Garrett Broad

@garrettbroad.bsky.social

5655 Followers 1063 Following

Faculty at Rowan University. Researcher & teacher focused on food systems/sustainability, media/technology, public opinion/social movements, animals/alternative proteins. Philly/South Jersey guy. Soft pretzel aficionado. Opinions mine. garrettbroad.com

TABLE 2 Levels of influence, key influences, and operative questions. Level of influence Key influences Operative questions Micro-level Knowledge, attitudes, and values; food preferences and previous experience; assessment of innovation’s qualities, risks, and benefits; close social network ties; media diet; demographic, cultural, and financial characteristics. What do I and the people I trust think about PBMAs? Does my everyday life promote positive, negative, or no engagement with PBMAs? Meso-level Social norms; community food environment; innovation accessibility; extended social network ties; information ecosystem; community demographics, culture, and financial characteristics. What do the people in the communities that matter to me think about PBMAs? Do my communities promote positive, negative, or no engagement with PBMAs? Macro-level Dominant ideologies; economics and public policies; food system supply chains; innovation and technology infrastructures; environment and climate; societal demographics, culture, and financial characteristics. What does society think about PBMAs? Does society promote positive, negative, or no engagement with PBMAs?
TABLE 1 Overview of thematic findings. Thematic focus area Core insights Prominent sub-themes Innovation Differentiation: Domains, Categories, Products Innovation perceptions and adoption are contingent, with assessments shaped by perceived characteristics of the innovation, adopter preferences and heuristics, and a range of environmental factors. General rejection of blanket “pro” or “anti” innovation identity. Intersecting influences of direct experience, interpersonal networks, media, finances, and contextual settings. Contradictions and discontinuities in rationales, both across and within innovation sectors. Considering Food Innovation Consumers’ level of involvement with food, combined with their openness to innovativeness versus tradition, tends to structure perceptions of novel foods, but adoption behaviors remain conditional and subject to classic influences on food choice. Ideological commitments exist on a continuum from firmly held to backgrounded. Realities of food availability, price, and family preferences often prove determinative. Conflicted feelings about modern food systems, with appreciation for scale and consistency but concerns about ultra-processing. Plant-Based Meat Innovation Perceptions and adoption behaviors emerge through the interaction of micro-level preferences, meso-level norms, and macro-level discourses, with product-specific assessments often disconnected from general ideological stances on food system innovation. Widespread concerns about ultra-processing, but brushed aside by consumers who endorse gustatory, social, or ethical value of PBMAs. Rejection of PBMAs from consumers of varied eating behaviors, with strongest expressions from those who object to the politics of veganism or economics of food tech. Confusion and lack of familiarity with technologies and terminologies across the alternative protein and meat production sectors.
Nova group 4 is a broad range of products that vary widely in composition, processing, and nutrient profiles. Some UPFs (eg, yoghurts, breakfast cereals, and packaged breads) might be superior than others (eg, soft drinks, cookies, and reconstituted meat products). However, within each category of food, the composition and processing characteristics of ultra-processed versions make them inferior to their non-ultra-processed counterparts. For instance, ultra-processed yoghurts—often made from skimmed milk powder, modified starches, sugar or non-sugar sweeteners, emulsifiers, flavourings, and colourings—are inferior to plain yoghurts with fresh fruits. Ultra-processed breakfast cereals, made from sugar, extruded starches, and additives, are inferior to minimally processed steel-cut oats. Ultra-processed wholewheat breads, made with refined flour, added bran and germ, and emulsifiers, are inferior to processed breads made with wholewheat flour and without emulsifiers. Soft drinks are clearly less healthy than water or pasteurised, 100% fruit juices; cookies less healthy than fruits and nuts; and reconstituted meat products less healthy than freshly prepared meat dishes. Possible exceptions—such as ultra-processed infant formulas compared with minimally processed cow's milk (although not human milk), or ultra-processed plant-based burgers compared with processed meat burgers (though not processed tofu or tempeh)—do not invalidate the general rule that ultra-processed versions of foods are inferior to their non-ultra-processed counterparts. This rule is what supports the hypotheses that the displacement of dietary patterns based on Nova groups 1–3 by the ultra-processed pattern is linked to worsening diet quality and an increased risk of multiple diseases.
