Building H

A plate of grilled chicken and vegetables, including Brussels sprouts and cherry tomatoes, with text: "Evidence behind intermittent fasting for weight loss fails to match hype."

Intermittent fasting is unlikely to lead to greater weight loss in overweight or obese adults than traditional dietary advice or doing nothing, a new Cochrane review finds.

🔗 www.cochrane.org/about-us/new...

Freedom With a Side of Guilt: How Food Delivery Is Reshaping Mealtime

how the products and services of everyday life shape our health, part 792…

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/30/d...

Can Ozempic Cure Addiction? GLP-1 drugs, which have helped some people curb drug and alcohol use, may unlock a pathway to moderation.

fascinating look at the promise — which is not so clear
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

New research finds that ~18% of Americans would like to live car-free -- more than double the share that currently does.

doi.org/10.1016/j.tr...

I hear a lot about a future of "shared" AVs where riders travel with strangers. Not gonna happen.

Most people -- esp women, as per this study -- don't want to sit alone with someone stinky or creepy. Nor are they willing to let others' itineraries dictate their route.

doi.org/10.1016/j.tr...

The approach of identifying problematic design features is significant (vs. blanket bans by age, for example)

Trends and Disparities of US Adult Obesity Prevalence This study uses measured body mass index (BMI) data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and bias-corrected BMI values calculated from self-reported height and weight data from th...

New paper projects that US obesity will increase from 42.5% to 46.9% by 2035.

I'm betting against it. By 2035, I think obesity rates will be lower than they are today.

Drugs, obviously.
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Ultra-processed foods should be treated more like cigarettes than food – study UPFs are made to encourage addiction and consumption and should be regulated like tobacco, say researchers

"There are similarities in the production processes of UPFs and cigarettes, and in manufacturers’ efforts to optimise the “doses” of products and how quickly they act on reward pathways in the body, according to the paper..." www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

No Joy in Cooking Secretary of agriculture Brooke Rollins recently suggested Americans can get the nutrition they need on $3 meals. Here’s what happened when I tried to follow her plan.

Last week's newsletter also featured this story, from @jaredpoland.bsky.social in @thebulwark.com, of attempting a healthy diet on $3 a meal:

www.thebulwark.com/p/no-joy-in-...

RFK Jr. Says He’s Ending the War on Protein. It Doesn’t Exist There is no war on protein. But pretending there is goes hand-in-hand with the Trump administration’s appeal to traditional masculinity.

Another popular story from last week's newsletter on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, was @sameagan.bsky.social's piece in @wired.com on the alleged "war on protein": www.wired.com/story/rfk-jr...

The most read story from our newsletter last week was this post from @marionnestle.bsky.social on the conflicts of interest behind the new Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The post is part of Nestle's excellent 7-part series on the guidelines.

www.foodpolitics.com/2026/01/the-...

mentions: @marionnestle.bsky.social, @hbottemiller.bsky.social, @sarah-todd.bsky.social, @jaredpoland.bsky.social, @thelancet.com, @thgoetz.bsky.social, @mcgint.bsky.social, @laurenjyoung.bsky.social, @laurenfeiner.bsky.social

For our latest newsletter, we look at the new Dietary Guidelines for America — what people are saying about it and what it means in the context of a food system dominated by ultraprocessed foods. And more… mailchi.mp/44fb99628b19...

The folks at the Foundation for Social Connection have just mapped the system of organizations working to build better social connection in the US. Check out the map and the report:
www.social-connection.org/what-we-do/n...

How to eat well and within Earth’s limits Dietary change, supported by bold policies, is essential for a sustainable planet.

Dietary change, supported by bold policies, is essential for a sustainable planet, says Johan Rockström

go.nature.com/3NJNaHK

New evidence shows how discrimination shortens lives in Black communities Researchers linked higher inflammation levels to decades of stress, including discrimination and economic hardship.

new research that supports the "weathering" hypothesis
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...

