Selected Other Works
“Carbs, Good for You? Fat Chance! ”
Since the 1980 call for Americans to increase their consumption of carbohydrates and avoid fats, the general health of the entire population has declined to an all-time low. Why, if this is the case, is the government continuing to promote carbs and, as a result, misleading the public and putting peoples’ health at risk? Nina Teicholz reports.
“The Latest Attack on Low-Carb Diets: Science or Politics? ”
The low-carb diet has been proven to reverse diabetes, promote weight loss, and improve most heart disease risk factors. But, one recent paper published in the the Lancet has stated the opposite, arguing that a low-carb diet shortens lives. Which assertion is the right one?
“The Scientific Report Guiding the US Dietary Guidelines: Is it Scientific?”
It has a big impact on the diet of American citizens, and those of most Western nations, so why does the expert advice underpinning US government dietary guidelines not take account of all the relevant scientific evidence? Nina Teicholz reports.
“Saturated Fats and CVD: AHA Convicts, We Say Acquit”
"Coconut oil is bad for health!" announced headlines recently when the American Heart Association (AHA) issued a new Presidential Advisory[1] on saturated fats, stating that these fats really do most definitely cause heart disease. As a writer who's spent more than a decade researching the science, and as a cardiologist whose practice is based on the most updated findings, we can say that the AHA paper is an outlier, with at least nine other expert reviews finding weak to nonexistent evidence for this link. Who's right?
Op-ed: "U.S. News is wrong about what constitutes the best diet"
Dieter beware: U.S. News & World Report, in its high-profile January cover story on "best diets," calls the DASH and Mediterranean diets tops for health, though these regimens represent the failed nutritional status quo of the last 50 years.
Op-ed: “Don't believe the American Heart Assn. — butter, steak and coconut oil aren't likely to kill you”
Last month, the American Heart Assn. once again went after butter, steak and especially coconut oil with this familiar warning: The saturated fats in these foods cause heart disease. The organization’s “presidential advisory” was a fresh look at the science and came in response to a growing number of researchers, including myself, who have pored over this same data in recent years and beg to differ. A rigorous review of the evidence shows that when it comes to heart attacks or mortality, saturated fats are not guilty.
Op-ed with Steve Nissen, Chief Cardiologist of the Cleveland Clinic: “The Food Pyramid Scheme”
The feds’ dietary guide is based on dubious science – and now Congress wants an impartial review.
Op-ed: “The Government’s Bad Diet Advice”
For two generations, Americans ate fewer eggs and other animal products because policy makers told them that fat and cholesterol were bad for their health. Now both dogmas have been debunked in quick succession.
Op-ed: “The Last Anti-Fat Crusaders”
The low-fat-diet regimen is turning out to be based on bad science, but the USDA has been slow to catch on.
Op-ed: “Our Fear of Fat is Melting”
(CNN) — Eating fat helps heart health and weight loss, concluded a widely reported clinical trial this week.
Op-ed: “Don’t Scapegoat Big Sugar. Lots of Food Producers Profited From the Demonization of Fat.”
The recent revelation that Harvard scientists were paid off to downplay sugar’s harms in the 1960s shows how the food industry shockingly manipulated nutrition science for decades. Yet the news media has given the sugar industry too much credit. The real story about how sugar got a pass — while dietary fat and cholesterol were blamed for heart disease — reveals that other industries played a role, as did, surprisingly, many of the country’s leading scientists.
“The Science of Saturated Fat: A Big Fat Surprise About Nutrition?”
The science linking saturated fats to heart disease and other health issues has never been sound. Nina Teicholz looks at how governments started advising incorrectly on diets.
Family Circle: “Fat vs. Fiction: The Truth About Fat in Your Diet”
Investigative journalist Nina Teicholz, author of The Big Fat Surprise, explains how several shocking discoveries led her to radically change her family’s diet.
Tips on Healthy Living: “We Might Be Replacing Trans Fats With Something Much Worse”
Book Excerpt, Big Fat Surprise Today, vegetable oils such as soybean, corn, safflower, sunflower, or cottonseed oil–or “polyunsaturated fats”–are commonly used to replace trans fats. But when heated to temperatures required for frying food, these highly unstable oils can create oxidation products that are extremely toxic. From The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat & Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet.
“Heart Breaker”
More than 30 years ago, a Maryland scientist began making noise about the mortal dangers associated with trans fats. How come it took the FDA so long to tell the rest of us?
“The Questionable Link Between Saturated Fat and Heart Disease”
Weekend Opinion Piece in The Wall Street Journal
Are butter, cheese and steak really bad for you? The dubious science behind the anti-fat crusade.
“What if Bad Fat is Actually Good for You?”
For decades, Americans have been told that saturated fat clogs arteries and causes heart disease. But there’s just one problem: No one’s ever proved it.
“How We Got Red Meat Wrong”
The idea that red meat is a principal dietary culprit has pervaded our national conversation for decades. We have been led to believe that we’ve strayed from a more perfect, less meat-filled past. Most prominently, when Senator McGovern announced his Senate committee’s report, called Dietary Goals, at a press conference in 1977, he expressed a gloomy outlook about where the American diet was heading.
“The Limits of Sugar Guidelines”
Is there a danger in governments offering too-specific advice on sugar consumption?
"Outlook’s Sixth-Annual Spring Cleaning: Low-fat products"
With swimsuit season around the corner, May becomes the cruelest month, but it need not be. To ease your spring-slimming efforts, all you need to do is take one counterintuitive step: Purge the pantry of low-fat foods.
"2017 Spring Cleaning: 10 things to toss - Healthy substitutes"
Government nutrition guidelines and magazine advice columns have long promoted healthy substitutes for everyday foods. Whole industries have been built around alternate foods that are supposed to make us feel better and live longer. But in many cases, the healthiest choice is to forgo the “healthy” substitutes.
"The World According to Sam"
Discusses the unique approach of Wal-Mart supermarkets to food retailing. Shunning of the common practice of charging suppliers extra fees; Concern of some that Wal-Mart's policies may have diminished food diversity and quality; Views of George Siemon, chief executive officer of the Organic Valley of Family of Farms, a food supplier to Wal-Mart; Comments of Wal-Mart perishable food executive Bruce Peterson.
"Name That Tune Dept."
Talk story about Ed Beason, 30 and his karaoke tent in a Kosovar refugee camp...
"Table Talk"
Talk story about waiter Chris Fehlinger, formerly of Babbo, in the Village, and his efforts to get diners to order the head of a goat or headcheese... Tells about his gossipy website about local restaurants...
