Nutrition and Diet

If the nitrites in foods like ham and bacon cause lung damage, what about “uncured” meat with “no nitrites added”? “Recently, the World Health Organization (WHO) classified processed meat as carcinogenic to humans.” Also known as cured meat, such as bacon, ham, hot dogs, lunch meat, and sausage, processed meat is definitively cancer-causing. What’s more, […] More

There is a toxin in lychee fruit that can be harmful, but is it harmful only under certain circumstances? Lychee fruits have been widely used in many cultures for the folk medicine treatment of everything from farting to testicular swelling. (Arsenic, mercury, and lead are also included in many “traditional” remedies.) Lychees have also apparently […] More

CHEAT ON BASIC DESSERTS WITH QUESTIFIED CHOCOLATE EXPLOSION MINI TRIFLES. Clear the area! This recipe is about to detonate. We’re predicting massive amounts of cravings from smooth whipped cream cheese, sugar-free dark chocolate, and of course—Quest Overload Chocolate Explosion Protein Bars. Things are about to get seriously chocolatey. Not to mention the protein. So grab […] More

Clinical trials on Quorn show that it can improve satiety and help control cholesterol, blood sugar, and insulin levels. You may have heard about meats made from wheat protein (like Field Roast sausages and Upton’s bacon seitan), meats made from soybean protein (like the Impossible Whopper and Gardein’s wings), and meats made from pea protein […] More

Laboratory models suggest that extreme doses of heme iron may be detrimental, but what about the effects of nutritional doses in humans? In muscle meat, there is a heme protein that contributes to, well, the meaty taste of meat. There’s also a heme protein in the roots of soybean plants that can be churned out […] More

Is heme just an innocent bystander in the link between meat intake and breast cancer, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and high blood pressure? In an editorial in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the chair of nutrition at Harvard pointed out that many plant-based meats, such as burgers made by Beyond Meat and Impossible […] More

The influenza virus has existed for millions of years as an innocuous intestinal virus of wild ducks. What turned a harmless waterborne duck virus into a killer? In his classic book Bird Flu: A Virus of Our Own Hatching, Michael Greger, M.D. FACLM, founder of NutritionFacts.org and New York Times Best-Selling author, traces the human […] More

There are so many ways we eat potatoes—baked, mashed, hashed, fried, scalloped, roasted, and more—but should we be eating them at all? Potatoes and Diabetes In 2006, the Harvard Nurses’ Health Study, which had followed the diets and diseases of tens of thousands of women for 20 years, found that greater potato intake was associated […] More

CHEAT ON ORDINARY SNACK MIX WITH QUESTIFIED COOKIE COMMOTION SNACK MIX. We’ve all been there—trapped in a middle seat, clutching a tiny package of airline snack mix, and contemplating the choices that led us to this moment. This snack mix recipe is the upgrade we’ve all been waiting for. Complete with crunchy chocolate peanut butter […] More

CHEAT ON CONVENTIONAL COOKIES WITH QUESTIFIED PEANUT BUTTER S’MORE PROTEIN COOKIES. S’mores have spent their entire existence tied to camping. But what if we freed them? What if we let them be their best selves—anytime, anywhere? That’s exactly what this recipe does. We’re talking melty sugar-free chocolate, toasted marshmallow, and a sprinkle of graham cracker […] More

What are the effects of plant-based meats on premature puberty, childhood obesity, and hip fracture risk? As noted in an editorial in the Journal of the American Medical Association on plant-based meats, if you look only at the nutrition facts information for a conventional burger versus a Beyond Meat or Impossible Burger, as seen here […] More

What are the different impacts of plant protein versus animal protein, and do the benefits of plant proteins translate to plant protein isolates? Are plant-based burgers healthy or not? The answer is: Compared to what? Eating is kind of a zero-sum game where every food has an opportunity cost. Each time we put something in […] More