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WATCH: Experts discuss the science and nonsense of food, diet and nutrition

Promotional art for a panel event titled "Food Foolery," which shows a dinner plate full of medication pills

The USC Price School hosted a discussion with leading experts on how to identify the bona fide from the bogus when it comes to food, diet, and nutrition. (Composite: Dennis Lan)

Today’s consumers are bombarded with information about how to live longer, healthier lives through better nutrition and dietary habits. The challenge is knowing which claims are based on proven science, and which are founded on flimsy anecdotal evidence — or worse yet, are little more than marketing ploys.

To help people navigate the world of detox diets, panacea supplements and superfoods, the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy hosted a panel discussion with some of the nation’s leading experts. They discussed how to identify the bona fide from the bogus when it comes to food, diet, and nutrition.

Highlights from the virtual event, “USC Price Presents: Food Foolery.” Click here to watch the full discussion.

“When people see the word ‘natural,’ they think something is healthy or safe, and that is not always true,” said panelist Sheila Kapla, a former New York Times public health reporter who is developing a documentary on a dietary food supplements. “Too many people think that if a product is on the market, it’s safe. People don’t realize that the FDA doesn’t test many things at all.”

The event – titled “Food Foolery: Science, Non-Science, and Nonsense in Food, Diet, and Nutrition” – was moderated by Genevieve Kanter, associate professor at the USC Price School. She was joined by Kaplan; Harvard Medical School Professor Anupam Jena; Peter Lurie, president and executive director at the Center for Science in the Public Interest; Michael Goran, professor at the USC Keck School of Medicine.

Click here to watch the full discussion.