Food Politics

Marion I enjoyed your talk last night at Barnard but had to leave right at the point when the Q&A session was on the topic of whether or not we are over “vitaminized”. In particular someone was asking your opinion on whether or not vegetarians/vegans may be need to supplement. Would you please expand on your position on this topic? Thanks – Ed

Marion -

Were you quoted correctly? I read that you said, “I don’t find anything wrong with GM foods as such.” (paraphrased from memory)…

Please say it ain’t so!

Jeremiah

My copy of WHY CALORIES COUNT has just shipped!

Wheeeeeee! Can’t wait!

Marion: I read your Feb. 5 column in the SF Chronicle about weight loss and type 2 diabetes and have been meaning to write and congratulate you for your very sensible advice. I was an RN, CDE for 15 years and still have a great interest in DM. I was shocked to learn about the ADA not putting more emphasis on weight loss on their website. Clearly the emphasis has shifted from the standard initial therapy of diet and exercise to medication, which should be the last resort. I have to agree that the influence of big Pharma must be the sole factor in this shift. I always look forward to your column – you seem to be the only one who hasn’t sold out and still tells it like it is.

Hi Marion. We just launched a new site, HandPickedNation.com, that’s devoted to real, sustainable food and those who produce it, prepare it and consume it. We feel it may be of interest to your readers. Our founders, indie filmmakers Staci Strauss and Craig McCord, write, “People are returning to a more traditional approach to how they eat, back to how it was before the industrialization of our food system. The time is right to give a voice, a platform to all this energy and passion about good food. We want HPN to be the ‘kitchen table’ of this growing discussion. We want to share the stories we’ve heard and make sure that people who want better and healthier food know where to go.”
Cheers,
HandPickedNation.com

Hi,

I am writing on behalf of the MDPA Conference on Communicating Childhood Obesity Prevention and Policy. The conference is to take place March 20-21 in Silver Spring, MD. I came across your blog while doing research for our bi-weekly newsletter on childhood obesity called MDPA Minute. I think our conference something your audience would be interested in. Would you be interested in receiving some press passes for this event in exchange for helping to promote it to your readers and blogging about it?

Thanks!

Hey, Marion—
We have been in touch in the past, but wanted to alert you to
A–the revised foodmuseum.com, and a feed embedded from your blog we placed on the Home Page. Many thanks for your continuing fine work.
Cheers,
Meredith

Hi Marion,

Hope this finds you well! I wanted to reach out and see if you would be interested in being added to the mailing list for Whole Living magazine. I couldn’t find a direct email, so posting here. Happy to provide more details. Please let me know the best mailing address.

Best,

Lauren

Hi Marion, I found a note worthy article on Bloomberg today that I thought you would like to read. It’s an opinion column linking farming subsidies to the obesity epidemic. I would love to hear your thoughts on it!

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-08/food-bubble-is-expanding-u-s-waistlines-vikram-mansharamani.html

Carly

Re: e-sak in powdered formula. 5 years ago my sister’s baby consumed contaminated formula and is permanently and severely disabled. WHY does the FDA continue to approve this product? Is it because only SOME babies become disabled or die? The executives of Abbott, Nestle, etc. HAVE NO CONSCIENCE to continue selling this product. In her case against the manufacturer, my sister’s lawyers have advised her not to discuss the case with anyone. I am so afraid of being tied to my sister and her case, I am using a pseudonym. PLEASE HELP US!

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/02/05/FD9Q1MUVST.DTL&type=health

You hit the nail on the head that needed and needs to be said so people understand:

THE DRUG COMPANIES ARE $$ MAKERS…..THEY (DOCTORS INCLUDED) WANT YOU ON MEDICATION BECAUSE IT IS A $$ MAKING BUSINESS

In 2003, I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes (it does not run in my family so it was diagnosed after I complained of 8 months of constant fatigue by my doctor)………

She sent me a letter in the mail to “come in and I’ll give you a pill”…………when I received the note I was devastated to know that I had this disease.

So I immediately went online and searched for my answers as well as a natural approach to managing it. I called my doctor to tell her to give me a few months to do something and if it doesn’t work – I’ll come in to get those pills.

In those 2 months I went low carb and lost 20 pounds. At diagnosis my a1c was 7.7. When I returned to her office I took the test again and it was 5.6.

I have from 2003, through diet and exercise kept my blood sugars down avoiding pills etc. There have been times when it has risen but I always managed to get it back down. Also, reading up on this matter, diabetics tend to be deficient in various vitamins (the high blood sugar causes these to be eliminated through urine) so I take various supplements which I KNOW help keep it down also.

Yours is the first article I read where SOMEBODY acknowledges the $$ making drug companies. I believe that most people just go to the doctor and trust them to help them – so the doctors just write the prescriptions………

On occasion, I see a rep from a drug company come in to the doctors office with a large suitcase……and I know they are pandering their drugs – I look around the room and people are oblivious to it……..but I know exactly what is happening.

I am not saying that drugs and the companies that make them are evil – they can be life saving. But in the case of diabetes type 2 – your article says it all. You really need to pass the information around more and let it be heard everywhere.

Greetings Marion,

You’ve addressed the junk food industry friendly positions of the American Dietetic Association (ADA), which we are all very thankful. The ADA unfortunately has been on a very aggressive footing in 2012, attempting to pass legislation in individual states (CA, CO, IN, NJ, NY, WV, VA, HI) that would effectively outlaw the practice of nutrition by anyone EXCEPT a licensed dietitian. The ADA backed bills do this by defining “dietetics” and “nutrition therapy” so broadly that even PhD Nutritionists would have to take ADA licensing exams and the in case of the CO bill, it would allow a newly formed dietetics board (staffed by ADA licensed dietitians) to recommend the state’s Attorney General to seek injunctions against anyone practicing what the board considers “nutrition therapy” See: Page 11 Line 7 Colorado House Bill 1060.

