Eating once a day

Have all of your friends ever been obsessed with a TV show you've never seen? When you hang out, they laugh about the most recent episode, quote their favorite characters, and compare theories about the season finale—and you just sit there.  That's how I felt whenever my friends talked about Wellness Formula , a supplement made by a company called Source Naturals. It claims to "support the immune system when under physical stress" through a "powerful combination of herbs, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals formulated to boost your well-being." My friends (and I'm hoping I can still call them that after this article!), swear by it—and to me, it sounds like bullshit.  Nonetheless, about a week ago, I woke up on a Sunday morning with a sore throat, and my friends had that look in their eyes—the Wellness Formula look. "That stuff is just a placebo," I told them. They disagreed. "It's not approved by the FDA," I said. They were unfa...

For years, public health officials have urged Americans to cut back on eating red meat and processed meats due to cardiovascular health, cancer risk, and other health concerns. But now, a new report from a panel of researchers is saying otherwise—and it’s causing confusion. The new guidelines, released Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine , say that there’s no need to cut back on red and processed meats. This advice comes from fourteen researchers from seven countries, who looked at previously published studies to assess the links between red and processed meats and the risks of heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. From that information, they concluded that the quality of the evidence connecting red meat to disease was low to very low. The researchers also looked at consumers’ attitudes toward eating red and processed meats. They found that people enjoy it, and are reluctant to reduce their consumption. Based on their analysis they say that most adults should continue to eat th...