Another key issue that we haven't yet discussed is serving size, which is going to be a huge issue for my thesis. It gets to the heart of not just where our food comes from, but how we define nutrition in general.
Lisa R. Young, one of Marion Nestle's PhD students, wrote a book about it called The Portion Teller, which I now have to buy. She was featured in the movie Supersize Me, which I'm sure everybody reading this has seen.
I'm not even sure who determines what the actual serving size is for food products. I'm guessing the company does it based on guidelines released by the FDA. Those FDA guidelines are based on criteria established from... I have no idea)! That's my next stop on this journey.
I'm going to have to learn exactly where our nutritional standards come from. Where, when, and who discovered carbohydrates? Pollan mentioned "vitamins" in Omnivore's Dilemma, but I need to understand where every item in the NLEA table comes from (sodium, carbs, saturated fat vs. regular fat).
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Have you read Walter Willett's Eat, Drink & Be Healthy? Lots of good info in there on the history of labeling, the background, the agenda... Probably not to the level you need though. I've never had to write a thesis before...
You and me both, Mary! Thanks for the reference. I'll take any and every suggestion I can get. Every book is a doorway to a lot of other books.
and from what I've seen, Willett is widely regarded as one of the leading authorities in nutrition. Head of the department at Harvard. Seems like a good place to start at least. I'm a highly bored person right now, by the way, so if you need any help on the research or anything, let me know.
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