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Garrett Broad

@garrettbroad.bsky.social
5.7K followers 1.1K following 533 posts

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

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Garrett Broad @garrettbroad.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Just published -- the largest and most thorough annotated bibliography on ultra-processed foods and the NOVA classification system known to humankind! By yours truly, for the @oupacademic.bsky.social Bibliographies on Food Studies. academic.oup.com/reference/62...
academic.oup.com
Oxford Bibliographies in Food Studies
Abstract. Oxford Bibliographies in Food Studies provides authoritative guides to the key scholarship in the field of Food Studies. Curated by area editors
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Alexander J. Stein @ajstein.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
The EU depends on imported #fertiliser, as shown again by the war in Iran. But manure—suggested by some as solution—cannot replace mineral fertiliser because the #livestock sector itself is a net consumer of it. Scaling up #manure “production” would increase fertiliser use: doi.org/10.1111/1746... +
Figure 2: Balance of nitrogen (N) flows from mineral fertiliser into animal production and from manure out of it (EU27, 2017/18). An illustrated bar chart shows that 5.1 million tonnes of N from mineral fertiliser are used to produce animal feed, but only 2.5 million tonnes of N from manure are provided to the rest of agriculture -- meaning animal production is a net consumer of 2.6 million tonnes of N from mineral fertiliser.
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Garrett Broad @garrettbroad.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
NEW PUBLICATION: "Understanding caregiver perspectives to improve food security screening in healthcare settings: A focus group study." Out now in @jafscd.bsky.social! www.foodsystemsjournal.org/index.php/fs...
foodsystemsjournal.org
Understanding caregiver perspectives to improve food security screening in healthcare settings | Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development
JAFSCD: Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development. Publication of the Thomas A. Lyson Center for Civic Agriculture and Food Systems
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Garrett Broad @garrettbroad.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
NEW PUB: Plant-based meat brands like Impossible Foods said their INNOVATIVE TECH would change the world. As the market stalled, a big question lingered -- do consumers want to EAT innovation? Our focus group study aimed to find out more. OPEN ACCESS 1/ www.frontiersin.org/journals/sus...
frontiersin.org
Frontiers | Consumer perceptions of plant-based meat innovation: a focus group study on food technology
Novel plant-based meat products that aim to mimic the taste and texture of conventional meat have been proposed as a key tool to encourage sustainable dietar...
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Garrett Broad @garrettbroad.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
NEW PUB: Plant-based meat brands like Impossible Foods said their INNOVATIVE TECH would change the world. As the market stalled, a big question lingered -- do consumers want to EAT innovation? Our focus group study aimed to find out more. OPEN ACCESS 1/ www.frontiersin.org/journals/sus...
frontiersin.org
Frontiers | Consumer perceptions of plant-based meat innovation: a focus group study on food technology
Novel plant-based meat products that aim to mimic the taste and texture of conventional meat have been proposed as a key tool to encourage sustainable dietar...
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Garrett Broad @garrettbroad.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
"For the most part, the only statistically meaningful ill health effects come from ultra-processed foods that contain the things we already know are bad for us: too much salt, sugar, and fat."
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Garrett Broad @garrettbroad.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
Who hates cultured meat?? I wrote about the diverse coalition opposed to cellular agriculture, from reasonable critics to outright conspiracists. It's part of a book on "Cell-Based Meat in the European Union and Beyond" - OPEN ACCESS! link.springer.com/chapter/10.1...
link.springer.com
Who Hates Cultured Meat? Examining Public Opposition to Cellular Agriculture
Despite its limited availability as a consumer product, recent years have witnessed significant scepticism, concern, and outright rejection regarding the emerging science and industry of cultured meat...
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Garrett Broad @garrettbroad.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
Who hates cultured meat?? I wrote about the diverse coalition opposed to cellular agriculture, from reasonable critics to outright conspiracists. It's part of a book on "Cell-Based Meat in the European Union and Beyond" - OPEN ACCESS! link.springer.com/chapter/10.1...
link.springer.com
Who Hates Cultured Meat? Examining Public Opposition to Cellular Agriculture
Despite its limited availability as a consumer product, recent years have witnessed significant scepticism, concern, and outright rejection regarding the emerging science and industry of cultured meat...
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Garrett Broad @garrettbroad.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
Waking up thinking about this headline for no particular reason...
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Garrett Broad @garrettbroad.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
One reviewer said I didn't understand nutrition science and focused too much on social science issues. The other reviewer said I didn't understand social science and focused too much on nutrition science issues.
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Garrett Broad @garrettbroad.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
Just got back reviews for a comprehensive annotated bibliography on "Ultra-Processed Foods" I was invited to write for Oxford. Paraphrasing: R1: "The author is biased -- he clearly supports the UPF concept." R2: "The author is biased -- he clearly opposes the UPF concept."
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Tamar Haspel @tamarhaspel.bsky.social · 08/02/2026
Totally agree with @jandutkiewicz.bsky.social that we should stop demonizing industrial food. Demonize crap food, by all means! But not all industrial, or even ultra-processed food is crap, and some crap has only ingredients your grandmother would recognize.
