, but not when it comes to the feast for ants, I guess.   So, Reverend Wendy, let's shift over to you now. So I understand that you organized a citywide micropantry system in your town, Medford, Massachusetts. Can you talk about what this is and who it reaches?   Wendy - Well, thank you so much for including me in this conversation. And I just need to say to Sara and Norbert and you, Kelly, what an honor it is that somebody took the time to pay attention to this. I'm sitting here in my office, a little choked up by the story of Sara's interests and her work. And when I got the chance to see the paper, you know, it was very powerful to see the outcome of what, from my perspective, as a pastor who is not a nutritionist, although my mother's a nutritionist, ironically, but, you know, a pastor whose purpose was to just spread love and care, who feels, and forgive the reference, Jesus told me to do this. You know, out of our faith, a colleague of mine, Tom Hathaway, who serves the other UCC church here in Medford, actually installed the first micropantry by his church in the Hillside neighborhood next to Tufts. I got jealous and said, "I want one of those at my church." And so, this all happened before the pandemic. We installed the micropantry that Sara was obsessed with was the third one that we installed, that we helped another church install.   So it started out as having nothing to do with the pandemic and everything to do with our sense of loving our neighbor. Jesus calls us to do that, and so we should find ways to do that. The intention to give people who are not a part of the church meaning and purpose in their life. And so, you know, one of the things that is so meaningful about doing this is that everybody can spread love, even if they're not a believer, if even if they're not involved in our church. They can, as somebody said to me once really early on, I can't do much, but I can put a 50 cent can of beans in that micropantry and show my kids that we have the responsibility to love our neighbor. So that was really the starting point.   When the pandemic happened, when other people started to see the opportunity to give, to serve, to care for their neighbor, our motto is take what you need, leave what you can, and this system allowed for a really just way of doing that. So, you know, a lot of the other systems require that you show up with your ID and you sign up with your address and so on and so forth, and there are many members of our community who don't feel a sense of safety in doing that, whether it has to do with their immigration status or just their lives are such that they can't show up, they don't have the car to go to the pantry or whatever, right? They don't have the time away from work to show up when the pantry is open. So this 24/7, 365, no questions asked, nobody's measuring how much you take, it's just available, created access in a way that other parts of the system don't have. And don't get me wrong, this is not a solution to the food security, but it is one little way for neighbors to help neighbors.   So once we started to put a few of them out there and really use social media to publicize the availability of it, people started to say, I want one in my neighborhood. I want to do that. And so, it began to build, and then the pandemic just exploded the need and people's commitment to serve. We had help from the department of public works in our community. The mayor got involved and started to ask them to build the boxes. We worked to find these sponsors, so each micropantry - we have 17 of them now in the community, this is a city of about 60,000 residents -  we have 17 of these micropantries, and each one is “owned” by a different community group. Some of them are owned by faith communities. Some of them are sponsored by Boy Scout troops and Girl Scout troops, and a community service group at the high school. So there's a wide range of people who, quote, own making sure that things stay safe and filled and clean, and, you know, it's a pretty amazing thing. Like we don't do a lot of management, but my church maintains a website and maintains the social media system that keeps them visible and keeps people engaged.   This is really inspiring to me, and I'm going to ask a question that you partially answered already, and here's the question. So there are very tangible benefits, obviously, to something like this, because people who are without enough food are able to get at least some of it through these micropantries, so that's terrific, but there are also a symbolic benefits to this that you pointed out, that the people in the community can get directly involved in addressing food insecurity by giving what they can. Is there symbolism that's important, too, for the recipients of the food? Do you think it matters to the people who are taking the food, who it came from, the way the community is involved, what do you think about all that?   Wendy - What a beautiful question, Kelly. Yes, I absolutely do. I've heard anecdotally, and I know Sara has, you know, sort of referenced this in her work, the recognition that my neighbor cares enough to help me. I've heard from many, many people who have reached out in gratitude to say thank you, thank you for giving me a place to show up. Thank you for helping my neighbors to support me at a time when things are really, really difficult. Thank you for normalizing love of neighbor. So that's a beautiful question, and, absolutely, yes.   It's so nice to hear that. Well, and then the community ownership of it extends also beyond the two individuals, let's say, who are dropping the food off and then receiving the food. There's also the community organization, so it's nice that there's so much community involvement and ownership in this.   Wendy -When I talk about how many people this touches, I'm talking in the thousands and thousands and thousands of people. There are hundreds of people who drop cans off in each of those micropantries, and you multiply that times 17 micropantries, times 365 days a year. That's a lot of people being served and a lot of people who are able to serve, and that feels pretty good.   Norbert, let's turn to you, and I'd like to ask you a question. So I know that one theme of your own research focuses on the economics of food insecurity. And so, from that perspective, what did you learn or what surprised you during the research for this paper that we're talking about?   I wanted to start by saying thanks to Sara for bringing this topic to me, and it was good to reconnect with you, Reverend Wendy, to learn about this project. And I'm so appreciative of the work that you and others in the communities are out there doing. As a researcher who's tended to work on quantitative studies, so grateful for the opportunity to work with Sara on this qualitative study, to understand the stories behind the numbers, to understand how people are really living with the challenges of food security. And I think there's something really important about what our study did in reference to what happened nationally. So this is in the middle of the pandemic, lots of people were greatly concerned about food insecurity, we saw the lines up and down food pantries or food banks reported in the news, and we sort of anticipated that food insecurity rates would go through the roof, at least the official numbers. And I think many of us were surprised when the national numbers came back, that they were no different in 2020 as they were in 2019, which was surprising for some people. And one of the things that a lot of people have argued is that there were a number of support programs, unemployment insurance, the child tax credits. There were a number of policies that the federal government implemented, and Feeding America and the Food Banking Network really did increase their service to provide help for folks.   But when we were doing these interviews, especially at the beginning of the pandemic, one of the things that we learned is that folks are really struggling. I was amazed to hear how some families had sent, if you will, their child to their parents, to go live with the grandparents, because the kids weren't in school, and the family, the parents, couldn't afford to provide the meals through the day, but they knew that their grandparents could, that the grandparents could do it. And seeing how families made these major shifts in their lives just to meet these needs. Now, these are individuals who were participating in the food pantry, in the micropantries, so I am not questioning the numbers at the federal level.   Now, I will say there was an increase in disparity where black and Hispanic households were more food insecure in a greater rate than white households, and so there's something important that did happen during the pandemic, and I think that there's going to be a lot of research that's going to actually understand that better. But the fact that families were really trying to make ends meet in really innovative and complex ways, some early work that Sara and I had done really reflected on the complex ways that families were helping their families eat using food pantries and using complex systems with the grocery store in terms of benefits and coupons. And we worried that, during the pandemic, all of those complex systems fell apart, because you couldn't go to the store like you once could. The challenges of supplies were in question, and so, I was so grateful to see communities find innovative ways of helping people meet their food needs through these micropantries. And as Reverend Wendy made it very clear, it wasn't going to solve the problem, but we did hear from patrons who used the micropantries that it did meet some of their food needs and it helped stretch the meals that they were able to get. And so, that was really important to hear, that even that small bit of help was important.   I was really struck by listening to not only the people who were able to get food, but those people were also people who were able to give food, and I think that's a very different model than what we normally think of when we think about food pantries. There was a sense of pride and community fellowship and the notion of mutual aid was something that came through in some of the interviews with the patrons of these micropantries. They realized that some things they didn't want, and so they were able to leave food that someone else would want, and not in the sense of didn't want because it was something wrong with the food, but rather they knew that that wasn't a preference of their family, and knew that other families could benefit from this. This idea of security and dignity of being able to give and not just receive was an important thing that I've heard, but it was also striking to listen to the people who were setting up these micropantries - this sense of community and wanting to support folks, regardless of background, and having a real interest to give people the freedom to take food as they need it, not to monitor, not to surveil, but just put it out there. Hopefully, someone's going to take it, and then, when there is a need for more, giving more. It totally changed the way I understood how we can do the work that we're doing.   Lastly, I'll say I really do hope that there is further work in this space to understand how these systems work. It really challenged the way I thought about what communities can do and maybe even what they should do, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to get to learn from both folks like Reverend Wendy, and then, also, with Sara Folta, who brings an important lens in terms of understanding how people are making good choices when it comes to food.   Thank you, Norbert. There's something that you all have reminded me of, which is that, so often, the solutions to problems, including food insecurity, are very top-down oriented, where governments of one sort or another, or foundations or universities, or somebody, declares what a solution to a community problem might be without the community getting an opportunity to exercise its own ingenuity and determine what its own solutions might be. And this is a very community-driven solution that sounds creative, effective, inspired, involved. There's so many wonderful things about it. I really appreciate hearing about this. So, Sara, we began with you, let me end by asking you this question. In addition to the things that Norbert said came about as a result of this study, what do you think some of the takeaway messages might be?   Sara - I guess the other takeaway is not only people needing the food, but neighbors needing to give the food, you know? In this sense, in the pandemic and all of our lives disrupted, another thing we heard was I want to do something, I want to give back to my community, I want to help my community, I want to care for my neighbor. And so few ways to do that in the pandemic, especially in the early days, and so, during the isolation of those early days, it gave a concrete way to connect neighbor directly with neighbor. So, I think, on both sides, it really so much achieved that sense of community that got so disrupted.   Access the paper here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneb.2021.11.002   Bios:   Sara Folta Sara Folta is an associate professor in the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, and associate dean for diversity and inclusion. Her research focuses on public health nutrition, or the utilization of community-based strategies for improving dietary intake, physical activity, and body composition. She has particular expertise in behavioral psychology, communications, and qualitative methods. A major line of Folta's research involves community-based interventions to improve heart health among women. A second area of research includes behavioral strategies to improve health and well-being among older adults, particularly through the development of physical activity interventions. Folta's third line of research involves community-based interventions for obesity prevention among children. These studies, in which theory-based communications strategies were a major component, are notable for the use of the eco-social model in which multiple levels (individual-organization-community-policy) are targeted.   Norbert Wilson Norbert Wilson is a Professor of Food, Economics, and Community at Duke University, with joint appointments in the Duke Divinity School and the Sanford School of Public Policy. His research touches on several food issues, such as access, choice, and food waste, food safety and quality issues in international trade and domestic food systems. Wilson is an ordained vocational deacon in the Episcopal Church USA. Additionally, his work is moving to explore equity in food access. He has published in AEA Papers and Proceedings, World Development, American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Journal of Public Health, Food Policy, Agricultural Economics, and other publications. Before joining Duke Divinity School, Wilson was a professor of food policy at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy (2017-2020). He was also a professor of agricultural economics at Auburn University (1999-2016). While at Auburn, Wilson served as a deacon at St. Dunstan's, the Episcopal Student Center of Auburn University (2011-2016). He was an economist/policy analyst in the Trade Directorate (2004-2006) and the Agriculture Directorate (2001-2002) of the Organization of Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD) in Paris, France. In 2014-2015, Wilson was on sabbatical leave at the Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University. Pastor Wendy Miller Olapade Since 2013, Rev. Wendy has led Sanctuary United Church of Christ in Medford to become an emergent, post-modern faith community whose purpose is affecting deep spiritual transformation and spreading love and care. As Lead Pastor, Rev. Wendy has envisioned numerous new ways of ‘being the church' such as ArtChurch, Faith and Film and a “Medford Cares” program. As Community-Connector-in-Chief, Rev. Wendy has inspired and led grassroots action such as SafeMedford; Medford's Big Table, Big Ideas; and a city-wide micro-food pantry mission – taking Sanctuary-To-Go every chance she gets.    

