Food & Nutrition: What Everyone Needs to Know (2025 Edition)

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This chapter introduces the book’s goal to drive urgent conversations on critical food and nutrition issues pertinent to everyday eaters (and students of food-related disciplines), from farm to fork and far beyond. It discusses contemporary farming and food production, highlight the roles of Big Food, Big Ag, and factory farming in today’s agrifood systems—and the roles women, children, forced labor, and immigrants play. It contrasts traditional plant-based diets with meat-centric Western diets filled with ultra-processed foods (UPFs). It clarifies that nutrition is a science based in biochemistry, utilizing the scientific method to understand how diet impacts health, disease, sustainability, and well-being. It introduces the nutritional ecology framework (health, environment, economy, and society) and the importance of dietary patterns rather than individual nutrients in creating healthy, sustainable diets. And food is so much more than medicine; our diets are source of pleasure, celebration, and culture, central to the human experience.

This chapter explores diet and disease around the world, emphasizing communicable diseases like obesity, diabetes, stroke, cancer, and heart disease as well as hunger, food insecurity, micronutrient deficiencies, and infectious diseases. It highlights that hunger stems from poverty, political instability, and environmental factors, exacerbated by climate change. Undernutrition weakens immunity and increases vulnerability to infectious diseases and increased during COVID-19 due to food insecurity. Shifts towards Western diets drive overnutrition, leading to obesity and other chronic diseases. Billions face a double burden of malnutrition, where hunger and infectious diseases (overnutrition) coexist alongside obesity and preventable chronic diseases (undernutrition). The chapter discusses how unclean water and unsafe food practices increase foodborne illness and examines whether diet can prevent or cure COVID-19. It notes the Top 10 causes of death and disability worldwide—heart disease is number one—while introducing the importance of healthy, plant-based diets in preventing diet-related diseases.

This chapter examines the major challenges, environmental impacts, and sustainability of today’s global agrifood system, including conventional (industrial) agriculture, commercial fishing, and food waste. It discusses how agriculture causes climate change while being shaped by its effects, as warmer temperatures and unstable weather like droughts and floods impact crop productivity and nutrient composition, threatening global food security. It describes how livestock production and megafactory farms (to make meat, dairy, and eggs) and the agrifood system drive deforestation, emitting greenhouse gases carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, contributing to global warming. It examines water, fertilizers, and pesticides in food production and their relation to dead zones, pollution, soil degradation, and climate change. It scrutinizes the commercial fishing industry, sharing how overfishing and by-catch have diminished biodiversity and disrupted ocean ecosystems. The chapter closes on food waste and food loss, including its magnitude, causes, and impact on climate change and the environment.

This chapter examines how scientific revolutions, discoveries, and technologic inventions shape human diets and impact the environment, from the Paleolithic Era to the present, highlighting how we access, prepare, and consume food. It illustrates that Stone Age hunter-gatherers were largely vegetarians who consumed a plant-based diet and scavenged animals. Sapiens began growing crops and raising animals during the Neolithic Revolution (birth of agriculture), resulting in poorer diets and social inequalities. Farming was mechanized during the Industrial Revolution intensive chemical practices enhanced crop growth while selective breeding increased yields, the hallmarks of the Green Revolution. It explores seminal science and technology breakthroughs, including the human genome (Genetic Revolution), computing (Digital Revolution and Information age), and now artificial intelligence (AI), that continuously transform food access, shopping, cooking, and eating. Finally, it highlights the Top 20 food and drink inventions, musing when genetic engineering (GMOs) and artificial intelligence (AI) will join the list.

This chapter examines how food processing impacts human health, the environment, and sustainability, addressing traditional and contemporary preservation methods and techniques, like fermentation, canned and frozen foods. and plant-based meat. It compares conventional with organic agriculture and frozen and canned foods with fresh and exposes misinformation about eating local (food miles) and dietary carbon footprint, emphasizing the scientific consensus to consume more vegetables and fruit and other plant foods for best health. It highlights the preponderance of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) in Western diets, often plastic-packaged with high levels of sugar, salt, fat, and calories that contribute to obesity and chronic diseases. Yet many nutrient-dense UPFs—like fortified cereals and plant-based meat—offer health benefits, underscoring the importance of balance and moderation to create healthy, sustainable diets. Finally, it examines genetic engineering in food production, combating disinformation about genetically modified organisms (GMOs) that undermine their role in sustainability and food security.  

