Diet & Nutrition Archives - World Food Policy Center

E265: Exercise vital for quality of health – especially during weight loss

February 26, 2025

Everyone knows that it’s a good idea to be physically active, but behind that basic knowledge lies a fascinating field of research on the role that physical activity plays in health and in weight control, along with answers to questions such as how much exercise I should get, is there a best time of day to do it, is one type of exercise better than others, etc. Few people can rival Dr. John Jakicic in expertise in this arena. John is a professor in the Department of Internal Medicine in the Division of Physical Activity and Weight Management at the University of Kansas Medical Center. His work has led the field for many years.

Related podcasts: Diet & Nutrition | Weight Stigma |

E261: Here’s what you don’t know about food safety

January 23, 2025

For many years in talks that I gave, I showed a slide with an ingredient list from a food most people know. Just to see if the audience could guess what the food was, based on what it was made of. It was very hard for people to guess. A few people might come close, but very few people would guess. And it was pretty hard because the food contained 56 ingredients. This is in one food. And the ingredient list had chemical names, flavorings, stabilizers, and heaven knows what else. But 56 things in one, just one food in the food supply. Pretty amazing to think what kind of things we’re bombarded with in foods we eat in our everyday lives. So, one key question is do we know what all this stuff does to us, either individually or in combination? So, how does ingredient 42 interact with ingredient 17? Even if we happen to know what they do individually, which we may not. And, who’s looking out for the health of the population, and who has regulatory control over these things? Today we’re joined by the author of a new article on this topic published in the American Journal of Public Health. Jennifer Pomeranz is an attorney and is Associate Professor of Public Health Policy and Management in the School of Global Public Health at New York University. The food, by the way, was a chocolate fudge Pop Tart.

E259: Your state of the science on weight loss drugs

January 8, 2025

About two years ago, we released a podcast with Dr. Thomas Wadden of the University of Pennsylvania describing work on a new generation of medications to treat diabetes and obesity. They were really taking the field by storm. Since then, much more is known since many additional studies have been published and so many people have been using the drugs. So many, in fact, the market value of the Danish company, Novo Nordisk, one of the two major companies selling the drugs, has gone up. It is now greater than the entire budget of the country of Denmark. This single company is responsible for about half of Denmark’s economic expansion this year. So, a lot of people are now taking the drugs and this is a great time for an update on the drugs. And we’re fortunate to have two of the world’s leading experts join us: Dr. Wadden, Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the inaugural Albert J. Stunkard Professor of Psychiatry at Penn. Joining us as well as Dr. Robert Kushner, a physician and professor of medicine at Northwestern University and a pioneer in testing treatments for obesity.

Related podcasts: Diet & Nutrition | Food, Psychology & Neuroscience | Obesity | Weight Stigma |

E256: ATNI – driving market change towards nutrition

November 21, 2024

Now more than ever, it’s important to challenge the world’s food and beverage manufacturers to address nutrition issues like obesity and undernutrition. Today, we’re going to discuss the 2024 Global Access to Nutrition Index, a very important ranking system that evaluates companies on their nutrition related policies, product portfolios, marketing practices, and engagement with stakeholders. The index is an accountability strategy produced by ATNI, the Access to Nutrition Initiative, a global nonprofit foundation seeking to drive market change for nutrition. Our guest today is Greg Garrett, Executive Director of ATNI.

E255: Reducing food waste: Less seafood wasted than thought in US

November 18, 2024

The U. S. is the largest importer of aquatic foods, which includes fresh and saltwater fish, crustaceans, mollusks, and aquatic plants served in restaurants and homes. A critical piece of this global market is the cold chain, keeping these foods chilled or frozen during storage and transport to market. With 44 percent of aquatic foods sold live or fresh globally, the percentage of fresh over frozen aquatic foods creates an extra logistical cold chain challenge. What’s more, most aquatic foods become, well, fishy from cold chain disruptions, which can cause perceived food safety concerns, potentially resulting in food getting tossed into the bin. Until recently, research to understand just how much aquatic food gets wasted or lost has been spotty. However, in a recent Nature Food article, researchers argue that aquatic food loss and waste in the United States is actually half of earlier estimates. And that’s good news that we’ll explore today. This interview is part of an ongoing exploration of food loss and waste.