On this episode of Investor Connect, Hall welcomes Gurdeep Prewal, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Rocana Venture Partners.Rocana Venture Partners is an LA-based venture capital firm that invests in early-stage consumer packaged goods brands. They find truly disruptive, hyper-growth, mission-driven brands that provide consumers with better living choices. Their primary area of focus is in food & beverage, with secondary verticals of focus in beauty and personal care, wellness, pet care, fitness, and fashion/apparel. Prior to launching Rocana in February 2018, Gurdeep spent 17 years in investment banking M&A and capital markets, in both North America and Asia, with roughly half of his banking career at J.P. Morgan and the other half at BNP Paribas. Gurdeep advised numerous clients over the years on transformative and award-winning landmark M&A deals and IPOs across various sectors, but most notably in transportation and consumer. Gurdeep brings his deep thinking, savvy deal-making and financial acumen to his venture investments. Gurdeep is also an active angel investor in various industries, including being an early investor in PaTu Wind Farm, Moven, Selina, Relativity Space, Employees Only Aisa, Bai, Kettle & Fire, and Splendid Spoon. He is also an active board member of numerous private companies. Gurdeep is a Canadian citizen and a Singapore permanent resident, residing in both Toronto and Singapore. He holds a BBA degree from Wilfrid Laurier University, is a CFA charter holder, and is a graduate certificate holder of Tufts University's Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. Gurdeep advises startups and investors and discusses the state of CPG investing and how he sees the industry evolving. You can visit Rocana Venture Partners at , via LinkedIn at , and via Twitter at .  Gurdeep can be contacted via email at , and via LinkedIn at .    _________________________________________ For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at:    Check out our other podcasts here:   For Investors check out:   For Startups check out:   For eGuides check out:   For upcoming Events, check out    For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group    Please , share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of .

In Episode 27 I'm joined by Dr. Kendrin Sonneville from the University of Michigan's School of Public Health for a very thought-provoking discussion on something I don't think many fitness and wellness professionals think enough about – weight stigma. If you've not heard of this term before, it might catch you off guard at first, but if you dive a little deeper into thinking about stigmatizing people in larger bodies it happens all the time. I, for one, as an overweight child/teen remember being judged and stigmatized not just by my classmates, but also by teachers and coaches. With that said, this podcast (somewhat surprisingly) struck an emotion cord with me, and it might with you too. Even if it doesn't, as you'll hear Dr. Sonneville discuss in this conversation weight stigma is a true problem in our society and one that fitness and wellness professionals first need to become aware of before they work to overcome it. As Dr. Sonneville will present, weight stigma not only affects the confidence and self-efficacy of the clients/patients we look to serve, it also makes our environments less inclusive and can result in the very people we're trying to help not wanting to come through our doors – the irony! This is a great discussion to listen to with an open mind and an open heart. Many fitness and wellness professionals come from a place where they've always been leaner and have not had to deal with weight stigma (some might call this a privileged place). I hope this podcast provides some perspective, better language, and maybe a chance at little more empathy that can make us all better coaches for people in larger bodies. Show Notes Page: wellnessparadoxpod.com/episode27Our Guest: Dr. Kendrin Sonneville, Sc.D., R.D.Dr. Sonneville is an Associate Professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Dr. Sonneville also holds an adjunct appointment at Harvard Medical School and is a Collaborating Mentor for the Strategic Training Initiative for the Prevention of Eating Disorders (STRIPED) at Boston Children's Hospital and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.   Dr. Sonneville is a registered dietitian, behavioral scientist, and public health researcher whose research focuses on the prevention of eating disorders among children, adolescents, and young adults. Dr. Sonneville uses a weight-inclusive framework to study how to promote health and well-being without inadvertently increasing body dissatisfaction, disordered eating, and weight stigma.   Dr. Sonneville received a Bachelor of Science in Nutritional Sciences and a Bachelor of Science in Dietetics from Michigan State University, a Master of Science in Human Nutrition from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, and Doctor of Science in Public Health Nutrition from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. 

