Month: February 2023

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Republicans held a hearing to prove Twitter’s bias against them. It backfired in spectacular fashion

Republicans held a hearing to prove Twitter’s bias against them. It backfired in spectacular fashion



CNN
 — 

Republicans are dwelling in a truth distortion area.

That is the only summary that can be drawn from Wednesday’s listening to on Capitol Hill exactly where GOP lawmakers continued to drive a factually unsupported narrative about the federal governing administration secretly colluding with Twitter to censor the New York Post’s Hunter Biden laptop tale in 2020.

Even with no true evidence to assistance this weighty and consequential declare, Republicans ended up unrelenting in peddling it to the American general public. At Wednesday’s hearing they confirmed no regard for misinforming people who flip to them for accurate details or the truth that they have been smearing a private business enterprise and its previous executives in the system.

Household Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, who appears to want to be taken very seriously by the Washington elite whilst tossing asinine purple meat to the Republican foundation, claimed Twitter fortunately adopted intended FBI guidelines to censor the Hunter Biden story mainly because they were being “terrified of Joe Biden not successful the election.”

The unsupported claim is very little new for him. Comer has lengthy pushed the notion that Elon Musk’s launch of the so-termed “Twitter Files” confirmed “evidence that the Biden campaign colluded with Massive Tech to suppress a tale that we now know is 100 p.c true.” That, of program, is not what the selectively launched corporation documents present.

But Comer’s statements get to the heart of the make any difference: By pushing the narrative that there was “collusion” amongst Large Tech and the FBI to “censor” the Post’s Hunter Biden story, Republicans are not so subtly feeding their election denying base reason to think that the 2020 election was proficiently rigged from Donald Trump.

A model of this article initial appeared in the “Reliable Sources” newsletter. Sign up for the every day digest chronicling the evolving media landscape here.

Right-wing media retailers and personalities are satisfied to amplify these statements and spread them to thousands and thousands of viewers who transform to them for their news. Fox Information, for instance, hyped the GOP claims from the hearing on Wednesday, portraying the nonsense coming out of the listening to as if it have been a really serious affair uncovering considerable wrongdoing.

The facts — truth — simply just do not issue. It did not shift one Republican when the Twitter executives they experienced subpoenaed right before the committee refuted their promises. And it didn’t make a difference much to the ideal-wing media equipment that blindly repeated them to their audiences.

“I am knowledgeable of no illegal collusion with, or direction from, any authorities company or political marketing campaign on how Twitter should have dealt with the Hunter Biden laptop computer condition,” James Baker, Twitter’s previous deputy counsel, instructed the committee while below oath.

And Matt Taibbi, just one of the journalists Musk handpicked last yr to comb by Twitter’s inside messages for evidence of free speech violations, stated himself that “there is no proof — that I have observed — of any authorities involvement in the laptop computer story.”

These types of statements from Baker, former Trust and Basic safety head Yoel Roth, and former standard counsel Vijaya Gadde saturated Wednesday’s hearing — but they fell on deaf ears. Republicans confirmed, as soon as all over again, that they are married to pushing promises that Silicon Valley is deliberately and unjustly censoring conservative views, even when the points do not contort with their narrative.

Ironically, the listening to appeared to reveal that Twitter experienced acquiesced to Trump and adjusted its procedures immediately after it concluded that he experienced violated its guidelines.

Anika Collier Navaroli, a previous senior employee on Twitter’s material moderation group, testified that the social media enterprise ended its ban on abusive language from immigrants to “go back again to where by they arrived from” so that Trump would not deal with repercussions for his racist 2019 attack on four minority Democratic congresswomen. “So much for bias versus proper-wing on Twitter,” Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez replied.

And the hearing hinted that the Trump White Dwelling attempted to censor the speech of at the very least one American: Chrissy Teigen. When Teigen identified as Trump a collection of expletives in 2019, Navaroli testified that she was instructed the Trump White Property contacted Twitter and demanded that it be eradicated.

Unusually plenty of, Republicans showed no curiosity in drilling down on this allegation of censorship. It is no speculate why.

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Other ADHD drugs affected. When will it end?

Other ADHD drugs affected. When will it end?

As the nationwide Adderall scarcity enters its fifth thirty day period, men and women who depend on medication to support take care of notice-deficit/hyperactivity dysfunction are locating number of, if any, offered possibilities. There’s no sign of reduction yet, and no straightforward answer to the trouble, pharmacy professionals say.

