Healthy interactions

Dr. Marion Nestle blogs and responds

By Mark Douglas

August 10, 2007

There’s plenty of information out there about food. But it’s not always easy to separate the wheat from the chaff, as it were.

Doing an excellent job of separating is Dr. Marion Nestle, author of What to Eat, Safe Food, and Food Politics. I’ve been a fan of hers for some time, but really got hooked while sharing a ride to an airport with her last spring; we talked about which food questions she thought were generally answered inadequately, or just went unanswered.

Personally, what I love about her is that she’s not only an academic, nutritionist, and researcher, but she’s also a pragmatist who asks good questions. Her most recent book, What to Eat, tackles what she sees as the root causes of unhealthy eating; it also provides options and opens a space for dialogue.

The other day, via our friends at the Ethicurean, I came across Nestle’s new blog, the What to Eat Blog. Yet again, I’m impressed. Nestle uses her blog as a chance to address real questions and raise new ones.

Almost every day, there’s something new she’s pulled from a reader question. Today’s question, for example, is about fructose (“Is fructose the real evil?”), and Nestle’s response is both academic (she tells you where to look this info up in What to Eat) and handy (she gives a quick breakdown of sugar types and how they work in the body). And there’s no dull science here; as Nestle writes, wryly, “A little sugar makes foods taste good; a lot adds calories that nobody needs these days.”

Nestle’s blog is always a nice, quick, and thought-provoking read. Check it out, bookmark it, or add it to your RSS feed. You might really enjoy it as well.

Elsewhere on Culinate: An article reminding readers to read food labels.