Garrett Broad
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
- I didn't know Dan personally but felt like I knew Dan pretty well. His knowledge of offbeat Philly sports culture minutiae was unmatched, and his hoagie mouth landed like ASMR in my ears. He will be missed.
- Dan McQuade, 1983–2026: defector.com/dan-mcquade-...
- Reposted by Garrett BroadThis is the most astonishing graph of what the Trump regime has done to US science. They have destroyed the federal science workforce across the board. The negative impacts on Americans will be felt for generations, and the US might never be the same again. www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
- "Slashing regulations, firing federal workers, and wrecking the basic capacities of government officials to do their jobs guarantees the bad government it purports to fix and creates the conditions for the fraud and corruption that tough-talking politicians pretend to abhor."
- The recent spate of seafood heists in New England may seem comical, but it shows just how under-regulated freight is in the USA ... and how important regulation are for an abundant and healthy food system. Myself and @gnrosenberg.bsky.social for @newrepublic.com. newrepublic.com/article/2050...
- Reposted by Garrett BroadQuick little exchange here about one of the changes bsky.app/profile/wait...
- Despite the characteristic bluster from the Trump/RFK admin, the new dietary guidelines are really not that different from the last 20+ years. Biggest shift is definitely more positive emphasis on meat and full-fat dairy. But otherwise pretty status quo...
- Here's the new food pyramid if you look at the actual # of recommended servings and not at the graphic. bsky.app/profile/hhso...
- Worth noting that the "Food Pyramid" with grains at the base has not been part of the Dietary Guidelines since 2005 (despite what the admin's flashy new site seems to imply)! realfood.gov
- The 2005 MyPyramid was then followed by MyPlate, which had pretty similar portions as this New Food Pyramid. The shift is mostly rhetorical + meatier. myplate-prod.azureedge.us/sites/defaul...
- Reposted by Garrett BroadSince launching in 2013, Falling Fruit has mapped over 4,000 different species of edible mushrooms and plants across almost 2 million publicly accessible foraging spots in cities around the world. @gracehussain.bsky.social reports:
- Reposted by Garrett BroadWe’re joining other newsrooms in the Climate News Task Force to offer a shared place to sign up for all our newsletters. It’s a new way to make climate coverage easier to find — and to support the reporting that holds powerful industries accountable. buff.ly/IrWLrrX
- A new article in The Lancet on ultra-processed foods summarizes the main thesis and evidence regarding effects on health. The definition of UPFs is 736 words long. www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
- Included in that definition is a note that there are possible exceptions to the claim that all UPFs are inferior to their non-UPF counterparts, noting the examples of infant formula and plant-based meats. It concludes that these exceptions don't "invalidate the general rule." Why not? Because.
- "At no other point in human history could someone opt for the meat of their choice for three meals every day, without getting any blood on their own hands, and then post about it on social media to claim they are living like their ancestors."
- Myths about our ancestors' meaty diets animate modern politics and culture wars about food and identity. But the history of human diets tells a different story about food's past and lets us be more rational about its future. @gnrosenberg.bsky.social & I for @vox.com www.vox.com/future-perfe...
- The concept of "ultra-processed foods" (UPFs) was supposed to IMPROVE conversations about food systems, nutrition, & the environment. I wrote about why that has NOT been the case -- for the 25th anniversary issue of @gastronomica. 1/ online.ucpress.edu/gastronomica...
- When I first learned about UPFs and the NOVA system, I was optimistic. I agree that the "goodness" of a food should not JUST be about its nutritional composition. Reductionism can be bad! We should consider food's impacts on culture and ecology too! 2/
- But as UPFs have permeated nutritional discourse, it's proven to be just as reductionist as its predecessors -- just in different ways. Now, whether a food is "good" or "bad" gets decided by its place within the 4 categories of NOVA. But here's the problem... 3/
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View full threadRead more here and feel free to reach out if you need help accessing the paper. 9/9 online.ucpress.edu/gastronomica...
- Prediction markets have Sherrill at around 85% to win NJ governor, but I gotta say it feels much more like a toss-up/lean Ciattarelli based on my unscientific observational drives through South Jersey. Absolutely no enthusiasm for Sherrill...
- Co/efficient poll New Jersey Governor 🔵 Mikie Sherrill 48% 🔴 Jack Ciattarelli 47% Undecided 5% 10/23-10/27 coefficient.org/new-jersey-s...
- If it comes down to late-breaking undecideds, I think Ciattarelli will be the next governor. At the very least, he comes across as authentically FROM HERE, whereas she seems like she was made in a lab by highly-paid Democratic consultants. I hope I'm wrong...
- A useful rejoinder to the Consumer Reports study on lead in protein powders...
- You may have read that your protein supplements are giving you lead poisoning. That's not the case. If you want to have protein shakes, that's fine. But whether you need to and whether they're safely regulated is a different story. My latest for @vox.com. www.vox.com/future-perfe...
- Reposted by Garrett BroadYou may have read that your protein supplements are giving you lead poisoning. That's not the case. If you want to have protein shakes, that's fine. But whether you need to and whether they're safely regulated is a different story. My latest for @vox.com. www.vox.com/future-perfe...
- Reposted by Garrett BroadAlso, they don't report the primary registered outcome (sperm DNA methylation, which they say they will report in a future paper), and they don't say why. And it doesn't seem to occur to them that sat fat, sugar, and fiber, rather than processing, might be the issue. HT @garrettbroad.bsky.social
- tldr on the latest ultraprocessed foods experiment -- turns out a diet with "elevated levels of saturated fat, cholesterol, refined grains, added sugars, & dairy products & lower amounts of fiber" can lead to bad outcomes. Sorry but this is not a shocking finding about the harms of food processing!