Widespread shortage has hit Adderall choices, also. 

As of January, the American Culture of Wellness-Process Pharmacists, which tracks drug availability, documented shortages affecting virtually 40 various doses or formulations of generic Concerta, a extensive-acting sort of methylphenidate, the drug in Ritalin. Takeda Prescription drugs, which would make Vyvanse, also recognized as lisdexamfetamine, its generic, claims there is no lack of that drug, but in accordance to dozens of pharmacies reached by NBC Information, Vyvanse has been on intermittent backorder for months.

Michael Ganio, senior director of pharmacy observe and high-quality at ASHP explained an unforeseen rise in need was more to blame than production tools or drug excellent challenges. 

“All of our drug scarcity infrastructure, and anything we have in position in this region to mitigate the effect of shortages is dependent on opportunity disruptions in offer,” Ganio claimed. “It’s been very unusual to have a scarcity dependent on raise in need.” 

In latest decades, ADHD medicine prescriptions have risen far more than the drug firms or government agencies predicted. In accordance to the health and fitness data organization Trilliant Wellbeing, Adderall prescriptions for grownups rose 15.1{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} throughout 2020, double the 7.4{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} increase witnessed the calendar year ahead of.

In Oct, the Foods and Drug Administration announced a nationwide lack of Adderall, citing “ongoing intermittent manufacturing delays.” 

Dr. Sarah Cheyette commenced switching patients to alternative ADHD remedies like Focalin, Vyvanse, Concerta and Ritalin when she figured out pharmacies had been out of Adderall late very last year. The alternative medicines didn’t constantly do the job out, but for a lot of sufferers, switching prescriptions created a lot more feeling than likely without having ADHD medication altogether. 

“There’s a spillover from people who couldn’t get Adderall and have turned to other medicine,” stated Cheyette,  a pediatric neurologist who treats the two little ones and older people who have ADHD at the Palo Alto Health-related Basis. “And it’s just getting worse.”

Some drug organizations now say the supply challenges could very last very well into the spring. Alvogen, which manufactures generic Adderall, expects its shortage to previous right until mid-April, according to the FDA’s databases. Teva Prescription drugs, the country’s premier Adderall provider, reports that concerns with some of its Adderall dosages, specifically the more highly-priced brand-title variations of its quickly-performing tablets, are now settled but lists recovery dates for other individuals as TBD (to be decided).  

Earning additional is ‘not as uncomplicated as flipping a switch’

Most ADHD drugs tumble into a class of controlled substances identified as central nervous technique stimulants. Because the prescription drugs have a very well-documented background of abuse and dependancy, the Fda and Drug Enforcement Administration restrict how many drugs a pharmacy can dispense at after and how often people can refill their prescriptions. The DEA also sets limitations on the lively ingredients pharmaceutical firms use to make these medicine each 12 months. 

“The DEA is associated if any suppliers consider to scale up output,” Ganio stated. The DEA calculates how a great deal of a supplied drug ingredient is required to fulfill need, then allocates that precise sum. The challenge, in accordance to Ganio, is how DEA makes use of historic info — which means prescription figures from prior years — to set these amounts. 

Demand from customers forecasts based mostly on historical data couldn’t forecast the sharp increase in ADHD diagnoses in the course of the pandemic, Ganio reported. Now there is a mismatch in between DEA quotas and prescription figures.  

The quotas have been troublesome for providers like Novartis-owned Sandoz, which would make generic Adderall and Concerta. 

“Since mid-2022, we found when a purchaser ordered much more from us than what they forecasted, we have been unable to satisfy these orders,” Leslie Pott, a Sandoz spokesperson, informed NBC Information in an e mail. “We petitioned the DEA for an boost in volume, with some requests recognized and some denied.” In accordance to Pott, these buyers selection from hospitals and institutions to retail pharmacies, specialty pharmacies and wholesalers. 

“This is unbelievably unparalleled.”

Pediatric neurologist Dr. Sarah Cheyette, Palo Alto Health-related Foundation

Ganio stated the DEA is typically inclined to enhance quotas if there is respectable individual demand from customers. But it is challenging to measure a demand from customers boost although it’s taking place. There is no genuine-time coordinated process for monitoring ADHD diagnoses on a countrywide level like there is for Covid or the flu. 

