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Thanks to the dubiously identified "buddy" of Redditor DJDanaK, the world now knows what "raw McRib meat" looks like, stripped of its plush bun, special sauce, and sliced onion. Since many manufacturers produce boneless, mechanically separated "rib" products, the exact provenance of this particular mystery-meat specimen is the subject of ongoing debate deep within the Reddit trenches at this very moment.

Recently, I was the lead author on a paper demonstrating that about 40 years and many millions of dollars of US nutritional surveillance data were fatally flawed. In most research domains, such a finding might be monumental; yet in nutrition epidemiology—the study of the impact of diet on health, hereafter referred to simply as “nutrition”—these results are commonplace. In fact, there is a large body of evidence demonstrating that the systematic misreporting of energy and macronutrient intake renders the results and conclusions of the vast majority of federally funded nutrition studies invalid. So what is going on? Is such research...

Prohibition: Washington is moving to ban trans fats. The obvious question, of course, is what will it ban next? If it can outlaw trans fats, it can outlaw anything. Is taking away choice what we want government to do? Trans fats, also called partially hydrogenated oils by many, have been in our foods for decades. These artificial fats help extend shelf life and in some cases simply make food taste better. Activists, though, tell us they're not healthy. We're not going to debate the issue. The health concerns of trans fats are not the point. But this is: Where does...

McAllen, Tex. — They were already running late for a doctor’s appointment, but first the Salas family hurried into their kitchen for another breakfast paid for by the federal government. The 4-year-old grabbed a bag of cheddar-flavored potato chips and a granola bar. The 9-year-old filled a bowl with sugary cereal and then gulped down chocolate milk. Their mother, Blanca, arrived at the refrigerator and reached into the drawer where she stored the insulin needed to treat her diabetes. She filled a needle with fluid and injected it into her stomach with a practiced jab.“Let’s go,” she told the children,...

Nutrition is full of all kinds of nonsense. The worst examples are listed here, but unfortunately this is just the tip of the iceberg. Here are the top 13 nutrition lies that have made the world both sick and fat. Eggs are so incredibly nutritious that they’re often called “nature’s multivitamin.”The nutrients in them are enough to turn a single cell into an entire baby chicken.However, eggs have been demonized in the past because they contain a large amount of cholesterol, which was believed to increase the risk of heart disease.But the truth is that despite being high in cholesterol,...

Once, pasta and bread were store cupboard staples. Now, many of us are replacing them with ‘healthier’ gluten-free foods. But are they really better for us? ... The new ubiquity of gluten-free products certainly makes life much easier for sufferers of coeliac disease, an auto-immune response to wheat where the body believes wrongly that gluten is attacking it... But coeliacs make up only one in 100 of the population ... Nutritionist Ian Marber agrees that yeast, not gluten, may be the real culprit... Marber acknowledges that gluten intolerance does exist, but probably in fewer cases than is generally believed. ......

The change doesn’t affect Kraft’s plain elbow-shaped macaroni and cheese with “original flavor.” Kraft’s new recipes, which begin shipping early next year, will be for its macaroni and cheese varieties that come in the SpongeBob Squarepants, Halloween and winter shapes. Two new shapes will also be added. The company said it plans to replace the artificial dyes with spices such as paprika for coloring.

Tony the Tiger is not doing so grrrrreat... Kellogg Co, the world's largest maker of breakfast cereals, says it will cut about 7 percent of its workforce and slash capacity by 2017, after reporting another quarterly decline in sales in its cereals business. The company's cereals business has been battling stiff competition from General Mills and private-label cereal brands. Increasing popularity of yoghurt, frozen egg sandwiches and other breakfast items has also hit the business. Sales at Kellogg's U.S. morning foods business, which includes cereals such as All-Bran, Coco Pops and Froot Loops, fell 2.2 percent in the third quarter....

Minor explained how he won a major grant – some $317,742 -- from the federal government, despite the fact that his church is small. “I applied for it.” His church has approximately 100 members. The church kitchen carries a sign reading, “No Fry Zone.” Minor said, “It’s a symbol, especially with people of color. You’ve got to rally around symbols.” Minor says he has built a network of 75 to 100 navigators and counselors to work the Obamacare system. “We feel like once you get people in churches and families, they will become de facto navigators,” Minor explained.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) extolled a local elementary school in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. for making its students try broccoli gratin, Tuscan kale, and beet hummus, as an example of the department’s efforts to fight obesity. Clinton Elementary School held a “taste test” to preview food that will soon appear on the lunch menu, and was highlighted by USDA for its healthy eating efforts. The Poughkeepsie City school district received a $100,000 grant from the USDA for its “farm to school project,” which it is using to add items such as “butternut squash puree” to school menus. The funding was...

