Tuesday, 31 March 2026

book club, screens, & a muddy story

 
March 2026 Newsletter
Hi read,
It's been a busy month here! So here's our March newsletter on the LAST day of March! :)
☀️ Join us for the Grow Wild Book Club Event April 16!
Reminder that we're hosting a special interactive book club workshop with the fabulous Katy Bowman, author of Grow Wild: The Whole-Child, Whole-Family, Nature-Rich Guide to Moving More.
 
Read the book and join this workshop on Thursday, April 16 5:30-7pm PST for a community conversation about how to get our kids (and ourselves!) moving more. REGISTER HERE. 
 
Registrants will get the book at a discounted rate on Katy's site. If you're able, please consider purchasing the book directly through her site at the link above to support her work.
 
📄 Recommended Read:
Ever notice how you might get a headache, or eye strain, or brain fog after a long day working at your computer and staring at a screen? Just like us, your child's brain is not wired to spend time looking at screens for the majority of the day, either! 
 
 
Your child needs lived experiences interacting with real physical environments and real people in the world to develop motor and social skills. Real life experiences give feedback to their brain and bodies that cannot be replicated by screen-based learning. 
 
If you don't know how much time your child spends on a screen during their school day, ask your child's teacher(s). Parent advocacy is the only way that things like this get changed in individual schools and in school district policies. 
🌳 OKOT Story & Service Updates
Many years ago on a rainy day, the children were having a blast playing in the mud. During their exploring, they found a glass bottle buried in the bank of the creek bed. The children enthusiastically excavated the bottle and pretended to be archeologists hunting for lost treasures. 
 
BUT…when it was time to go back to the parking lot for pickup, one child REALLLLLLY wanted to keep the bottle and take it home with him. He was MAD when I asked him to place it in the recycling bin.
 
After staying calm and standing firm in my request for him to put it in the recycling bin (because what parent wants to take home a 40 oz bottle full of mud?!), he finally complied and we joined the group who had already started walking back to the trailhead.
 
The whole way back, he was saying how MAD he was. And I kept saying:
"You did the right thing. You put it in the recycling just like the park rangers would want us to."
 
When we got to the car, he jumped in the back seat. His mom could tell something was wrong and gave me a knowing look. 
 
And I told her what an INCREDIBLE thing her son had done: he had chosen to do something that was hard for him, even when he didn't fee like it. 
 
This is something all of us have to do, every day of our lives. Doing the right thing isn't always easy. It doesn't always feel good. But it is always good for us.
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OKOT Service Updates: 
FALL SERVICES ARE NOW OPEN FOR ENROLLMENT! Apply now to secure your ideal times/dates. 
You can check out our current 1:1 outdoor OT services here.
You can register your child for SUMMER CAMP here. (Summer camp dates are listed at the bottom of this email for ease of reference.)
 
Cheers,
Laura Park Figueroa
Founder, OKOT
 
For ease of reference, here are all of the camp dates & locations (with age ranges):
WISCONSIN
June 15-19 Token Creek (Ages 4-7)
June 22-26 Glen Oak Hills (7-10)
June 29-July 3 Glen Oak Hills (7-10)
July 6-10 Glen Oak Hills (4-7)
July 13-17 Token Creek (7-10)
July 20-24 Glen Oak Hills (4-7)
July 27-31 Token Creek (7-10)
Aug 3-7 Glen Oak Hills (7-10)
Aug 10-14 Token Creek (4-7)
Aug 17-21 Token Creek (4-7)
 
SAN FRANCISCO
June 8-12 Presidio (Ages 4-7 & 7-10)
June 15-19 Presidio (7-10 & 7-10); McLaren (4-7)
June 22-26 Presidio (4-7 & 7-10); McLaren (7-10)
June 29-July 3 Presidio (4-7 & 7-10)
July 6-10 Presidio (4-7 & 7-10)
July 13-17 Presidio (4-7 & 7-10); McLaren (4-7)
July 20-24 Presidio (4-7 & 4-7); McLaren (7-10)
July 27-31 Presidio (4-7 & 7-10); McLaren (4-7)
 
EAST BAY
June 8-12 Joaquin Miller (Ages 7-10)
June 15-19 Joaquin Miller (7-10)
June 22-26 Joaquin Miller (4-7)
June 29-July 3 Tilden (7-10)
July 6-10 Joaquin Miller (4-7 & 7-10)
July 13-17 Joaquin Miller (7-10 & 7-10)
July 20-24 Joaquin Miller (4-7 & 4-7)
July 27-31 Tilden (4-7)
 
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Latest from Food Politics: What's happening with infant formula?

I can hardly believe that infant formula, one of the most tightly regulated products on the market, is in the news, but it sure is.   Let’s start with RFK Jr. Amazing.   I thought infant formula companies were already doing that.   Without ...
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By Marion Nestle

What’s happening with infant formula?

I can hardly believe that infant formula, one of the most tightly regulated products on the market, is in the news, but it sure is.  Let’s start with RFK Jr.

Amazing.  I thought infant formula companies were already doing that.  Without question, millions of Americans were raised on the existing infant formulas and have done pretty well on them.

RFK Jr does not like high fructose corn syrup (most formulas don’t use this) or seed oils.  I will be interested to see what his FDA proposes as replacements.

But now we have a new formula company, Little Spoon, putting full-page ads in the New York Times.  “Parents,” it says, “deserve to trust the food that fules their family.”  It says it uses better ingredients and tests for banned chemicals.

And why is this a step forward?  Alas, we have the ByHeart example—a “better-for-you” formula unfortunately—and tragically—contaminated with toxic bacteria.

What’s especially troubling about the ByHeart tragedy is that its products are still on shelves.

