I was unfamiliar with the Leanwashing Index, but am delighted to learn about it. EnviroMedia launched it in 2012 to discourage advertisers from using absurdities to push products.
EnviroMedia explains the inspiration for the Index: the appearance of the word “Superfood” on Lake Superior State University’s 38th annual List of Words to be Banished.
The New York Times Magazine has a long article this week about Plumpy’nut, the peanut butter-based product designed to feed malnourished kids in emergency situations. The product is made and patented by Nutriset, a French company.
You might think that a food product aimed at saving the lives of starving kids would be uncontroversial, but not when patents are involved. Nutriset holds intellectual property rights to this product and defends them to the hilt. The company extends its patent to line extensions of the product, as well.
Patents mean that people in developing countries who want to produce their own product based on local ingredients can’t do it. It also means that anyone making the product has to follow the formula, even if ingredients are expensive and not locally available.
The study itself is published in Maternal and Child Nutrition and the authors make the point that people administering this RUTF do not need to be medically trained so this therapy can be used at home. I’m always amazed when researchers discover that feeding malnourished children helps them to recover. Peanut butter is highly concentrated in calories and the investigators mixed in some vitamins along with it, so I guess it can be considered a superfood.
Since then, much has been written about the controversy over this product, particularly about its formula, cost, and sustainability.
UNICEF pays US$60 to purchase and ship a box of 150 packets from the main producer and patent holder of Plumpy’nut, Nutriset, in France. It costs $65 in Niger. The difference adds up to an extra $15,000 for the 3,000 boxes purchased in Niamey every week.
“The luxury of having no production delays and not fully depending on an external provider is a price we are willing to pay,” UNICEF’s nutrition manager, Eric-Alain Ategbo, told IRIN. Ategbo said it took at least eight weeks for the nutritious peanut butter-like paste to arrive from France.
Here are some other cost concerns:
Electricity is expensive, taxes are high and money is expensive as interest rates are high. It would be cheaper if the products we use were bought locally, but they are not available. Peanuts are the only ingredient from Niger. Others, such as milk, sugar and oil, are purchased internationally. We also have the obligation to buy specific products [such as micronutrients and packaging] from Nutriset in order to respect the formula.
As for its sustainability:
Who is going to pay for these products? And for how long?
Does it make sense to promote a peanut-based product in countries that do not grow peanuts?
Is it a good idea to give packaged, sweetened products to kids whose families cannot continue to provide such things once the crisis is over?
Is it a good idea to give kids the idea that sweet things in packages are what they supposed to eat?
Will products like this pave the way for other sweetened products in packages—soft drinks, for example?
These are all complicated issues. Read the article and ponder.
This page is somewhat disorganized in that I now put occasional print, audio, and video interviews, which used to be separated, together by year. The section at the very end is called Controversies; it is where I post letters from critics. Scroll down to find whatever you are looking for. Media interviews and reviews for specific books are on the pages for that book. For old podcasts and videos of presentations, look under Appearances and scroll down for Past Appearances; in recent years, I’ve been putting them in the chronological list here.
Interviews, media appearances, and lectures (the ones for which I have links)
Jan 17 Podcast interview with Kathlyn Carney, Connecting the Dots. Lisen on Spotify or Apple Podcast
Jan 16 LA Times guide to Japanese subscription snack boxes (Video Part I). Part II is Jan 23 (same clip?)
Jan 14 The Franklin Institute’s Ben Franklin Birthday celebration. My talk comes first. Others are from Eric Oberhalter and honoree Wendell Berry. Use passcode $H81iALu
Jan 15 Two short answers to questions at FAO’s Regional Office in Santiago, Chile. Video 1: on what governments can do about childhood obesity. Video 2: on food choices in an unhealthy food environment.
July 5 Goldberg R. Food Citizenship: Food System Advocates in an Era of Distrust. Oxford University Press. Chapter 1. Health and Nutrition: Interview with Marion Nestle:1-13. Video online
July Carter J. Interview with Marion Nestle. In: Food for Thought: Feeding the People, Protecting the Planet. Aspenia [Aspen Institute Italia] 2015;67:101-105.
