All Videos for Industry Influence

What Are the Best Foods?

A review of reviews on the health effects of animal foods versus plant foods.



Pandemics: History and Prevention

How to treat the cause by preventing the emergence of pandemic viruses in the first place (a video I recorded more than a decade ago when I was Public Health Director at the HSUS in Washington DC).



What Are the Best Beverages?

A review of reviews on the health effects of tea, coffee, milk, wine, and soda.



Kids’ Breakfast Cereals as Nutritional Façade

Plastering front-of-package nutrient claims on cereal boxes is an attempt to distract from the incongruity of feeding our children multicolored marshmallows for breakfast.



The Recommended Daily Added Sugar Intake

Public health authorities continue to drop the upper tolerable limit of daily added sugar intake.



Is Skipping Breakfast Better for Weight Loss?

Breakthroughs in the field of chronobiology—the study of our circadian rhythms—help solve the mystery of the missing morning calories in breakfast studies.



Are Fortified Kids’ Breakfast Cereals Healthy or Just Candy?

The industry’s response to the charge that breakfast cereals are too sugary.



Does Sugar Lead to Weight Gain?

The sugar industry’s response to evidence implicating sweeteners in the obesity epidemic.



Highlights from the 2020 Dietary Guidelines Hearing

I was honored to testify before the US government’s Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. Check out the video to see my speech and a few of my favorite excerpts.



Are Weight-Loss Pills Effective?

Studies show many doctors tend to overestimate the amount of weight loss caused by obesity drugs or were simply clueless.



Are Weight-Loss Pills Safe?

Why don’t more people take the weight loss medications currently on the market?



A Political Lesson on the Power of the Food Industry

The amazing story about what lobbying millions can do to shut down efforts to protect children.



Which Is a Better Breakfast: Cereal or Oatmeal?

The remarkable impact of the structure of food beyond nutritional content or composition.



Sugar Industry Attempts to Manipulate the Science

How the food industry responds to “health food faddists.”



Pesticides in Marijuana

The biggest barrier to reducing toxic pesticides in cannabis is, not surprisingly, the cannabis industry itself.



Is Butter Really Back? What the Science Says

Is butter—and other saturated fats—bad for you or not?



Is Lipstick Safe Given the Lead Contamination?

Dozens of lipsticks and lip glosses are put to the test.



How the Dairy Industry Designs Misleading Studies

How the meat and dairy industries design studies showing their products have neutral or even beneficial effects on cholesterol and inflammation.



Is Cheese Healthy? Compared to What?

Dairy is compared to other foods for cardiovascular (heart attack and stroke) risk.



Is Cheese Really Bad for You?

What about the recent studies that show cheese has neutral or positive health effects?



Are Acid-Blocking Drugs Safe?

Do the benefits outweigh the risks for acid-blocker drugs (proton pump inhibitors like Nexium/Prilosec/Prevacid)? What about baking soda?



The Best Advice on Diet and Cancer

What does the best available balance of evidence say right now about what to eat and what to avoid to reduce your risk of cancer?



Is Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity Real?

There have been at least 46 studies involving more than a thousand people to see if those suffering from electrosensitivity are deluding themselves.



Are Apples the Best Food for a Better Sex Life in Women?

Addyi (flibanserin), the drug marketed for “hypoactive sexual desire disorder,” is ineffective and unsafe. What about dietary approaches for female sexual dysfunction?



Marijuana Legalization and the Opioid Epidemic

What happened in states after medical marijuana laws were passed? Did opioid overdoses go up, stay the same, or go down?



The Effects of Avocados on Inflammation

High-fat plant foods—avocados, peanuts, and walnuts—and olive oil are put to the test.



Does an Apple a Day Really Keep the Doctor Away?

Which would save more lives: eating an apple a day or taking statin drugs?



Will Cannabis Turn Into Big Tobacco?

There are some serious public health concerns about the legalization of marijuana, but they’re probably not what you might expect.



Are Sports Drinks Safe and Effective?

Commercial influences may have corrupted the American College of Sports Medicine’s hydration guidelines.



Do Mobile Phones Affect Brain Function?

The World Health Organization concluded that cell phone radiation may cause brain tumors, but what about effects on cognitive function?



Do Any Benefits of Alcohol Outweigh the Risks?

What would happen if you effectively randomized people at birth to drink more or less alcohol their whole lives? Would they get more or less heart disease?



Is It Better to Drink a Little Alcohol Than None at All?

Even if alcohol causes cancer and there is no “French paradox,” what about the famous J-shaped curve, where excessive drinking is bad, but light drinkers appear to have lower mortality than abstainers?



The Best Source of Resveratrol

Is there any benefit to resveratrol? If so, should we get it from wine, grapes, peanuts, or supplements?



Can Alcohol Cause Cancer?

If even light drinking can cause cancer, why don’t doctors warn their patients about it?



Does Chocolate Cause Acne?

What are the effects of dairy products, sugar, and chocolate on the formation of pimples?



The Pros and Cons of Mammograms

Fact boxes can quantify benefits and harms in a clear and accessible format.



Why Patients Aren’t Informed About Mammograms

If doctors don’t understand health statistics, how can they possibly properly counsel patients?



Do Cell Phones Lower Sperm Counts?

What is the effect of cell phone radiation on sperm motility and DNA damage?



Women Deserve to Know the Truth About Mammograms

What do nine in ten women say they were never told about mammograms, even though they thought they had the right to know?



Do Mammograms Save Lives?

For every life saved by mammography, as many as two to ten women are overdiagnosed and unnecessarily turned into breast cancer patients—and let’s not overlook all of the attendant harms of chemo, radiation, or surgery without the benefits.