I wondered what this headline from FoodNavigator-Europe meant:

Nutritional dark matter: The next frontier in food science: The discovery of ‘nutritional dark matter’ is unlocking new paths for smarter food innovation, targeted health benefits, and precision nutrition… Read more

I went right to it:

What is Nutritional Dark Matter? A summary of key insights

• Nutritional databases track only 150 of 26,000+ food compounds
• Most food chemicals remain unstudied but may impact human health
• Poor nutrition causes one in five adult deaths worldwide
• Foodomics links diet to genes, microbes, and disease mechanisms
• Industry must adapt to new science shaping future food innovation

As for foodomics, this term “brings together genomics (the role of genes), proteomics (proteins), metabolomics (cell activity) ad nutrigenomics (the interaction of genes and diet.”

Translation

• “Dark matter” refers to the chemicals in food that have not (yet?) been identified as essential to the human diet but might have physiological functions.
• “Foodomics” explains how all that might work.

Bottom line: While waiting for the scientists to investigate “dark matter,” the implications of the concept for dietary advice are obvious: Eat whole foods, processed as minimally as possible.

But we already knew that.

I’m indebted to Consumer Lab for its testing and discussion of Protein, Energy, and Nut Bars.  

Full disclosure: I don’t like these products much.  I don’t like their soft texture or off flavors.  The Environmental Working Group doesn’t much like them either, mainly because they are ultra-processed, contain artificial sweeteners, and are highly caloric.

Consumer Lab’s tests found some of these bars to contain more fat, carbs, and/or sugar alcohols than listed on their labels.  The test results are in CL’s Nutrition Bars Review of bars from Aloha, Barebells, Clif Bar, David, GoMacro, IQ Bar, Kind, Kirkland, Larabar, Perfect Bar, Pure Protein, RxBar, and Quest.

CL is particularly concerned about the sugar alcohols commonly used in high-protein bars.

The distributor of one of the David bars deemed by CL as not approved (nearly five times as much fat as on the label and, therefore, more calories) argued that CL had used the wrong testing method.

At issue is the number of calories provided by the ingredient, esterified propoxylated glycerol (EPG), a poorly digested fat substitute.  CL thought it should be labeled and its calories counted.  The distributor disagreed.

CL says “EPG is a way to add fat to a protein bar (making it less dry), while hiding most of this fat and possible calories from the label.  But we think this is dishonest to consumers….”  It then goes on to discuss the potential binding of EPG to fat-soluble vitamins and causing oily urine and stools.  It wants amounts of EPG disclosed on labels.

Comment: The FDA says EPG is GRAS.  While the arguments about its calories continue, my bottom line is simple.  EPG is a marker of ultra-processing.  I would just as soon avoid it.

California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, has just signed the bill, “Pupil nutrition: restricted school foods and ultraprocessed foods of concern: prohibition.”

This bill prohibits ultra-processed foods in federally funded school meals (K-12, breakfast and lunch), as well as competitive foods sold as snacks.

This means that

From the midnight before to 30 minutes after the end of the official schoolday, at each school, the only competitive foods that may be sold to a pupil are fruit, vegetable, dairy, protein, or whole grain rich food items; foods with a fruit, vegetable, dairy, protein, or whole grain item as its first ingredient; or combination foods containing at least one-quarter cup of fruit or vegetable.

These foods must also meet the following standards:

Press reports

• Press release: Gov. Newsom signs first-in-the-nation law to ban ultraprocessed foods from school lunches
• NBC News: California becomes the first state to phase ultraprocessed food out of school meals
• CNN: California enacts nation’s first law to define and ban ultraprocessed foods
• AP News: New California laws requires schools to phase out ultraprocessed foods

My collection of studies funded by the nut industry is growing, so here are a bunch all at once.

