The 37 most controversial issues in nutrition on which to debate, research, produce videos, or write

April 8, 2:39 PMSacramento Nutrition ExaminerAnne Hart

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What do you think are the most controversial issues today in nutrition and in the media that are brought to your attention but rarely solved? These problems come up frequently in debates, mass media, research, and in documentary videos on food. Maybe you have a term paper, report, or thesis to write or need to make a speech or raise funds. However you use these topics, they are urgent and controversial in the field of nutrition, business, and medicine. To explore some of these nutrition controversies, see the  Food Information Council (IFIC) Media Guide.

1. Food Misinformation in the Media.
2. Does the FDA Protect the Public?
3. Can You Blindly Trust Big Business, Food Companies, Prescription and Over-the-Counter Drug Manufacturers, Vitamin and Nutritional Supplement Firms, and the Government?
4. What’s the Way the Public Thinks about Nutrition in Different Countries?
5. Can Your Diet be Tailored or Customized to Your Genetic Signature?
6. Is the Mercury in Canned Fish or Farmed Fish Safe to Eat?
7. Are your Amalgam-Silver Fillings Full of Mercury and Affecting Your Health?
8. What Can You Do About Childhood Obesity?
9. Are Nutrition Journalists Taken as Seriously as Licensed Nutrition Healthcare Professionals?
10. What Kind of Fats and Oils are Healthiest?
11. Does Homogenized Milk Scar the Inside of Arteries? What about Pasteurized milk?
12. Science Versus Nature in Nutrition.
13. Is Bottled Water Safe?
14. Fad diets versus nutrition research by scientists.
15. Does a High-Carbohydrate Diet Contribute to the Formation of Cataracts in Women?
16. Taking Control of Health Through Food Choices, Activity, and Exercise.
17. Sugar or Sweeteners Added to Foods for Taste.
18. Genetically-Engineered Vegetables and Cloned Farm Livestock.
19. Putting in Perspective Scientific Reporting and Risk Communication in Health News Stories.
20. Establishing Scientific Basis to Support Claims for Health.
21. Reversals of New Studies Regarding Food Benefits.
22. Newspapers Devoting Less Space to In-Depth Nutrition Reporting.
23. General Assignment Reporters Having Not Enough Training in Explaining the Importance and Meaning of Scientific Research in Plain Language.
24. Reliance By Media on Experts with No Knowledge of How to Verify or See Flaws in the Expert’s Explanation.
25. Reporting in the Media Differences of Opinion within the Scientific Community.
26. Scientists Not Sharing Findings in Different Fields that Affect Nutrition.
27. Reporting Functional Foods Providing Health Benefits Beyond Basic Nutrition.
28. Food Labeling Issues (missing ingredients from labels such as ‘spices’ meaning MSG rather than a natural spice such as garlic powder.)
29. Claims of a developing relationship between components in a diet and the risk of disease, as approved by the FDA and supported by credible scientific evidence. (How large is the size of the body of research needed in order to confirm health benefits?)
30. Consumer confidence in the scientific criteria used to document health effects. If the consumer has no scientific training, what method is used to gain consumer confidence? Is that method verifiable? By whom?
31. Issues of Mad cow disease, prions transmitted from animals to humans, hog-related influenzas and pneumonias that people can catch, and avian (bird) flu which is transmittable to humans handling the birds or poultry. Dog flu is under scientific study.
32. Soy protein: Does it cause health problems or is it healthy and may reduce risk of heart disease? Does it help prevent bone loss? Or does it over stimulate the thyroid? Is soy milk safe to drink or not? What is the ongoing debate about, and what are the issues and evidence? How much soy should or should not be consumed for what types of health effects?
33. Food allergies affects six to seven million Americans, according to the Food Information Council's (IFIC's) publication, titled, the Media Guide . See the IFIC Foundation Media Guide, chapter nine, page 1 titled, "What should be on food labels?"
34. Too much added salt to processed, packaged foods and restaurant foods.
35. Too many added sweeteners to processed, packaged foods and restaurant foods.
36. Trans-Fats added to packaged, processed, or prepared and restaurant foods and issues regarding the effects on health of eating trans-fats.
37. World hunger versus zero-risk food safety for health and longevity.