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Garrett Broad @garrettbroad.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
I didn't know Dan personally but felt like I knew Dan pretty well. His knowledge of offbeat Philly sports culture minutiae was unmatched, and his hoagie mouth landed like ASMR in my ears. He will be missed.
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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
This is the most astonishing graph of what the Trump regime has done to US science. They have destroyed the federal science workforce across the board. The negative impacts on Americans will be felt for generations, and the US might never be the same again. www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
This line graph illustrates the percentage change in agency staff levels from the previous year for nine major U.S. federal scientific and health organizations between the fiscal years 2016 and 2025. The agencies tracked include the CDC, Department of Energy, EPA, FDA, NASA, NIH, NIST, NOAA, and NSF. For the majority of the timeline between 2016 and 2023, the agencies show relatively stable fluctuations, generally staying within a range of +5% to -5% change per year. However, there is a dramatic and uniform plummet starting in the 2024–25 period. Every agency depicted shows a sharp downward trajectory, with staffing losses ranging from approximately -15% to over -25%. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shows the most significant decline, dropping to roughly -26%, while the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) shows the least severe but still substantial drop at approximately -15%.
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Garrett Broad @garrettbroad.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
"Slashing regulations, firing federal workers, and wrecking the basic capacities of government officials to do their jobs guarantees the bad government it purports to fix and creates the conditions for the fraud and corruption that tough-talking politicians pretend to abhor."
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Richard Waite @waiterich.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
Quick little exchange here about one of the changes bsky.app/profile/wait...
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Garrett Broad @garrettbroad.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
Despite the characteristic bluster from the Trump/RFK admin, the new dietary guidelines are really not that different from the last 20+ years. Biggest shift is definitely more positive emphasis on meat and full-fat dairy. But otherwise pretty status quo...
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Sentient @sentientmedia.org · 16/12/2025
Since launching in 2013, Falling Fruit has mapped over 4,000 different species of edible mushrooms and plants across almost 2 million publicly accessible foraging spots in cities around the world. @gracehussain.bsky.social reports:
buff.ly
Urban Foragers Are Mapping Edible Plants Around the World
The nonprofit Falling Fruit’s interactive, crowdsourced map helps communities find food-bearing plants in cities around the world.
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Sentient @sentientmedia.org · 11/12/2025
We’re joining other newsrooms in the Climate News Task Force to offer a shared place to sign up for all our newsletters. It’s a new way to make climate coverage easier to find — and to support the reporting that holds powerful industries accountable. buff.ly/IrWLrrX
buff.ly
Get the Climate News Task Force newsletter bundle
Twelve climate newsrooms joined forces in 2025 to create the Climate News Task Force, to increase and improve climate journalism collaborations and innovate new solutions to current challenges.
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Garrett Broad @garrettbroad.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
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...
thelancet.com
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...
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Garrett Broad @garrettbroad.bsky.social · 03/11/2025
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...
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Garrett Broad @garrettbroad.bsky.social · 03/11/2025
"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."
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Garrett Broad @garrettbroad.bsky.social · 03/11/2025
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...
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Garrett Broad @garrettbroad.bsky.social · 28/10/2025
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...
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Garrett Broad @garrettbroad.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
A useful rejoinder to the Consumer Reports study on lead in protein powders...
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Jan Dutkiewicz @jandutkiewicz.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
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...
vox.com
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.
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Tamar Haspel @tamarhaspel.bsky.social · 13/10/2025
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
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Garrett Broad @garrettbroad.bsky.social · 13/10/2025
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!
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Garrett Broad @garrettbroad.bsky.social · 13/10/2025
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...
cell.com
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...
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Jenny Splitter @jennysplitter.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
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 Has Become More Challenging, for Reporters and Sources
Researchers are more reluctant to give interviews since Trump returned to the White House.
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Garrett Broad @garrettbroad.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
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.
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Garrett Broad @garrettbroad.bsky.social · 29/09/2025
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.
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Garrett Broad @garrettbroad.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
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.
@calleymeans on X writes: The cancer rate for the Amish is 40% lower than the general population. Why?