Almonds: Almond Consumption Modestly Improves Pain Ratings, Muscle Force Production, and Biochemical Markers of Muscle Damage Following Downhill Running in Mildly Overweight, Middle-Aged Adults: A Randomized, Crossover Trial. Current Developments in Nutrition, Volume 8, Issue 9, 104432

• Conclusion: This study demonstrates that 2.0 oz/d of almonds modestly reduces pain, better maintains muscle strength, and reduces the CK response to eccentric-based exercise.
• Funding: This study was supported by the Almond Board of California

Peanuts: Peanut Polyphenols Are Bioaccessible and Inhibit Proliferation of Cultured Jurkat Leukemia Cells.  Current Developments in Nutrition, Volume 8, Supplement 2, July 2024, 102631

• Conclusions: Polyphenol-rich PSE inhibits the growth and proliferation of Jurkat cells [a cell line derived from leukemia T-cells].
• Funding: The Peanut Institute.

Pecans: Pecan Intake Improves Lipoprotein Particle Concentrations Compared with Usual Intake in Adults at Increased Risk of Cardiometabolic Diseases: A Randomized Controlled Trial.  The Journal of Nutrition, Volume 155, Issue 5, 1459 – 1465

• Conclusion: Incorporating 57 g/d of pecans into the diet in place of usual snacks for 12 wk improved apoB, atherogenic lipoprotein subfractions, and the LP-IR in adults at risk of cardiometabolic diseases.
• Funding: This study was funded by the American Pecan Council.

Pistachios: Nighttime Pistachio Consumption Alters Stool Microbiota Diversity and Taxa Abundance Compared with Education to Consume 1–2 Carbohydrate Exchanges (15–30 grams) over 12 Weeks in Adults with Prediabetes: A Secondary Analysis from a Randomized Crossover Trial.  Current Developments in Nutrition.  Volume 9, Issue 7107481July 2025 [Thanks to Martin Camhi for this one]

Comment: If one nut producer does this, they all have to.  This is about market competition.  The idea is to convince you that nuts are superfoods performing health miracles and to eat more nuts.  These studies must be interpreted as marketing efforts.

Nuts are indeed healthy, but highly caloric—best eaten in small handfuls.  

If such studies should convince you of anything, it’s to eat the nuts you like.  They all can be shown to have health benefits.

The UNICEF report: Feeding Profit: How food environments are failing children.

The UNICEF press release: Obesity exceeds underweight for the first time among school-age children and adolescents globally – UNICEF: One in 10 children worldwide living with obesity. Exposure to the marketing of ultra-processed foods found to be widespread.

the prevalence of underweight among children aged 5-19 has declined since 2000, from nearly 13 per cent to 9.2 per cent, while obesity rates have increased from 3 per cent to 9.4 per cent. Obesity now exceeds underweight in all regions of the world, except sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia….According to the latest available data, 1 in 5 children and adolescents aged 5-19 globally – or 391 million – are overweight, with a large proportion of them now classified as living with obesity.

One of the report’s major findings: “Globally, obesity has overtaken underweight as the more dominant form of malnutrition among school-age children and adolescents.”

Why?

• Ultraprocessed foods aimed at children
• Marketing of such foods to children
• Unethical practices of companies making ultraprocessed foods
• Inadquate legal measures and policies to stop such marketing

What to do?  Basically, oppose the practices, and institute measures and policies.

The report is beautifully documented and lays out the issues clearly and forcefully.  It’s well worth reading.  And taking action!

The National Food Museum, is a project of Michael Jacobson, former founder and director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest (I’m on its Advisory Council).  It is currently still virtual, but provides all kinds of resources, short videos among them.

The Museum organizes them into several categories.  I took a look at the category of “kids (and others).”  Three examples, from among many:

• “We like Peanut Butter,” silly song with Dr. Jean
• Cookie Monster
• Giuseppe Arcimboldo for kids!

This is a large collection of such things.  Enjoy!

The FDA is starting the regulatory process to close the GRAS Loophole.

This proposed rule, if finalized, would amend the Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) regulations in 21 CFR [Code of Federal Regulations] parts 170 and 570 to require the mandatory submission of GRAS notices for the use of human and animal food substances that are purported to be GRAS.

