In today’s New York Times “Food” section, Julia Moskin, in an article titled “Bones, Broth, Bliss,” frames her feature piece on bone broth in the context of the much-discussed, meat-centric paleo diet, which she identifies as “the diet du jour.” This would seem to be a reasonably safe way to contextualize an article on bone soup. But the paleo diet, according to a recent U. S. News ranking, ranks as one of the least popular diets of 2014, coming in at #31 alongside something called the “Dukan Diet.” According to the magazine, “experts took issue with the diet on every measure.” In misrepresenting the popularity of the Paleo diet, Moskin obscures the fact that what’s really becoming popular with consumers and nutritional authorities are plant-based diets. According to the U. S. News study, the Ornish diet, the flexitarian diet, the Mayo Clinic Diet, and the Mediterranean diet—all of which place heavy emphasis on a diversity of plants and grains and eschew meat high in saturated fats—ranked in the top ten. In addition to mischaracterizing the paleo diet’s popularity, Moskin—who admits that “there are few reliable studies on the medicinal effects of broth”—also plays fast and loose with the health claims … Continue reading Boning Up On The Facts