Carolina Population Center

Coke with cane sugar may not be that big of a MAHA victory Coca-Cola is going to offer a cane sugar version of its signature beverage, rather than one sweetened with corn syrup.   Major segments of the food industry, including General Mills and H…

CPC Fellow Barry Popkin says without new FDA regulations, letting food companies voluntarily stop using artificial dyes has minimal impact and is largely symbolic.
thehill.com/policy/healt...

‘Gold Standard Science’ in Theory and Practice The Trump administration’s efforts to raise scientific standards are justified, but its methods are shortsighted.

Drastically reducing governmental funding of science threatens to weaken, if not destroy American scientific research supremacy, says CPC Fellow Peter Coclanis.
thedispatch.com/article/gold...

Fears that falling birth rates in US could lead to population collapse are based on faulty assumptions While the changes in population structure that accompany low birth rates are real, the impact of these changes has been dramatically overstated.

CPC Director Karen Benjamin Guzzo and co-authors argue that fears of a population 'collapse' are misguided and based on faulty assumptions about birth rates, population growth, and economics.
theconversation.com/fears-that-f...

The US fertility rate reached a new low in 2024, CDC data shows New federal data shows the fertility rate in the U.S. dropped to an all-time low in 2024 with less than 1.6 kids per woman.

"Worry is not a good moment to have kids," CPC Director Karen Benjamin Guzzo says, as U.S. birth rates decline for women in most age groups due to cost, lack of healthcare, and societal upheaval.
apnews.com/article/fert...

MAHA’s focus on ultraprocessed food: Real reform or empty gesture? | Op-Ed The FDA is targeting ultraprocessed foods for reform to improve healthfulness of children's food. Whether the approach is comprehensive remains to be seen.

Unless policymakers regulate the food industry, the 'Make America Healthy Again' movement is just a public relations campaign, says CPC Fellow Lindsey Smith-Taillie.
www.seattletimes.com/opinion/maha...

DEI Health Research Cuts Put US Medical Breakthroughs at Risk The Trump administration’s decision to cut roughly $2 billion in NIH grants have jeopardized future research, forcing scientists to think about how they’ll operate without the US government as a relia...

CPC Fellow Jaime Slaughter-Acey says health science research cuts put medical breakthroughs at risk. "What we're doing matters for every mom and baby in this country."
news.bloomberglaw.com/business-and...

UNC study: 43% of flooded NC buildings were outside FEMA’s hazard zones A peer‑reviewed study of 78 floods finds 43% of North Carolina buildings that took on water over the past two decades sit outside FEMA’s hazard zones, exposing insurance gaps and urging better risk da...

Study co-authored by CPC Fellow Miyuki Hino found 43% of North Carolina buildings that took on water over the past two decades sit outside FEMA’s hazard zones.
www.wral.com/news/local/u...

The world really is different for ‘kids these days’ - The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Carolina experts offer insight on the isolation, anxiety and resilience of today’s college students.

CPC Fellow Jane Cooley Fruehwirth and other Carolina experts offer their insight on the isolation, anxiety, and resilience of today’s college students.
www.unc.edu/posts/2025/0...

Data Collection and Access, Cognitive Health, Fertility Plans, Aging, and Family Instability Highlighted at the 2025 PAA Conference From Insight to Impact

Couldn't make #PAA2025 this year? See a recap of the some of the research featured at the conference, including CPC Director Karen Benjamin Guzzo's work examining links between physical and mental health and fertility goals.
www.prb.org/articles/dat...

Football Is About Health. Big Soda Is Not  - Health Policy Watch The health harms of sugary drinks start young. Big Soda companies hook kids on their products through pervasive marketing tactics used in schools, during

FIFA soccer tournaments are showcases of health and fitness and league partnerships with Big Soda brands should be banned, says CPC Fellow Lindsey Smith Taillie.
healthpolicy-watch.news/football-is-...

CPC Fellow John Batsis advises people to take up hobbies they would like to do in retirement while they are still working to avoid the "retirement cliff" of sudden inactivity.
www.cnn.com/2025/07/09/h...

Warning labels that inform — without shame - UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health July 3, 2025 Nutrition research often walks a fine line: How can experts best inform the public about nutritional risks without contributing to weight stigma? A study co-authored by five researchers c...

Well-crafted food warning labels can provide consumers with information without causing harm, according to study co-authored by CPC fellows Marissa Hall and Shu Wen Ng.
sph.unc.edu/sph-news/war...

Want a baby this year? Brace yourself Economic uncertainty usually results in lower birth rates. With tariffs and fears of a recession, it might be good to wait on kids, if you can.

Parents are "really concerned about the costs of what it would take to give their would-be children a good life," says CPC Director Karen Guzzo.
www.businessinsider.com/why-you-shou...

But I Meant Well: Unlearning Colonial Ways of Doing Good Title: But I Meant Well Subtitle: Unlearning Colonial Ways of Doing Good Subject Classification:  Healthcare, Race and Racism, Society and Culture   BIC Classification: JH, JFSL, JF BISAC Classificati...

New book by former CPC Fellow James Thomas examines how efforts to do good in the world are shaped by harmful colonial narratives.
ethicspress.com/products/but...

