Unsavory Truth<\/em>, Nestle levels a withering fusillade of criticism against food and beverage companies that use questionable science and marketing to push their own agendas about what should end up on our dinner tables.<\/p>\nIn her comprehensive review of companies’ nutrition research practices, Nestle (whose name is pronounced \u201cNes-sul\u201d and who is not affiliated with the Swiss food company) reveals a passion for all things food, combined with pronounced disdain for the systematic way food companies influence the scientists and research behind the contents of our pantries. Her book is an autopsy of modern food science and advertising, pulling the sheet back on scores of suspect practices, as well as a chronicle of Nestle’s own brushes with food company courtship.<\/p>\n
Is it shocking that many food companies do whatever they can in the name of fatter profits? Maybe, but it’s old hat for Nestle, who has spent five decades honing her expertise and is a leading scholar in the field of nutrition science. In this book, she details nearly every questionable food company tactic in the playbook, from companies that fund their own food science research centers and funnel media attention to nondietary explanations for obesity, to those that cherry-pick data or fund professional conferences as a plea for tacit approval.<\/p>\n
Even companies that hawk \u201cbenign\u201d foods such as blueberries, pomegranate juice, and nuts come under the author’s strict scrutiny because, as she reminds readers, \u201cFoods are not drugs. To ask whether one single food has special health benefits defies common sense.\u201d<\/p>\n
Instead, Nestle urges eaters to look behind the claims to discover who funds food-science studies, influences governmental regulations, advises policy-makers, and potentially compromises researchers. Food fads, we learn, can spring from a few findings lifted out of context or interpreted with willful optimism. Companies, after all, can hold different standards for conducting and interpreting research than those of independent academic institutions or scientific organizations and can be driven by much different motives.<\/p>\n
Nestle wields a particularly sharp pen against junk-food purveyors, soda companies, and others who work hard to portray excess sugar as innocuous or who downplay the adverse effects their products can have. These companies adopt tactics such as founding research centers favorable to their bottom line, diverting consumer attention away from diet to focus instead on the role of exercise in health, or trying to win over individual researchers to favorably represent their products. Nestle calls foul on these attempts to portray junk foods as relatively harmless, even knocking the \u201chealth halo\u201d shine from dark chocolates and other candies masquerading as responsible health foods.<\/p>\n
Not content to point to the many thorny problems lurking behind food company labels and glitzy sponsored meetings, however, Nestle offers a constructive set of suggestions for how nutrition scientists can navigate potential conflicts of interest.<\/p>\n
Consumers, too, bear a responsibility for promoting eating habits that steer clear of dubious advertising. Nestle advocates adhering to a few simple guidelines: \u201c[E]at your veggies, choose relatively unprocessed foods, keep junk foods to a minimum, and watch out for excessive calories.\u201d We have the power of our votes and our forks, she reminds us, and can use both to insist that food companies help us eat well. Nestle’s determination to go to bat for public health shines through, illuminating even her occasional sections of workaday prose or dense details.<\/p>\n
Nestle marshals a convincing number of observations on modern food research practices while energetically delineating how food companies’ clout can threaten the integrity of the research performed on their products. There is indeed something rotten in the state of dietary science, but books like this show us that we consumers also hold a great deal of power.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\ucc45 \uc18c\uac1c – (\ub9db\uc774) \uace0\uc57d\ud55c \uc9c4\uc2e4 (\uc6d0\ubb38: \uc5ec\uae30\ub97c \ud074\ub9ad\ud558\uc138\uc694~) Science\u00a0\u00a005 Oct 2018: Vol. 362, Issue 6410, pp. 38 DOI: 10.1126\/science.aau6602 (more…)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[32,33,34,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-essays-on-science","category-do-biology","category-lets-do-chemistry","category-lets-do-science"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1432,"url":"https:\/\/biochemistry.khu.ac.kr\/lab\/?p=1432","url_meta":{"origin":2026,"position":0},"title":"An ethical way forward for AI","author":"biochemistry","date":"August 24, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 \u00a0 (\uc6d0\ubb38: \uc5ec\uae30\ub97c \ud074\ub9ad\ud558\uc138\uc694~) \u00a0 Science\u00a0\u00a024 Aug 2018: Vol. 361, Issue 6404, pp. 763-765 DOI: 10.1126\/science.361.6404.763-q \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming prevalent in everyday life. Within the next 5 years, an estimated 55% of households worldwide are expected to own a voice assistant. Furthermore, medical diagnostics,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Let's Do Computer Science!"","block_context":{"text":"Let's Do Computer Science!","link":"https:\/\/biochemistry.khu.ac.kr\/lab\/?cat=35"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1183,"url":"https:\/\/biochemistry.khu.ac.kr\/lab\/?p=1183","url_meta":{"origin":2026,"position":1},"title":"Rethinking chemical risks","author":"biochemistry","date":"July 20, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 \u00a0 (\uc6d0\ubb38: \uc5ec\uae30\ub97c \ud074\ub9ad\ud558\uc138\uc694~) \u00a0 \u00a0 Science\u00a0\u00a020 Jul 2018: Vol. 361, Issue 6399, pp. 240-242 DOI: 10.1126\/science.361.6399.240-r \u00a0 \u00a0 Modern life relies on vast numbers of different chemicals, from pharmaceuticals and cleaning products to pesticides and plastics. Wastewater treatment is widely used to avoid their release into the environment.