As today is April Fool’s Day, let’s foray into some fads and foolishness in the world of wellness. I hope you enjoy these stories! Though please take them with the proverbial grain of salt.

And remember that the best route to optimal health is to make long term, sustainable changes to your lifestyle, rather than pandering to fads. It is the distinctly un-faddish things – things like eating whole, unprocessed foods, more fruits and vegetables, moving your body throughout the day, getting your heart rate up regularly and sleeping well – that will make you healthier and happier. There are no quick fixes. Yes, it takes work. The rewards, however, are well worth it.

This month in Dishing It Up on Fads & Foolishness …

• Heinz Launches New Hot Cross Bun Mayonnaise this Easter
• Giant meatball with woolly mammoth DNA unveiled by cultured meat startup
• Compostable takeout bowls contain ‘forever chemicals,’ study finds
• Wellmania on Netflix
• WeightWatchers going into prescription weight loss business with telehealth provider acquisition

Read on for a bite-sized summary and links for each story …

Heinz Launches New Hot Cross Bun Mayonnaise this Easter
“Made from rich and creamy Heinz [Seriously] Good Mayonnaise and pieces of real hot cross bun, the sauce has sweet cinnamon spices swirled in and is speckled with real fruit pieces for a sweet and unique concoction.” Well, unique is one word for it! Thankfully this is a UK limited edition of only 100 jars. In fact, you need to enter a contest to win one. So it falls more into the category of fads rather than foolishness on the part of Heinz.
Read more …

Giant meatball with woolly mammoth DNA unveiled by cultured meat startup
Brave new world, that has such meatballs in it! The meatball is “made of sheep cells inserted with mammoth gene myoglobin, with a soupçon of elephant DNA.” Sounds tasty, no? Actually, no. Interestingly, on the same day that this story appeared, so did this one: Italy moves to ban lab-grown meat to protect food heritage.
Read more …

Compostable takeout bowls contain ‘forever chemicals,’ study finds
If woolly mammoth meatballs (or other lab grown meat) become the next “big thing” in processed food, you definitely won’t want it packaged in one of these compostable containers. The chemicals referred to are PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances). These are a “group of more than 9,000 human-made chemicals that contain fluorine bonded to carbon, a strong chemical bond that makes them hard to break down. That means they accumulate over time in the human body and the environment.” The degree to which this affects our health is unclear. But, to my mind, it would be foolish to take chances. Just one more reason to limit dining on takeout food, IMHO.
Read more …

Wellmania on Netflix
“Green juice, microdosing, cupping and … cocaine? Netflix’s Wellmania takes a humorous dive into the heady world of wellness….Wellmania shows us in no uncertain terms that while many of us crave quick fixes for our health, no such thing exists.”
Watch the trailer …

WeightWatchers going into prescription weight loss business with telehealth provider acquisition
On a more serious note, WeightWatchers (WW) has purchased Sequence, a “telehealth provider that offers users access to drugs used to treat diabetes and obesity under such brand names as Ozempic, Wegovy and Trulicity.” These drugs are quite beneficial in treating those that are obese and/or diabetic. However, there have been numerous reports of people who have neither of these conditions taking these medications simply for quick weight loss. Consequently, it becomes more difficult for those who truly need them to access them. And it’s also a rather foolish thing to do. Because, like most medications, they come with side effects, including “possible thyroid cancer, pancreatitis, and kidney and gallbladder problems”. So I always advocate for lifestyle change first.  Yes, it takes time and effort, but isn’t that true of anything worth achieving?
Read more …

Lastly, in delving a bit into WW, I learned that a chunk of the company is owned by Artal Luxembourg SA, a private investment firm. And that Artal’s source of funding came from a noble Belgian family who’s fortune was, ironically, made in sugar. Another large holding of Artal is Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company developing treatments for human disease, including type II diabetes. It’s a winning formula, evidently. Profit from the sale of sugar and then profit from those who subscribe to WW to lose weight and those who take medications to treat type 2 diabetes. The investors behind Artal are no fools.

 

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