Ric Bayly
@eatinginamerica.co
Epidemiologist, food and nutrition writer, editor of the Substack “Eating in America.”
We all have one food in common: milk, our first meal. If it can happen, #breastmilk is the most perfect food: the ultimate #personalizednutrition plus joy + love. Of course, no breast for me and I’m OK! We got milk + real science at EatingInAmerica.co. Eg, the best hydration: milk, water, Powerade?
I like Schmidt's strong takes on the need to help people shift self-blame for excess unhealthy weight (#obesity) from themselves to the real culprits, Big Food. See both articles about #ultraprocessed food #addiction: doi.org/10.1111/add.... and issues.org/ozempic-era-...
The Ozempic Era Could Shift Blame for Obesity From Individuals to Commercial Food Systems
A new class of medications that people are taking to control their weight could help change how we think about obesity.
issues.org
USAID saved lives, elevated the US. No more. Doing #usaid funded research on child growth stunting due to a food mold toxin in Mozambique in 2018, found this local version of the old 1992 US #foodpyramid. US credibility in #nutrition hurt in 2025. The 2025 Pyramid won’t go far. > eatinginamerica.co.
If esteemed nutrition guru Marion Nestle can cite South Park on the topic of RFK Jr.'s upside down food pyramid, by golly so can I, darn it. A hoot and amazingly prophetic in the context of the new Dietary Guidelines for Americans: southpark.cc.com/video-clips/...
Flip the Pyramid - South Park | South Park Studios US
In the midst of the gluten crisis, Cartman calls the USDA with a crucial piece of information.
southpark.cc.com
The corks are popping at the alcohol lobby with the 2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans’ removal of drink limits and any mention of how cancer is strongly linked to alcohol. Big win in a tawdry process. See www.eatinginamerica.co/p/the-food-p....
The 2025 #dietaryguidelines are finally here. It took time to write a new pseudo-scientific report to replace the one that didn’t match the conclusions #rfk wanted. Even preordained science takes time. Great progress on sugar and #ultraprocessed food but bad news elsewhere. See eatinginamerica.co.
PEZ is a dye-hard: A year away from the FDA's Red Dye #3 ban in food, as Eating in America (www.eatinginamerica.co/p/die-hard-a...) has reported, and Mickey Mouse is still spitting out the candy with the carcinogenic color. Why did Walt Disney permit this? PEZ targets children.
Food “expiration” dates – so confusing. Eating In America tells you what they mean and how to cut #foodwaste. In the future in CA just 2 labels: “Best if used by,” a rough guide to freshness, and “Use by,” about a spoilage timeframe. Neither label is about safety. More at EatingInAmerica.co.
Covid came and Americans cut their home #foodwaste in half – from 200 lbs to 100 lbs - for a year, proving we can do a lot to cut our $62 per week of food waste for a family of 4. More on how you can make sense of food “expiration” dates to save money and the environment at EatingInAmerica.co.
RFK, Jr. & USDA Secretary Rollins may present the 2025 U.S. #DietaryGuidelines Wednesday. No matter tomorrow, it’s time for a Guidelines reboot and to address #ultraprocessed food in the 2030 Guidelines Scientific Advisory Committee, which will be named within 2 years by the Trump administration.
Never more scared by my research than while writing “The macro problem of microplastics.” Scared? DuPont knew Teflon and its PFAS was a health risk in the 1940s but hid it. Now PFAS and #microplastics are everywhere. Breathed, ate, and drank - today: eatinginamerica.substack.com/p/the-macro-....
The macro problem of microplastics.
What are they, where do they come from, why does it matter, what does RFK, Jr. say (of course), and how bad is it?
eatinginamerica.substack.com
Trump sabotages the work of the #CDC, but the CDC's ongoing survey - #NHANES - of our health and nutrition is critical to our well-being: eatinginamerica.substack.com/p/the-feds-g.... Bye, bye Miss American Pie? CDC data revealed that 1/3 of Americans on a given day eat #fastfood.
The Feds Giveth, and the Feds Taketh Away
The status of statistics for health and nutrition at the CDC
eatinginamerica.substack.com
My thanks this Thanksgiving were for #TrueScience, #PublicHealth people, and the #HealthyFood we could serve. And thank you. PS - And for the very fine wine someone brought. So good that when decanted to a mason jar because of a broken cork, people who didn't know, still thought it was excellent!
