Lecture 4 - Biology, Nutrition and Health II: What Helps Us and Hurts Us

Professor Brownell reviews the challenges inherent in research assessing the link between diet and health, and the challenges of basing a diet upon different dietary recommendations. Fundamental information on nutrition is presented, as well as how our current diet suggests we are eating too much or too little of different classes of sugars and fats. Reading assignment: Kher, Unmesh. "Target: Trans Fats -- How Foodmakers Are Scrambling to Rid Their Tried-and-True Recipes of an Artery-Clogging Fat." Time, 24 October 2005 Pollan, Michael. In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto, Section I, Introduction, chapters 1 and 2 (pp. 1-15 and 19-32) Willett, Walter C. and Meir J. Stampfer. "Rebuilding the Food Pyramid." Scientific American, 288 (2003), pp. 64-71