It’s one thing for the ADA to tow the junk food line, it’s particularly egregious to use government to codify that position and force out competition. You shed such helpful light on issues we’re hoping you could speak to the ADA’s recent monopolistic legislative efforts.

Issue covered here; http://www.coloradonewsagency.com/2012/01/26/who-needs-competition-when-the-statell-protect-you-just-ask-the-music-therapists/

and here: http://www.anh-usa.org/american-dietetic-association-speeds-up-its-race-for-monopoly/

Thank you,

Hi, thought you might find this article in the Sydney Morning Herald interesting, especially the Heart Foundation director’s comment.
http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/diet-and-fitness/doctors-split-over-cholesterol-testing-for-children-20120130-1qppo.html

Dear Professor Nestle,

I am wondering your opinion of Organic Virgin Coconut Oil? I have been researching it and most articles I have found say that it has a lot of benefits. I just read a new article today about Coconut Oil helping Alzheimers. I was wondering if I should be worried about the high amounts of saturated fat it it? I eat a plant-based diet, low in fat but I started using Coconut Oil in cooking instead of olive oil. What is your expert opinion about this?

I love all of your books and I read your blog daily. Thank you for all that you do.

Kerry Whitt, High School Health Teacher

Have read the Food & Health Chapter of Vol. 1 of Modernist Cuisine?

Curious about your reaction.

cheers,

-m

PS I borrowed it from the Library (as I’m not in the $600 cookbook habit)

Thought you might enjoy Sh*t Dietitians Say. I snuck you in there.

http://epicureanideal.blogspot.com/2012/01/shit-dietitians-say.html

Marion,
This is Cliff at Salud America!, an RWJF-funded program geared toward Latino childhood obesity research and prevention. We publish a quarterly e-newsletter and would like permission to re-publish your informative post, Looking Ahead: Food Politics in 2012,” that we saw in the Atlantic (http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/01/looking-ahead-2012-food-politics/250766/). Let me know if this is possible. Thanks so much for your great work!

Marian, I’m an organic farming granny running an online petition in Ireland to secure a moratorium on GM-crops. Would you be able to help me with my quest to get a sense of the educational path (rather than career path) of people who work in food safety, including what the Continuing Professional Development trends would focus on. The above as relevant to the US or North America for people who would take up roles with FDA-type organisations would be perfect but if you have other relevant information that would be welcome too. Looking forward to hearing from you. Stella Coffey in Ireland

[...] reader, Thibault H writes: So Harvard University came out with a study that news reporters are saying tells us that those who [...]

Hi Marion, we met at Netroots in Chicago. I am an american living and working in Japan. I have my own catering business and restaurant. I am a progressive and very concerned about food issues. One of my clients is a school- we catering their lunch every day! It is a great job and we are working to do our best for the students.

Do you ever travel to Japan. I would love to arrange a book talk or lecture here for the school communities, and independent food operators here. I know we could host an amazing event. So please keep us in mind when you travel.

Hello, I am an avid reader of your blog, and have a question about the post on dioxins. You mention that the best way to avoid them is to minimize consumption of, among other things, high-fat seafood. I try to eat very healthfully at all times, and often eat wild salmon, as I was under the impression that the fat therein was more beneficial than harmful–should I reconsider this approach? If so, what are the best fish to eat in order to gain the health benefits that seafood can offer while minimizing exposure to these dioxins (and, of course, Mercury, PCBs etc.)?
Thanks for your help,
Howie K

Dear Professor Nestle,

In case you haven’t seen them, McDonald’s is running a series of commercials promoting the wholesomeness of its sandwiches and french fries. There is the grass fed beef rancher from Illinois, and the Hispanic Idaho potato farmer “with a dream.”

Apparently, McDonald’s figures it’s easier and less expensive to dupe the public into believing the immortal fries they sell and the beef patties for Big Macs actually come from small, independent farmers. And that the cows that go into their burgers have never seen the inside of a CAFO.

It’s an outrage that I just thought I’d bring to your attention. Please see the links below.

Sincerely,

Sharon Gibson
gibsonsha@gmail.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sjPnAYwdNI

http://www.youtube.com/user/McDonaldsUS?v=3xxlEkstcwM&feature=pyv&ad=21051286892&kw=McDonald's

Hi Marion! I thought you would like my opinion article that was published in The Hill today. I admire your efforts. I’ve been a compensation consultant for years and recently published I’m Fat, Help Me. (Michina is a pen name; don’t want to offend any obese clients!)

Thanks, Laura Michina

http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/healthcare/204335-congress-must-tackle-obesity-and-costs-to-economy

Hi Marion,
Is there a way to contact you or your staff about an issue you may want to blog about? I’ve looked throughout your site, and don’t see any contact info.

Thanks,
Stephanie

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University of Debrecen
Medical School and Health Science Center

Blog: Scienceroll.com
CV: http://www.linkedin.com/in/bertalanmesko
Twitter.com/Berci

Hello, So glad to see your article on the FDA’s weak response to Louis Slaughter’s work against the use of antibiotics on our factory farmed animals. I quote her in my book, Honest Eating, as saying, “I feel sorry for people that have to eat factory farmed animals.” (page 115)

I have won a life long battle over depression and emotionally driven overeating and share that odyssey with my audience. For fifteen years I’ve been free of both of these debilitating dysfunctions.

You might want to take a look at my blog, it is on my web page. I am currently going over all the reasons Why We Are Fat in America.

Thank you for your good work!