Information about the Aspen Ideas Festival is here. I am scheduled for a session, The American Wellness Paradox, currently scheduled from 11:00-11:50 a.m., at the East Lawn Tent. This will be a discussion with senior HHS policy advisor, Calley Means. Here’s the blurb on it: “Americans are spending more than ever on healthcare, supplements, wellness trends, and “clean eating,” yet rates of chronic disease and metabolic illness continue to climb. As skepticism fuels the rise of movements like MAHA, debates over what Americans should eat have become deeply cultural, political, and economic. Two influential voices with sharply different perspectives on nutrition and food science explore how food systems, farming practices, consumer culture, and the wellness industry collided to create one of the defining public health debates of our time.”
Food marketing ploy of the week: PepsiCo
My colleague, former doctoral student, and frequent correspondent, Dr. Lisa Young, sent me this choice item:
Now why would PepsiCo be interested in putting money into a conference on fermented foods?
Lisa has the answer to that one too: the company just bought a company that makes fermented beverages.
PepsiCo, Inc. (NYSE: PEP) announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire KeVita, a leading North American creator of fermented probiotic and kombucha beverages. The transaction will expand PepsiCo’s health and wellness offerings in the premium chilled beverage space.
I’ll bet speakers at that conference talked a lot about the purported health benefits of drinks like these. And I’ll also be willing to bet that they did not talk about studies that show no benefit.
Just a wild guess.
