Steve Downs
@stephenjdowns.bsky.social
Co-founder of @buildingh.bsky.social, working to build health into everyday life. Teaching at @itp-ima-nyu.bsky.social and Stanford d.school. Former chief technology and strategy officer at @rwjf.bsky.social.
Reposted by Steve Downs
For our latest newsletter, we look at the new Dietary Guidelines for America — what people are saying about it and what it means in the context of a food system dominated by ultraprocessed foods. And more… mailchi.mp/44fb99628b19...
Building H: New Food Guidelines: The Steaks Are High
mailchi.mp
January 29, 2026 at 3:44 PM
For our latest newsletter, we look at the new Dietary Guidelines for America — what people are saying about it and what it means in the context of a food system dominated by ultraprocessed foods. And more… mailchi.mp/44fb99628b19...
Reposted by Steve Downs
powerful and clear from @marionnestle.bsky.social:
"If the government leaves it to you to 'do your own research' and fight the food system on your own, it is saying it has no responsibility for creating a food environment that can help you eat and enjoy real food.
It’s all on you."
"If the government leaves it to you to 'do your own research' and fight the food system on your own, it is saying it has no responsibility for creating a food environment that can help you eat and enjoy real food.
It’s all on you."
The MAHA Dietary Guidelines I: Personal Responsibility vs. Public Health Policy
This is the first of a series of posts I will be writing about the new Dietary Guidelines for America, 2025-2030 Yesterday, I gave an overview of the guidelines, finding them cheerful, but muddled, contradictory,…
This is the first of a series of posts I will be writing about the new Dietary Guidelines for America, 2025-2030 Yesterday, I gave an overview of the guidelines, finding them cheerful, but muddled, contradictory,…
The MAHA Dietary Guidelines I: Personal Responsibility vs. Public Health Policy
This is the first of a series of posts I will be writing about the new Dietary Guidelines for America, 2025-2030 Yesterday, I gave an overview of the guidelines, finding them cheerful, but muddled, contradictory, ideological, and retro. I do like the cheerful message: Eat Real Food. But after reviewing lsome of the rest of the materials that come with the guidelines, I think those terms miss a more important concern: they are about personal responsibility, not public health.
www.foodpolitics.com
January 9, 2026 at 2:39 PM
powerful and clear from @marionnestle.bsky.social:
"If the government leaves it to you to 'do your own research' and fight the food system on your own, it is saying it has no responsibility for creating a food environment that can help you eat and enjoy real food.
It’s all on you."
"If the government leaves it to you to 'do your own research' and fight the food system on your own, it is saying it has no responsibility for creating a food environment that can help you eat and enjoy real food.
It’s all on you."
Read about @thgoetz.bsky.social‘s excellent new podcast in the latest @buildingh.bsky.social newsletter and, better yet, listen to the first episode at drugstory.co
January 6, 2026 at 2:45 PM
Read about @thgoetz.bsky.social‘s excellent new podcast in the latest @buildingh.bsky.social newsletter and, better yet, listen to the first episode at drugstory.co
Reposted by Steve Downs
In this week’s Optimizer, I buy an experimental “GLP-3” drug off the gray market after five minutes on TikTok.
The Wellness Wild West is unregulated and people are turning themselves into guinea pigs with unapproved weight loss drugs.
www.theverge.com/column/84640...
The Wellness Wild West is unregulated and people are turning themselves into guinea pigs with unapproved weight loss drugs.
www.theverge.com/column/84640...
The wellness wild west is back on its bullshit with unapproved weight loss drugs
I bought an unapproved, experimental drug in five minutes on TikTok.
www.theverge.com
December 19, 2025 at 3:05 PM
In this week’s Optimizer, I buy an experimental “GLP-3” drug off the gray market after five minutes on TikTok.
The Wellness Wild West is unregulated and people are turning themselves into guinea pigs with unapproved weight loss drugs.
www.theverge.com/column/84640...
The Wellness Wild West is unregulated and people are turning themselves into guinea pigs with unapproved weight loss drugs.
www.theverge.com/column/84640...
Reposted by Steve Downs
Reposted by Steve Downs
I got a sneak peek at this series and it is … so good!
Did you know that Xanax is name-dropped in rap songs as much as Hennessy, Rolex, or Air Jordans?
My new project: DRUG STORY, a podcast about the disease business, one drug at a time.
The first episode drops on Tuesday, January 6.
check out the trailer here: www.drugstory.co/p/drug-story...