Researchers and policy makers in agriculture, food security and nutrition share a common need for accurate and timely information on the what, when, where, and why people eat and what they eat, of course, this is particularly true in low and middle income countries where the data infrastructure is less well developed to put this challenge in perspective in 2015, the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition reported that, and I quote "more than half of the countries in the world do not collect the statistics, which are needed to assess whether or not they are making progress toward their nutrition goals." So today we're talking with two researchers who are working to solve this very data challenge.   Our guests are food policy and applied nutrition researcher, Jennifer Coates, Associate Professor at the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition, Science, and Policy and senior researcher Winnie Bell. Jennifer and Winnie are leading development of the International Dietary Data Expansion Project   Interview Summary   Jennifer, let's start with you. Your research focus at Tufts is on the development of methods for improving the design implementation and evaluation of international nutrition and food security programs. And I know in particular, in the context of development in humanitarian emergencies. Could you help our listeners understand the issue of this INDDEX Project that you're working on?   Jennifer - Just to give a little bit of history. The international community has probably over the past five or so years really begun to embrace the need to think about nutrition's role at the nexus of agriculture and the environment and health. So not just a standalone sector, but rather a culmination of whole bunch of different forces within the broader food system that in combination have this remarkable impact on people's food choices and ultimately their diets. So we also know that in turn, the food choices really drive health outcomes and in a very systemic fashion affect agriculture, the environment, food security, poverty, and so on. So the problem though, for those who are interested in the interplay of these forces in much of the world, is that we know shockingly little about what people eat and we're not able to easily distinguish the dietary patterns of adult men, for instance, from school age girls or from those living in one region of the country to another. And this information gap has really hindered policies in all of the different sectors that I mentioned and others, because policy makers are often driving blind without having more frequent and more granular dietary information. This data gap is particularly a challenge across low and middle income countries.   So let me follow up on this. It seems like this information is pretty darn important because it could drive nutrition guidelines for countries that could drive bio-fortification programs. They could certainly have an impact on agriculture policies.   Jennifer - There are a number of different reasons, in fact, for one thing, we're globally really lacking a kind of cohesive dietary data infrastructure, I will say, and this is made up of several different missing pieces of information. So we lack the kind of information that can help us actually carry out dietary surveys. So information on what are the most commonly consumed foods across many of the countries where people live and also what are the nutrient composition of that food in the US for instance, we have a very rich repository of data on the foods consumed by people all over this country, including many, many different kinds of processed foods. And we also have information on the nutrient content of those foods. And so it makes it very easy to take that information and go out and conduct a survey on what people are consuming, but we don't have that kind of information for most low and middle income countries. And another reason is that partly because we lack this dietary infrastructure, people have over time, come to view dietary data as being very challenging to collect and have shied away from it because of that. So now we're reaching a point, I would say, where we're seeing a groundswell of recognition for the need for dietary data and then that is driving a lot of efforts, not just our project, but other related projects that are really trying to begin to close this gap.   I appreciate that hopeful note. So Winnie, you're leading key aspects of the second phase of this project, which is the rollout of the INDDEX24 dietary assessment platform. Could you describe the platform in more detail and why you believe it is needed.   Winnie - The INDDEX project, the International Dietary Data Expansion Project has been around for about six years. We started in 2015 with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and our main objective has been to increase the availability access and use of dietary data in low and middle income countries. The platform is designed to address some of these underlying challenges that Jenny just spoke about.   INDDEX was conceived to begin to address the lack of dietary infrastructure for collecting individual level quantitative dietary data. One part is the Global Food Matters Database where we house and fold all of the dietary reference data that are required for individual level food consumption surveys. So that includes food composition information, standard recipes, necessary conversion factors, and the probes that are used during the interview process. So that's the first kind of big component of the INDDEX24 platform.   The next piece is the INDDEX24 mobile app, which is actually what's used in the field to collect the dietary data during the survey, both of these pieces are connected through a survey management hub where the data can be monitored in real time during data collection, as well as used for easing the processing and analysis of the 24-hour recall data on the backend. So the 24-hour dietary recall method is commonly used to collect detailed quantitative information on what individuals consume. Individuals are asked to recall everything that they consumed in the past 24 hours followed by a more detailed information on each of the food items, getting into that type of food consumed and the brand, for example, the third step is to then collect the quantity of each food consumed and then finally reviewing that information with the respondent.   All this might sound a bit abstract, so I would encourage listeners to check out our website for a full visual and a demo of the different aspects of the platform and in terms of why it's needed. And this, as Jenny highlighted, we have this critical gap in information and this platform has been designed to increase a collection of 24 hour dietary recall data in low and middle-income countries.   This could be enormously powerful to have this tool available and it's really nice that you're doing it around the world with a special emphasis on countries where the data are most lacking. So Jennifer, let me go back to you in your opinion, how has the international nutrition and dietary assessment landscape changed over the, say the past decade and looking into your crystal ball, how do you think it will change?   Jennifer - I mentioned earlier, one of the reasons there has traditionally been so little dietary data available is that it was often written off as being too expensive, too time consuming and too difficult to collect. So traditional dietary assessment methods, such as those that rely on respondent recall can also produce inaccurate results, which people recognize and were discouraged by this narrative. This ridiculous challenge of dietary data assessment really became a mantra, it became almost paralyzing I'd say, one of the biggest changes that I've noticed over the past five to seven years is an acceleration on so many fronts. There's been an acceleration in terms of the demand for dietary data, absolutely. And then in response, but also out there leading, I'd say those involved in generating dietary data have developed a new can-do attitude, a real rolling up the sleeves and just getting it done.   Partly this has been catalyzed by very generous funding by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, not just of our project, but of other similar projects with INDDEX24 we're trying to make dietary data, I guess, increasingly available. We're hoping that it will be collected more frequently and therefore be used by policy makers more often, but there are also other aspects of the dietary data value chain that other projects are addressing. For instance, the WHO/FAO GIFT Project has been working to make dietary data more readily accessible in a centralized repository and much more usable by policymakers, through simple visualizations that communicate very readily to those who aren't up to their eyeballs and dietary data, and might not know otherwise how to interpret it. So this kind of information has improved on the way that people both access and use dietary data.   And then looking forward, one of the things that we're seeing are a huge number of efforts going on to develop innovative technology. Much of it is still nascent, not quite ready for prime time, but to improve the possibility of capturing information on diets in real time, like while people are eating, researchers are using imaging approaches coupled with artificial intelligence in order to upend the traditional field of dietary assessment. So, no, we're not there yet, we've already made leaps and bounds on this front, over the last, over the past 10 years and I think that 10 years from now this whole challenge will look completely different, in fact, I think we will probably have done away with many of the things that we now find to be very difficult about dietary assessment.   What you just mentioned about technology being used to more accurately assess what people are consuming sound very promising. And I remember back when I was first paying attention to work in this area, and there were a lot of concerns about the accuracy of things. Researchers were reporting that people may not be able to accurately judge portion sizes. They may intentionally under or over report consuming such things. And there was talk in those early years about having other information available where you could correct for things to actually establish a more realistic number. So say people underestimate by an average of X %, then you could correct for that, are people doing that at all? Or will this technology help with that issue?   Jennifer - There's work going on for both of those fronts, so you're absolutely right, that those types of corrections are possible and are actually very useful. One of the things that is very challenging right now in our efforts in low and middle income countries is that we don't actually have enough information yet to really be able to establish appropriate correction factors. One of the reasons for that is that, for instance, in the US people most commonly under report, what they've consumed the previous day and that's partly because they forget, and it might also be because they think it might be more socially acceptable to under-report. But we really don't know all that much about how people from various cultures report their diets, when they're trying to recall, there is documented under-reporting.   There's also documented over-reporting and there's a lot of variability establishing the correction factor is a whole other level of work that would be very helpful and remains to be done. One of the benefits of the imaging technology is that you're not relying on people's memories. And in fact, the camera is present, even though that sounds a little creepy, big brother watching everything that you're eating, but the camera is present and often in an unobtrusive way, as people are eating their meals. And so of course you might be concerned about people modifying their behavior, if they're aware of a camera recording, what it is that they're eating, but at the same time, some of this research has suggested that having the camera be situated in a very, very small way on, the special glasses that people be asked to wear or as a button that they wear on their shirt, for instance, has really helped reduce some of that kind of potential bias too. So there's a lot of promise from the imaging and there are still challenges to be worked out for instance, how to take the images that the camera's capturing and in a very automated way, convert that into something that can be recognized as food, especially in complex dishes, like stew with lots of different kinds of ingredients. So that's kind of the excitement, but also the challenge of this new frontier.     That's really interesting. So let me close by asking you both this question moving forward, what do you see as the biggest challenges as well as the opportunities for increasing collection and use of dietary data in low and middle income countries? And Winnie let's begin with you.   Winnie - So, as we've both mentioned, the dietary data infrastructure has been historically one of the largest barriers to successful completion of dietary surveys in low middle-income countries. The INDDEX Project has been focused on trying to build up this research infrastructure over the last six years of our project. But the challenge remains is it an enormous undertaking that really will require political will from a variety of key players and champions from both governments as well as on the donor and investment side, as well as on the research end of things. We're absolutely moving in the right direction, but I think the challenge remains, how do we develop this robust and necessary dietary data infrastructure to ensure that we can collect more easily and use more frequently the dietary data from low middle-income countries.   We have successful examples of this being developed where political will has converged. So in the health sector, for example, we've seen huge movement over the last several decades to creating health systems in low middle-income countries. So we're hoping that the momentum continues to grow, to overcome this challenge in relation to nutrition. And as far as opportunities, I think there are several, but a very concrete one is on the technology side of things as Jenny mentioned with artificial intelligence and other efforts. And I think the other overall opportunity is general growing awareness of the importance of dietary data. Everybody is interested, everybody wants to see the results, and historically people are happy to have the data available, but few people have been willing to put in the effort to invest and collect those data.   Thank you, Winnie. So Jennifer, what are your thoughts on this issue?   Jennifer - I'd say that with dietary assessment in low and middle income countries, having historically been such a neglected area relative to say the many advances that we've seen in terms of information systems in the health sector, there has also been a lack of opportunity for very vibrant knowledge exchange. There are countries that have developed a lot of expertise and a lot of capacity in the area of dietary assessment and yet the kind of infrastructure that would enable country to country learning as well as training and mentoring between those who have already amassed a deal of experience in dietary data assessment, and those who are trying to improve their skills in this area has really been lacking. I'd say that the flip side opportunity to that challenge would be to scale up a global community of practice that can serve as a platform for exchange, for training, for learning and for maintaining this positive momentum that we've seen over the last five years. So we need to be thinking about the next generation and equipping them with the tools and the skills and the capacity to be able to carry this forward.   Bios:   Dr. Jennifer Coates is the Principal Investigator of the INDDEX Project and is an Associate Professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy and a Senior Researcher at the Tufts Feinstein International Center. Dr. Coates' research focuses on the development of methods and metrics for improving the design, implementation, and evaluation of international nutrition and food security programs in both development and humanitarian emergency contexts. In addition to her research and policy engagement, Dr. Coates teaches a range of graduate courses at the Friedman School.     Winnie Bell is a Senior Researcher with the INDDEX Project. Winnie was responsible for leading the INDDEX24 research activities in Viet Nam, including conducting the feasibility and validation studies. In addition, she is providing technical expertise and managing the development of the INDDEX Project's Data4Diets Platform. Prior to joining the INDDEX Project, Winnie had worked for over five years as food security analyst and researcher with the Food and Agriculture Organization, the Food Security Information Network (FAO/IFPRI/WFP), and Tufts University. Winnie is currently a PhD candidate at Tufts University, where she also earned an MS in Food Policy and Applied Nutrition and an MPH in Epidemiology and Biostatistics.       