This chapter views popular diet fads and social media trends with a nutrition science lens, including clean eating, natural, and raw foods that carry a health halo but distract from the major nutrition culprits that increase chronic diseases, like sugar, salt, and saturated fat. It highlights plant-based diets (a.k.a., plant-rich, plant-forward, flexitarian, semi-vegetarian, vegan), noting the broad scientific consensus on the significant benefits on health, sustainability, chronic disease prevention, and climate change rooted in nutrition and environmental science. It combats disinformation about plant-based meat by illustrating the lower carbon and water footprints compared to animal meat alongside higher nutritional content, sharing how these ultra-processed foods (UPFs) fit into a healthy, sustainable diet. The chapter examines the microbiome, revealing the role of probiotics and prebiotics and plant-based diets that foster good bacteria and prevent disease, closing on the importance of breastfeeding as the fundamental first step in human health and longevity.

This chapter focuses on the food environment and other drivers of food choices, including economic conditions, biological variables, social factors, and industry influences. In wealthier nations, taste is the main factor, which is rooted in genetics but shaped by early childhood diet as well as food marketing and advertising. Other influences include food price, health concerns, convenience, environmental sustainability, and climate change. The global food industry and agrifood system shape what is available, as does food policy, while cultural traditions and social norms regarding gender and women’s rights further impact how we cook and eat around the world. The chapter describes how COVID-19 supply chain and lockdown; geopolitical conflicts and wars; and avian (bird) flu combine with corporate greed to drive high food prices that make healthy eating unaffordable. The chapter closes describing contemporary eating habits, including the decline of cooking and the rise of snacking, fast food, food trucks, street food—and girl dinner.  

This chapter examines coffee, tea, and chocolate, including their nutritional benefits, health effects, and use in both traditional cultures and today’s world. Coffee is the world’s primary source of caffeine and may raise LDL (bad) cholesterol, a risk factor for heart disease, but coffee and caffeine have also been associated with less depression and improved cardiovascular health. Like coffee, tea is rich in phytochemicals, with similar benefits for blood pressure, blood sugar, cognition, and brain health. It highlights the powerful polyphenols, antioxidants, and phytonutrients found in green tea, kombucha, yerba maté, and matcha and explores the medicinal use of drinking chocolate and its rich polyphenols and antioxidants, noting that added sugar and milk reduce its value. Finally, the chapter considers the ecological impacts of coffee, tea, and chocolate production, including deforestation, environmental sustainability, biodiversity loss, monoculture, climate change, and the use of child and forced labor in the chocolate industry.

This chapter examines the evidence surrounding the role of vegetables and fruits in health, longevity, chronic disease prevention, and mental health while addressing misinformation related to fruit juice and obesity as well as juicing, juice cleanses, and so-called detox regimens. It outlines the major categories of vegetables (dark green, red-orange, cruciferous, starchy, allium, and seaweed) and fruits (citrus, berries, melons, cored, stone, and tropical), emphasizing their distinct vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals. It discusses herbs and spices at the heart of traditional medicine practices in China and India, which deliver antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antiviral effects, and are now studied in Western nutrition science. It highlights superfoods like seaweed, broccoli, blueberries, cranberries, and leafy greens due to their high phytonutrient content, including polyphenols and carotenoids. Finally, it considers whether freshly pressed fruit juices and smoothies may be part of a healthy and sustainable diet, emphasizing choosing nutrient-dense varieties while minimizing food waste.

This chapter examines the role of whole grains and refined grains in health, longevity, and chronic disease prevention and describes the nutrient composition of grains and pseudograins—wheat, corn, oats, rice, amaranth, buckwheat, and quinoa—and their significance as dietary staples. It explains how food processing removes fiber and micronutrients from whole grains, and most people don’t eat enough. The chapter highlights the beneficial role of oats in lowering LDL cholesterol, in part due to beta-glucan. It discusses wheat, gluten, and gluten-related disorders like Celiac disease and wheat allergy and combats misinformation about gluten-free diets, explaining the role of FODMAPs and amylase-trypsin inhibitors (ATIs). It discusses the benefits of whole grains over refined grains, which boost blood sugar and contribute to heart disease and diabetes when part of a Western diet filled with ultra-processed foods (UPFs). It concludes with tips for identifying whole grains, including reading food labels and ingredients.