July Carter J. Intervista a Marion Nestle. Come cambiano le politiche alimentary. In: Fame Zero: Rinascimento agricolo. Aspenia [Revista di Aspen Institute Italia] 2015;69:198-202.
January 10 Video interview on Star Talk, co-hosts Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Eugene Mirman, with Anthony Bourdain, about the science of cooking (sort of).
May 21 Print interview with Revital Federbush for an Israeli women’s magazine, mostly about dairy foods I’m told (it’s in Hebrew, which I cannot read, alas).
November 19 Interview with Al Jazeera for a Fault Line program on “Fast food, fat profits: obesity in America (my 10 seconds starts at about minute 15).
September 16 Speech at Columbia University conference on Global Food Systems: Their Impact on Nutrition and Health for All on panel on Advanced Technologies, Food Safety and the Role of Local and Organic Food Production (video)
November 12 Panel discussion on the farm bill, Wagner School of Public Service, Puck Building (Lafayette at Houston), 2nd floor. Here is Wild Green Yonder’s take on it.
February 6, 2008 Biologique Foods radio, two podcast interviews with TJ Harrington in Bloomington, MN, one on food politics and the other on what’s in your food.
Interview with Laura Flinders (and Arun Gupta and Peter Hoffman), Grit TV. It’s on how to eat well without going broke, and starts with a Monty Python clip on Spam 11/26/08
September 5, 2007 Scientific American Podcast with Steve Mirsky. Because I am a Paulette Goddard professor at NYU, he sends along an article he wrote about Einstein’s experience with the gorgeous movie star.
NPR Science Friday, panel on the farm bill with Michael Pollan and Sandor Ellix Katz 8/10/07
Are you responsible for your own weight? Balko R. Pro: Absolutely. Government has no business interfering with what you eat. Brownell K, Nestle M. Con: Not if Blaming the Victim Is Just an Excuse to Let Industry off the Hook. Time June 7, 2004:113.
2022: Nestle M. SLOW COOKED: AN UNEXPECTED LIFE IN FOOD POLITICS. University of California Press.
2020: Nestle M, Trueman K. LET’S ASK MARION: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE POLITICS OF FOOD, NUTRITION, AND HEALTH, University of California Press.
2018: Nestle M. UNSAVORY TRUTH: HOW FOOD COMPANIES SKEW THE SCIENCE OF WHAT WE EAT, Basic Books. Portuguese (Brazil) edition, 2019.
2015: Nestle M. SODA POLITICS: TAKING ON BIG SODA (AND WINNING), Oxford University Press. Paperback, 2017.
2013: Nestle M. EAT, DRINK, VOTE: AN ILLUSTRATED GUIDE TO FOOD POLITICS, Rodale Books.
2012: Nestle M, Nesheim M. WHY CALORIES COUNT: FROM SCIENCE TO POLITICS, University of California Press. Paperback, 2013.
2010: Nestle M, Nesheim MC. FEED YOUR PET RIGHT, Free Press/Simon & Schuster.
2008: Nestle M. PET FOOD POLITICS: THE CHIHUAHUA IN THE COAL MINE, University of California Press. Paperback, 2010.
2006: Nestle M. WHAT TO EAT, North Point Press/Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Paperback, 2007. Hebrew (Israel) edition, 2007.
2003: Nestle M. SAFE FOOD:BACTERIA, BIOTECHNOLOGY, AND BIOTERRORISM, University of California Press. Paperback 2004; Chinese edition2004, Japanese edition2009. Revised and expanded editionretitled SAFE FOOD:THE POLITICS OF FOOD SAFETY, 2010.
2002: Nestle M.FOOD POLITICS: HOW THE FOOD INDUSTRY INFLUENCES NUTRITION AND HEALTH, University of California Press. Paperback 2003; Revised and expanded edition 2007; Chinese edition, 2004; Japanese edition, 2005; 10th Anniversary Edition with a Foreword by Michael Pollan, 2013.
1985: Nestle M. NUTRITION IN CLINICAL PRACTICE. Greenbrae CA: Jones Medical Publications. Asian edition, 1986. Greek edition, 1987.
2004: Nestle M, Dixon LB, eds. TAKING SIDES: CLASHING VIEWS ON CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES IN NUTRITION AND FOOD, McGraw Hill/Dushkin.