My new project: DRUG STORY, a podcast about the disease business, one drug at a time.
The first episode drops on Tuesday, January 6.
check out the trailer here: www.drugstory.co/p/drug-story...
Drug Story Trailer
Introducing a new podcast about the disease business, told one drug at a time. First episode: January 6, 2026.
www.drugstory.co
December 3, 2025 at 10:33 PM
I got a sneak peek at this series and it is … so good!
Reposted by Steve Downs
Here we go: www.theverge.com/transportati...
Anyone want to buy a car that drives itself?
No longer vaporware, but not ready for personal ownership.
www.theverge.com
December 3, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Here we go: www.theverge.com/transportati...
Reposted by Steve Downs
Tx for flagging, @thgoetz.bsky.social -what a well-done visual feature, kudos @alicecallahan.bsky.social & team. The impact of a changing food environment is also key theme of important book by nutrition scientist @kevinh-phd.bsky.social & @juliabelluz.bsky.social timmermanreport.com/2025/10/food...
November 21, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Tx for flagging, @thgoetz.bsky.social -what a well-done visual feature, kudos @alicecallahan.bsky.social & team. The impact of a changing food environment is also key theme of important book by nutrition scientist @kevinh-phd.bsky.social & @juliabelluz.bsky.social timmermanreport.com/2025/10/food...
Reposted by Steve Downs
With the news on ultraprocessed foods this week, it's worth going back to this excellent explainer, from @alicecallahan.bsky.social, on how we got to where we are today: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
How America Got Hooked on Ultraprocessed Foods (Gift Article)
They promised convenience and cheap nutrition. But they became one of the greatest health threats of our time.
www.nytimes.com
November 21, 2025 at 4:52 PM
With the news on ultraprocessed foods this week, it's worth going back to this excellent explainer, from @alicecallahan.bsky.social, on how we got to where we are today: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Reposted by Steve Downs
NEW: A risk assessment found that leading general-use chatbots — ChatGPT, Gemini, Meta AI, and Claude — are "fundamentally unsafe" for teen mental health support, failing to catch important red flags and responding inappropriately to users exhibiting signs of crisis.
futurism.com/artificial-i...
futurism.com/artificial-i...
Report Finds That Leading Chatbots Are a Disaster for Teens Facing Mental Health Struggles
A report found that leading chatbots are "fundamentally unsafe" for teens looking for mental health support, and failed to catch red flags.
futurism.com
November 20, 2025 at 3:36 PM
NEW: A risk assessment found that leading general-use chatbots — ChatGPT, Gemini, Meta AI, and Claude — are "fundamentally unsafe" for teen mental health support, failing to catch important red flags and responding inappropriately to users exhibiting signs of crisis.
futurism.com/artificial-i...
futurism.com/artificial-i...
Kudos to funders @neenap.bsky.social and @bloombergdotorg.bsky.social and all of the contributors for the moral clarity of this work.
At the launch of the @thelancet.com series on ultraprocessed foods, the speakers are making it crystal clear: the economic engine we use to produce the food system is hopelessly -- and dangerously -- at odds with societal goals for people’s health and the environment.
November 19, 2025 at 9:01 PM
Kudos to funders @neenap.bsky.social and @bloombergdotorg.bsky.social and all of the contributors for the moral clarity of this work.
3rd of 3: www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Towards unified global action on ultra-processed foods: understanding commercial determinants, countering corporate power, and mobilising a public health response
The rise of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) in human diets is harming global public health.
However, policy responses are still emerging—much like tobacco control efforts decades
ago—indicating the need ...
www.thelancet.com
November 19, 2025 at 7:39 PM
3rd of 3: www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
2nd of 3: www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Policies to halt and reverse the rise in ultra-processed food production, marketing, and consumption
Dietary patterns high in ultra-processed foods (UPFs) have been associated with poor
diet quality and health outcomes, and are displacing healthier dietary patterns—meals
and dishes prepared with fres...
www.thelancet.com
November 19, 2025 at 7:39 PM
2nd of 3: www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
1st of 3 papers here: www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Ultra-processed foods and human health: the main thesis and the evidence
This first paper in a three-part Lancet Series combines narrative and systematic reviews
with original analyses and meta-analyses to assess three hypotheses concerning a dietary
pattern based on ultra...
www.thelancet.com
November 19, 2025 at 7:39 PM
1st of 3 papers here: www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
At the launch of the @thelancet.com series on ultraprocessed foods, the speakers are making it crystal clear: the economic engine we use to produce the food system is hopelessly -- and dangerously -- at odds with societal goals for people’s health and the environment.
