By Michael J. Critelli | MakeUsWell Newsletter, 

This summer, many parts of the world have experienced extreme heat, including places poorly equipped to deal with it. Americans have air-conditioned a high percentage of homes, offices, stores and public buildings. That is far less common in many other countries.

These heat waves raise an interesting question: How have societies that have lived for centuries in climates we find intolerable adapted to them?

One answer can be found at the dinner table:

For millennia, climate has helped shape human cuisine. It determines what crops can grow, how quickly food spoils, how much water is available, how long food must be stored, and how much energy people need. Along the way, humans also discovered foods and spices that affect our perception of heat, cold and comfort.

The result is that regional cuisines are, in part, records of human adaptation to the environment.

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By Michael J. Critelli | MakeUsWell Newsletter, 

Consumer packaged-goods companies often defend themselves with a familiar argument: they are simply giving consumers what consumers want. People want food that is convenient, inexpensive, tasty and shelf-stable, so companies supply it.

That explanation is incomplete.

Companies do not merely respond to demand. They shape it. They decide which products to develop, how intensely to test them, which sensory combinations to optimize, how to package them, how to market them, and which behaviors they want consumers to repeat. 

In the case of ultra-processed foods, the decision by tobacco companies to acquire and operate major food businesses as a diversification strategy introduced ingredients or techniques for increasing food demand that independently owned food companies would not have developed and used.

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By Michael J. Critelli | MakeUsWell Newsletter, 

Recently, I spoke with a nutritionist about our food intelligence product. We began talking about food allergies and sensitivities, an issue that affects a great many people.

One example was deceptively simple: someone experiences digestive distress after eating a sandwich made with whole-wheat bread.

The natural conclusion might be: Something about wheat doesn't agree with me. That could lead to questions about celiac disease, wheat allergy or non-celiac gluten/wheat sensitivity.

But there is another possibility many people would never think to investigate: fructans.

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By Michael J. Critelli | MakeUsWell Newsletter, 

One of our beta users for our food intelligence product asked a question about visceral fat. To be honest, I did not understand the importance of this biometric health indicator, which, in itself, is a symptom of a problem with our primary care system. 

For decades, the way most of us have thought about body fat has been remarkably simple: weigh yourself, calculate your BMI, and try not to gain too much weight.

But those numbers can miss something important: Where fat is stored may matter almost as much as how much of it we carry.

Visceral fat is the fat that accumulates deep inside the abdomen around organs such as the liver and intestines. It is different from the subcutaneous fat we can pinch under the skin. Visceral fat is metabolically active and is strongly associated with insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, fatty liver disease and cardiovascular disease.

That means two people of the same height and weight, and therefore the same BMI, can have very different metabolic risk.

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By Michael J. Critelli | MakeUsWell Newsletter, 

One of the most common explanations people give for eating poorly is simple: “I don’t have time to eat healthy.”

For many people, that statement feels unquestionably true. Cooking has come to mean planning meals, shopping for ingredients, chopping vegetables, preparing meat or fish, cooking everything, and then cleaning up afterward. 

After a long workday, ordering a pizza, picking up fast food, or microwaving a packaged meal can seem like the only realistic option.

But there is a flaw in the premise: Eating healthy does not require cooking from scratch. It also does not mean investing time and money in eating at a regular restaurant at which a meal can consume an hour, or even at a restaurant popularly called a “fast casual” dining experience. It also does not relegate us to fast-food restaurants or take out restaurants serving highly processed foods with low nutritional value.

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