1988: Nestle M, managing ed. THE SURGEON GENERAL’S REPORT ON NUTRITION AND HEALTH. Department of Health and Human Services.
ARTICLES (SELECTED): For the most part, these are columns, professional articles, book chapters, letters, and book reviews for which links or pdf’s are available (or will be when I get time to find or create them). Additional publications are listed in the c.v. link in the About page.
Eric Crosbie, Laura Schmidt, Jim Krieger, Marion Nestle. Chapter 14. Sugar Sweetened Beverages. In Maani N, Petticrew M, Galea S, eds. The Commercial Determinants of Health. Oxford University Press, 2022:131-140.
Carlos Augusto Monteiro,Mark Lawrence, Christopher Millett, Marion Nestle, Barry M Popkin, Gyorgy Scrinis, Boyd Swinburn. The need to reshape global food processing: a call to the United Nations Food Systems Summit. BMJ Global Health 2021;6:e006885. doi:10.1136/bmjgh-2021-006885
Nestle M. Public health nutrition deserves more attention. Review of Jones-Smith J, ed. Public Health Nutrition: Essentials for Practitioners (Johns Hopkins Press, 2020). American Journal of Public Heath. 2021;111(4):533-535.
Woolhandler S, Himmelstein DU, Ahmed S, Bailey Z, Bassett MT, Bird M, Bor J, Bor D, Carrasquillo O, Chowkwanyun M, Dickman SL, Fisher S, Gaffney A, Galea S, Gottfried RN, Grumbach K, Guyatt G, Hansen H, Landrigan PH, Lighty M, McKee M, McCormick D, McGretor A, Mirza R, Morris JE, Mukherjee JS, Nestle M, Prine L, Saadi A, Schiff D, Shapiro M, Tesema L, Venkataramani A. Public policy and health in the Trump era: A Lancet Commission Report. The Lancet, February 10, 2021.
Nestle M. Review of Jessica Harris, Vintage Postcards from the African World: In the Dignity of Their Work and the Joy of Their Play. Food, Culture, and Society, 2021;743-744.
2020
Nestle M. Book review: Jessica Harris, Vintage Postcards from the African World: In the Dignity of Their Work and the Joy of Their Play. Food, Culture, and Society [published online July 23, 2020, Scheduled for print November 2021].
Nestle M. Comment: Ultraprocessed Food Consumption and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes Among Participants of the NutriNet-Santé Prospective Cohort. PracticeUpdate.com, December 31, 2019.
Nestle M. A food lover’s love of nutrition science, policy, and politics. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2019;73:1551–1555. Published online April 24, 2019.
Nestle M. How neoliberalism ruins traditional diets and health [book reviews]. Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology [book review]. Published online, April 18, 2019.
Nestle M. Comment: Long-Term Consumption of Sugar-Sweetened and Artificially Sweetened Beverages and Risk of Mortality in US Adults. PracticeUpdate.com, March 28, 2019.
Nestle M. Comment on: Effects of replacing diet beverages with water on weight loss and weight maintenance: 18-month follow-up, randomized clinical trial. Practice Update website, June 26, 2018.
Nestle M. Perspective: Challenges and Controversial Issues in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 1980 to 2015. Advances in Nutrition, 2018;9:148-150.
Nestle M. Invited expert comment: Nonnutritive Sweeteners and Cardiometabolic Health: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials and Prospective Cohort Studies. PracticeUpdate website, Jan 18.
Nestle M. Foreword to Eric Holt-Giménez, A Foodie’s Guide to Capitalism: Understanding the Political Economy of What We Eat. Monthly Review Press, 2017.
Nestle M. Dear Colleagues. Letter on President Trump’s nominee for CDC director and her connection to Coca-Cola. Dean’s Weekly Update, NYU College of Global Public Health. 2017;48(3): July 28.
Nestle M. Foreword. Clapp S. Fixing the Food System. Praeger/ABC-CLIO, 2017:vii-x.
2016
Nestle M. Food Politics, the Food Movement, and Public Health. In: Shiva V., ed. Seed Sovereignty, Food Security: Women in the Vanguard of the Fight Against GMOs and Corporate Agriculture. North Atlantic Books, 2016:65-75.
