Was fun to be interviewed about this exciting new study showing the link between increased heat and more soda consumption. Just weeks ago a food industry rep yelled at me at ICN for pointing out aggressive soda and ice cream marketing during heatwaves. Mic drop! www.npr.org/2025/09/10/n...

You're more likely to reach for that soda when it's hot outside

People drink more sugary beverages when it's hot, researchers found, significantly increasing their sugar intake. That impact could grow as climate change raises the world's temperatures.

npr.org

Prediction: in five years, UNC will have transitioned from research powerhouse to glorified stadium. Or at this rate, maybe by next year.

Among many other much more serious grievances, the writer in me is pissed off to have to replace the word "diverse" with "sociodemographically heterogeneous" in my grant proposals.

A couple months ago I posted a joke about resetting passwords that turned into a humor piece that was published in McSweeney's today! I hope my kids take this profound lesson to heart.

On My Deathbed, I Have Just One Regret: Not Spending More Time Resetting Passwords

Come closer, grandchild. Thanks for visiting me one last time before I die. I’ve lived a great life. I climbed Mt. Everest, founded a Fortune 500 c...

mcsweeneys.net

Great news out of Norway! #MAHA would do well to follow suit. Much like tobacco, we should not be advertising junk food to children.

Norway bans marketing of unhealthy food and drinks to children

A regulation that prohibits the marketing of unhealthy food and drinks that is particularly aimed at children has today entered into force.

regjeringen.no

Some of MAHA's concerns -- like avoiding ultra-processed foods -- are backed up by mainstream science. Others, like a focus on food dyes, are less so. “If you ask me what would be the one thing that we need to do ... removing food dyes would be way down on the list." @lindseytaillie.bsky.social

“You win more bees with honey than fire,” Dr. Makary said, adding “I believe in love, and let’s start in a friendly way and see if we can do this without any statutory or regulatory changes.” Decades of research show that this approach fails every single time.

Tell me you're a millennial without telling me you're a millennial. I'll go first: I marched into my hairstylists' yesterday and requested the Carrie Coon cut from White Lotus.

Our new commentary out in Lancet: The promises & pitfalls of MAHA. Of course, in the short time since we wrote this, much has changed. Most alarming is @kevinh-phd.bsky.social's early retirement from the NIH due over censorship of results that don't align with the MAHA message.

The promise and pitfalls of “Make America Healthy Again”

The “Make America Healthy Again Movement” (MAHA) is arguably the largest, most energised movement to date to address the USA's twin epidemics of obesity and type 2 diabetes. Although MAHA does not foc...

thelancet.com

Every parent is so relieved when they’re finally done with paying for daycare. What they don’t realize is as your kids age, there’s something looming on the horizon, something that will drain your bank account even faster than a play-based French-themed nursery school: Athleisure.

I'm a little scared to post this, but I'm finally ready to talk about my big breakup. It's hard to say goodbye to your partner of multiple decades, but I did it and have lived to tell the tale. Get your tissues ready. It's a love story more tragic than Bennifer's.

My Big Breakup

More tragic than Bennifer

open.substack.com

Me and my MPI going to project meetings these days.

In a sample of 1,226 school food authorities across 8 states, only 17% of schools reported serving scratch or modified scratch cooked foods (i.e., minimally processed) daily. Learn more in a new research brief: bit.ly/3DIZmnG

Today I did the bravest thing I've ever done. I canceled my Amazon Prime subscription. If you need me, you can find me in my bedroom, where I'll be playing Bon Jovi's "Always" on repeat while stroking my final cardboard box full of shit I could have bought at Walgreens.

The media coverage associated with March Madness basketball is a great opportunity for universities to explain the importance of academic freedom and diversity of students, faculty, employees and thought.

Writing a grant in normal times is an act of optimism. You develop your plans, get genuinely excited about the value your science will bring the world, and convince other folks to join you. The odds are low, but you feel hopeful. Writing a grant during current times feels like an act of insanity.

"In effect, American farmers have put a lot more of their eggs in a relatively small number of baskets." ^ epic burn www.npr.org/2025/03/18/n...

This is why Canada has plenty of eggs — and the U.S. doesn't

While the U.S. grapples with an egg shortage caused by avian flu, eggs remain plentiful and affordable in Canada. There are reasons for that, including that egg farms there tend to be smaller.

npr.org

My inbox is half emails from me attempting to remind myself of something I need to do, but they're totally undecipherable. "FOOD DYES" "EDGE PRODUCTS" "LEAVE COUNTRY" Hm, I guess that last one's a little clearer.