November 19, 2025 at 7:39 PM
At the launch of the @thelancet.com series on ultraprocessed foods, the speakers are making it crystal clear: the economic engine we use to produce the food system is hopelessly -- and dangerously -- at odds with societal goals for people’s health and the environment.
Reposted by Steve Downs
Smells like car bloat:
"More than 3,800 people were killed almost immediately when they were struck in 2023, an indication that high speeds and larger vehicles are making impacts more violent. The rate at which pedestrians are declared dead at the scene of the crash has more than doubled."
"More than 3,800 people were killed almost immediately when they were struck in 2023, an indication that high speeds and larger vehicles are making impacts more violent. The rate at which pedestrians are declared dead at the scene of the crash has more than doubled."
The deadliest roads in America
The number of pedestrians killed by vehicles has increased in the U.S., with road infrastructure and inadequate safety measures among key contributing factors.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 19, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Smells like car bloat:
"More than 3,800 people were killed almost immediately when they were struck in 2023, an indication that high speeds and larger vehicles are making impacts more violent. The rate at which pedestrians are declared dead at the scene of the crash has more than doubled."
"More than 3,800 people were killed almost immediately when they were struck in 2023, an indication that high speeds and larger vehicles are making impacts more violent. The rate at which pedestrians are declared dead at the scene of the crash has more than doubled."
Reposted by Steve Downs
Reposted by Steve Downs
The Applied Exercise Science at the Univ Michigan has launched two searches for tenure-line (open-rank) and clinical (asst/assoc prof) faculty colleagues with expertise in the Social and Behavioral Sciences of Physical Activity.
November 12, 2025 at 3:04 PM
The Applied Exercise Science at the Univ Michigan has launched two searches for tenure-line (open-rank) and clinical (asst/assoc prof) faculty colleagues with expertise in the Social and Behavioral Sciences of Physical Activity.
Reposted by Steve Downs
Incredible- Meta projected 10% of its 2024 revenue would come from ads for scams and banned goods, documents seen by Reuters show. And the social media giant internally estimates that its platforms show users 15 billion scam ads a day."
Meta earns $3.5 billion every six months from showing Faceboon and Instagram users 15 billion “higher legal risk” scam ad impressions a day, internal documents state.
That haul vastly exceeds how much the company expects regulators
To fine it for running scam ads.
www.reuters.com/investigatio...
That haul vastly exceeds how much the company expects regulators
To fine it for running scam ads.
www.reuters.com/investigatio...
www.reuters.com
November 6, 2025 at 1:02 PM
Incredible- Meta projected 10% of its 2024 revenue would come from ads for scams and banned goods, documents seen by Reuters show. And the social media giant internally estimates that its platforms show users 15 billion scam ads a day."
Reposted by Steve Downs
Business has long depended on emotional attachment as strategy to create switching costs. (E.g., Cadillac). Seems utterly obvious that despite their ethical commitments, the intentional engineering of AIs to generate human emotional attachment will soon be mainstream.
October 6, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Business has long depended on emotional attachment as strategy to create switching costs. (E.g., Cadillac). Seems utterly obvious that despite their ethical commitments, the intentional engineering of AIs to generate human emotional attachment will soon be mainstream.
Reposted by Steve Downs
For our latest newsletter, we look at the current challenges facing public transit, how it matters for health, and ways to think about the future, ft perspectives from @humantransit.bsky.social, @davidzipper.bsky.social & @henriettalmoore.bsky.social -- and more mailchi.mp/bd7c1161a908...
Building H: Get on the Bus
mailchi.mp
September 28, 2025 at 3:26 PM
For our latest newsletter, we look at the current challenges facing public transit, how it matters for health, and ways to think about the future, ft perspectives from @humantransit.bsky.social, @davidzipper.bsky.social & @henriettalmoore.bsky.social -- and more mailchi.mp/bd7c1161a908...
Reposted by Steve Downs
also popular in our newsletter last week was this piece in the @nytimes.com on former FDA commissioner @davidakesslermd.bsky.social's effort to rein in ultraprocessed foods: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/07/u...
Former F.D.A. Chief Backs Kennedy’s War on Processed Food
www.nytimes.com
August 20, 2025 at 4:30 PM
also popular in our newsletter last week was this piece in the @nytimes.com on former FDA commissioner @davidakesslermd.bsky.social's effort to rein in ultraprocessed foods: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/07/u...