Category: ICYMI

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ATTENTION PARENTS – ChatGPT as Babysitter

Bottom Line – Bad idea.

“After listening to my four-year-old son regale me with the adventures of Thomas the Tank Engine for 45 minutes I tapped out,” he wrote, “so I opened ChatGPT.” In an interview with The Guardian, Josh said he needed to do chores and thought his son “would finish the story and the phone would turn off.” But when he returned two hours later, the child was still talking to the chatbot about Thomas and friends. The transcript, he discovered, was over 10,000 words long. Lazy Parents Are Giving Their Toddlers ChatGPT on Voice Mode to Keep Them Entertained for Hours – https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/parents-toddlers-chatgpt-voice-mode

You’re welcome.

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Protein, more Protein

What makes protein so appealing is that it has been offered as an answer for lots of people’s dietary goals. Want to build muscle? Eat protein. Want to feel fuller for longer? Eat protein. Want to lose weight? Eat protein. The nutrient can indeed help with all of those, but sometimes, the claims turn absurd. Cargill, the food giant, recently suggested that protein might help solve broken marriages: “Protein helps individuals become better parents, partners and employees,” the company wrote in a report this spring. In other words, protein has become synonymous with “healthy.” The message seems to be resonating: Last year, 71 percent of American adults said they were trying to consume more of it. The Protein Madness Is Just Getting Started – https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2025/06/protein-supplements-too-far/

Sorry, the entire article is behind a paywall. But you get the drift of this post.

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ATTENTION PARENTS – Yes You Can!

Remember my post Tik Tok is bad for your health? Or Latest Tik Tok Trend – Eat Dirt? How about The Dark Side of TikTok – Toddler Milks? Don’t remember, eh? Well, here’s a post you won’t forget.

According to this article there are videos that have millions of views with comments “full of girls cheering each other on, romanticizing risky behavior and literally encouraging one another to ignore every red flag.

Encouraging others to engage in dangerous behavior against their own gut instincts is not OK, and the fact that the videos are drawing supportive and positive comments from other teen and tween girls proves how much the trend is resonating with these girls. Why the ‘Yes You Can’ TikTok Trend Has Parents of Tween & Teen Girls Sounding the Alarm — https://www.sheknows.com/parenting/articles/1234887372/yes-you-can-trend/

You’re welcome.

PS – almost forgot this is a food blog, so here you go.

“Crunchy Teen” is a trend where teens publicly reject norms around food and nutrition in favor of some more controversial stances not verified by data or experts.Parents should know that many “crunchy teen” influencers repeat a lot of misinformation that can lead to harmful health suggestions. Why the ‘Crunchy Teen’ Trend Definitely Needs Some Parental Intervention — https://www.parents.com/what-is-crunchy-teen-11734514

You’re welcome, again.

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Fake Nutrition Experts on Social Media!

Super-spreaders build trust by connecting with audiences emotionally, rather than by overwhelming them with data. They position themselves as relatable truth-tellers who challenge corrupt institutions and offer simple, “empowering” solutions. Through personal anecdotes and motivational, accessible language, they create an “us vs. them” narrative in which misinformation becomes a form of liberation. Many frame their dietary advice as part of a broader movement, towards healing, strength, clarity, masculinity/femininity or even revolution. “Natural” or “traditional” diets (e.g. those relying heavily on animal-based foods or that exclude modern-day “processed” foods) are frequently presented as easy solutions to complex health problems. This combination of emotional resonance and charismatic storytelling helps explain why such misinformation is so persuasive.

Of the 53 super-spreaders analyzed, 96% (51 accounts) had a clear financial incentive directly tied to the misinformation they promoted, with many capitalizing on multiple revenue streams.

Nutrition Misinformation in the Digital Age

Shocking!

Download the full report here: https://rootedresearch.co/publications/nutrition-misinformation-digital-age/

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Scam Alert!

In the market of rare and expensive Scotch whiskies, it’s not uncommon for people to invest in a cask with the idea of it accruing value over time as the spirit ages. But the industry for buying and selling barrels isn’t very heavily regulated, making it highly susceptible to fraud.

The victims of this particular scheme were duped into buying casks that were either overpriced, sold to multiple people, or didn’t even exist in the first place. The BBC report shared multiple accounts of individuals who have lost large sums of money in the scam, with some victims investing over £100,000 ($129,493). U.K. Whisky Barrel Scam Swindles Hundreds out of Their Life Savings – https://vinepair.com/booze-news/scotch-whisky-barrel-scam/

WTF?

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Researchers Find Brain Cells That Tell You To Stop Eating (in mice)

“These neurons are unlike any other neuron involved in regulating satiation,” says Alexander Nectow, a physician-scientist at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, who led the research with Srikanta Chowdhury, an associate research scientist in the Nectow lab. “Other neurons in the brain are usually restricted to sensing food put into our mouth, or how food fills the gut, or the nutrition obtained from food. The neurons we found are special in that they seem to integrate all these different pieces of information and more.”

“Essentially these neurons can smell food, see food, feel food in the mouth and in the gut, and interpret all the gut hormones that are released in response to eating,” Nectow says. “And ultimately, they leverage all of this information to decide when enough is enough.”Columbia University Irving Medical Center. “Researchers discover the brain cells that tell you to stop eating.” ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/02/250205131107.htm (accessed February 8, 2025).

I need more of these brain cells.

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More Cheese Please

Relative risks (RR) for colorectal cancer were calculated for intakes of all 97 dietary factors, with significant associations found for 17 of them. Calcium intake showed the strongest protective effect, with each additional 300 mg per day – equivalent to a large glass of milk – associated with a 17% reduced RR. Six dairy-related factors associated with calcium – dairy milk, yogurt, riboflavin, magnesium, phosphorus, and potassium intakes – also demonstrated inverse associations with colorectal cancer risk. Dr Sheena Meredith. Dietary Calcium Cuts Colorectal Cancer Risk by 17% – Medscape – 08 January 2025. https://www.medscape.co.uk/viewarticle/dietary-calcium-cuts-colorectal-cancer-risk-17-2025a10000e0?

Citation and links to the original study – Papier, K., Bradbury, K.E., Balkwill, A. et al. Diet-wide analyses for risk of colorectal cancer: prospective study of 12,251 incident cases among 542,778 women in the UK. Nat Commun 16, 375 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-55219-5 – https://rdcu.be/d6G1Q

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