Study co-authored by CPC Fellow Sachiko Ozawa reveals one in six cancer drugs in four sub-Saharan African nations is defective.
medafricatimes.com/41028-faulty...

Trump sees budget bill promoting a baby boom. Others say more is needed. A record-low U.S. birth rate is sparking a movement to encourage people to have more babies. A challenge is unlocking why people are having fewer children than they say they want.

Falling birth rates coupled with people still wanting kids is evidence our society isn't built to allow people to fulfill their basic desires to have a family, says CPC Director Karen Benjamin Guzzo.
www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/...

The push for an American baby boom The Trump Administration wants more Americans to have babies. It's proposing a $5,000 "baby bonus," among other policies. Would this fix the nation's historically low birth rate?

CPC Director Karen Bejamin Guzzo says a robust childcare system and paid leave for parents would likely boost U.S. birth rates more than a one-time payment.
www.wbur.org/onpoint/2025...

America's boomer population grows as birth rates fall America's aging population, coinciding with falling birth rates, has become a growing concern and reflects the wider anxieties felt in the country.

People are "more cautious and ambivalent about whether they will actually have children" because of uncertainty about their current and future circumstances, says CPC Director Karen Benjamin Guzzo.
www.newsweek.com/americas-boo...

Congratulations to CPC Fellow Marissa Hall
for receiving UNC's Phillip and Ruth Hettleman Prize for Artistic and Scholarly Achievement from the Gillings School of Global Public Health.

The Real Fertility Crisis? Financial Security, a U.N. Report Says.

CPC Director Karen Benjamin Guzzo says a new report from the United Nations aligns with her own research on fertility trends. "People want children but are saying the conditions aren't right."
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/11/w...

UNC sociologist on the politics around the 'pronatalism' movement to raise the US birth rate University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill sociologist Karen Guzzo talks with co-host Jeff Tiberii about the pronatalism movement and how it could shape federal policy.

CPC Director Karen Benjamin Guzzo joins WUNC's Due South podcast to discuss the politics around the 'pronatalism' movement to raise the birth rate in the U.S.
www.wunc.org/show/due-sou...

Weight-Loss Supplements: What Physicians Should Know The online market for weight-loss supplements is still a hot topic, and many patients have questions. Should physicians ever recommend supplements to patients?

Many clinical trials of weight loss supplements were designed poorly or show bias, says CPC Fellow John Batsis. More randomized, double-blind trials are needed to determine their efficacy.
www.medscape.com/viewarticle/...

Who Should Reproduce? The Politics of Family Planning in the Trump Era | Crooked Media

CPC Director Karen Benjamin Guzzo joins the Assembly Required with Stacey Abrams podcast to discuss the pronatalism movement in America. "It's about controlling women," Guzzo says.
crooked.com/podcast/who-...

Solving the "birth rate crisis" isn't about pushing people to have more children, it's about building a society where they actually can, says CPC Director Karen Benjamin Guzzo.
www.iheart.com/podcast/1278...

The growing inequality in life expectancy among Americans The life expectancy among Native Americans in the western United States has dropped below 64 years, close to life expectancies in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Haiti. For many Asian America...

Without policy changes to boost wages, reduce medical costs, ensure safe housing, and invest in public education, CPC Fellow Kathleen Mullan Harris says U.S. life expectancy may grow worse.
www.yahoo.com/news/growing...

UNC Researchers Help Marion Family Affected by Rare Mosquito Disease | Newsroom Five-year-old Granger Horney contracted the La Crosse Virus, a potentially deadly mosquito-borne disease, in July 2024. With blood samples from Granger, researchers at Carolina are working to create b...

Epidemiologist and CPC Fellow Ross Boyce and team of UNC researchers invite Western N.C. family to participate in La Crosse virus study after child contracted the disease.
news.unchealthcare.org/2025/05/unc-...

Many coastal communities are flooding more than we thought, researchers find Researchers installed sensors inside stormwater drains and cameras above them in three North Carolina communities. They found a startling amount of flooding.

As coastal flooding becomes more prevalent, communities realize their infrastructure isn't equipped to deal with sea-level rise, says CPC Fellow Miyuki Hino.
www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

Are synthetic food dyes unsafe? Experts reveal what the research really shows The MAHA report called out health risks in kids associated with food dyes. But the connection isn't that clearcut, experts say.

Rather than focus on artificial food dyes, which have no clear link to good or bad health, CPC Fellow Lindsey Smith Taillie says the focus should be on limiting the intake of ultra-processed foods containing the dyes.
www.today.com/health/diet-...

Lower-cost, over-the-counter hearing aids expand access to affordable hearing care, which is often unavailable in rural areas where hearing loss is prevalent, says CPC Fellow Arrianna Marie Planey.
markets.financialcontent.com/stocks/artic...

Student loan borrowers in default face long-term consequences Leoneda Inge talks to UNC Chapel Hill associate professor of public policy Fenaba Addo about the adverse impact of student loan borrowing.

CPC Fellow Fenaba Addo joins WUNC's Due South podcast to discuss how student loan borrowers in default face long-term consequences due to recent federal changes in repayment options and timelines.
www.wunc.org/show/due-sou...