Nestle M. Foreword to Joy Santlofer’s Food City:Four Centuries of Food Making in New York City. WW Norton, 2016:ix-x.
Delisle H, Nestle M, Besançon S. Rethinking nutritional policies in developing countries taking into account the double burden of malnutrition. Ideas for Development, October 18, 2016.
Delisle H, Nestle M, Besançon S. Il faut repenser les politiques de nutrition dans les pays en développement en prenant en compte le double fardeau nutritionnel. Huffington Post (France), October 14, 2016.
Nestle M. Food industry funding of nutrition Research: the relevance of history for current debates. JAMA Internal Medicine 2016;176(11):1685-1686.
Nestle M. The politics of food choice. In: Anne Barnhill, Mark Budolfson, Tyler Doggett, eds. Food, Ethics, and Society: An Introductory Text with Readings, eds. Oxford, 2016:596-601.
Nestle M. Utopian dream: a new farm bill (reprint of article in Dissent, 2012). In Goldthwaite MA, ed. Norton Reader: an Anthology of Nonfiction, 14th edition. WW Norton & Co, 2016:274-280.
Nestle M, Rosenberg T. The whole world is watching. Soda wars. Sugar tax. US, Mexico [Big Food Watch] World Nutrition November-December 2015, 6, 11-12, 811-832.
Barnoya J, Nestle M. The food industry and conflicts of interest in nutrition research: A Latin American perspective. Journal of Public Health Policy advance online publication, 29 October 2015:1-6; doi:10.1057/jphp.2015.37. [Retracted]
Nestle M. Eating made simple: How do you cope with a mountain of conflicting diet advice? Scientific American, Special Collector’s Edition, The Science of Food. Summer 2015:38-45.
Nestle M. Regulation does change eating behavior. In: Brain Food: Hastings College’s Introduction to the Liberal Arts, 2014-2015. Hastings College Press, 2014:155-158.
Nestle M. Next, Cut the Soda and Junk Food. New York Times, Room for debate: What other unhealthy products should CVS stop selling? February 7, 2014
2013
Blumenthal SJ, Hoffnagle EE, Leung CW, Lofink H, Jensen HH, Foerster SB, Cheung LWY, Nestle M, Willett WC. Strategies to improve the dietary quality of supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP) beneficiaries: An assessment of stakeholder opinions. Public Health Nutrition 2013. doi:10.1017/S1368980013002942.
Nestle M. A push for policies for sustainable foods systems. Perspectives, FAO, October 9, 2010.
Gussow J, Kirschenmann F, Uauy R, Schell O, Nestle M, Popkin B, Cannon G, Monteiro C.
The American genius. [Appraisals]. World Nutrition 2013;4:150-170.
Leung C, Blumenthal S, Hoffnagle E, Jensen H, Foerster S, Nestle M, Cheung L, Mozaffarian D, Willett W. Associations of Food Stamp Participation with Obesity and Dietary Quality among Low-income Children. Pediatrics 2013;131:463–472.
Nestle M. Food safety and food security: a matter of public health. In: Estes CL, et al, eds. Health Policy: Crisis and Reform, 6th ed. Jones and Bartlett Learning, 2013:125-130.
Nestle M. Politics. In: Smith AF, ed. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America. Vol 3, Pike-Zomb. Oxford University Press, 2013:28-37.
2012
Nestle M. Foreword to Fairfax SK et al. California Cuisine and Just Food. MIT Press, 2012:xii-xiv.
Nestle M. Cookbooks and food studies canons. Foreword to Taylor MJ, Wolf C, eds. 100 Classic Cookbooks, 501 Classic Recipes. Rizzoli, 2012:8-9.
Nesheim M, Nestle M. Is a calorie a calorie? Nova ScienceNow, September 20, 2012.
Nestle M. Online debate: What role should government play in combating obesity? Wall Street Journal, September 18, 2012.
Nestle M. Online debate: Buying organics is a personal choice. New York Times, September 10, 2012.