This chapter examines the nutritional composition of beans, peas, and lentils (legumes) as well as nuts and seeds, noting their specific vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients (like polyphenols) while explaining that most humans do not eat enough for optimal health and longevity. The chapter describes the role of legumes in sustainable farming due to nitrogen fixation, which enriches soil and reduces the need for synthetic fertilizers, critical in regenerative agriculture. It reveals how legumes, nuts, and seeds impact weight, obesity, cardiovascular health, diabetes, cancer, and heart disease, particularly when part of a plant-based diet. It highlights soybeans and tofu, emphasizing its complete protein profile and phytoestrogens (isoflavones) while combating misinformation about its role in breast cancer and illustrating its beneficial role on longevity in traditional Japanese diets. Finally, the chapter discusses why beans produce gas (and how to prevent it) and reviews the science on peanut allergies. 

This chapter examines animal foods in human diets, (chicken, pork, beef, goat, insects), specifically conventional (industrial) meat produced in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) and their role in planetary health, sustainability, climate change, and society. It posits that meat is the ultimate ultra-processed food (UPF). Globally, 92 billion animals are slaughtered annually, packed into factory and megafactory farms and fed antibiotics and hormones to produce protein and meat efficiently, cheaply, and inhumanely. CAFOs fuel antibiotic resistance (antimicrobial resistance; AMR), a growing public health threat, while endangering meatpackers. It describes greenhouse gas emissions (GHGe) from deforestation and methane production due to manure lagoons alongside land use, fuel, and water costs—plus air, soil, and water pollution that disproportionately impacts BIPOC communities. It concludes with the “chickenization” of our species, the Earth encrusted with poultry bones, sharing anthropological evidence that sapiensin the Anthropocene are living in the Age of the Chicken. 

This chapter explores the high intakes of animal foods like beef, pork, chicken, and eggs in Western diets, highlighting their protein, micronutrients, saturated fat and heme iron alongside the sodium (salt), preservatives, and carcinogens found in processed meats. It illustrates the health risks of red and processed meats, including heart disease, stroke, and colorectal (colon) cancer. It addresses misinformation regarding the nutritional benefits and sustainability of grass-fed versus grain-fed beef, clarifying that both have a high carbon and water footprint and contribute to climate change. It assesses the egg and blood cholesterol (high LDL) connection, reminding that some may be sensitive to dietary cholesterol from egg yolks. Finally, it examines eggs (cage-free, free-range, pasture-raised, regenerative agriculture, organic), noting the role of bird (avian) flu on egg prices and urging eaters to read labels to understand environmental sustainability and ethical concerns in egg and meat production (and ditch the jerky).

This chapter examines the nutritional benefits and health risks of milk and dairy consumption, highlighting fermented foods like yogurt and cheese. It explains that humans are the only species to drink another animal’s milk, yet most sapiens are lactose intolerant. It notes that milk’s calcium is critical to building strong bones but challenges its role in osteoporosis and fractures. It discusses that reduced-fat and nonfat dairy can be part of a heart-healthy diet, whereas full-fat and high-sugar foods (whole milk, ice cream, sugar-sweetened yogurts) in a Western dietary pattern (Standard American Diet) can increase chronic disease; some studies also link milk with hormone-sensitive cancers. It shares the science on yogurt, a fermented food with live bacteria (probiotics) that improves the microbiome and gut health. Finally, it considers whether cheese is the key to the French Paradox, emphasizing the importance of the whole dietary pattern on health, sustainability, and disease prevention. 

