Garrett Broad
@garrettbroad.bsky.social
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
garrettbroad.com
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Garrett Broad
@garrettbroad.bsky.social
· Mar 31
The Flawed Ideology That Unites Grass-Fed Beef Fans and Anti-Vaxxers
From RFK Jr. to Hollywood A-listers and Democratic senators, people across the political spectrum are jumping onto the slippery slope of nature-based solutionism.
newrepublic.com
Wrote about the problem of "nature-based solutionism," the idea that there's a quick and easy natural fix to the world's biggest health and sustainability challenges. Sorry but cows aren't going to save the planet! W/ @jandutkiewicz.bsky.social for @newrepublic.com newrepublic.com/article/1933...
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...
Ultra-processed foods and human health: the main thesis and the evidence
This first paper in a three-part Lancet Series combines narrative and systematic reviews
with original analyses and meta-analyses to assess three hypotheses concerning a dietary
pattern based on ultra...
www.thelancet.com
November 20, 2025 at 3:49 PM
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...
Reposted by Garrett Broad
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...
November 3, 2025 at 1:58 PM
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...
"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...
@gnrosenberg.bsky.social & I for @vox.com
www.vox.com/future-perfe...
The myth of the carnivore caveman
You are not going to like where our ancestors got their protein.
www.vox.com
November 3, 2025 at 2:48 PM
"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."
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...
November 3, 2025 at 1:58 PM
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...
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...
New Jersey Governor
🔵 Mikie Sherrill 48%
🔴 Jack Ciattarelli 47%
Undecided 5%
10/23-10/27
coefficient.org/new-jersey-s...
New Jersey Statewide 2025 General Election - co/efficient
Fast, Accurate, Affordable Data In A Dynamic Campaign Environment
coefficient.org
October 28, 2025 at 1:36 PM
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...
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...
www.vox.com/future-perfe...
No, your protein powder isn’t poisoning you
New testing finds two-thirds of popular protein powders exceed lead limits — especially plant-based brands. What you need to know before your next scoop — and why the reality is different.
www.vox.com
October 22, 2025 at 5:53 PM
A useful rejoinder to the Consumer Reports study on lead in protein powders...
Reposted by Garrett Broad
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...
www.vox.com/future-perfe...
No, your protein powder isn’t poisoning you
New testing finds two-thirds of popular protein powders exceed lead limits — especially plant-based brands. What you need to know before your next scoop — and why the reality is different.
www.vox.com
October 22, 2025 at 2:36 PM
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...
www.vox.com/future-perfe...
Reposted by Garrett Broad
Also, 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
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
October 13, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Also, 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
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...
www.cell.com/cell-metabol...
Effect of ultra-processed food consumption on male reproductive and metabolic health
This randomized controlled nutrition intervention conducted in males of reproductive
age shows that, compared with an unprocessed diet, consumption of ultra-processed
foods impairs metabolic and repro...
www.cell.com
October 13, 2025 at 1:55 PM
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...
www.cell.com/cell-metabol...
Effect of ultra-processed food consumption on male reproductive and metabolic health
This randomized controlled nutrition intervention conducted in males of reproductive
age shows that, compared with an unprocessed diet, consumption of ultra-processed
foods impairs metabolic and repro...
www.cell.com
October 13, 2025 at 12:17 AM
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...
www.cell.com/cell-metabol...
Reposted by Garrett Broad
One 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...
sentientmedia.org/journalism-h...
Journalism Has Become More Challenging, for Reporters and Sources
Researchers are more reluctant to give interviews since Trump returned to the White House.
sentientmedia.org
October 9, 2025 at 9:27 PM
One 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...
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.
Good breakdown of how shutdown affects different agencies. (Also a good example of the type of in-depth factual communication that traditional media still does better than alternative media).
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
How the Shutdown Is Affecting Federal Services and Workers
The shutdown suspended the work of hundreds of thousands of employees, disrupting a wide range of federal programs. Here’s what we know so far.
www.nytimes.com
October 1, 2025 at 2:18 PM
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...
@politico.com
www.politico.com/news/2025/09...
September 29, 2025 at 2:12 PM
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.
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.
September 24, 2025 at 2:07 PM
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."
September 23, 2025 at 1:31 PM
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...
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/16/h...
Surgeon General Nominee Pledges to Divest From Wellness Interests
www.nytimes.com
September 19, 2025 at 1:54 AM
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...
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...
September 17, 2025 at 11:57 AM
🚨 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.
This is why hate speech laws are bad, btw. Because people like this get to decide what speech is illegal.
September 16, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Unpopular opinion: Hate crime laws are bad, too.
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
Fanduel has signed a deal with #SEPTA
to restore Broad Street Line for the #Eagles Home Opener
#FlyEaglesFly #NFLKickoff #DALvsPHI #NFL
September 3, 2025 at 6:20 PM
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.
Another success story as the president works to make America covered in pig shit again.
September 3, 2025 at 11:03 AM
Another success story as the president works to make America covered in pig shit again.
Reposted by Garrett Broad
A 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...
➡️ 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...
This is AI2ES, my AI institute. No way around it other than to say this is really awful. We are doing so many amazing things! We want to keep doing amazing things but without this level of funding, we will not be able to do so.
Another blow to meteorological R&D this morning, as it was confirmed that NSF is terminating funding for its main weather and earth science focused AI research institute led by the Univ. of Oklahoma. Also - a LOT of weather to talk about, especially in the West. More: https://tinyurl.com/mr2znbdb
September 2, 2025 at 4:50 PM
A 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...
➡️ 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 Broad
There’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
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
August 30, 2025 at 8:46 AM
There’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
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
Reposted by Garrett Broad
So much of the UPF debate is about finding some secret ingredient that makes them inherently bad -- emulsifiers? something about the food matrix? additives? But I really think it's much simpler -- the food industry has worked hard to make packaged foods tasty, appealing and convenient. It works!
August 18, 2025 at 3:58 PM
So much of the UPF debate is about finding some secret ingredient that makes them inherently bad -- emulsifiers? something about the food matrix? additives? But I really think it's much simpler -- the food industry has worked hard to make packaged foods tasty, appealing and convenient. It works!
Reposted by Garrett Broad
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...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Ultraprocessed or minimally processed diets following healthy dietary guidelines on weight and cardiometabolic health: a randomized, crossover trial - Nature Medicine
A free-living trial in people with overweight or obesity found that minimally processed diets led to greater weight loss and cardiometabolic improvements than ultraprocessed diets following UK healthy...
www.nature.com
August 18, 2025 at 3:58 PM
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...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...