“Making more drugs is not as quick as just flipping a change,” Ganio said. “The Fda and DEA are observing a lot more demand, but how much more?” 

Covid, social media, and telehealth travel need

Health professionals cannot cite correct figures both, but quite a few say they’ve recognized a distinct maximize in sufferers trying to get ADHD remedy due to the fact pandemic lockdowns began. 

“Like numerous crises, a ton of things all came together to build a fantastic storm,” explained Cheyette, who herself saw many additional patients for ADHD just lately than in pre-pandemic several years. “This is unbelievably unprecedented.”

As people commenced working from home or serving to small children with digital faculty, they began to acknowledge ADHD signs or symptoms, said Dr. Max Wiznitzer, a pediatric neurologist at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies and Children’s Healthcare facility and Case Western Reserve College in Cleveland. This was specially true for grownup women. 

“All of a sudden, mom and dad had been viewing their children have issues remaining centered, and we were determining more children who had been symptomatic and wanted intervention,” Wiznitzer explained. “The mothers and fathers of my people have been inquiring about ADHD much more normally.” Considering the fact that the pandemic began, Wiznitzer said he’s been prescribing ADHD medication to additional grown ups. 

Ashley Gandy, 39, who life in Carrollton, Texas, can take Vyvanse for her ADHD, a prescription she received by way of a telehealth medical doctor. Her 6-12 months-old son takes Concerta, which his pediatrician prescribes. For quite a few months in the tumble, Gandy’s Vyvanse was on backorder, and now her normal pharmacy is out of her son’s Concerta. 

“The CVS individual instructed me they haven’t experienced any for a month and they did not anticipate to be obtaining it any time quickly,” she reported. 

When will Adderall scarcity close?

In late December, Rep. Abigail Spanberger, whose Virginia congressional district spans Fredericksburg and many other towns in the northeastern area of the point out, wrote a letter petitioning the Food and drug administration and DEA to coordinate a federal reaction to the scarcity. The advocacy department of ASHP has also been pushing the governing administration to boost how it addresses difficulties in drug source and demand from customers.

The scarcity of ADHD treatment has addiction professionals on high alert now, far too.

In accordance to Dr. Eric Kutscher, an dependancy drugs professional at NYU Grossman School of Medication, the identical purpose these medication are managed substances in the very first put — their possible for abuse — has him fearing the continued shortage. Devoid of entry to prescription stimulants, Kutscher mentioned people with compound use ailments may possibly “turn to a drug source that’s a lot more risky than ever.” Deaths from counterfeit Adderall laced with fentanyl have already been documented.

“We have a constrained protected offer, and an available, really risky provide that could hurt a whole lot of folks,” Kutscher said. “From a public wellbeing point of view, this is an emergency.”

A quick deal with is not likely, gurus acknowledge.

From Ganio’s standpoint, addressing the ADHD drug scarcity is heading to call for much extra transparency from drug businesses and improved, coordinated systems for forecasting drug need.

Cheyette worries that a solution won’t occur shortly enough.  

“These are not Beanie Infants that persons simply cannot uncover,” she said. “These are medications individuals count on to functionality.”

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Disney cutting 7,000 jobs | CNN Business

Disney cutting 7,000 jobs | CNN Business



CNN
 — 

Disney said it would cut 7,000 jobs from its global workforce, part of a multibillion-dollar cost-cutting initiative aimed at streamlining the company’s operations in a period of media industry turmoil.

Disney had about 220,000 workers as of October 1, of which approximately 166,000 were employed in the United States. A cut of 7,000 jobs represents about 3{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of its global workforce.

“While this is necessary to address the challenges we’re facing today, I do not make this decision lightly,” said CEO Bob Iger, who returned to lead the company in November when the board fired Bob Chapek as the company’s leader. “I have enormous respect and appreciation for the talent and dedication of our employees worldwide, and I’m mindful of the personal impact of these changes.”

Iger also took steps to reward shareholders, while Disney employees will feel pain from the job cut announcement.

The company had suspended its dividend payments during the pandemic. Iger announced it expects that to return.

