Month: January 2022

Wired Magazine published an interesting but, for some, also a disturbing, article entitled “Is There Really Such a Thing as Low-Carbon Beef?” (https://www.wired.co.uk/article/low-carbon-beef).

Apparently the USDA will let beef manufacturers to label beef with a low carbon designation, but much like “natural”, it will be a bit deceiving. It should be no surprise to anyone that the beef industry is pushing this. It’s a slick marketing tool. The program was approved in November 2020, but it’s not clear how soon anyone will see these labels.

One of the potential certification entities is being run by a former rancher, which is also no surprise. All a beef manufacturer has to do is to certify that their beef is 10% below an industry norm, which according to the article may be set rather high so most producers can meet it. Another consequence is that factory farmed beef has a lower carbon footprint than free range beef, which may put more humane ranchers at a disadvantage.

Bottom line, beef has a very negative impact on the environment (read this article or other ones we have written about previously) and this program is may result in negative consequences. I want to believe that those who are environmentally conscious are not going to be fooled and are moving to diets with less beef of any sort.

Keep an eye on this!

US News and World Reports published a ranking of diets based on input from a panel of diet, nutrition, and health experts. The rankings and methodology can be found here: https://health.usnews.com/best-diet/best-diets-overall.

There are a combination of general diets such as “Mediterranean” and “Asian”, as well as for profit diet programs such as “NOOM” and the “Ornish Diet”. Like any ranking system, the rankings depend on the criteria and the ranking panel.

The criteria that was used is listed below:

How easy it is to follow.
Its ability to produce short-term weight loss.
Its ability to produce long-term weight loss.
Its nutritional completeness.
Its safety.
Its potential for preventing and managing diabetes.
Its potential for preventing and managing heart disease.

Interestingly, the Vegan diet is rated number 17 and the cons were: 1) “The diet can be complicated/difficult to follow” and 2) “Some nutrients can be lacking”. Those 2 categories, especially the difficult to follow gave an advantage to the “programs”, like Jenny Craig or NOOM, that hold your hand all the way, were cited for several diet types. The nutrients lacking in a vegan diet are known and, arguably, can be compensated for with a few supplements.

The analysis didn’t highlight a few important factors in any diet, such as locally sourced (meaning not factory raised) ingredients, a variety of foods to get the widest spectrum of nutrients, and minimally processed ingredients.

I think it is worth reading a variety sources of information, even if your favorite is not at the top of their list, so read the report for yourself.