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Essays on Science"","block_context":{"text":"Essays on Science","link":"https:\/\/biochemistry.khu.ac.kr\/lab\/?cat=32"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1189,"url":"https:\/\/biochemistry.khu.ac.kr\/lab\/?p=1189","url_meta":{"origin":2026,"position":2},"title":"All together now\u2026fly!","author":"biochemistry","date":"July 20, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 \u00a0 (\uc6d0\ubb38: \uc5ec\uae30\ub97c \ud074\ub9ad\ud558\uc138\uc694~) \u00a0 Science\u00a0\u00a020 Jul 2018: Vol. 361, Issue 6399, pp. 240 DOI: 10.1126\/science.361.6399.240-a \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Open in new tab Long-exposure photo of a flight with multiple drones CREDIT: ZSOLT B\u00c9ZSENYI \u00a0 \u00a0 Can the quick, responsive grace of a flock of birds or school of fish\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Let's Do Computer Science!"","block_context":{"text":"Let's Do Computer Science!","link":"https:\/\/biochemistry.khu.ac.kr\/lab\/?cat=35"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1436,"url":"https:\/\/biochemistry.khu.ac.kr\/lab\/?p=1436","url_meta":{"origin":2026,"position":3},"title":"Robots help autistic kids interact with adults","author":"biochemistry","date":"August 24, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 \u00a0 (\uc6d0\ubb38: \uc5ec\uae30\ub97c \ud074\ub9ad\ud558\uc138\uc694~) \u00a0 Science\u00a0\u00a024 Aug 2018: Vol. 361, Issue 6404, pp. 763-764 DOI: 10.1126\/science.361.6404.763-f \u00a0 \u00a0 Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often struggle with social behaviors such as recognizing emotional responses in others and understanding gaze direction. Scassellati\u00a0et al.\u00a0put a fully autonomous, adaptive robot in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Let's Do Biology!"","block_context":{"text":"Let's Do Biology!","link":"https:\/\/biochemistry.khu.ac.kr\/lab\/?cat=33"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":458,"url":"https:\/\/biochemistry.khu.ac.kr\/lab\/?p=458","url_meta":{"origin":2026,"position":4},"title":"The science of cells that never get old | Elizabeth Blackburn","author":"biochemistry","date":"May 30, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 \u00a0 https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=2wseM6wWd74 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0","rel":"","context":"In "Let's Do Biology!"","block_context":{"text":"Let's Do Biology!","link":"https:\/\/biochemistry.khu.ac.kr\/lab\/?cat=33"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/2wseM6wWd74\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1126,"url":"https:\/\/biochemistry.khu.ac.kr\/lab\/?p=1126","url_meta":{"origin":2026,"position":5},"title":"Engineering multilayered cellular structures","author":"biochemistry","date":"July 17, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 \u00a0 (\uc6d0\ubb38: \uc5ec\uae30\ub97c \ud074\ub9ad\ud558\uc138\uc694~) \u00a0 \u00a0 Science\u00a0\u00a013 Jul 2018: Vol. 361, Issue 6398, pp. 141-143 DOI: 10.1126\/science.361.6398.141-k \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 The ability to program the manufacture of biological structures may yield new biomaterials or synthetic tissues and organs. Toda\u00a0et al.\u00a0engineered mammalian \u201csender\u201d and \u201creceiver\u201d cells with synthetic cell surface\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Let's Do Biology!"","block_context":{"text":"Let's Do Biology!","link":"https:\/\/biochemistry.khu.ac.kr\/lab\/?cat=33"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9Xo1j-wG","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biochemistry.khu.ac.kr\/lab\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biochemistry.khu.ac.kr\/lab\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biochemistry.khu.ac.kr\/lab\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biochemistry.khu.ac.kr\/lab\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biochemistry.khu.ac.kr\/lab\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2026"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/biochemistry.khu.ac.kr\/lab\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2026\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2027,"href":"https:\/\/biochemistry.khu.ac.kr\/lab\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2026\/revisions\/2027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biochemistry.khu.ac.kr\/lab\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biochemistry.khu.ac.kr\/lab\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biochemistry.khu.ac.kr\/lab\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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