Kevin Klatt, PhD, RD

Michele Simon, a public health lawyer and advocate , recently published an expose of the ties between the American Society for Nutrition (ASN) and certain industries - you can find the full report here . The report caused quite the stir on twitter, getting play from the MotherJones ,  ScientificAmerican , and the accolades of a number of twitter celebs. Yoni Freedhoff kindly tweeted the report, suggesting that Ms Simon is only 'questioning' the ties between ASN and industry; alas, reading the report shows that much more than just 'questioning' is going on here - the title alone speaks to that': "Nutrition Scientists on the Take from Big Food - Has the American Society for Nutrition lost all credibility?" As Andrew Kniss pointed out on twitter, ASN being "on the take" is quite the accusation. The report won't surprise anyone who has followed Ms Simon in the past. She wrote a similar report about the Academy of Nutrition and Dieteti...

I see Netflix documentaries as 'teachable' moments, but likely not for the reason that most would presume. I use Netflix documentaries to teach skepticism. Often, I have friends or acquaintances ask me if I saw "XYZ" documentary on Netflix, and how it inspired them to make "ABC" lifestyle change (which may or may not have been meaningful). When they ask me what I think of it, my response is usually "You should follow a Netflix documentary diet, where you only eat things that are Netflix documentary approved". This tends to get me a puzzled look, to which I respond, "think about it - follow a diet that complies only with those foods that every Netflix documentary says is okay and let me know how that turns out". At this point, the other individual usually giggles and gets my point: if you take Netflix documentaries about food as fact, you'll be left eating gusts of wind for breakfast lunch and dinner. OKAY - I'm being a bit hyperbo...