What?  You mean manufacturers are not already required to tell the FDA when they are putting new additives into foods?

No, they are not.  Hence, the “GRAS Loophole.”  Food manufacturers have been allowed to decide for themselves whether a new additive is safe and also to decide whether to inform the FDA about it.

Closing the loophole is a long-standing goal of food advocates.  Even I got into this one.

In 2013, I wrote a short editorial about the history and significance of GRAS determinations: Nestle M. Conflict of interest in the regulation of food safety: a threat to scientific integrity. JAMA Internal Medicine. 2013;173(22):2036-8. 

Here’s the FDA’s version of this history.

And Food Dive explains: FDA takes first step toward closing GRAS ingredient ‘loophole’

Dive Brief:

• The FDA proposed a rule that companies provide health data and other documentation when declaring a new food ingredient or additive is safe, a step toward eliminating a voluntary approval process decried by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
• The rule would require companies to submit mandatory notices when declaring an ingredient is Generally Recognized as Safe, or GRAS. Currently, notices are voluntary, though strongly encouraged by the FDA.
• The proposal is included among a list of upcoming regulatory priorities by the Trump administration. In March, Kennedy directed the FDA to explore rulemaking to eliminate companies’ ability to self-affirm that an ingredient is safe.

If the FDA can pull this off, it will indeed be a MAHA Win.

I hope it can, given how many FDA employees are no longer with the agency (~3,500 according to reports).

The EAT-Lancet Commission has released its updated report on “healthy, sustainable, and just food systems.”

Let me point out immediately that the report was written by a great many authors (I could not easily count them), is 76 pages long, and is pretty much impenetrable without a lot of hard work.

As it did in its first report in 2019, the Commission’s report defines a Planetary Health Diet (PHD), which

represents a dietary pattern that supports optimal health outcomes and can be applied globally for different populations and different contexts, while also supporting cultural and regional variation…The PHD is based entirely on the direct effects of different diets on human health, not on environmental criteria….[It] emphasises a balanced dietary pattern that is predominantly plant-based, with moderate inclusion of animal-sourced foods and minimal consumption of added sugars, saturated fats, and salt.

The report offers “eight solutions and 23 actions to enable food systems transformation, which can be organised into coherent bundles of interventions that simultaneously advance health, environmental, and justice goals.”

the exercise of corporate power in ways that undermine public interests. The high degree of corporate concentration across food systems remains an intractable governance issue, which is partly due to the vast influence of large transnational food and beverage companies with considerable power.

Vox was kind enough to produce this explanatory chart.CNN quotes author Walter Willett:

“A diet good for both people and the planet focuses on fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes and whole grains — a moderate amount of meat and dairy — and very little added sugar, saturated fat and salt…When it comes to meat and dairy, think one plus one, Willett said — one daily serving of dairy, such as milk or yogurt, along with one daily serving of an animal protein such as fish, poultry, eggs or meat. Red meat (beef, lamb and pork) should be limited to a 4-ounce serving only once a week, however, due to its impact on overall health.

The Guardian: ‘Planetary health diet’ could save 40,000 deaths a day, landmark report finds

The diet – which allows moderate meat consumption – and related measures would also slash the food-related emissions driving global heating by half by 2050. Today, a third of greenhouse gas emissions come from the global food system and taming the climate crisis is impossible without changing how the world eats, the researchers said. Food production is also the biggest cause of the destruction of wildlife and forests and the pollution of water.

AP News:

About 15 million deaths could be avoided each year and agricultural emissions could drop by 15% if people worldwide shift to healthier, predominantly plant-based diets, according to the EAT-Lancet Commission, which brought together scientists worldwide to review the latest data on food’s role in human health, climate change, biodiversity and people’s working and living conditions.

Comment: The recommended diet for health—and also the planet and food justice—is extremely low in meat by U.S. standards.  It also directly opposes the MAHA movement’s emphasis on meat, beef tallow, and full-fat dairy, and its disapproval of seed oils and plant-based diets (these, according to the Secretaries of USDA and HHS, reflect “left-wing ideology”).