Followed by screenshot of article from PubMed Central that writes: The age-adjusted cancer incidence rate for all cancers among the Amish adults was 60% of the age-adjusted adult rate in Ohio (389.5/105 vs. 646.9/105; p < 0.0001). The incidence rate for Results

The age-adjusted cancer incidence rate for all cancers among the Amish adults was 60% of the age-adjusted adult rate in Ohio (389.5/105 vs. 646.9/105; p < 0.0001). The incidence rate for tobacco-related cancers in the Amish was 37% of the rate for Ohio adults (p < 0.0001). The incidence rate for non-tobacco-related cancers in the Amish was 72% of the age-adjusted adult rate in Ohio (p = 0.0001).
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Garrett Broad @garrettbroad.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
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."
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Garrett Broad @garrettbroad.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
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...
nytimes.com
Surgeon General Nominee Pledges to Divest From Wellness Interests
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Colin Carlson @colincarlson.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
🚨 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...
"Health losses attributed to anthropogenic climate change," a brief communication in the journal Nature Climate Change. There's a map showing regions of the world, and pie charts of relevant studies as they apply to different health impacts like "heat-related deaths" and "maternal and child health"
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Garrett Broad @garrettbroad.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
Unpopular opinion: Hate crime laws are bad, too.
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Garrett Broad @garrettbroad.bsky.social · 03/09/2025
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.
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Garrett Broad @garrettbroad.bsky.social · 03/09/2025
Another success story as the president works to make America covered in pig shit again.
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Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · 02/09/2025
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...
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Jan Rosenow @janrosenow.bsky.social · 30/08/2025
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
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Garrett Broad @garrettbroad.bsky.social · 18/08/2025
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!
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Garrett Broad @garrettbroad.bsky.social · 18/08/2025
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...
nature.com
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...
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Garrett Broad @garrettbroad.bsky.social · 18/08/2025
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...
nature.com
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...
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Marina Bolotnikova @mbolotnikova.bsky.social · 15/08/2025
Friday afternoon personal news dump — I'm switching from being an editor to a writer, so I'll be writing a lot more often, and you can apply to replace me as editor (and also be my editor!) at our amazing little vertical ☺️ job-boards.greenhouse.io/voxmedia/job...
job-boards.greenhouse.io
Deputy Editor, Future Perfect
Remote (US Only)
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Garrett Broad @garrettbroad.bsky.social · 04/08/2025
Bad news for the leaders of MAHA...
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Garrett Broad @garrettbroad.bsky.social · 03/08/2025
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Free Press @freepress.bsky.social · 02/08/2025
If you've ever wondered who owns the media, this Media Capitulation Index is a must read. Free Press rates the independence of 35 Big Tech companies then analyzes their ability to defend democracy at a time of domestic and international authoritarianism. www.freepress.net/who-owns-media
freepress.net
Who Owns the Media
Who owns the 35 most powerful media companies in America? Learn how these giants came to dominate the U.S. media landscape through mergers, acquisition and manipulation. Free Press rates their ability to defend democracy during a time of authoritarianism.
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Garrett Broad @garrettbroad.bsky.social · 28/07/2025
It's journalistic malpractice to cover superficial efforts by RFK/MAHA/Trump to make food healthier without mentioning the important ways they are making food systems much worse - cuts to SNAP/local food purchasing, slashing food and nutrition research, food safety layoffs, etc. Bad job by NYT here.
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