Taxes fund many important services, such as education, transportation, parks, and healthcare that benefit us all and our society. But does it make sense to tax groceries? Today, we're exploring research on the impact of grocery taxes, particularly, on low income families. We have two guests today who have collaborated on a really interesting project. Agricultural economist, Yuqing Zheng, of the University of Kentucky, and Norbert Wilson of Duke University. They're co-authors on a research paper entitled Putting Grocery Taxes on the Table, Evidence for Food Security Policy Makers. Interview Summary Why do we need to care about grocery taxes? Yuqing - For low income populations, it matters a lot. For example, if you're paying $8,000 a year on grocery bill and you are paying 10%, that's about $800. And especially for low income population, we are concerned that grocery taxes could be very regressive. That means low income populations are paying a higher share of the burden. That concerns us quite a bit, and we would like to see if the grocery tax is hurting the low income populations the most. Let me ask a follow up question to that. So, it's been a while since I've seen these numbers, but I know at one point, people in the United States paid the lowest amount per capita of any country in the world for food. So how does that figure into your thinking about this? Yuqing - For middle income population, they are paying very reasonable share of income, but for low income populations, the burden is much higher. So for some states, if taxes are high, then it can be quite big percentage of a total income. So Norbert, let's turn to you. Could you explain why your research team wanted to study grocery taxes? Norbert - I lived in Alabama for a number of years and there were grocery taxes in the state and they still exist. I had heard a number of community groups express concern about the grocery tax and argue that it was hurting people who were struggling to make ends meet. And so I wondered, were the grocery taxes really that important? Part of the motivation as Yuqing has already made very clear, the grocery tax is a regressive tax that may be a heavy burden on lower income consumers. And the question is, was this really a problem? Do we see a relationship between the grocery tax and one of the measures that we think is really important, food insecurity? And so that's what motivated this original project. So where do grocery taxes exist and who gets to decide if groceries are taxed and how large are these taxes in general? Yuqing - Grocery tax is a sales tax imposed on the grocery food you purchase. So it could be in the form of a county or a state tax. It also could be in the form of combined. Overall, 16 of the U.S. states have grocery taxes. And if you look at these 16 states, the average of grocery tax percentage is about at 4.2%. So I lived in four states before, North Carolina, Alabama, New York and Kentucky. In Alabama, we are paying about a 4% state level taxes and another 4% county level and up to 2% of city taxes. So that's easily 10% of grocery tax. In North Carolina, in the county where I used to live, it's about a 2.7, 5% of county grocery taxes. There's no state level grocery taxes at all. In New York and Kentucky, there are no grocery taxes at all. In Kentucky, I'm paying 6% sales taxes on general merchandise but not food. That's very helpful to know, and that's pretty startling how wide the variability is. So Norbert, what are your main findings from this study? Norbert - We see that there's a relationship between the grocery tax and food insecurity. For every 1% increase in the grocery tax, we see a 0.84% increase in the probability of a household being food insecure. So, given the average of a 4.2% grocery tax across the U.S., we would argue that it increases the probability of a household being food insecure a little more than 3%. And so this is a substantial result in that, we are seeing more households that are food insecure in communities where there are grocery taxes. And as you have had on previous podcasts, food insecurity is an important indicator of wellbeing. There are a number of studies that showed that food insecurity is linked to various negative health outcomes. And it's also associated with issues around behavior, especially among children. And so managing food insecurity can be an important way of helping reduce inequalities in a society. And we're finding evidence that this grocery tax, at least, is related to the probability of a household being food insecure. Those are pretty startling numbers and highly impactful, I think. In places where these taxes are being considered, does the impact on food security come up in legislative discussions? Norbert - It does show up, at least from the people who are advocating for the removal of these policies. But it's also interesting to note that these are controversial taxes and that many states that have considered or discussed removing the tax are concerned about the loss of revenue and rightly so, and are concerned about them raising new revenue or new taxes to recuperate the lost revenue. And that's where I think a lot of the challenge comes is it's difficult for states to make the decision of switching one tax for another. So let's talk about the policy implications of this. And I'd love to hear thoughts from both of you. Yuqing - First, I want to add is that grocery taxes tend to exist in Southern states, where higher food insecurity is more prevalent. So actually, there are some policy discussions recently in West Virginia and the New Mexico, they used to have grocery taxes and they were abolished. And then now they were thinking about bringing it back. So one aspect, I think, tend to be overlooked is, how does reinstating grocery tax impact food insecurity and other health conditions or other counts as well? So this is pretty complicated situation because as Norbert mentioned, if you want to have no grocery taxes, you might want additional revenue sources. For example, in Alabama, it's a very unique situation. Alabama income tax is very low. And alcohol taxes, tobacco taxes is very low. Property tax is very low, but in order to make up the revenue, that's why I think the grocery tax is pretty high. The main message right here is when policy makers are thinking about increasing or decreasing grocery taxes, they might want to take into consideration this potential impact. Persons with relatively low income or persons who are on the margin of being food insecure, that's the outcome we want to print to the policymakers. Norbert - Just thinking about the well-being of the citizens of a particular community and the issue around food security, repealing the tax may have the potential of lowering some of these burdens. One of the things we should note is that people who are participants in the SNAP program, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, do not pay the grocery tax on foods that they purchase with SNAP. For those folks, this tax may not be that important except for the times when they are not buying food off of their SNAP benefits. As some of us have seen, SNAP benefits typically do not last a whole month. So while these individuals may avoid paying the tax for, say, three weeks of the month, the last week of the month, they're facing this. And that means individuals are facing an extra cost associated with purchasing food. And we know that there are a number of responses in order to meet those food needs using charitable food sector, and depending on other resources to help meet food needs. Therefore, if removing a tax could just lessen the burden for families that are already struggling, could just make it a little bit easier, I think that's a good outcome. I do believe we need to be thoughtful and there have been some states that have removed the tax and replaced it with taxes on other aspects of their economy. So there are some examples out there, and I just encourage policy makers that are considering this to look at other states that have done this successfully, and explore ways that they can remove that tax, if they have the political will to do so. Let me ask a couple more follow-up questions. So one, how do taxes on specific categories of foods, like soda taxes, figure into your thinking given what you found in this study? Norbert - Because these are general taxes, they're taxes on all products. It's not quite the same as thinking about the soda tax, which is targeted to a particular product, typically, the sugar sweetened beverages, and therefore we don't equate the two. It is the case, there has been concern about the role that sugar sweetened beverage taxes can impose on individuals who are lower income, that there is a regressivity to those kinds of policies, but those are policies where, if the revenue is then turned around and encouraging other health behaviors, they may not be as burdensome or the long run effects may be different. Grocery taxes, however, are on all foods regardless of the health consequences. And because we need food regardless, placing a tax on that is a burden and it's unavoidable except in the case of using federal benefits, like the SNAP program. So I'm careful not to equate those two types of policies. They have different purposes, they have different implications. And I think that while there may be levels of regressivity from both, I don't see them as equals. Thanks. That's very helpful clarification. So let's get as concrete as possible. Let's say I'm a state legislator in a place that has these taxes and might want to get rid of them, or is thinking about having such taxes, and we want to keep the amount of tax revenue constant. So if I say to you, "Okay, we'll get rid of the grocery tax", but how would we get additional revenue coming in from some other form of tax to help correct this disproportionate impact on low income families? What would you recommend? Norbert - One way of alleviating the burden of the grocery tax is to spread it out across the other taxes. So if we know that the tax rate at the state level is 4.2%, there are probably ways of spreading it across. If the state has an income tax or taxes on cars like tags and other aspects of life, the various syntaxes like cigarettes and alcohol, I can imagine those state legislator making a change where there's a small increase across multiple tax bases, so that it doesn't feel like it's an overly burdensome increase in the tax of one product or one sector of the economy. That way, folks who have higher incomes can carry a little more of that burden than people with lower incomes. So I would argue that there are ways of spreading that tax around, so that it takes that burden off of lower income households that have to buy food. And I think that's a potential way forward. Bios: Yuqing Zheng is an associate professor at the Department of Agricultural Economics of the University of Kentucky conducting research in food marketing and policies. His main research interests include consumers behaviors, health and food safety economics, and demand studies using big data. He has published papers in American Journal of Agricultural Economics, other field top journals such as Health Economics, Regional Science and Urban Economics, Nicotine & Tobacco Research, as well as Economic Inquiry, Southern Economic Journal, Food Policy, and Economics Letters, among others. He directed the development of the FDA Food Regulation and Enforcement Policy Trade Impact Model (for the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition) and the FDA Tobacco Category Demand Model (for the Center for Tobacco Products) and was a consultant to the development of the recent USDA Trade Impact Model. His paper on sales tax received the 2013 Best Economics Paper Award from the food safety and nutrition section of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA) and he was a recipient of the 2019 AAEA Quality of Communication Award. Dr. Zheng is an associate editor of Tobacco Regulatory Science. Norbert Wilson is the director of agricultural policy at Duke's World Food Policy Center, and a professor of food, economics and community in the Divinity School at Duke University. His research touches on several food issues, such as access, choice, and food waste. He continues to work on food safety and quality issues in international trade and domestic food systems. Wilson is an ordained vocational deacon in the Episcopal Church USA. Additionally, his work is moving to explore equity in food access. He has published in AEA Papers and Proceedings, World Development, American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Journal of Public Health, Food Policy, Agricultural Economics, and other publications. Before joining Duke Divinity School, Wilson was a professor of food policy at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy (2017-2020). He was also a professor of agricultural economics at Auburn University (1999-2016). While at Auburn, Wilson served as a deacon at St. Dunstan's, the Episcopal Student Center of Auburn University (2011-2016). He was an economist/policy analyst in the Trade Directorate (2004-2006) and the Agriculture Directorate (2001-2002) of the Organization of Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD) in Paris, France. In 2014-2015, Wilson was on sabbatical leave at the Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University.  

