Connecting with people about the importance of nutrition requires personal attention. That’s the lesson from Dr. Steven Shapin’s recent book, “Never Pure: Historical Studies of Science as if It Was Produced by People with Bodies, Situated in Time, Space, Culture, and Society, and Struggling for Credibility and Authority.” Dr. Shapin, a professor of the History of Science at Harvard, traces the history of how people have viewed healthy eating and drinking. In particular, I was interested in the section in which Dr. Shapin discusses the meaning of “expert” in the nutrition science context. He outlines the tension between nutrition as hard science and nutrition as popular culture and does so in a compelling manner. Dr. Shapin begins with a discussion of the mainstream hard scientific view of nutrition. His narrative draws parallels between the standard clinical dietary focus of eating to avoid heart disease, diabetes and cancer... Read more

As Mehmood Khan blogged earlier this fall, we were excited to recognize members of our global R&D team at PepsiCo’s first Academy of Science awards in September. One of the groups we highlighted is the Quaker R&D team, which worked in China on a cereal that is sourced locally and appeals to the local palette. While Quaker Oatmeal is a popular breakfast food here in the United States, other types of hot cereals are popular in other parts of the world. In China, a local porridge called “congee” is a traditional breakfast food. Chinese consumers generally dislike the texture and taste of oatmeal, finding it coarse and bland. With that in mind, the Quaker R&D team began work on a product that would have a smooth texture and glossy appearance similar to that of congee. The result is a Quaker oat-based product that uses... Read more

On Monday, PepsiCo hosted a ‘company day’ at the New York Academy of Sciences. We invited 50 students and young scientists who are all in Masters, PhD or post-doc programs to spend the day with several leaders from PepsiCo’s global R&D team. Through panel discussions, roundtables, and one-on-one interactions students learned about research opportunities and our efforts to develop products using science-based nutrition. Read more

World AIDS Day, celebrated on December 1, has become one of the most recognized international health days. It is an opportunity to increase awareness, remember those who have died, fight prejudice, improve education and celebrate victories. As the New York Times recently noted, it is nearly 30 years since the epidemic began, and an estimated 33.3 million people are living with H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS. Progress continues to be made — according to the 2010 UNAIDS report 2.6 million people became newly infected with H.I.V in 2009 — almost 20 percent fewer than the annual rate in the late 1990s. The theme for World AIDS Day 2010 is ’Universal Access and Human Rights’. The world has made progress in increasing access to H.I.V and AIDS services, but greater commitment from world leaders is needed to achieve the goal of universal access. Of the millions infected with H.I.V... Read more