@calleymeans on X writes: The cancer rate for the Amish is 40% lower than the general population. Why? Followed by screenshot of article from PubMed Central that writes: The age-adjusted cancer incidence rate for all cancers among the Amish adults was 60% of the age-adjusted adult rate in Ohio (389.5/105 vs. 646.9/105; p < 0.0001). The incidence rate for
Supplementary Table 26: Pictures of meals and snacks of the provided MPF and UPF diets. MPF diet *Participants provided with multiple fruits on the diet. Apples and bananas pictured for menus as example fruits. UPF diet *Participants provided with squash and artificially- sweetened beverages to consume at their discretion. Breakfast Cinnamon and apple overnight oats Breakfast Oat and fruit bars
Supplementary Table 15: Diet ratings by randomisation arm
Supplementary Table 9: ITT: Unadjusted self-reported dietary intakes at baseline, week 4 and week 8 on each ad libitum diet.
Fig. 2: Percent weight change on MPF and UPF diets. From: Ultraprocessed or minimally processed diets following healthy dietary guidelines on weight and cardiometabolic health: a randomized, crossover trial
Fig. 1: UPDATE study design, measurement timepoints and CONSORT diagram. From: Ultraprocessed or minimally processed diets following healthy dietary guidelines on weight and cardiometabolic health: a randomized, crossover trial
Email newsletter from Dr Mark Hyman reads:Hi there, If you come across a social media ad featuring Dr. Hyman interviewing Rebel Wilson about a so-called “strange gelatin trick”—that she used to lose 68 pounds in 77 days—please know: It’s completely fake. This ad is a scam. It uses AI-generated video to create the illusion that Dr. Hyman is endorsing a product that he would never recommend—and didn’t even know existed until members of this community brought it to our attention. The video claims that using this product will “burn 15, 20, or even 35 pounds in the next 30 days” with Dr. Hyman’s cloned voice saying, “I will tear up my diploma if that doesn’t happen.” None of this is true. The footage may look convincing because it pulls from real clips of Dr. Hyman with guests like Gwyneth Paltrow and Dwayne Johnson, and stitches them together with fabricated audio and fake product claims. It also alters footage of Kelly Clarkson, Dr. Oz, and others. It’s an entirely made-up 50-minute narrative (yes, 50 minutes!) that sends you to websites to buy products such “Harmo Slim,” “Lean Vance,” “Gluco Elixir,” and probably many more. Dr. Hyman does not endorse these products, is not affiliated with them in any way, and has never recommended them. Unfortunately, these kinds of AI-driven scams are becoming more common—and more convincing. If you see this ad or others like it, you can help put an end to it by reporting it. How to report it on Instagram and Facebook: Tap the three dots in the top right of the ad. Tap “Report Ad” Select “Scam, fraud, or impersonation” Tap “Impersonation” or “Fraud” (either work!) Then select “Fake celebrity endorsement.” We appreciate your help in shutting down this despicable business practice. If you’re ever unsure about whether something is truly coming from Dr. Hyman, you can always reach out to us at support@drhyman.com. Thank you for helping us protect the integrity of Dr. Hyman’s work—and for looking out for others wh…
With 92% votes in, Mamdan leads Cuomo 49%-32% in Brooklyn.
Industry News - AM China tariffs halt U.S. red meat trade, risking billions: USMEF By Chris Moore on 4/28/2025 Retaliatory tariffs from China have effectively halted U.S. beef and pork exports, according to the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF). USMEF Vice President of Economic Analysis Erin Borror said China’s effective duty rate on U.S. pork and pork variety meats has reached 172%, while U.S. beef and beef variety meats are facing a 147% tariff. She warned that losing access to China puts more than $150 per fed steer or heifer at risk and could cost the pork industry about $8 to $10 per head in export value. "There's a mad scramble to find new homes for products specifically produced and labeled for China," Borror said. "Without China's demand, we’re looking at industry losses of about $4 billion annually for beef and $1 billion for pork." Borror added that China is a unique market, purchasing specific beef and pork items at premiums other buyers are unwilling to match. Products like short plate, rib fingers, pork feet and intestines are particularly difficult to reroute to other destinations. Adding to the challenge, China has failed to renew export registrations for about 400 U.S. beef facilities and nine pork plants, further restricting shipments. Borror emphasized that even if tariffs are lifted, the lack of renewed facility approvals would continue to block most U.S. red meat exports to China.