Food safety lawyer Bill Marler has plenty to say about this: To Safer Infant Formulas and doing away with Botulism, Cronobacter sakazakii, Salmonella and Bacillus cereus

And then there are Consumer Reports’ investigations of heavy metals in formulas, lead and arsenic, among them.

No wonder parents are concerned.  No wonder there is now a market for better tested formula.

What should parents do while all this is going on?

To avoid pathogens, buy canned and bottled formula that has been Pasteurized.

To avoid toxic metals?  That’s harder to do since most formulas are not tested.

All of this is yet another reason to breastfeed, if at all possible.  And to wean babies off of formula as soon as they are ready.

The post What’s happening with infant formula? appeared first on Food Politics by Marion Nestle

Now Available: What to Eat Now

My new book, What to Eat Now, is officially out!

It's both a field guide to food shopping in America and a reflection on how to eat well—and deliciously.

For more information and to order, click here.

You can explore the full archive of this (almost) daily blog at foodpolitics.com, where you'll also find information about my books, articles, media interviews, upcoming lectures, favorite resources, and FAQs.

​​​​​​​

Marion Nestle

Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University, Emerita

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Monday, 30 March 2026

Latest from Food Politics: Industry-funded study of the week: The Sweet Tooth Trial

A reader, Betsy Keller, sent me this one.   Her question: Who funded this?   Take a guess! The study: The Sweet Tooth Trial: A Parallel Randomized Controlled Trial Investigating the Effects of A 6-Month Low, Regular, or High Dietary Sweet Taste ...
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By Marion Nestle

Industry-funded study of the week: The Sweet Tooth Trial

A reader, Betsy Keller, sent me this one.  Her question: Who funded this?  Take a guess!

The study: The Sweet Tooth Trial: A Parallel Randomized Controlled Trial Investigating the Effects of A 6-Month Low, Regular, or High Dietary Sweet Taste Exposure on Sweet Taste Liking, and Various Outcomes Related to Food Intake and Weight Status. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2026; 123 (1): 101073 DOI: 10.1016/j.ajcnut.2025.09.041

Background: Public health organizations currently recommend lowering the consumption of sweet-tasting foods, on the assumption that a lower exposure to sweet-tasting foods lowers preferences for sweet taste, decreasing sugar and energy intake, and aiding obesity prevention.

Objectives: to assess the effects of a 6-mo low, regular, and high dietary sweet taste exposure on liking for sweet taste.

Methods: Adults were given sweet foods and beverages from sugars, low-calorie sweeteners, fruits and dairy ranging from 10 to 45% of calories. They reported their sweet taste liking, sweet taste intensity perception, food choice, and investigators assessed their energy intake, body weight, markers for diabetes and cardiovascular disease, and adverse events.

Results: Taste perceptions did not change over the range of sweetness studied.

Conclusions: These results do not support public health advice to reduce exposure to sweet-tasting foods, independent of other relevant factors such as energy density and food form.

Funding: The sweet tooth project, initiated by Wageningen University (Netherlands) and Bournemouth University (United Kingdom), also received private contributions from: American Beverage Association, Apura Ingredients, Arla Foods amba, Cargill R&D Centre Europe BVBA, Cosun Nutrition Center, DSM-Firmenich, International Sweeteners Association, SinoSweet Co., Ltd., and Unilever Foods Innovation Centre Wageningen. The private partners were part of an advisory committee that gave nonbinding advice to the project team that designed and executed the study. The project team reported the study design, progress, results, and manuscripts for publication to an independent steering committee, which gave binding advice before, during, and at completion of the study trial.

Conflict of interest: MM has previously received research funding from Royal Cosun (sugar beet refinery) and Sensus (inulin producer) and has received expenses from ILSI Europe. MB has received research funding from Horizon 2020 SWEET (grant agreement ID 774293). KMA has previously received research funding from the International Sweeteners Association, BE, and has current funding from The Coca Cola Company, US, and Ajinomoto Health and Nutrition North America Inc. US; KMA has received speaker’s expenses from EatWell Global and PepsiCo. KdG is a member of the Global Nutrition Advisory Board of Mars company. KdG has received travel, hotel, and speaker renumeration from the International Sweeteners Association, and received speaker expenses from ILSI North America.

Comment: Humans are born with a preference for sweet taste (the sugars in breast milk encourage babies to suck) and this study aimed to find out whether increasing consumption of sweet foods made people want to eat sweeter foods.  It didn’t.  On this basis, the authors conclude that recommending reduced sugar intake won’t help.  Really?  Sugars have calories but no nutrients, and eating a lot of sugars at any one time is difficult for metabolism to handle appropriately.  Those seem like good reasons for minimizing intake of sugar-sweetened foods and beverages.  The funders of this study have reasons to prefer that you not worry about this issue, which is why they funded it.

The post Industry-funded study of the week: The Sweet Tooth Trial appeared first on Food Politics by Marion Nestle

Now Available: What to Eat Now

My new book, What to Eat Now, is officially out!

It's both a field guide to food shopping in America and a reflection on how to eat well—and deliciously.

For more information and to order, click here.

You can explore the full archive of this (almost) daily blog at foodpolitics.com, where you'll also find information about my books, articles, media interviews, upcoming lectures, favorite resources, and FAQs.

​​​​​​​

Marion Nestle

Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University, Emerita

© Marion Nestle. You're receiving this email because you've signed up to receive updates from us.

If you'd prefer not to receive updates, you can unsubscribe.

Safely Unsubscribe • Archives • Preferences • Contact • Subscribe • Privacy
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Latest from Food Politics: American Journal of Public Health series on Ultraprocessed Foods: My Editorial

The American Journal of Public Health has just published a series of papers on ultraprocessed foods to which I contributed this editorial....