This chapter examines fish and seafood through a nutrition ecology framework (health, environment, society, economy), exploring global fish consumption and its importance in nutrition, food security, sustainability, and development. It compares wild-caught fish with farmed (aquaculture), highlighting Atlantic salmon and shrimp, illustrating that overfishing and by-catch threaten ecosystems and biodiversity and has driven some species to near extinction. While aquaculture meets eaters’ demands and provides livelihoods, sustainability practices vary, analogous to terrestrial agriculture (e.g., water pollution, antibiotics, sea lice, animal suffering). Seafood contamination from mercury and other persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and forever chemicals in the ocean can pose risks, but they are outweighed by health benefits; and omega-3s EPA and DHA are critical for pregnant women and children for optimal eye and brain development. A dietary patten including fish can be part of a heart-healthy diet, especially when replacing red meat; sustainable seafood guides inform environmentally sound, eco-conscious choices.

This chapter examines efforts to solve food, nutrition, and farming challenges in the global agrifood system, highlighting the global failure to meet the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to curb climate change amid increasing food insecurity, hunger, and diet-related diseases. It discusses local, national, and global approaches including fortification and biofortification (genetic engineering); policy and regulation; nutrition programs and education; and diet guidelines and recommendations. It defines the principles of healthy, sustainable diets, noting agroecology, regenerative agriculture, and technologic advances (e.g., precision agriculture, artificial intelligence (AI), nanotechnology, robots, drones, Internet of Things (IoT) that have transformed farming in the Fourth Industrial (Agricultural) Revolution (4AR). It explores food waste solutions, emphasizing the reduce-reuse-recycle framework within a circular economy that feeds hungry people. It stresses the importance of an ecotechno future and multilevel interventions, local to global, to create healthy, sustainable food systems that shifts sapiens as a species to plant-based diets.

This chapter examines the evidence for weight loss, chronic disease prevention, and longevity. It shares the science-based consensus and dietary advice on how to   lose weight, prevent a heart attack, control appetite, and live longer,  highlighting the role of a plant-based diet. It presents key principles of healthy and sustainable eating, including reducing ultra-processed foods, sugar, and salt; prioritizing whole grains, beans, nuts, and legumes; and   limiting meat and dairy consumption. The chapter discusses weight loss   strategies like Paleo, high-protein, low-fat, and WFPB diets, reminding that appetite and calorie control are the key and finding a diet that works for   you is essential. It explores the Blue Zones, the world’s longest-lived   populations where people primarily consume plant-based, nutrient-dense foods. Finally, it discusses caloric restriction as a longevity strategy and   considers emerging scientific advancements, such as calorie-restriction mimetics, that may reshape aging in the future—and, of course, the “god pill."

Food and nutrition confusion is epidemic, a result of misinformation, disinformation, and science denialism; industry influence, political bias, and flawed research dissemination contribute to the diet infodemic. While there is strong scientific consensus on core diet principles and advice, social media anecdotes and sensationalist media headlines make it difficult for eaters to recognize evidence-based recommendations. It examines successful strategies for making dietary changes, including taste adaptation and the importance of pleasure, plus social support, nudges, moderation, indulgence, and mindful eating. (Healthy hedonism!) It focuses on food, mood, and mental health, highlighting adaptogens like herbs, spices, mushrooms, and polyphenols (phytonutrients). Both the fungus kingdom and intermittent fasting get a shout out, highlighting their roles in health, well-being, and longevity. It closes with how-to tips for identifying food and nutrition facts, urging readers to question sources, recognize hyped claims, and look to scientists and experts—and ignore disinformation-filled anti-science propaganda and quackery.

This chapter explores existential questions surrounding food, science, technology, and social evolution, examining the current and future landscape of food production and human diets. It traces paradigm shifts in nutrition, single nutrients and scientific reductionism to dietary patterns to nutritional ecology. It discusses food as a weapon and human right, questioning whether we need more in 2050. It highlights Fourth Agricultural Revolution (4AR) technologies (vertical farming, AI, robots, alternative proteins, plant-based meat, molecular coffee and chocolate, cultivated meat, air protein) and contrasts personalized with public health nutrition. It contemplates whether humans will continue toward environmental decimation and widespread antibiotic resistance (i.e., agshittification), urging a plant-based food revolution to cut chronic disease, curb climate change, and evolve beyond the Age of the Chicken, envisioning an ecotechno future without enslaving animals in factory farms based on science, technology, and human innovation that prioritizes public health to create a healthy, sustainable food future.