Controversial Foods

Depression is on the rise globally, affecting millions of lives. While genetics and environment play crucial roles, another factor has an enormous impact: your diet. So what foods have been found to contribute to mental health issues? How strong is the evidence? And how can you make healthier food choices to boost your mood?

What are nightshade vegetables? And do they cause inflammation or other adverse health effects? Should you avoid eating nightshades? This article wades into the controversies and questions surrounding the nightshade family of vegetables to discover the truth.

Humans have been processing meat to preserve it and improve its flavor for millennia. So what do we know about the health effects of hot dogs, bacon, sausages, cold cuts, and other processed meats? Do they really cause colon cancer? And if so, can we minimize the risks by switching to plant-based “faux meats”?

Wheat is one of the biggest sources of calories in the human diet. But is it good for you? Should you avoid gluten? What about all those carbs? And is there a difference between modern wheat and ancient grains in terms of nutrition and health?

Grapes are the world’s biggest and most valuable fruit crop — and are among the sweetest natural foods we can eat. But given their high sugar content, can grapes truly be part of a healthy diet? And what about wine, grape juice, and jelly?

Dark chocolate is beloved both as a delicious treat and a source of health-promoting antioxidants. But recently, a couple of comprehensive studies have shown that many of the most consumed dark chocolate bars contain potentially hazardous levels of cadmium and lead — toxic heavy metals that can cause serious and long-lasting health problems. How are they getting into chocolate? Are some bars safer than others? And is it possible to still enjoy the flavor and health benefits of dark chocolate without exposing ourselves to these toxins?

Why are so many people talking about bone broth? Let’s explore why health enthusiasts seem to be jumping on the bandwagon, what the research says about some of the most prominent bone broth benefits and claims, and the potential downsides of participating in this popular food trend.

Coffee is one of the most popular beverages worldwide, but whether or not it’s a healthy choice has often been the subject of debate for a very long time. In this article, we’ll look at some surprising coffee health benefits, potential downsides, and how to enjoy coffee in ways that are healthy, ethical, and sustainable.

Olive oil gets a lot of great press as a health food. And olives are popular staples of Mediterranean cuisine, which is considered by many to be the world’s healthiest way of eating. But olives are very salty, and olive oil is basically 100% fat. So what’s the truth about this savory fruit? How can we separate fact from myth?

Roughly one-quarter of all calories consumed in the United States come from refined flour made from grains — mostly wheat. Maybe that’s fine — after all, humans have been grinding grain into flour for tens of thousands of years. And, maybe it isn’t — modern milling methods produce flour that may be contributing to our twin epidemics of obesity and chronic disease. In this article, we’ll discuss the different kinds of flour, which are healthier than others, and how can you healthfully incorporate them into your diet.

We hear about superfoods all the time — amazing, exotic berries harvested from over 17,000 feet up in the Himalayas, or rare roots found only on Tuesdays three days before a full moon. I’m exaggerating, of course, but the functional food industry loves to sell us extremely expensive products that they claim contain health-promoting powers that don’t exist in “ordinary” foods. It turns out, though, that many of the inexpensive, readily available foods right under our noses are unappreciated “superfoods” in their own right.

Wellness influencers and supplement companies promote green powders as miracle supplements, able to do everything from increasing energy to improving digestion to boosting brain function. But what does the science say? Are these expensive green powders the real deal, or are they another fad to separate us from our money?