Don’t Be a Victim Fighting Back Against America's Crime Wave By Nancy Grace
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/07/well/marion-nestle-nutrition-food-profile.html Dr. Nestle is still trying to make sense of the about-face by the right and how she should respond to it. Mr. Kennedy’s tendency to go against scientific consensus would seem in conflict with her own evidence-based approach. But she has not offered a full-on condemnation of the health secretary, to the frustration of some of her adherents. Dr. Nestle recently received a “hate letter,” she told me, for not criticizing Mr. Kennedy’s stance toward vaccinations. The dietitian Christy Harrison, who credits Dr. Nestle as a major influence early in her career, has vocalized her disappointment. “I get the impression that Nestle is fiddling over the details of Kennedy’s diet-culture plans while he burns our public-health capacities to the ground,” Ms. Harrison wrote recently in her newsletter. But Dr. Nestle has never tailored her views to suit what’s popular, and she doesn’t appear poised to start. “I’m going to support what I support and I’ll oppose what I oppose, and we’ll see where that goes,” she said.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/11/21/michael-pollan-not-endorsing-rfk-00190878 I want to start with the American Conservative article that you posted. Where might you and others on the left have some common ground with RFK, Jr.? I make a pretty sharp distinction between his medical ideas, which I think are really unsound and dangerous, and his critique of the food system, which has many elements I completely agree with. I think it’s, on balance, a good thing that he’s raised these issues during the campaign and during the transition. What I have in mind is things like trying to get ultra-processed food out of school lunch. We’re feeding food we know to be unhealthy and dangerous to our children routinely. We subsidize the building blocks of fast food by subsidizing corn and soy and monocultural farming. He’s concerned about additives in the food. We have very loose regulation of what kinds of additives you can put in food, but the whole reason you need any additives in food is because you’re processing it, and you need to hide the fact it was cooked a long time ago and far away. And his concern about the epidemic of chronic diseases linked to diet — you know, most of the things that kill us in this country are strongly linked to diet. The way we’re eating is the biggest threat to public health. All that is a critique of the food system that I’ve been making for years, but I’m certainly not alone.
Pete Hegseth Is Gutting Pentagon Programs to Reduce Civilian Casualties The defense secretary’s focus on “lethality” could lead to “wanton killing and wholesale destruction and disregard for law,” one Pentagon official said.
Methods and Findings Participants (n = 108,643, mean follow-up =  7.7 years (standard deviation (SD) =  4.6), age =  42.5 years (SD =  14.6), 79.2% women) were adults from the French NutriNet-Santé cohort (2009–2023). Dietary intakes were assessed using repeated 24h-dietary records, including industrial food brands. Exposure to food additives was evaluated through multiple food composition databases and laboratory assays. Mixtures were identified through nonnegative matrix factorization (NMF), and associations with type 2 diabetes incidence were assessed using Cox models adjusted for potential socio-demographic, anthropometric, lifestyle and dietary confounders. A total of 1,131 participants were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Two out of the five identified food additive mixtures were associated with higher type 2 diabetes incidence: the first mixture included modified starches, pectin, guar gum, carrageenan, polyphosphates, potassium sorbates, curcumin, and xanthan gum (hazard ratio (HR)per an increment of 1SD of the NMF mixture score = 1.08 [1.02, 1.15], p = 0.006), and the other mixture included citric acid, sodium citrates, phosphoric acid, sulphite ammonia caramel, acesulfame-K, aspartame, sucralose, arabic gum, malic acid, carnauba wax, paprika extract, anthocyanins, guar gum, and pectin (HR = 1.13 [1.08,1.18], p < 0.001). No association was detected for the three remaining mixtures: HR =  0.98 [0.91, 1.06], p = 0.67; HR =  1.02 [0.94, 1.10], p = 0.68; and HR =  0.99 [0.92, 1.07], p = 0.78. Several synergistic and antagonist interactions between food additives were detected in exploratory analyses. Residual confounding as well as exposure or outcome misclassifications cannot be entirely ruled out and causality cannot be established based on this single observational study.
