Advice about diet and health is extraordinarily controversial for reasons
of science and politics. Human nutritional science is difficult to conduct and interpret.
Advice about what to eat affects the ability of food companies to sell products. The
result is cacophony in the marketplace and unnecessary confusion about dietary matters.
Will better science solve this problem? Does the food industry have a role to play in
promoting healthful food choices? Or are food companies analogous to cigarette companies
in the way they deal with nutrition advocacy? Food expert Marion Nestle addresses such questions
through relevant examples in this presentation. Nestle is Paulette Goddard Professor in the Department
of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University, which she chaired
from 1988-2003. She is also Professor of Sociology at NYU and Visiting Professor of
Nutritional Sciences at Cornell. She is the author of three prize-winning books:
Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health; Safe Food: The
Politics of Food Safety; and What to Eat. She also has written two books about pet food,
Pet Food Politics: The Chihuahua in the Coal Mine and Feed Your Pet Right (with Malden
Nesheim). Her most recent book, released in March 2012, is Why Calories Count: From
Science to Politics (also with Dr. Nesheim).