A fermented-food diet increases microbiome diversity and lowers inflammation, study finds Stanford University, July 13, 2021 A diet rich in fermented foods enhances the diversity of gut microbes and decreases molecular signs of inflammation, according to researchers at the Stanford School of Medicine.  In a clinical trial, 36 healthy adults were randomly assigned to a 10-week diet that included either fermented or high-fiber foods. The two diets resulted in different effects on the gut microbiome and the immune system. Eating foods such as yogurt, kefir, fermented cottage cheese, kimchi and other fermented vegetables, vegetable brine drinks, and kombucha tea led to an increase in overall microbial diversity, with stronger effects from larger servings. "This is a stunning finding," said Justin Sonnenburg, PhD, an associate professor of microbiology and immunology. "It provides one of the first examples of how a simple change in diet can reproducibly remodel the microbiota across a cohort of healthy adults." In addition, four types of immune cells showed less activation in the fermented-food group. The levels of 19 inflammatory proteins measured in blood samples also decreased. One of these proteins, interleukin 6, has been linked to conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, Type 2 diabetes and chronic stress.  "Microbiota-targeted diets can change immune status, providing a promising avenue for decreasing inflammation in healthy adults," said Christopher Gardner, PhD, the Rehnborg Farquhar Professor and director of nutrition studies at the Stanford Prevention Research Center. "This finding was consistent across all participants in the study who were assigned to the higher fermented food group." Microbe diversity stable in fiber-rich diet By contrast, none of these 19 inflammatory proteins decreased in participants assigned to a high-fiber diet rich in legumes, seeds, whole grains, nuts, vegetables and fruits. On average, the diversity of their gut microbes also remained stable. "We expected high fiber to have a more universally beneficial effect and increase microbiota diversity," said Erica Sonnenburg, PhD, a senior research scientist in basic life sciences, microbiology and immunology. "The data suggest that increased fiber intake alone over a short time period is insufficient to increase microbiota diversity."  The study will be published online July 12 in Cell. Justin and Erica Sonnenburg and Christopher Gardner are co-senior authors. The lead authors are Hannah Wastyk, a PhD student in bioengineering, and former postdoctoral scholar Gabriela Fragiadakis, PhD, who is now an assistant professor of medicine at UC-San Francisco. A wide body of evidence has demonstrated that diet shapes the gut microbiome, which can affect the immune system and overall health. According to Gardner, low microbiome diversity has been linked to obesity and diabetes.  "We wanted to conduct a proof-of-concept study that could test whether microbiota-targeted food could be an avenue for combatting the overwhelming rise in chronic inflammatory diseases," Gardner said.  The researchers focused on fiber and fermented foods due to previous reports of their potential health benefits. While high-fiber diets have been associated with lower rates of mortality, the consumption of fermented foods can help with weight maintenance and may decrease the risk of diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease. The researchers analyzed blood and stool samples collected during a three-week pre-trial period, the 10 weeks of the diet, and a four-week period after the diet when the participants ate as they chose.  The findings paint a nuanced picture of the influence of diet on gut microbes and immune status. On one hand, those who increased their consumption of fermented foods showed similar effects on their microbiome diversity and inflammatory markers, consistent with prior research showing that short-term changes in diet can rapidly alter the gut microbiome. On the other hand, the limited change in the microbiome within the high-fiber group dovetails with the researchers' previous reports of a general resilience of the human microbiome over short time periods.  Designing a suite of dietary and microbial strategies The results also showed that greater fiber intake led to more carbohydrates in stool samples, pointing to incomplete fiber degradation by gut microbes. These findings are consistent with other research suggesting that the microbiome of people living in the industrialized world is depleted of fiber-degrading microbes.  "It is possible that a longer intervention would have allowed for the microbiota to adequately adapt to the increase in fiber consumption," Erica Sonnenburg said. "Alternatively, the deliberate introduction of fiber-consuming microbes may be required to increase the microbiota's capacity to break down the carbohydrates." In addition to exploring these possibilities, the researchers plan to conduct studies in mice to investigate the molecular mechanisms by which diets alter the microbiome and reduce inflammatory proteins. They also aim to test whether high-fiber and fermented foods synergize to influence the microbiome and immune system of humans. Another goal is to examine whether the consumption of fermented food decreases inflammation or improves other health markers in patients with immunological and metabolic diseases, and in pregnant women and older individuals.  "There are many more ways to target the microbiome with food and supplements, and we hope to continue to investigate how different diets, probiotics and prebiotics impact the microbiome and health in different groups," Justin Sonnenburg said.   Effect of resveratrol intervention on renal pathological injury in type 2 diabetes Capital Medical University (China), July 11, 2021 According to news reporting from Beijing, People's Republic of China, research stated, “Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a clinically common cardiovascular disease that can lead to kidney damage and adversely affect male fertility and sperm quality. Resveratrol (Res) is a natural product that has a wide range of effects in animals and cell models.” The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from Capital Medical University, “This research is designed to observe the effect of resveratrol (Res) intervention on renal pathologic injury and spermatogenesis in mice with type 2 diabetes (T2D). Sixty healthy male SD mice without specific pathogens (SPF grade) were selected, and numbered by statistical software to randomize into control group (CG; n=20), model group (MG; n=20) and research group (RG; n=20). Mice in CG were given regular diet, while those in MG and RG were fed with high fat diet. Subsequently, RG was given Res intervention while MG received no treatment. Biochemical indexes [triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), fasting blood glucose (FBG), 24-hour urinary albumin excretion rate (24h-UAER)] of mice in the three groups before and after intervention were observed and recorded. The effect of Res on oxidative stress, kidney histopathological structure, spermatogenic function, sperm density and viability of mice, as well as spermatogenic cell cycle of testis were determined. Res reduced hyperlipidemia and hyperglycemia in T2D mice. By reducing malondialdehyde (MDA) and increasing superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), Res relieved oxidative stress and alleviated kidney tissue damage. In addition, Res improved the spermatogenic function of T2D mice by increasing the sperm density and survival rate and restoring the percentage of spermatogenic cells at all levels.” According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “Res intervention in T2D mice can reduce kidney tissue damage, lower blood glucose (BG), and improve spermatogenic function by increasing sperm density and restoring the percentage of spermatogenic cells at all levels.” This research has been peer-reviewed.     Eating whole grains linked to smaller increases in waist size, blood pressure, blood sugar Study in middle- to older-aged adults suggests whole grains may protect against heart disease Tufts University, July 13, 2021 Middle- to older-aged adults who ate at least three servings of whole grains daily had smaller increases in waist size, blood pressure, and blood sugar levels over time compared to those who ate less than one-half serving per day, according to new research. Published July 13, 2021, in the Journal of Nutrition, the study by researchers at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University examined how whole- and refined-grain intake over time impacted five risk factors of heart disease: Waist size, blood pressure, blood sugar, triglyceride, and HDL ("good") cholesterol. Using data from the Framingham Heart Study Offspring Cohort, which began in the 1970s to assess long-term risk factors of heart disease, the new research examined health outcomes associated with whole- and refined-grain consumption over a median of 18 years. The 3,100 participants from the cohort were mostly white and, on average, in their mid-50s at the start of data collection. The research team compared changes in the five risk factors, over four-year intervals, across four categories of reported whole grain intake, ranging from less than a half serving per day to three or more servings per day. According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2020-2025, the recommended amount of whole grains is three or more servings daily. An example of a serving is one slice of whole-grain bread, a half cup of rolled oats cereal, or a half cup of brown rice. The results showed that for each four-year interval:   Waist size increased by an average of over 1 inch in the low intake participants, versus about ½ inch in the high intake participants. Even after accounting for changes in waist size, average increases in blood sugar levels and systolic blood pressure were greater in low intake participants compared to high intake participants. The researchers also studied the five risk factors across four categories of refined-grain intake, ranging from less than two servings per day to more than four servings per day. Lower refined-grain intake led to a lower average increase in waist size and a greater mean decline in triglyceride levels for each four-year period. "Our findings suggest that eating whole-grain foods as part of a healthy diet delivers health benefits beyond just helping us lose or maintain weight as we age. In fact, these data suggest that people who eat more whole grains are better able to maintain their blood sugar and blood pressure over time. Managing these risk factors as we age may help to protect against heart disease," said Nicola McKeown, senior and corresponding author and a scientist on the Nutritional Epidemiology Team at the USDA HNRCA. "There are several reasons that whole grains may work to help people maintain waist size and reduce increases in the other risk factors. The presence of dietary fiber in whole grains can have a satiating effect, and the magnesium, potassium, and antioxidants may contribute to lowering blood pressure. Soluble fiber in particular may have a beneficial effect on post-meal blood sugar spikes," said Caleigh Sawicki. Sawicki did this work as part of her doctoral dissertation while a student at the Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University and while working with the Nutritional Epidemiology Team at the USDA HNRCA. The greatest contributor to whole-grain intake among participants was whole-wheat breads and ready-to-eat whole-grain breakfast cereals. The refined grains came mostly from pasta and white bread. The difference in health benefits between whole and refined grains may stem from the fact that whole grains are less processed than refined grains. Whole grains have a fiber-rich outer layer and an inner germ layer packed with B vitamins, antioxidants, and small amounts of healthy fats. Milling whole grains removes these nutrient-dense components, leaving only the starch-packed refined grain behind. "The average American consumes about five servings of refined grains daily, much more than is recommended, so it's important to think about ways to replace refined grains with whole grains throughout your day. For example, you might consider a bowl of whole-grain cereal instead of a white flour bagel for breakfast and replacing refined-grain snacks, entrees, and side dishes with whole-grain options. Small incremental changes in your diet to increase whole-grain intake will make a difference over time," McKeown said. Methodology To measure daily grain intake, the researchers used diet questionnaires that participants completed every four years from 1991 to 2014, resulting in a median of 18 years of data. Dietary assessment data came from five study examinations, and observations were only included if participants attended at least two consecutive examinations with accurate dietary data. Participants with diabetes at baseline were excluded. The statistical analysis was adjusted for factors that might influence the results, including other aspects of a healthy diet. Limitations of the study include the fact that food consumption is self-reported, and participants may over- or under-estimate intake of certain foods based on perceived social desirability. Due to its observational design, the study does not reflect a causal relationship.   