Community Is an Essential Health Need

Psychologists and sociologists have long known how important a sense of belonging is for overall welfare. “[It] is a powerful, fundamental, and extremely pervasive motivation,” write the authors of an article published in Psychological Bulletin.[1] Abraham Maslow, the psychologist famous for conceptualizing the hierarchy of needs, which he published in his 1943 paper “A Theory … Continued

Social Issues

What You Order Might Be Influencing Strangers

We might expect our food choices to affect the choices of those around us and vice versa. But do we appreciate how significant this effect can be? Are some people’s dietary choices more susceptible to social influences than others? Is there a limit to that influence? These are just a few of the questions researchers … Continued

Social Issues

Plant-Based Breakfast and Brunch Ideas

Are you looking for tasty and healthy recipes to start your day? These plant-based breakfast and brunch ideas, made with minimally processed ingredients, are the perfect way to kick off your morning with energy and flavor.

In The Kitchen

Dr. Denis Burkitt: A Wide Angle View of the Proverbial Elephant

I don’t know about you, but I am still feeling rather sad about the untimely passing of Dr. McDougall. I guess I had been counting on him being around for another couple of decades. Before his passing, I’d seen only a couple interviews and had never read his books. So it felt appropriate and consoling … Continued

Nutrition Science

How Did the Carnivore Diet Become So Popular?

I recently wrote about the carnivore diet: what it is, the claimed health benefits, and what the short- and long-term evidence suggests about its healthfulness. I suggest reading that article for context before continuing here. To put it mildly, the evidence favoring a carnivore diet is not convincing. Anyone hoping for proof that this is … Continued

Nutrition Science

The Carnivore Diet: What Does the Evidence Say?

The carnivore diet is among the latest and most extreme examples of the low-carbohydrate fad, weaving together several ideas generally associated with the paleo and keto diets specifically: that some of our human ancestors relied heavily on animal products (and that animal products must, therefore, be optimal for our health), that carbohydrates are not our … Continued

Nutrition Science

Lifeless Soils Will Be the Death of Us

The world’s topsoil is endangered. About a decade ago, a senior UN official made the widely-publicized claim that this most important natural resource, on which our survival depends, will be gone within 60 years if current rates of soil loss continue.[1] “The causes of soil destruction include chemical-heavy farming techniques, deforestation which increases erosion, and … Continued

Food Sustainability

Hormone Replacement Therapy and the Opioid Epidemic: When Standard Therapies Become Dangerous

What is a standard therapy and why do we care?[1] Used interchangeably with phrases like best practice, standard medical care, standard therapy, and standard of care, this term refers to “the degree of care a prudent and reasonable person would exercise under the circumstances.”[2] In medicine, it is what medical experts and healthcare professionals generally … Continued

Nutrition Science

Three Often Overlooked Hazards of Animal Agriculture

Many people know that animal agriculture is far less environmentally sustainable and that diets containing excessive amounts of animal-based foods compromise our health in numerous ways. Most of our resources at the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies (CNS) relate to these concerns (you can learn more about Food and Sustainability or Plant-Based Nutrition … Continued

Food Sustainability