Temple N, Nestle M. Population Nutrition and Health Promotion. In: Temple NJ, Wilson T, Jacobs DR, eds. Nutritional Health: Strategies for Disease Prevention, 3rd ed. Humana Press, 212:373-450.
Isoldi KK, Dalton S, Rodriguez DP, Nestle M. Classroom “cupcake” celebrations: observations of foods offered and consumed. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior 2012;44:71-75.
Nestle M. Food stamps for fast food? No: what the poor need is healthy food. Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinal, September 24, 2011.
Nestle M. School food, public policy, and strategies for change. In: Robert SA, Weaver-Hightower MB, eds. School Food Politics: The Complex Ecology of Hunger and Feeding in Schools Around the World. New York: Peter Lang, 2011:143-46.
Robbins A, Nestle M. Obesity as collateral damage: a call for papers on the obesity epidemic [editorial]. Journal of Public Health Policy 2011;32:143-45.
Csete J, Nestle M. Global nutrition: complex aetiology demands social as well as nutrient-based solutions. In: Parker R, Sommer M, eds. Routledge Handbook in Global Public Health, Routledge, 2011:303-13.
Nestle M, Wansink B, Heber D, Skelton JA, Sothern MS, Cohen DA, Kibler C. Industry Watch: Will private sector companies “step up to the plate” to protect children’s health? Childhood Obesity 2010;6:247.
Warren C, Nestle M. Big food, big agra, and the research university. Academe 2010;Nov-Dec:47-49. Also available at Academe Online.
Falbe JL, Nestle M. The politics of government dietary advice. In: Germov J, Williams L, eds. A Sociology of Food & Nutrition: The Social Appetite, 3rd ed. Oxford, 2008:127-146.
Nesheim MC, Nestle M. Pet Food. In: Allen G, Albala K, eds. The Business of Food: Encyclopedia of the Food and Drink Industries. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2007:297-301.
2006
Nestle M. Food marketing and childhood obesity—a matter of policy [Perspective]. New England Journal of Medicine 2006;354:2527-2528.
Nestle M. Trans fat nation. New York Times [op-ed], October 1, 2006:WK-11.
Nestle M. One thing to do about food: a forum. The Nation September 11, 2006:14.
Nestle M. Food industry and health: mostly promises, little action. Lancet 2006; 368:564-565.
Nestle M. The spinach fallout: restoring trust in California produce. San Jose Mercury News (Perspectives), October 22, 2006.
Lewin A, Lindstrom L, Nestle M. Food industry promises to address childhood obesity: preliminary evaluation. Journal of Public Health Policy 2006;27:327-348.
Berg J, Nestle M, Bentley A. Food studies. In: Katz SH, Weaver WW, eds. The Scribner Encyclopedia of Food and Culture, Vol 2. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2003:16-18.
Nestle M. Not good enough to eat (commentary). New Scientist2003;177 (February 22):25.
Nestle M. Hearty Fare? Review of Faergeman, O. Coronary Heart Disease: Genes, Drugs, and the Agricultural Connection. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2003. Nature 2003;425:902.
Nestle M. Thinking about food (letter). Wilson Quarterly Autumn 2003 [27(4)]:4.
Young LR, Nestle M. The contribution of expanding Portion Sizes to the U.S. obesity epidemic. American Journal of Public Health 2002;92:246-249.
Mahabir S, Coit D, Liebes L, Brady MS, Lewis JJ, Roush G, Nestle M, Fay D, Berwick M. Randomized, placebo-controlled trial of dietary supplementation of a-tocopherol on mutagen sensitivity levels in melanoma patients: a pilot trial. Melanoma Research 2002;12:83-90.
Byers T, Nestle M, McTeirnan A, Doyle C, Currie-Williams A, Gansler T, Thun M, and the American Cancer Society 2001 Nutrition and Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee. American Cancer Society Guidelines on Nutrition and Physical Activity for Cancer Prevention: Reducing the Risk of Cancer with Healthy Food Choices and Physical Activity. CA Cancer Journal for Clinicians 2002;52:92-119.
Nestle M. Genetically engineered “golden” rice unlike to overcome vitamin A deficiency (letter). Journal of the American Dietetic Association 2001;101:289-290.
