Food Sleuth Radio

Did you know that consuming ultra-processed foods harms both our physical and mental health? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Eric Hecht, MD, MPH, PhD, Founder and Executive Director of the Institute of Etiological Research, and author of the paper, “ Cross-sectional examination of ultra-processed food consumption and adverse mental h...

Did you know that incarcerated individuals who participate in Chef Jimmy Hill’s culinary training program have a 6% recidivism rate? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Chef Jimmy Hill, award-winning Executive Chef and instructor of the Food Tech training program at the Lakeland Correctional Facility in Coldwater, MI. Hill, who is featur...

Did you know that a film about a remarkable prison-based culinary training program won the James Beard Foundation’s Media award in 2023? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Brian Kaufman, Executive Video Producer at the Detroit Free Press and co-director of Coldwater Kitchen , the James Beard award-winning documentary featuring Chef Jimm...

Did you know that the number of farmers markets has grown from 1,755 in 1994 to almost 9,000 markets in 2019? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Ben Feldman, Policy Director for the Farmers Market Coalition, a national non-profit with a mission to strengthen farmers markets for the benefit of farmers, consumers, and communities.  Feldma...

Did you know that only seven to nine percent of global cancer funding goes towards prevention? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Kristina Marusic, MFA, journalist with Environmental Health News ( www.ehn.org ), and author of A New War on Cancer: The Unlikely Heroes Revolutionizing Prevention (Island Press) . Marusic connects human heal...

Did you know that 70 percent of the land in the state of IA is planted in a corn/soy rotation, and that almost none of the decisions driving this current production system were made with the nutritional or caloric needs of human beings in mind? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Chris Jones, Ph. D., retired research engineer at the U. o...

Did you know that the U.S. Geological Survey plans to reduce their tracking and reporting of nationwide pesticide-use? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Alan Kolok, Ph. D., Professor of Ecotoxicology at the U. of Idaho; Director Emeritus, of the Idaho Water Resources Research Institute and author of Modern Poisons: A Brief Introduction...

Did you know that pesticide manufacturers deliberately discredit reputable scientists and employ a host of other corrupt practices to protect sales of their products? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Stacy Malkan, co-founder and managing editor at US Right to Know , a non-profit investigative research group working globally to expose...

Did you know that it’s easier than you might think to meet protein needs on vegetarian diets? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Brenda Davis, RD, plant-based diet expert and author of Plant Powered Protein: Nutrition Essentials and Dietary Guidelines for All Ages. Davis discusses the multiple health benefits of plant-based diets and de...

Did you know that intermittent fasting can improve non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and   other metabolic disorders related to obesity? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Krista Varady, Ph. D., award-winning researcher and Professor of Nutrition at the University of Illinois-Chicago. Varady discusses the most effective methods of inter...

Did you know that POTS - postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome – is increasingly seen as a component of Long Covid? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Cheryl Harris, MS, RD, who discusses her article on diet and exercise therapy to alleviate symptoms and improve quality of life, published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition a...

Did you know that children’s literature can teach important lessons about our shared environment and the food system? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Katherine Pryor, award-winning children’s book author and “good” food advocate discusses her latest title : Spring is for Strawberries , which helps children understand the value of sea...

Did you know that the misuse of antibiotics can disrupt our gut microbiome, and contribute to a range of diseases? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Steven Lawrence, award-winning film maker and co-producer of the documentary, The Invisible Extinction. Lawrence discusses his personal experience with the side effects of antibiotics, and...

Did you know that essentially all humans have PFAS compounds  in their systems? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Steven Lasee, Ph. D., environmental toxicologist, and analytical chemist, who describes how and where PFAS enter our environment, and us. Lasee’s research discovered that some pesticides contain PFAS as part of their hidden...

Did you know that climate change affects both mental and physical health? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Susan Clayton, Ph. D., social psychologist, Whitmore-Williams Professor of Psychology at The College of Wooster (Ohio), and lead author of the chapter on “Health, Wellbeing, and the Changing Structure of Communities,” in the U.N....

Did you know that disruptions in the infant microbiome can lead to lifelong illness? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Maria Gloria Dominguez Bello, PH.D., Henry Rutgers Professor of Microbiome and Health, Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, and of Anthropology at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. Dominguez Bello di...

Did you know that the overuse of antibiotics can disrupt our microbiome, and contribute to diseases such as asthma, obesity, diabetes, cancer, and more? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Martin Blaser, M.D., Henry Rutgers Chair of the Human Microbiome at Rutgers University, author of Missing Microbes: How the Overuse of Antibiotics Is...

Did you know that most synthetic pesticides are petroleum-based? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Margaret Reeves, Ph. D., Senior Scientist at the Pesticide Action Center of North America. Reeves discusses the Pesticide Action Network’s new report: “Pesticides and Climate Change: A vicious cycle.” She describes how pesticides contribu...

Did you know that the herbicides, dicamba and 2,4-D, increasing sprayed on genetically engineered commodity crops (soy, cotton, corn) can drift from agricultural applications, as well as lawn chemical use, and harm our trees, native plants, home gardens, and greater ecosystem? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Robbie Doerhoff, Forest E...

Did you know that climate change effects our natural environment and food system? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with David Abazs, organic farmer, and Executive Director of the Northeast Regional Sustainable Development Partnership at the U. of MN. Abazs defines “agrophenology” and explains how climate change impacts our landscape and fo...

Did you know that knowing our watershed, and understanding water and nitrogen cycles is key to sustainable food and farming methods? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Jeanne Heuser, award winning citizen activist, and former Technical Information Specialist with the US. Geological Survey. From hospice, Heuser reflects on her life’s wor...

Did you know that sales of non-GMO verified products continue to grow in consumer popularity and sales? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Megan Westgate, Executive Director of the non-profit Non-GMO Project. Westgate explains what the non-GMO Project’s butterfly label tells consumers, why the verification matters, and how the FDA’s lab...

Did you know that gender influences agricultural research and practice? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Hale Ann Tufan, Ph. D., associate professor in the School of Integrative Plant Science with an adjunct appointment in the Department of Global Development at Cornell University. Tufan’s work focuses on gender equity and social incl...

Did you know that the way in which issues are framed in the media influences how they are understood and acted upon? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with Jillian Fry, Ph. D., MPH, Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Sciences at Towson University (MD), where she researches the intersection of public health, the food system, and...

Did you know that Japanese Americans were denied land ownership because of their nationality? Join Food Sleuth Radio host and Registered Dietitian, Melinda Hemmelgarn, for her interview with David Mas Masumoto, organic farmer, activist, and award-winning writer based in the Central Valley of California.  He is best known for his book, Epitaph for a Peach, which won the Julia Child Cookbook award a...