Our Uncompromised DGA is the answer to the confusion and contradictions of the federal government's new Dietary Guidelines!

Read our op-ed in @civileats.com and then check them out here: www.cspi.org/Uncompromise...

AI Systems that Perform Intimacy Need New Governance Frameworks The shift from chatbots as informational to relational systems creates a governance rupture existing frameworks can't address, writes Helen A. Hayes.

The shift from chatbots as information systems to chatbots as relational systems is not a marginal technical change, writes Helen A. Hayes. It creates a governance rupture that existing frameworks are struggling to name, let alone address, she writes.

Physical activity and the reduction of all-cause mortality, from 2 very large prospective cohorts
1. The relationship is non-linear, suggesting a threshold effect for many types of exercise as seen below

Promo graphic for episode 998 of Public Health On Call, titled Marion Nestle on the New Dietary Guidelines. Additional text reads: The renowned nutritionist on what she likes about new federal recommendations and what she finds muddled, contradictory, and incompete.

Renowned nutritionist @marionnestle.bsky.social has mixed feelings on the nation's new dietary guidelines.

She talks protein, whole grains, and expanding access to healthy foods on Public Health On Call.

🎧 podcast.publichealth.jhu.edu/998-marion-n...

MAHA says its new food pyramid is affordable and healthy. We asked experts How affordable are the new dietary guidelines? Economists and nutrition experts weigh in.

Just how affordable are the new dietary guidelines? Food economists and nutrition experts weigh in on whether, and how, Rollins' claims of a $3 meal hold up:

www.statnews.com/2026/01/16/a...

bonkers story

Deaths potentially averted by small changes in physical activity and sedentary time: an individual participant data meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies Small and realistic increases in MVPA of 5 min/day might prevent up to 6% of all deaths in a high-risk approach and 10% of all deaths in population-based approach. Reducing sedentary time by 30 min/da...

Just 5 extra minutes per day of walking at an average speed is linked to a 10% reduction in deaths, from a meta-analysis of 135,000 participants in 7 cohorts (Norway, Sweden, and the US)
New @thelancet.com
thelancet.com/journals/lan...

I’m a designer. The new food pyramid is outdated and confusing The new food pyramid represents “an outdated way of thinking about visual communication,” writes a designer.

What a smart design critique of the new food pyramid from an SVA prof: "Its flattened forms and folksy simplicity evoke an imagined past in which food, and by extension health, was uncomplicated and governed by common sense rather than expertise."

www.statnews.com/2026/01/13/n...

To Eat Healthier, Our Critic Went to the Source: His Kitchen In the second part of a monthlong series, Pete Wells and experts say the easiest way to a better diet is to surround yourself with the right foods.

Honored to contribute to Pete Wells' series on home cooking and health. Changing your food environment is the first and most important change you can make for yourself. Read his story in The New York Times: https://cooking.nytimes.com/article/pete-wells-kitchen-health-cooking

Electric cars won’t fix sitting: The health costs of designing cities around cars Walkability pioneer, UC San Diego urban planning professor Lawrence Frank revisits two decades of evidence linking car dependence and chronic disease — and explains why cleaner cars won’t make us heal...

“We’ve learned exactly how the built environment shapes behavior. Now it’s time to put that knowledge to work — because every mile we walk instead of driving matters.” - @ucsandiego.bsky.social professor Larry Frank. (h/t @usa.streetsblog.org)

www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/electri...

another trenchant post in @marionnestle.bsky.social's excellent series on the new dietary guidelines

Exercise is as effective as medication in treating depression, study finds New research shows exercise is as effective as medication at reducing symptoms of depression. And you don't need to run a marathon to see benefits. So how much is enough?

results of a Cochrane review ... www.npr.org/2026/01/12/n...

powerful and clear from @marionnestle.bsky.social:

"If the government leaves it to you to 'do your own research' and fight the food system on your own, it is saying it has no responsibility for creating a food environment that can help you eat and enjoy real food.

It’s all on you."

good summery of the new dietary guidelines ...