Antibiotics in early life could affect brain development Exposure to antibiotics in utero or after birth could lead to brain disorders in later childhood Rutgers University, July 14, 2021 Antibiotic exposure early in life could alter human brain development in areas responsible for cognitive and emotional functions, according to a Rutgers researcher. The laboratory study, published in the journal iScience, suggests that penicillin changes the microbiome - the trillions of beneficial microorganisms that live in and on our bodies - as well as gene expression, which allows cells to respond to its changing environment, in key areas of the developing brain. The findings suggest reducing widespread antibiotic use or using alternatives when possible to prevent neurodevelopment problems.  Penicillin and related medicines (like ampicillin and amoxicillin) are the most widely used antibiotics in children worldwide. In the United States, the average child receives nearly three courses of antibiotics before the age of 2. Similar or greater exposure rates occur in many other countries.  "Our previous work has shown that exposing young animals to antibiotics changes their metabolism and immunity. The third important development in early life involves the brain. This study is preliminary but shows a correlation between altering the microbiome and changes in the brain that should be further explored," said lead author Martin Blaser, director of the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine at Rutgers. The study compared mice that were exposed to low-dose penicillin in utero or immediately after birth to those that were not exposed. They found that mice given penicillin experienced substantial changes in their intestinal microbiota and had altered gene expression in the frontal cortex and amygdala, two key areas in the brain responsible for the development of memory as well as fear and stress responses.  A growing body of evidence links phenomena in the intestinal tract with signaling to the brain, a field of study known as the "gut-brain-axis." If this pathway is disturbed, it can lead to permanent altering of the brain's structure and function and possibly lead to neuropsychiatric or neurodegenerative disorders in later childhood or adulthood. "Early life is a critical period for neurodevelopment," Blaser said. "In recent decades, there has been a rise in the incidence of childhood neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and learning disabilities. Although increased awareness and diagnosis are likely contributing factors, disruptions in cerebral gene expression early in development also could be responsible." Future studies are needed to determine whether antibiotics directly effect brain development or if molecules from the microbiome that travel to the brain disturb gene activity and cause cognitive deficits.  The study was conducted along with Zhan Gao at Rutgers and Blaser's former graduate student Anjelique Schulfer, as well as Angelina Volkova, Kelly Ruggles, and Stephen Ginsberg at New York University, who all played important roles in this joint Rutgers-New York University project.   Taking the brain out for a walk A recent study shows that spending time outdoors has a positive effect on our brains Max Planck Institute for Human Development, July 15, 2021 If you're regularly out in the fresh air, you're doing something good for both your brain and your well-being. This is the conclusion reached by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development and the Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE). The longitudinal study recently appeared in The World Journal of Biological Psychiatry. During the Corona pandemic, walks became a popular and regular pastime. A neuroscientific study suggests that this habit has a good effect not only on our general well-being but also on our brain structure. It shows that the human brain benefits from even short stays outdoors. Until now, it was assumed that environments affect us only over longer periods of time. The researchers regularly examined six healthy, middle-aged city dwellers for six months. In total, more than 280 scans were taken of their brains using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The focus of the study was on self-reported behavior during the last 24 hours and in particular on the hours that participants spent outdoors prior to imaging. In addition, they were asked about their fluid intake, consumption of caffeinated beverages, the amount of time spent outside, and physical activity, in order to see if these factors altered the association between time spent outside and the brain. In order to be able to include seasonal differences, the duration of sunshine in the study period was also taken into account. Brain scans show that the time spent outdoors by the participants was positively related to gray matter in the right dorsolateral-prefrontal cortex, which is the superior (dorsal) and lateral part of the frontal lobe in the cerebral cortex. This part of the cortex is involved in the planning and regulation of actions as well as what is referred to as cognitive control. In addition, many psychiatric disorders are known to be associated with a reduction in gray matter in the prefrontal area of the brain. The results persisted even when the other factors that could also explain the relationship between time spent outdoors and brain structure were kept constant. The researchers performed statistical calculations in order to examine the influence of sunshine duration, number of hours of free time, physical activity, and fluid intake on the results. The calculations revealed that time spent outdoors had a positive effect on the brain regardless of the other influencing factors. "Our results show that our brain structure and mood improve when we spend time outdoors. This most likely also affects concentration, working memory, and the psyche as a whole. We are investigating this in an ongoing study. The subjects are asked to also solve cognitively challenging tasks and wear numerous sensors that measure the amount of light they are exposed to during the day, among other environmental indicators," says Simone Kühn, head of the Lise Meitner Group for Environmental Neuroscience at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development and lead author of the study. The results therefore, support the previously assumed positive effects of walking on health and extend them by the concrete positive effects on the brain. Because most psychiatric disorders are associated with deficits in the prefrontal cortex, this is of particular importance to the field of psychiatry. "These findings provide neuroscientific support for the treatment of mental disorders. Doctors could prescribe a walk in the fresh air as part of the therapy - similar to what is customary for health cures," says Anna Mascherek, post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy of the Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) and co-author of the study. In the ongoing studies, the researchers also want to directly compare the effects of green environments vs urban spaces on the brain. In order to understand where exactly the study participants spend their time outdoors, the researchers plan to use GPS (Global Positioning System) data and include other factors that may play a role such as traffic noise and air pollution.     Vitamin C found to block growth of cancer stem cells, says peer reviewed study University of Salford (UK),  July 8, 2021   Increasingly, researchers are discovering the role played by cancer stem cells in the growth and spread of the disease. In groundbreaking new research, vitamin C showed its ability to target cancer stem cells and stop their growth – preventing the recurrence of tumors. Although mainstream medicine has been slow to accept the cancer-fighting properties of vitamin C, the exciting results of this study could help to change that. It's official: Vitamin C interferes with cancer stem cell metabolism In a newly-published study conducted at the University of Salford in Manchester, vitamin C demonstrated its power to stop tumors in their tracks by interfering with cancer stem cell metabolism – suppressing their ability to process energy for survival and growth. Cancer stem cells are responsible for triggering tumor recurrence, and promoting their growth and metastasis. Researchers believe that cancer stem cells give cancer its ability to resist chemotherapy and radiation – the reason for treatment failure in advanced cancer patients. The study, helmed by researchers Michael P. Lisanti and Gloria Bonucelli, was published last month in Oncotarget, a peer-reviewed journal. Peer-reviewed studies are considered the gold standard of scientific research. The study was the first to explore the effects of vitamin C on cancer stem cells – and provided the first evidence that vitamin C, in the form of ascorbic acid, can target and kill them. In a side-by-side comparison of seven different substances, vitamin C even outperformed an experimental cancer drug. Vitamin C works ten times better than the experimental cancer drug 2-DG The team investigated the impact on cancer stem cells of seven different substances. Three were natural substances, three were experimental drugs, and one was an FDA-approved clinical drug that is widely used. The natural products studied, along with vitamin C, were silibinin – derived from milk thistle seeds – and caffeic acid phenyl ester – or CAPE – derived from honeybee propolis. The experimental drugs were actinonin, FK866 and 2-DG, and the clinical drug was stiripentol. Researchers noted that vitamin C destroyed cancer stem cells by inducing oxidative stress. And, the vitamin performed this process ten times more effectively than 2-DG. Vitamin C used two different mechanisms of action to attack cancer stem cells. It worked as a pro-oxidant in cancer cells, depleting them of the antioxidant glutathione and causing oxidative stress and apoptosis – or cell death. It also inhibited glycolysis, which is the process that creates energy production in cell mitochondria. By inhibiting glycolysis, vitamin C inhibited mitrochondrial protein synthesis in cancer stem cells – while leaving healthy cells unaffected. Non-toxic vitamin C lacks the serious side effects of many pharmaceutical drugs Both experimental and approved cancer drugs can feature serious adverse effects, including thrombocytopenia – a deficiency of platelets in the blood that can cause bruising and slow blood clotting. They can also induce lymphopenia – a decrease in the body's infection-fighting white blood cells – and anemia, or low red blood cells. And the clinically-approved drug used in the study, stiripentol, can cause severe nausea, vomiting and fatigue. On the other hand, the National Cancer Center reports that high-dose vitamin C has caused very few side effects when used in clinical studies. Scientifically speaking, the future looks bright for vitamin C All seven of the substances tested inhibited the growth of cancer cells to varying degrees – including the non-toxic natural substances. But researchers said the most “exciting” results were with vitamin C. The research team concluded that vitamin C was a “promising new agent,” and called for more study to explore its use as an adjunct to conventional cancer therapies to prevent tumor recurrence and growth. “Vitamin C is cheap, natural, non-toxic and readily available, so to have it as a potential weapon in the fight against cancer would be a significant step,” observed Dr. Lisanti. As in most of the successful studies showing vitamin C's cancer-fighting properties, researchers used high doses of vitamin C, administered intravenously. IV vitamin C therapy is available in some alternative and holistic cancer treatment clinics worldwide. The real reason why vitamin C is ignored by conventional medicine and the mainstream media Again, vitamin C was 1,000 percent more effective than 2-DG, an experimental pharmaceutical drug – in targeting cancer stem cells. If vitamin C were developed by big pharma, these results would be shouted from the rooftops and featured in newspaper headlines. Yet, as always, “the powers that be” in mainstream medicine respond with…crickets. The reason; say natural health experts, is all too obvious. As a natural nutrient and vitamin, vitamin C can't be patented, and is inexpensive and easy to obtain. Therefore, there is no incentive for cancer clinics to promote it – when they can instead rake in the profits from chemotherapy. The indifference of conventional medicine to vitamin C is all the more frustrating because the nutrient has been shown to be an effective and non-toxic anti-cancer agent in previous studies, including many conducted by Nobel prize-winning scientist Linus Pauling. Vitamin C has been shown in a Japanese study to cut mortality in cancer patients by 25 percent. In addition, it has inhibited tumors in animal studies, and been shown to kill cancer cells in a wide variety of cancer cell lines. How much longer will the potential of this safe and powerful cancer-fighting nutrient be overlooked?     