Nestle M. Nutrition and women’s health: the politics of dietary advice [editorial]. Journal of the American Medical Women’s Association 2001;56:42-43.
Nestle M. Food company sponsorship of nutrition research and professional activities: A conflict of interest? Public Health Nutrition 2001;4:1015-1022.
Nestle M. Review of: Bendich A, Deckelbaum RJ, eds. Primary and Secondary Preventive Nutrition (Totowa, NJ: Humana Press, 2001). American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2001;74:704.
Nestle M. Hunger in America: A Matter of Policy. Social Research 1999;66(1): 257-282.
Nestle M. Commentary [dietary guidelines]. Food Policy 1999;24(2-3):307-310.
Nestle M. Meat or wheat for the next millennium? Plenary lecture: animal v. plant foods in human diets and health: is the historical record unequivocal? Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 1999;58:211-218 (online here).
Singer AJ, Werther K, Nestle M. Improvements are needed in hospital diets to meet dietary guidelines for health promotion and disease prevention. Journal of the American Dietetic Association 1998;98:639-641.
Nestle M. Toward more healthful dietary patterns—a matter of policy. Public Health Reports 1998;113:420-423.
Nestle M. In defense of the USDA Food Guide Pyramid. Nutrition Today 1998;33(5):189-197.
Nestle M.Broccoli sprouts as inducers of carcinogen-detoxifying enzyme systems: clinical, dietary, and policy implications [Commentary].Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 1997;94:11149-11151.
Nestle M.The role of chocolate in the American diet: nutritional perspectives.In: Szogyi A, ed.Chocolate, Food of the Gods.Westport, CN: Greenwood Press, 1997:111-124.
Nestle M. Dietary advice for the 1990s: the political history of the food guide pyramid.Caduceus: A Humanities Journal for Medicine and the Health Sciences 1993:9:136-153.
Nestle M.Epidemiologists’ Paradise.Junshi C, Campbell TC, Junyao L, Peto R.Diet, Life-style, and Mortality in China: A Study of the Characteristics of 65 Chinese Counties.NY: Oxford University Press, 1990 [book review].BioScience 1991;41:725-726.
Nestle M, Porter DV. Evolution of federal dietary guidance policy: from food adequacy to chronic disease prevention.Caduceus: A Museum Journal for the Health Sciences 1990;6(2):43-67.
McGinnis JM, Nestle M. The Surgeon General’s report on nutrition and health: policy implications and implementation strategies. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition1989;49:23-28.
Nestle M, Roberts WK. Separation of ribonucleosides and ribonucleotides by a one-dimensional paper chromatographic system. Analytical Biochemistry 1968;22:349-351.
Peanut butter, it seems, is the basis of a “ready-to-use therapeutic food” (RUTF) for aiding recovery of severely malnourished children in Africa. The announcement of these results doesn’t say what kind. The study itself is published in Maternal and Child Nutrition and the authors make the point that people administering this RUTF do not need to be medically trained so this therapy can be used at home. I’m always amazed when researchers discover that feeding malnourished children helps them to recover. Peanut butter is highly concentrated in calories and the investigators mixed in some vitamins along with it, so I guess it can be considered a superfood.
Today’s question (see Flaxseeds) is about Chia seeds: “I have heard and read that Chia seeds, (Salvia hispanica, a plant of the genus Salvia in the Mint family) are very high in omega-3s and very nutritious in several other ways. They were highly prized by the Aztecs and have been touted as a little-known “superfood”. Have you any knowledge about them or the accuracy of this?”
I consulted my standard sources for this sort of thing, Wikipedia (always a good place to start and then confirm independently) and the USDA’s authoritative data on food composition. As you suggest, Chia seeds have a good balance of omega-3 unsaturated fatty acids. But does this really make it a “superfood?” I think foods are foods. All natural, unprocessed foods have a mix of nutrients and the best approach is to eat a lot of different kinds of relatively unprocessed foods that together provide the nutrients and other components of food that promote health. Chia seeds, like flaxseeds or other kinds of seeds, nuts, fruits, vegetables, and grains contribute good things to the diet, but it’s the overall combination of foods you eat that counts. Enjoy Chia seeds if you like them, but are they a miracle food? I wish it were that easy.