"As in psychological warfare — where destabilization is sought through confusion, fear, and mistrust — our current climate of chaos and apprehension has gripped researchers, federal workers, and Americans who rely on the government." minnesotareformer.com/2025/03/13/i...

If we don’t act now, we risk losing the institutions that keep our society open, informed and free • Minnesota Reformer

History shows us the dangers of suppressing opposing views.

minnesotareformer.com

Let's say it louder for the folks in the back: French fries aren't healthy no matter what they're fried in. (Also, seed oils are FINE.)

Are beef tallow fries any healthier? These nutritionists say don't kid yourself

In a recent appearance on Fox News, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ate French fries cooked in beef tallow and mused that 'food is medicine.' Nutrition scientists are scratching their heads.

npr.org

New report shows that NIH grants fueled $95 billion in economic activity and 407,782 jobs in 2024. That's not to mention the countless lives that biomedical research has saved. Show me a better investment than that. www.forbes.com/sites/michae...

NIH Grants Fueled $95 Billion In FY 2024 Economic Activity, Finds New Report

National Institutes of Health grants generated almost $95 billion in economic activity nationwide in FY 2024 according to a new report by United for Medical Research.

forbes.com

If you want to get ultraprocessed foods out of schools, which RJK Jr. and many other Republican legislators have claimed to want to do, this is the OPPOSITE approach the government should take: www.politico.com/news/2025/03...

USDA cancels $1B in local food purchasing for schools, food banks

States have been notified that they will not receive 2025 funding for schools to buy food from nearby farms.

politico.com

I really wish media outlets would stop parroting the Trump line about rooting out "fraud, waste, and abuse" because we all know that's code for any program the groypers don't like. It's similar to how DEI has been used to eupehmize racism and resegregation.

New article in Nature Food: how the food industry exploits our biology for profit.

Global Food Research Program at UNC-Chapel Hill@gfrp-unc.bsky.social · last yr.

Comment by Barry Popkin, @shuwenng.bsky.social, & @lindseytaillie.bsky.social in @naturefood.bsky.social on how ultra-processed products exploit our biology & lead to increased disease + environmental harm, accelerating most rapidly in low- and middle-income countries. www.nature.com/articles/s43...

Comment by Barry Popkin, @shuwenng.bsky.social, & @lindseytaillie.bsky.social in @naturefood.bsky.social on how ultra-processed products exploit our biology & lead to increased disease + environmental harm, accelerating most rapidly in low- and middle-income countries. www.nature.com/articles/s43...

The mismatch between biological needs and the modern food industry - Nature Food

The food industry has created ultra-processed food-like products that disrupt nature’s biological matrix and exploit our innate preferences for sugar, salt and fat — with the goal of encouraging overc...

nature.com

Per senior USAID official, Trump Adm actions likely to cause * up to 18m additional cases of malaria; 166k additional deaths * 200k children paralyzed with polio * 1m children not treated for malnutrition * 28k new cases of infectious disease www.nytimes.com/2025/03/02/h...

U.S.A.I.D. Memos Detail Human Costs of Cuts to Foreign Aid

The world is likely to see millions more malaria infections and 200,000 cases of paralytic polio each year, according to an agency whistle-blower.

nytimes.com

The food industry starts kids on the ultraprocessed food pipeline from infancy. It starts with toddler melts, snacks, flavored yogurts and flavored drinks and then escalates into the full array of junk food marketed straight to kids.

Global Food Research Program at UNC-Chapel Hill@gfrp-unc.bsky.social · last yr.

How did ultra-processed foods capture the baby and toddler market? @lindseytaillie.bsky.social quoted in @statnews.com on sugar-laden toddler milks, snack foods, issues of food prep time and affordability, and policy solutions: click.mc.unc.edu?qs=1300c1912...

I'm in Bangladesh this week. At first, I was happy to have a break from everything happening at home. But my time here has been filled with stories about how USAID has improved health, malnutrition, and climate disaster management. Thinking about its loss is gutting. I am grieving for global health.

For those who don't yet know, the 5calls app is so quick and easy. It gives phone #s and scripts. I used it this morning to call both my senators and my House rep and urge them to protect NSF and NIH. It took a total of 5 minutes and was as simple as clicking a button. Call your reps today!