From Lancet rollout of #ultraprocessedfood papers, Dr. Matilde Louvier: "...we look at the core classic signs of #addiction, loss of control, intense cravings... in children, over 1 out of 10 are showing the full clinical sign of addiction, but to these highly rewarding ultra-processed foods." Thks!
Today Lancet rolled out 3 papers on ultraprocessed food. Journal Editor Richard Horton: "...our food systems have been infiltrated, distorted, disrupted, and deformed by transnational corporations that have prioritized profit over health, market share over the environment." Yes!
Trump has a GLP-1 deal and use will be expanded. It looks to be a win for health in America, but Zepbound and Wegovy cannot be the long term solution to the obesity epidemic. That can only come through curing our sick food environment. Read or listen to eatinginamerica.substack.com/p/trumps-glp...!
Trump’s GLP-1 price deal is great, but here's how to really fix obesity
And, Oh Dr. Oz! Are Americans going to evaporate? Do the math!
eatinginamerica.substack.com
1/ Today, the president announced he’s withholding funds for SNAP until the shutdown ends—not because the money isn’t there, but to use people’s empty stomachs as leverage.
#PEZ (for kids!) was the only food I found w/ Red Dye No. 3: on the U.S. banned list. #Obama was the last President honored with his likeness on a PEZ dispenser. Wait until Trump finds out! “Forget the Nobel Peace Prize! Make sure I’m on a PEZ dispenser!” eatinginamerica.substack.com/p/die-hard-a...
Die-hard dyes, PEZ, and you think caramel color is sweet and innocent?
Also, PEZ welcomes you to the Era of the Ultraprocessed, and will Trump get the honor he so richly deserves?
eatinginamerica.substack.com
Caramel coloring is by far the biggest #ArtificialDye by volume. Made with sugar + ammonium, possibly carcinogenic in humans per a 2007 federal toxicology analysis, WHO, and California, but not on #RFKjr hit list. It is huge in Coke, Pepsi, other colas. eatinginamerica.substack.com/p/die-hard-a...
RFK setting the U.S. #DietaryGuidelines? Uh, dead brain worm, likely eaten; recs raw milk, red meat, #saturatedfat for health; eats “a ton of vitamins”, no unprocessed fruits or veggies; ate so much tuna & perch his blood had 10x mercury limit and caused memory loss. EatingInAmerica.substack.com.
#MAHA helped Trump with RFK, Jr., voters, and influencers. But MAHA has been rebuffed in most goals by #BigFood, America’s biggest lobby, and agricultural interests, as I have reported in EatingInAmerica.substack.com. The TheGuardian.com has a great exposé of how Big Food is controlling food policy.
The new California ultraprocessed food law is a good step forward. It defines UPF while Trump and RFK, Jr. are delaying UPF action. UC scientists have 3 years to name UPFs to be banned from school food. More on this solid plan at eatinginamerica.substack.com/p/the-new-california-ultraprocessed.
The new California ultraprocessed school lunch law
If California can define ultraprocessed food, why can’t RFK, Jr.?
eatinginamerica.substack.com
Also, SNAP and school lunch cuts will hurt many farmers. With consumer unhappiness a threat, Trump is trying to increase hires of migrant farm workers with work visas in order to keep farm production up and prices from zooming. And farmers will be happy if they can hire more lower-wage migrants.
There is Trump-typical chaos in this, as Trump tries to adjust. Farmers have been buffeted by tariff winds and fleeing migrant workers, as reported in EatingInAmerica.substack.com. Big commodity producers are getting most of Trump’s increases in subsidies this year, while produce farmers struggle.
American farm workers just got slapped. The USDA has killed the Farm Labor Survey, delighting farm operators. This week EatingInAmerica.substack.com discusses how the FLS set farm wages high enough to protect Americans from being replaced by migrant workers accepting less pay.
RFK Jr. says seed oils like canola and soy are “poisoning” Americans and driving obesity. He says we should cook with meat fat instead. The science says otherwise to all this. The real issue is the ultraprocessed food the oils are found in, not the oil itself. What do you think?