“Now that the pandemic impacts to our business are largely behind us, we intend to ask the board to approve the reinstatement of a dividend by the end of the calendar year,” he said. “Our cost-cutting initiatives will make this possible. And while initially, it will be a modest dividend, we hope to build upon it over time.”

The job cuts come as part of a cost-cutting effort also announced Wednesday. Iger said the company is aiming for $5.5 billion of cost savings across the company, with $2.5 billion of that coming from annual savings in “non-content” operations. Content operations refers to business units such as movies and television shows.

It said 50{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of the cost savings would come from marketing expenses, 30{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} from labor savings and 20{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of the cost savings would come from less spending on technology, procurement and other expenses. Since Disney is a major advertiser, a $1 billion reduction in annual marketing expenditures signals more difficulties ahead for other media, as well as tech companies.

The sweeping job cuts were announced by Iger after the company released better than expected financial results for the fourth quarter of 2022. Disney revenue in the quarter rose 8{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} to $23.5 billion, edging past estimates of $23.4 billion from analysts surveyed by Refinitiv.

Earnings per share, while slightly lower than a year ago, shot past forecasts, coming in at 99 cents excluding special items. That’s down from the $1.06 per share it earned on that basis a year earlier, but far better than the forecast of 78 cents a share.

The company said the results were helped by strong box office showings, including for the hit “Avatar: The Way of Water,” and exceptionally robust theme park revenue.

The company reported that it lost Disney+ streaming subscribers in the last quarter, but also managed to trim its losses from the previous three-month period. Disney cut the marketing expenses for streaming, and also adjusted pricing plans in an effort to attract more profitable subscribers.

The number of subscribers was down only 1{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809}, to 162 million from 164 million, at the end of the quarter that ended October 1. But its other streaming businesses, including ESPN+ and Hulu, in which it has a stake, both had subscriber numbers rise 2{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809}.

That helped Disney to trim it losses in the overall streaming segment to $1.1 billion in the quarter, down from $1.5 billion in the quarter ending October 1, although it was nearly double the $593 million loss it reported a year earlier.

Disney’s streaming services, highlighted by its Disney+ offering, had been reporting increases in both subscribers and losses in recent quarters.

The company reaffirmed its guidance that Disney+ remains on course to be profitable in the next fiscal year, which runs from October through September 2024, although it cautioned that could be affected by an economic downturn.

With consumers cutting the cord on cable services, the need for a money-making streaming offering is seen as critical. Disney had profited for years from cable subscriber fee revenue.

Iger said increased attention to improving profitability in the streaming business does not mean that the company is moving away from it as a key to its future.

“The streaming business, which I believe is the future and has been growing, is not delivering basically the kind of profitability or bottom line results that the linear business delivered for us over a few decades,” he said, referring to programming on television or in movie theaters.

He said that streaming “remains our #1 priority. It is, in many respects, our future, but we’re not going to abandon the linear or the traditional platforms while they can still be a benefit to us and our shareholders.”

Shares of Disney

(DIS) jumped 6{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} in after-markets trading following the announcement of cost cutting and the return of the dividend. Shares of Disney

(DIS) lost 43{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of their value in 2022, but are up nearly 22{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} since Iger’s return was announced in November, through Wednesday’s close. That is far better than the overall market but behind the gains in the same period at some other media companies, such as Netflix

(NFLX) or Warner Bros. Discovery, the owner of CNN.

This was Iger’s first quarterly report since returning as CEO. While he had previously announced some changes, many investors had been looking to this quarterly earnings for clarity on Disney’s strategic direction going forward.

Iger announced that he will be combining all its media and content businesses globally, including streaming, into a new segment to be known as Disney Entertainment. He said the reorganization is a key to a “return [of] creativity to the center of the company.”

And he took shots at the way the company had been structured under Chapek.

“Our company is fueled by storytelling and creativity,” he said. “I’ve always believed that the best way to spur great creativity is to make sure that people who are managing the creative processes feel empowered. Therefore, our new structure is aimed at returning greater authority to our creative leaders and making them accountable for how their content performs financially. Our former structure severed that link and it must be restored.”

He also dismissed the idea that Disney would move to get rid of ESPN, as some have suggested in the past.

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VW sues in Ill. over extra dealer warranty reimbursements

VW sues in Ill. over extra dealer warranty reimbursements

Volkswagen Group of The united states has filed suit in federal courtroom in Illinois in the hopes of rolling again a transform to condition franchise legal guidelines that demands automakers to reimburse sellers for guarantee operate at the similar fee a retail purchaser pays, which the automaker reported value it in excess of $10 million previous 12 months.