- Another RCT on ultra-processed vs minimally processed foods came out! The headline from this one -- despite matching diets for calories, the UPF diet impaired cardiometabolic and male reproductive health, independent of caloric intake! But let's read closer... 1/ www.cell.com/cell-metabol...
- Another RCT on ultra-processed vs minimally processed foods came out! The headline from this one -- despite matching diets for calories, the UPF diet impaired cardiometabolic and male reproductive health, independent of caloric intake! But let's read closer... 1/ www.cell.com/cell-metabol...
- "Compared with the unprocessed diet, the ultra-processed diet contained elevated levels of saturated fat, cholesterol, refined grains, added sugars, and dairy products and lower amounts of fiber." So while these diets were matched for calories, they were NOT NUTRITIONALLY EQUIVALENT. 2/
- Given that, this result seems like something that shouldn't be so shocking, despite the NYPost headline and the quote from the lead author? UPFs tend to have much worse nutritional composition, we've known this! Why do we act like we're uncovering some big mystery? nypost.com/2025/10/06/h... 3/
- The idea that processing is the only thing that matters irrespective of nutritional composition is bizarre. We can do multiple things at once -- encourage minimally processed foods (which are good!), limit nutritionally poor UPFs, AND improve nutrition of UPFs because they have useful functions too.
- Reposted by Garrett BroadOne of our reporters had a source back out, worried they might lose their federal funding depending on the coverage. The story was about a rewilding project (the benefits are not controversial!) but it didn't matter. @gracehussain.bsky.social wrote about it here: sentientmedia.org/journalism-h...
- I recently had a chance to ask EPA's Region 2 Administrator about the drastic cuts to his agency, which he brushed off as mostly eliminating programs that were not aligned with their core mission. He came across as a talented and effective bullshitter, which seems to be the main job requirement.
- Crazy idea -- what if we decided not to base our farm economy on growing soybeans for the global animal feed market, and instead focused on growing FOOD FOR PEOPLE.
- “..Six months after the president’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs .., U.S. soybean farmers are learning that China — long the predominant market for their product — doesn’t need them anymore.” @politico.com www.politico.com/news/2025/09...
- RFK Jr's right-hand man Calley Means asks the ominous rhetorical question -- why is the Amish cancer rate so low? Meanwhile, the answer is LITERALLY THE NEXT LINE OF THE PAPER'S ABSTRACT -- it's mostly a product of tobacco abstinence.
- Honestly this should just be the new HHS motto: "The saddest display of a lack of evidence, rumors, recycling old myths, lousy advice, outright lies and dangerous advice we have ever witnessed by anyone in authority in the world claiming to know anything about science."
- Oh wow Casey Means is making a shitload of wellness industry money and not just doing it out of the kindness of her pure heart who knew www.nytimes.com/2025/09/16/h...
- Reposted by Garrett Broad🚨 NEW: Climate change is already causing 30,000 deaths per year - a global annual economic loss of $100-350B USD - but the true damage is probably 10x higher. Out TODAY in Nature Climate Change: the first systematic look at the science of "health impact attribution" 🔓 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Unpopular opinion: Hate crime laws are bad, too.
- Reposted by Garrett Broad[This post could not be retrieved]
- Would be great if my public transit system didn't have to get bailed out by a freaking gambling company instead of getting properly funded by the state and local government.
- BREAKING: Fanduel has signed a deal with #SEPTA to restore Broad Street Line for the #Eagles Home Opener #FlyEaglesFly #NFLKickoff #DALvsPHI #NFL
- Another success story as the president works to make America covered in pig shit again.
- This is another farm subsidy that the rest of us pay for. www.agri-pulse.com/articles/234...
- Reposted by Garrett BroadA tremendous amount of science and societal progress is going out the window fast, *AI included.* Another daily tragedy. ➡️ We need you to spread the word outside of our science bubble. "NSF terminates funding for its main meteorology focused AI institute" open.substack.com/pub/balanced...
- Reposted by Garrett BroadThere’s a persistent myth that new solar farms don’t really help tackle climate change because panels are “made with coal” and “never pay back” their carbon debt. This is simply false. - UN: solar ~8x cleaner than gas, ~19x than coal per kWh - panels repay CO2 in 4 months; save 57x over life
- Ultra-processed foods are THE debate in nutrition right now, so you'd figure a new randomized control trial on UPFs would get lots of attention. But this study in Nature Medicine has only gotten modest coverage -- probably because it's findings are not so scary. THREAD www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Background: Most of the research on UPF's health effects come from epidemiological studies, which can only show correlation (≠ causation). RCTs can get us closer to causal claims, although they have their own limits (not fully controlled, small samples, not necessarily generalizable).
- This study was interesting because it had participants in two groups follow a diet of minimally processed foods (MPF) or UPFs -- BUT both of these were designed to align with UK nutritional guidelines. So we could start to answer the Q -- can UPFs be healthy, or are they all bad?
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View full threadUPFs are not all bad -- some are healthy, some can be made healthier than they are, and some should be avoided (but also, don't freak out if you have "bad" UPFs sometimes too). Also, let's focus on getting people to LOVE the TASTE of minimally processed foods, and make it EASY for them to eat them!