Mothers' high-fat diet affects clotting response in sons, mice study finds University of Reading (UK), July 13, 2021 Mothers who follow a high fat diet may be affecting the cardiovascular health of their sons, according to a new study in mice. In a paper published in Scientific Reports, a team of scientists found that the male children of mice mothers who were fed on a high fat diet during pregnancy had unhealthy platelets, which are responsible for clotting, when fed on a high fat diet themselves. Although both male and female children of the mothers fed on a high fat diet showed a variety of risks associated with cardiovascular disease, it was only the platelets of male mice which were considered hyperactive. These platelets were larger, more volatile and showed signs of stress compared to offspring fed on a normal diet. Dr. Dyan Sellayah, lecturer in cellular and organismal metabolism at the University of Reading said: "Heart disease is one of the UK's biggest killers and mounting evidence suggests that the risk of developing it may be increased during early development, particularly during the gestation period where mothers have a high-fat diet/are obese. The underlying mechanisms by which an unhealthy maternal diet may impact heart disease risk remains largely unknown. "This study used a mouse model of maternal obesity to understand how specialist blood cells known as platelets may be programmed during pregnancy. Platelets are important for blood clotting but are also the cause of heart attacks and strokes if they are activated at the wrong time and place." Children of the mothers fed on a high fat diet who followed a control diet however did not show the same concerning heart disease risks. The offspring from the group given a control diet had very similar levels of fat mass, cholesterol and other markets of cardiovascular health as the children of mothers fed a standard diet. In addition, where mothers had been fed a standard diet and their offspring fed a high fat diet, those children had higher levels of fat mass and other cardiovascular markers, but their platelets were statistically similar to the other groups apart from where both mum and child were fed high fat diet.  Dr. Craig Hughes, lecturer in cardiovascular biology at the University of Reading said: "This study revealed that maternal obesity during pregnancy causes offspring platelets to become hyperactive in response to a high-fat diet in adulthood. These results raise the possibility that the risk of unwanted blood clotting (aka thrombosis) in adulthood could be altered during pregnancy by diet of the mother. "The specific mechanisms for why high fat diets affect male offspring are still being investigated but we can see that there's likely to be a double-hit where both mums and sons diets together were required to see these bigger, more hyperactive platelets."

Episode SummaryCoffee, cheese, chocolate, carbs. We all love to eat, but we don't completely understand how food affects our health and that's what Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian wants to change. A cardiologist by trade and a food scientist by necessity, Dr. Mozaffarian appreciates the complex relationship between food and health and the need to make choices based on individual health needs, not broad guidelines. Put down that diet magazine and get ready to hear the real skinny on nutrition with Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, in this episode of The Sydcast.Syd FinkelsteinSyd Finkelstein is the Steven Roth Professor of Management at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. He holds a Master's degree from the London School of Economics and a Ph.D. from Columbia University. Professor Finkelstein has published 25 books and 90 articles, including the bestsellers Why Smart Executives Fail and Superbosses: How Exceptional Leaders Master the Flow of Talent, which LinkedIn Chairman Reid Hoffman calls the “leadership guide for the Networked Age.” He is also a Fellow of the Academy of Management, a consultant and speaker to leading companies around the world, and a top 25 on the Global Thinkers 50 list of top management gurus. Professor Finkelstein's research and consulting work often relies on in-depth and personal interviews with hundreds of people, an experience that led him to create and host his own podcast, The Sydcast, to uncover and share the stories of all sorts of fascinating people in business, sports, entertainment, politics, academia, and everyday life. Dr. Dariush MozaffarianDariush Mozaffarian is a cardiologist, Dean, and Jean Mayer Professor at the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, and Professor of Medicine at Tufts Medical School. As one of the top nutrition institutions in the world, the Friedman School's mission is to produce trusted science, future leaders, and real-world impact. Dr. Mozaffarian has authored more than 400 scientific publications on dietary priorities for obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases, and on evidence-based policy approaches to reduce these burdens in the US and globally. He has served in numerous advisory roles including for the US and Canadian governments, American Heart Association, World Health Organization, and United Nations. His work has been featured in a wide array of media outlets including the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio, and Time Magazine. In 2016, Thomson Reuters named him as one of the World's Most Influential Scientific Minds. Dr. Mozaffarian received a BS in biological sciences at Stanford (Phi Beta Kappa), MD at Columbia (Alpha Omega Alpha), residency training in internal medicine at Stanford, and fellowship training in cardiovascular medicine at the University of Washington. He also received an MPH from the University of Washington and a Doctorate in Public Health from Harvard. Before being appointed as Dean at Tufts in 2014, Dr. Mozaffarian was at Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health for a decade and clinically active in cardiology at Brigham and Women's Hospital. He is married, has three children, and actively trains as a Third Degree Black Belt in Taekwondo.The Friedman School pursues cutting-edge research, education, and public impact across five Divisions, a cross-divisional Center, and multiple academic programs. Areas of focus range from cell to society, including: molecular nutrition, human metabolism and clinical trials, nutrition data science, behavior change, community and organizational interventions, communication and media, agriculture, food systems, and sustainability, hunger and food security, humanitarian crisis, and food policy and economics. Friedman School graduates are leaders in academia, US and international government, policy, advocacy, industry, public health, community service, and entrepreneurship. The School's unique breadth, engagement with the world, and entrepreneurial spirit make it a leading institution for nutrition education, research, and public impact.Insights from this episode:Details on the two epiphanies that led Dariush, a cardiologist, into the science of food and health.Strategies used to implement dietary guidelines that changed the American diet forever.Difficulties transitioning from the original, single-focus food science into a more complex and broad approach to health.How to characterize the quality of nutrition in your food when different sources provide conflicting information.Differences between the acceptance of nutrition science versus the acceptance of more established sciences.Strategies needed to change the politics, funding, and research of food science to help the population become healthier and less prone to serious medical conditions.How to define a healthy carbohydrate, how they affect your glycemic index, and why that is important to your overall health.The reasons why fat intake was dropped from dietary guidelines in 2015 and why fat continues to be a diet focus.Differences between high- and low-fat dairy and how food science is evolving in that area.How COVID has affected the health and nutrition of millions of Americans. Quotes from the show:“Nutrition science doesn't change or evolve any more or any less than any other science. Every science changes and evolves pretty rapidly.” – Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian“I think that [change] is natural and normal in science. That we have some stuttering and shifts moving toward truth. Science is always improving and, not only is it natural, it should reassure us.” – Dr. Dariush MozaffarianOn the accessibility of food science: “We're in the lab of the kitchen every single day. That's never the case for these other fields [of science].” – Syd Finkelstein“Food and nutrition are the top cause of poor health in this country and on the planet.” – Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian“COVID's really laid bare the fractured food system and unhealthy food system that we have.” – Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian“Most of the fat in your body is from eating too many calories that get converted to fat.” – Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian“The fundamental message is that foods can't be judged based on their calories. Every food is a complex package of physiologic information that comes into our body, and interacts with our body in complex ways.” – Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian”These simple solutions and labels have really brought us into a crazy place where all you look at is calories.” – Syd FinkelsteinResourcesNew York Times article Our Food is Killing Too Many of Us by Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, August 26, 2019Stay Connected: Syd FinkelsteinWebsite: http://thesydcast.comLinkedIn: Sydney FinkelsteinTwitter: @sydfinkelsteinFacebook: The SydcastInstagram: The Sydcast Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian Website: nutrition.tufts.eduTwitter: @DMozaffarianSubscribe to our podcast + download each episode on Stitcher, iTunes, and Spotify.This episode was produced and managed by Podcast Laundry (www.podcastlaundry.com)

In this episode, Rich Lavigne, our Staff Attorney for Special Projects, shares innovaitve hiring tools farmers can utilize to meet their labor challeneges — hint: these tools are business structures! Tune into our conversation about the Innovative Labor Models project in collaboartion with New Entry Sustainable Farming Project, out of Tufts University's Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, to hear about the potential of collaborative hiring models, how they can address labor challenges farmers face AND align with their core values, as well as so much more.   Intro Music: “Easy Lemon” from Royalty Free by Kevin MacLeod. Released: 2012.