The fit, submitted last thirty day period in U.S. District Courtroom for the Northern District of Illinois, normally takes difficulty with the Multiplier Act, a improve in the state’s Motor Car Franchise Act that was signed into regulation in 2021. The Multiplier Act removed the common time tutorial warranty payment method and mandates as a substitute that automakers fork out the same amount for a coated repair as a retail purchaser would. The improve in guarantee flat amount time reimbursements equates to a 50 {cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} maximize for every services procedure, the accommodate claimed.

The new guarantee reimbursement provision went into outcome Jan. 1, 2022, and the German automaker contends in its match that from that day via the close of November, it had been forced to pay practically $10 million much more to its 28 VW and 12 Audi outlets in the state for guarantee function.

“Simply just set, the Multiplier Act is crony capitalism at perform: redistributive legislation that normally takes hundreds of thousands and thousands of bucks from some (but not all) motor vehicle makers and, for no community goal, deposits that money specifically into the pockets of politically favored Illinois dealers,” the accommodate stated.

It names quite a few condition officers as defendants, as effectively as members of the Illinois Motor Car or truck Critique Board, and asks the courts to declare the Multiplier Act unconstitutional on numerous grounds, which include that it only applies to legacy automakers with franchised sellers.

The Multiplier Act — also called the Warranty Reimbursement Act — was championed in the legislature by a combination of franchised sellers and organized labor, ostensibly to encourage technician shell out, and was passed on a bipartisan foundation.

VW is the only automaker to challenge the constitutionality of the Illinois statute. Neighboring Wisconsin handed a related provision into its condition franchise legal guidelines a lot more than a 10 years ago.

“All work justifies reasonable payment, and I am happy that the bill I’m signing today makes sure car mechanics are compensated reasonably for the crucial competent labor they offer,” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker claimed in a composed statement when he signed the act into regulation in July 2021.

Auto dealers in Illinois are not essential to move along the more reimbursements to professionals. Nevertheless, labor agreements with unions representing professionals in metro Chicago now consist of provisions that go the further reimbursements through to personnel, claimed 1 seller representative who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The individual said dealers who failed to pass by the additional reimbursements risked shedding their technicians to dealerships that did. Even so, in its fit, VW known as out the absence of clarity, indicating that the law “does not require sellers to enhance technician shell out one cent. Nor does it address experts employed by suppliers that market immediately to buyers.”

A spokesman for VW Team of The us mentioned the automaker would have no added remark outside of the match.

“We’re pleased the bill went by and the governor signed it,” said Joe McMahon, executive director of the Illinois Auto Dealers Affiliation. “We feel their efforts in federal courtroom to take away this legislation are form of frivolous. All we stated during the legislative procedure was that we wished dealerships and technicians to be compensated fairly, and our associates agreed.”

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Dates, schedule, designers, more for NYFW

Dates, schedule, designers, more for NYFW

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3 meal-related factors may drive caloric intake

3 meal-related factors may drive caloric intake

clean empty dishes on metal rackShare on Pinterest
According to new research, there are three top factors that contribute to caloric intake at mealtime. Image credit: Carol Yepes/Getty Images
  • Researchers investigated the effects of different meal characteristics on caloric consumption.
  • They found that meals that are eaten quickly and that contain high-energy density, as well as highly palatable foods are linked to higher caloric intake across four diets.
  • They noted that further research is needed to confirm their findings.

The rate of obesity worldwide has almost tripled since 1975. Between 2017 and 2022, obesity affected 41.9{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of the United States population.

The main cause of obesity is long-term energy imbalance — consuming more calories than the body gets a chance to burn. Research into dietary practices for weight loss is thus key for treating obesity.

Studies have shown that eating quickly and higher energy density foods — foods that have more calories per gram — is linked to greater food intake. Other data have shown that highly palatable foods may be artificially rewarding to consume.

Meanwhile, higher protein intake has been linked to increased satiety and lower energy intake. Understanding more about key dietary characteristics could aid the design of diets to treat obesity.

Recently, researchers investigated how meal characteristics affect caloric intake in four different dietary patterns.