Reinvigorating America’s Beautiful Clean Coal Industry and Amending Executive Order 14241 Presidential Actions, Executive Orders April 8, 2025 Regulatory Relief for Certain Stationary Sources to Promote American Energy Presidential Actions, Proclamations April 8, 2025 Protecting American Energy From State Overreach Presidential Actions, Executive Orders April 8, 2025 Strengthening the Reliability and Security of the United States Electric Grid Presidential Actions, Executive Orders April 8, 2025
Agroecological systems can improve soil health, reduce erosion and increase resilience against the impacts of climate change through biodiversity conservation. Agroecology and organic farming also reduce the need for external inputs through integration of agroecosystem, increase crop diversification and soil management. By increasing carbon sequestration, organic agriculture has a lower climate impact than industrial agriculture. Regenerative agroecology, if systemised, has the regenerative potential to reverse the course and serve as an important tool for climate change mitigation. There are two ways of seeing ourselves and our relationship with the Earth. Either we think of ourselves as separate from Nature or as one with it. It only takes putting a seed in the ground to create this vision. And every additional community that lives ecologically, lives a better life. It is a very exciting time to be alive to regenerate life. From https://navdanyainternational.org/regenerative-agroecology-the-necessary-solution-to-counter-climate-change/
Table 2 Classifications of variations in school smartphone policies as restrictive (intervention) and permissive (comparator) Restrictive school smartphone policies (intervention) Allow smartphones onto school premises but insist these are not to be used during the school day and are turned off and out of sight Allow smartphones onto school premises, but only allow use if sanctioned by teaching staff for educational activities (eg, use of calculator) Allow smartphones onto premises but insist they are left in a specified place during the school day for example, school reception or lockers Pupils are not allowed to carry their smartphones onto school premises at any time Permissive school smartphone policies (comparator) Allow pupils to carry smartphones and use them at any time point during the day Allow pupils to carry smartphones and use them at specific time points during the day (eg, breaks and lunch) Allow pupils to carry smartphones and use them for personal use with consent from school staff Allow pupils to carry smartphones and use within designated areas or zones
Fundraising poster for Revolutionary Intercommunal Day of Solidarity for Black Panther political prisoners, including Bobby Seale and Angela Davis, with post-birthday celebration for Huey P. Newton. Music by Grateful Dead. March 6, 1971.
Chart of federal government spending. At bottom is international affairs and domestic discretionary.
Acting Chair Andrea R. Lucas understands that our nation’s civil rights laws reject identity politics and instead focus on individual rights and equality. She prioritizes evenhanded enforcement of civil rights laws for all Americans, including by rooting out unlawful DEI-motivated race and sex discrimination; protecting American workers from anti-American national origin discrimination; defending the biological and binary reality of sex and related rights, including women’s rights to single-sex spaces; protecting workers from religious bias and harassment; and remedying other areas that have been historically under-enforced by the agency.
Image from article outlining layers of alignment between degrowth and food systems transformation. Caption reads: There is in general clear potential alignment between food systems transformation and common degrowth measures (sourced from ref. 19). Connections between degrowth measures (left) and food systems (right) are coloured blue for potentially aligned, grey for a clear interaction but an unclear alignment and red for potentially unaligned. One potential connection is sufficiency (box 10 on the left), which is both a degrowth topic and a standalone concept about sustainable production and consumption and the sufficing of human activity in relation to the more-than-human world. There is clear alignment within food systems with the former (for example, reducing animal-source foods and reducing food loss and waste), whereas the latter has largely been seen through a health lens of sufficiency of dietary demand rather than a broader ecological perspective. Accounting for true cost (box 15 on the right) is potentially aligned with beyond-GDP indicators and ecological taxes. However, this depends on its implementation. Degrowth would be at odds with efforts to further marketize, financialize and commodify the social and ecological realms to provide ‘transparent’ and ‘true’ costs borne by ‘better-informed’ citizens. Indeed, degrowth advocates might challenge the very notion that ‘true cost’ can express ecological value at all. Finally, conventional perspectives through which technology and innovation are explored in food systems transformation are largely at odds with the promotion of convivial technology (box 18 on the left) in degrowth. However, there is a growing area of food systems literature that offers a critical perspective. This includes responsible innovation and mission-oriented innovation literatures, which could see mutual value in integrating a degrowth lens.
Tattoo stating "NO RAGRETS"
"Don't make me tap the sign" meme with "Be wary of the climate impacts of land use change" sign.
Two men stand at a chalkboard filled with complex mathematics. At the center of the board is written, "Then a miracle occurs." At the bottom of the cartoon it states, “I think you should be more specific here in step two.”
Network map of animal rights organizations produced by the Animal Agriculture Alliance.