The Staying Young Show   Show Topic: Boosting Your Brain Power with Wendy Shuzuki, PHD author of Healthy Brain, Happy Life Co-Hosts: Dr. Gaman, Judy Gaman, Mark Anderson Guests: Wendy Suzuki, PHD  Segment 1   We all want to keep our mental faculties as strong as possible for as long as possible. This entire hour is dedicated to brain health. We have a special guest coming up, Dr. Wendy Sukzuki, a professor of Neural Science and Psychology at New York University. She is also the author of a fabulous book entitled Healthy Brain, Happy Life. Stay tuned all hour as we bring you, loads of great information that you can use. (Connect) Discuss all the reasons brain health is so important. Even for daily decisions, safety, and overall health. Some of the test we do – Montreal Cognitive Assessment, micronutrient testing, etc. (Inspire) You CAN improve your brain health. Besides puzzles and all the things you have heard in the past, our guest coming up is the author or Healthy Brain, Happy Life and she is going to give you things you can do today to exercise different parts of your brain. MUSIC FOR DOC SHOCK  Doc Shock of the day  The number or people drinking sodas has increased over the decades and a new study from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science & Policy of Tufts University in Boston, MA shows that this increased soda drinking is attributing to 184,000 deaths worldwide each year. Everything from heart disease, cancer, and diabetes is linked to sodas. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/296035.php Facebook (Stay Young Media Group), website (Stayyoungamerica.com, and iTunes, call us 844-well 100  Segment 2   – Coming up – today's guest Dr. Wendy Suzuki author or Healthy Brain, Happy Life. Dr. Suzuki is a professor of Neural Science and Psychology at New York University and coming up, she is going to give all of us great ways that we can keep our brain healthy and our mind sharp. ANDERSON - Immortal minute  Start with sponsorship statement below!!!!!!! “This Immortal Minute is brought to you by - Solis mammography – exceptional experience and exceptionally accurate results” Welcome Dr. Wendy Suzuki Discuss Why is this your passion? Why did you write Healthy Brain, Happy Life Can you actually use your brain to make you healthy? Can we increase memory capacity? SHOUT OUT TO MILITARY, Facebook (stay young media group) , download podcasts – coming up - real tips on how you can hack into your brain and make it more powerful. Segment 3 Tease the upcoming Dementia Defender 844-WELL100 Discuss Motor cortex hack Cognitive brain hack Visual cortex hack Audiotory cortex hack Olfactory brain hack   Suzukilab.com – Healthy Brain, Happy Life: A personal Program to Activate Your Brain and Do Everything Better Judy tease DD – grab a pen! 844-well100. Podcasts itunes, stayyoungamerica.com – 45 sec. Coming up Medical Mania Trivia and then at the end of the show - Dementia Defender Riddle of the day – your chance to win a free copy of the book Age to Perfection Segment 4 Judy Announcement tease DD 844-Well100 – 30 sec. MEDICAL TRIVIA - Lee Allen (paranormal investigater) – tell him what he can win Resveratrol from stayyoungvitamins.com and lifeline from stayyoungskin.com 1.) How many pounds is the average human adult brain A. 3 lbs 2.) The beard grows faster than any other human hair. If it was never trimmed, how many feet long could it grow in an average lifetime? A. 30 feet 4.) True or false, the average person sheds 50 lbs of skin over a lifetime? A. FALSE – 105lbs of skin on average 5.) What burns more calories, sleeping or watching television? A. Sleeping 6.) Out of the eyes, ears, and nose? What continues to grow our whole life? A. Eyes never grow, but ears and nose grow until we die Dementia Defender  Judy: tease out Thank you for listening to the Stay Young Radio Show! With all the mixed messages on health, you need information that you can use and that you can trust. Listen in as the experts discuss all topics health related. It's time to STAY YOUNG and stay healthy! Each week we tackle a topic and often with leading scientists, best-selling authors, and even your favorite celebrities! As a listener of our show, your input is important to us. Please take a moment to fill out this quick survey so we can serve you better - https://survey.libsyn.com/stayingyoung2   For more information on The Staying Young Show, please visit our website at www.StayYoungAmerica.com, and subscribe to the show in iTunes, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app.   You can also reach out to our host, Judy Gaman on www.judygaman.com for book purchasing, and speaking opportunities in your area!  

Please join Elizabeth for a special one hour show with guest Jenny Shea. Jennifer Shea MS, MPH, RD is the Retail East Dietitian for SHAW'S on the East Coast. Prior to her current position, Shea served as the Wellness Coach and Registered Dietitian for Shaw's Supermarkets in New England. Shea holds a Bachelor's Degree in psychology from Boston University, a Masters in Nutrition from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University and a Masters in Public Health from Tufts University School of Medicine. Shea is a Registered Dietitian and completed her Dietetic Internship through Simmons College. Shea is an active member of the American Dietetic Association, the Massachusetts Dietetic Association, the Dietitians in Business Communications Practice Group and the Food and Culinary Dietitians Practice Group. In 2009, Shea was awarded the Women of Influence in the Food Industry Award by the Griffin Report of Food Marketing.   Jennifer currently resides in Boston, MA and is a long-time native to New England. http://www.shaws.com/

Please join host Elizabeth Hamilton-Guarino for a special one hour show with Jenny Shea. Jennifer Shea MS, MPH, RD is the Retail East Dietitian for SHAW'S on the East Coast. Prior to her current position, Shea served as the Wellness Coach and Registered Dietitian for Shaw's Supermarkets in New England. Shea holds a Bachelor's Degree in psychology from Boston University, a Masters in Nutrition from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University and a Masters in Public Health from Tufts University School of Medicine. Shea is a Registered Dietitian and completed her Dietetic Internship through Simmons College. Shea is an active member of the American Dietetic Association, the Massachusetts Dietetic Association, the Dietitians in Business Communications Practice Group and the Food and Culinary Dietitians Practice Group. In 2009, Shea was awarded the Women of Influence in the Food Industry Award by the Griffin Report of Food Marketing.

Please join us for a special one hour live show with Jennifer Shea. Jennifer Shea MS, MPH, RD is the Retail East Dietitian for SHAW'S on the East Coast. Prior to her current position, Shea served as the Wellness Coach and Registered Dietitianfor Shaw's Supermarkets in New England. Shea holds a Bachelor's Degree in psychology from Boston University, a Masters in Nutrition from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University and a Masters in Public Health from Tufts University School of Medicine. Shea is a Registered Dietitian and completed her Dietetic Internship through Simmons College. Shea is an active member of the American Dietetic Association, the Massachusetts Dietetic Association, the Dietitians in Business Communications Practice Group and the Food and Culinary Dietitians Practice Group. In 2009, Shea was awarded the Women of Influence in the Food Industry Award by the Griffin Report of Food Marketing. Jennifer currently resides in Boston, MA and is a long-time native to New England. Shea has completed 9 marathons and countless half marathons around the New England area. http://www.shaws.com/