They found that meal energy density, how quickly meals were eaten, and consumption of hyper-palatable foods influenced caloric intake.

“I am not surprised by the findings — this is what I would have expected,” Prof. Alberto Ascherio, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, not involved in the study, told Medical News Today.

“‘Hyper-palatable foods’ means just that — that they are designed to make you eat more. The food industry works hard to design these foods, with several tasting rounds to perfect the recipe, and the most reliable measure that you like a food is that you eat more.”

– Prof. Alberto Ascherio

The new study appears in Nature.

The researchers analyzed data collected from 35 individuals who participated in two inpatient feeding studies. All participants were aged between 18 and 50 years and had a stable weight for the previous 6 months.

During the studies, they were exposed to either minimally processed diets, which varied widely in carbohydrate and fat content, or diets with moderate levels of carbohydrate and fat that varied in ultra-processed and minimally processed foods.

Participants were exposed to two different diets with 7-day rotating menus for two weeks each. They were asked to eat as much as they wanted from each dietary condition.

All in all, the researchers had complete data for 2,733 meals, including their energy density, protein content, speed of eating, and percentage of hyper-palatable foods consumed- defined as those high in fat, sodium, fat, and sugar, or high in carbohydrate or salt.

In the end, the researchers found that energy density, percentage of highly palatable foods consumed, and eating rate all correlated with increased energy intake across all diets: low-fat, low-carbohydrate, a diet based on unprocessed foods, and a diet based on ultra-processed foods.

They found, however, that higher protein intake correlated with increased energy intake only in unprocessed and ultra-processed diets with moderate levels of carbohydrates and fat.

They further found that previous meal protein consumption was linked to greater energy intake in subsequent meals in the low-fat and low-carbohydrate diets, but reduced intake during the ultra-processed diet.

The researchers wrote that their findings suggest that energy density, eating rate, and percentage of protein and highly palatable foods consumed are important predictors of energy intake.

To understand how higher energy density foods might increase caloric intake, MNT spoke with Dr. Dana Ellis Hunnes, assistant professor at UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, who was not involved in the study.

“Energy density means how many calories are [in] a certain amount of food,” she explained. “The higher the energy density of something, the less of it you need to take in to have [a] higher calorie intake. For example, one tablespoon of peanut butter has roughly 100 calories in it versus one tablespoon of cooked oats has 15 calories.”

Kimberly Spatola, a registered dietitian at Novant Health Heart and Vascular Institute in Charlotte, NC, not involved in the study, also told MNT:

“Hyper-palatable foods also tend to be energy dense and higher in refined carbohydrates, which make it easier to eat a large amount of these foods without being truly satisfied. Speed of eating can also make a big difference in how much you eat. It typically takes about 20 minutes for the fullness signals from our stomach to reach our brain. Therefore, if you are eating a large meal in only 10 minutes, it will take some time before you actually register your fullness cues.”

When asked about the study’s limitations, Dr. Kevin Hall, section chief of integrative physiology at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the senior author of the study, told MNT that “[t]he study is limited by the fact that it was a secondary analysis of previously published feeding trials in inpatient research participants housed at the Metabolic Clinical Research Unit at the NIH Clinical Center.

“While this environment allowed for accurate and precise measurements of food intake and provided excellent control over the food environment, it is difficult to know how our results extrapolate to more natural environments,” he cautioned.

Spatola added that the findings might also be limited due to their small patient sample size.

“Also the adults were all relatively young with the mean age being 29-31 years old, [and] fiber intake was not taken into consideration, which can greatly affect energy density consumed. […] More research would be needed to see if the patterns are consistent among other age groups,” she continued.

Dr. Hunnes explained: “As with anything in nutrition, one implication would be to consume a widely varied diet to get a wide range of caloric-density foods — such as low density from broths and salads, and high density from foods like nuts. Another implication of these findings would be that eating slowly is beneficial in terms of regulating overall calorie intake as is eating the least-processed/unprocessed foods possible.”

“When we eat unprocessed/ least-processed foods, we are getting a lot more water from the food- think fruit or vegetable rather than ‘veggie-flavored crackers,” she added.

“So, when we eat foods that are unprocessed, we eat fewer calories, and they are less calorically dense. These things all matter in terms of eating! A whole-food, plant-based diet fits this bill very nicely.”