In an essay "Freedom of the Press" George Orwell wrote presciently about the dangers of a press too bound to prevailing orthodoxy to print anything else: "Unpopular ideas can be silenced, and inconvenient facts kept dark, without the need for any official ban. Anyone who has lived long in a foreign country will know of instances of sensational items of news -- things which on their own merits would get the big headlines -- being kept right out of the British press, not because the Government intervened but because of a general tacit agreement that "it wouldn't do" to mention...

First lady Michelle Obama is poised for a second appearance on “The Biggest Loser,”NBC’s reality show to help contestants lose weight. Her reason for doing the show? To promote her campaign for the need to drink more water, The Hill reported.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been hit with two suits this week, one demanding information on his anti-gun campaign, and the other targeting his soda and fat bans. Both are Freedom of Information lawsuits from Washington groups that charge the mayor's office with delaying release of critical information about his efforts to start a national campaign to limit guns and boost the health value of food sold in cities. The public watchdog group Judicial Watch on Thursday filed their suit demanding emails between Bloomberg's office, his group Mayors Against Illegal Guns and Vice President Biden. The group charges that...

Contact: Jeff Stenslandstenslan@mailbox.sc.edu 803-777-3686University of South Carolina 40 years of federal nutrition research fatally flawed University of South Carolina study shows flaws in NHANES data Four decades of nutrition research funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) may be invalid because the method used to collect the data was seriously flawed, according to a new study by the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina. The study, led by Arnold School exercise scientist and epidemiologist Edward Archer, has demonstrated significant limitations in the measurement protocols used in the National Health and Nutrition Examination...

McDonald's will offer side salads and fruit as an option in its value meals in its bigger markets, and will also begin pushing healthier drinks for its Happy Meals. The moves are part of a number of health-centric global initiatives the chain announced today with the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, a non-profit founded by the Clinton Foundation and the American Heart Association to reduce childhood obesity.

Coming soon to a supermarket near you, jars of tofu and packaged bean sprouts plastered with pictures of Michelle and Barack Obama. In Michelle Obama’s resurrected Let’s Move Campaign, a private session, organized by both the first lady’s office—and the president’s policy advisors—now positions Michelle Obama as the facilitator of debate urging food industry executives to increase their advertising of healthful products for kids. (Los Angeles Times). With zero credentials as a schooled Nutritionist, Michelle Obama wants to drive cartoon characters promoting children’s’ food straight out of the public marketplace. “You all know that our kids are like little sponges....

The first time Margaret Dron organized the Gluten Free Expo early last year, it was inside the gymnasium of a small community centre in east Vancouver. She had recruited one volunteer, two speakers, 38 vendors and expected 500 attendees. There was no entrance fee—instead, people were to bring gluten-free goods for the local food bank; three boxes were set aside for the collection. Six hours later, more than 3,000 people had turned out, and the volunteer had to call a one-tonne truck to pick up the donations. In one Sunday afternoon, Dron realized, “there is some serious potential here. So...

Mice that could not make or metabolize the sugar gained less than normal mice. Mice lacking the ability to metabolize fructose don’t gain nearly as much weight as normal mice do, researchers report September 10 in Nature Communications. Fructose, which some people blame for the obesity epidemic and its related health crises (SN: 6/1/13, p. 22), shows up in high-fructose corn syrup and in table sugar, or sucrose. The body also makes home-grown fructose by modifying glucose in a process involving an enzyme called aldose reductase.

A British woman credits in vitro fertilization (IVF) -- aided by daily breakfasts of sausage McMuffins to help carry her triplets to full term -- after failing for 10 years to get pregnant the old-fashioned way. Vegetarian Laura Dixon, 34, and husband Tim, 34, of Essex, tried three times with IVF to have a family, but was unsuccessful twice; the first attempt was abandoned and the second try ending in a heartbreaking miscarriage after eight weeks, SWNS.com reports. Laura was in her third round of IVF when she conceived and decided to boost her odds of carrying to full term...

Is sugar toxic and the cause of the obesity epidemic? Here’s a great new video called Toxic Sugar. It’s a recent segment from the major Australian science program Catalyst, on ABC. It’s arguably the best 18-minute introduction ever made on the true causes of the obesity epidemic. The program features the #1 enemy of the sugar industry: professor Robert Lustig. Also appearing: science writer Gary Taubes and obesity expert professor Michael Crowley. See it and then tell your friends. This needs to be seen by a lot of people