E251: The thoughtful transformation of Southern cooking

October 14, 2024

Today’s podcast is a gastronomic treat. I’m talking with Chef William Dissen, James Beard Award-winning chef and owner of the restaurant, The Marketplace, located in Asheville, North Carolina. William is the founder of four award winning restaurants and draws inspiration from traveling the world, creating dishes that tell a story, surprising guests with inventive food preservation techniques, and bringing classic dishes with explosive flavors to life. He published a debut cookbook in 2024 titled Thoughtful Cooking – Recipes Rooted in the New South. Food and Wine Magazine recognized it as the best spring cookbook and praised how he takes readers on a culinary journey organized by the four seasons of Appalachia’s most sought-after ingredients. William also enjoys the fame of being the first and only chef to beat Gordon Ramsay in a cook off on NatGeo TV’s Gordon Ramsay Uncharted Smoky Mountains.

E249: History Fact Check: Impact of Corporate Influence on Research

October 3, 2024

Study after study has shown that consumption of sugar sweetened beverages poses clear health risk. So how have the big soda companies, Coke and Pepsi in particular, reacted to this news and to public health policies that have aimed to restrict their business dealings like marketing, labeling, and even taxes? A fascinating and important part of this history has been told in a new book by Dr. Susan Greenhalgh called Soda Science: Making the World Safe for Coca Cola. Dr. Greenhalgh is the John King and Wilma Cannon Fairbank Professor of Chinese Society Emerita at Harvard University. But hold on, what in the heck does China have to do all this? Well, we’re about to find out. This will be a very interesting discussion.

Related podcasts: Diet & Nutrition | Food Industry Behavior & Marketing | Soda Taxes |

E245: Menus of Change Collaborative – shaping university student eating habits and careers

September 9, 2024

When you hear university dining, you likely have images in your mind of college students with trays and hand waiting in a line for a meal in a dining hall. You may even think of a food court or a trendy food hall in the cool part of town. But there is so much more happening behind the scenes. Today we will learn about Menus of Change University Research Collaborative, MCURC for short, which is a nationwide network of colleges and universities using campus dining halls as living laboratories for behavior change. The collaborative’s goals are to move people towards healthier, more sustainable and delicious foods using evidence-based research, education and innovation. Our guest today is the collaborative’s co-founder and co-director, Stanford University’s Sophie Egan.

E241: What is the connection between the gut and our brain?

August 13, 2024

We’ve recorded a series of podcasts on the microbiome and its wide ranging impacts. But boy is this a field that moves rapidly. As soon as you think you’ve covered much of the territory, along comes some new and exciting findings, and this is the case today. We’re going to describe research done by our guest, Dr. Ibrahim Javed. He has done innovative work on links between the gut microbiome and the brain, particularly focused on Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Javed is an Enterprise Fellow and National Health and Medicine Research Council Emerging Leadership Fellow in Clinical and Health Sciences at the University of South Australia.

Related podcasts: Child Development & Nutrition | Diet & Nutrition | Microbiome |

E238: Celebrating the Successes of the Alliance for a Healthier Generation

June 27, 2024

Nonprofit organizations can play a very important role in building healthy communities by providing services that contribute to community stability, social mobility, public policy, and decision-making. Today we’re speaking with Kathy Higgins, CEO of the Alliance for Healthier Generation. The Alliance is a nonprofit organization, a well-known one at that, that promotes healthy environments so that young people can achieve lifelong good health.

Podcast Topic: Diet & Nutrition

The Leading Voices in Food

Podcast Topic: Diet & Nutrition

E265: Exercise vital for quality of health – especially during weight loss

E261: Here’s what you don’t know about food safety

E259: Your state of the science on weight loss drugs

E256: ATNI – driving market change towards nutrition

E255: Reducing food waste: Less seafood wasted than thought in US

E251: The thoughtful transformation of Southern cooking

E249: History Fact Check: Impact of Corporate Influence on Research

E245: Menus of Change Collaborative – shaping university student eating habits and careers

E241: What is the connection between the gut and our brain?

E238: Celebrating the Successes of the Alliance for a Healthier Generation