Brian Wansink! At the USDA!
November 20, 2007
Every now and then something incredible happens and here it is. Brian Wansink, Cornell Professor and author of Mindless Eating, has been appointed executive director of the USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion. This is the piece of USDA responsible for dietary advice to the public. Wansink is the guy who does the terrific research on environmental determinants of overeating showing that large portions, wide drinking glasses, foods close by, and health claims encourage everyone to eat more calories than they need or want. Will he be able to anything good at USDA? Let’s hope so. In the meantime, cheers to USDA for making a brilliant appointment.
[…] Read the rest of this great post here […]
Pingback by Brian Wansink! At the USDA! | health nutrition — November 20, 2007 @ 7:58 pm
(Still shaking my head in disbelief that someone was hired for an important position by a food-related government agency who wasn’t working at (or funded by) Monsanto, Cargill, Smithfield, McDonalds, Coca-Cola, Chuck-E-Cheese, etc., etc., etc. This simply can’t happen.)
Comment by Jack at Fork & Bottle — November 21, 2007 @ 12:17 am
Can anyone recommend anything that Brian Wansink has written? I’d love to learn more about him.
Comment by Migraineur — November 21, 2007 @ 10:31 am
Mindless Eating is a great place to begin. I use the book in my courses, and just added a link to it on the post.
Comment by Marion — November 21, 2007 @ 10:39 am
Jack, it seems you’re not dreaming, this time. Great point!
Awesome selection USDA, I think Dr. Wansink will have some great strategies to affect nutrition policies! I think that winning the Ig Nobel for his research in our Mindless-ly consuming foods, in this case the bottomless soup bowl, Dr. Wansink shows how he doesn’t just want to perform and present some boring research–he makes it fun yet serious. I think this will lead to well-thought out, practical changes at the USDA.
For more on Dr. Brian Wansink, visit:
http://www.foodpsychology.cornell.edu/
& http://mindlesseating.org/
Comment by Daniel, Ithaca NY — November 23, 2007 @ 9:32 pm
[…] Marion Nestle wrote approvingly of the USDA’s choice, as did Kat at Eating Liberally ("After years of […]
Pingback by The Ethicurean: Chew the right thing. » Blog Archive » Bringing a wet noodle to a gun fight: The USDA’s Brian Wansink vs. Big Food’s ads — November 25, 2007 @ 12:10 pm
Kudos to the USDA for hiring the very smart, talented, and charismatic Dr. Brian Wansink!
Comment by Amy — December 1, 2007 @ 5:41 pm
[…] incredible happens and here it is” ubernutritionist and What to Eat author Marion Nestle wrote recently. Nestle was referring to the altogether surprising news that the George W. Bush Administration had […]
Pingback by Seekersdigest.org » Blog Archive » WorldChanging: Tools, Models and Ideas for Building a Bright Green Future: Mindful Eating Crusader To Take Top US Nutrition Post — December 3, 2007 @ 1:06 pm
Perhaps there will be more emphasis on nutrition and consumption of plant-based foods?
A comic depicting USDA’s conflict of interest: promoting dairy and meat and then attempting to provide beneficial nutrition information:
http://www.vegetus.org/vegtoon/health2.htm
Comment by Daniel Ithaca,NY — December 4, 2007 @ 9:26 am
I have now read about half of Mindless Eating - I’ll be reviewing it on my blog once I’ve finished it. However, I think it was inaccurate for Jack (a previous commenter) to enthuse over Wansink’s apparent neutrality. Wansink states in the introduction to ME that he has been funded by the Council for Agricultural Research and the National Soybean Research Center. I was unable to find the former by googling (odd, very odd), and the latter takes as its mission “to assist in expanding the scope, size, and profitability of the U.S soybean industry.” Hard to see how this is not yet another instance of the fox guarding the henhouse.
I was also scratching my head at the introduction, where Wansink brags, literally crows, about how he eats breakfast at a fast food place several mornings a week. Is this the man we want coming up with nutritional policy?
Comment by Migraineur — December 4, 2007 @ 12:24 pm
[…] not his area of expertise. But this raises a new mystery - why are so many nutritionists from Marion Nestle on down so excited by this guy? Shouldn’t a nutritionist be skeptical that the new […]
Pingback by Mindless Thinking - Is This Man Qualified to Tell You What to Eat? « The Migraineur — December 17, 2007 @ 10:23 am
Why the excitement? As Migraineur points out on her blog, the man’s expertise and degrees are in business, not nutrition, not even agriculture. So he knows how the big food agri-business manipulates the public into eating lots of crummy food.
Great. Another person with the expertise to manipulate us into eating what they think we should eat. This isn’t a radical departure from the norm, it’s just a minor difference. I wish him all the best, but I’ll keep my skeptical cap on for the time being. I’m betting on not much changing.
Does the man know even enough about nutrition or agriculture to fill a thimble? Maybe, maybe not. Despite having a Ph.D. from Stamford, he doesn’t even know corn is a grain, not a vegetable. Even my third grader knows the difference.
Comment by Anna — December 18, 2007 @ 1:19 pm
Oops, I meant Stanford.
Comment by Anna — December 18, 2007 @ 1:33 pm
[…] writing a post about this entry http://whattoeatbook.com/2007/11/20/brian-wansink-at-the-usda/ Stay […]
Pingback by http://whattoeatbook.com/2007/11/20/brian-wansink-at-the-usda/ — March 31, 2008 @ 6:26 am