My philosophy is that if its coming out of a chemical factory in North Jersey, I probably shouldn't be eating it on a regular basis.

My philosophy of eating is "everything in moderation". Food trends like low-fat and low-carb struck me as unbalanced.

On the other hand, I'm not sure how my great-grandmother would have reacted to the plentiful abundance of food I have access to today. Her poverty and relative isolation (in a small rural village) limited her choices. If brought to today, I think she'd probably over-indulge.

There is more to health than nutrients, and more to life than science. Food in it's natural state was meant to be eaten, bacteria and all. I think this is common sense, and if science cannot support it yet, well I am not going to wait until it can. Here is to whole and natural foods! (Better still if they are from your own yard or bought from a neighbor)

Certainly it is not great to eat processed food. But it also bad to say that nutritional science is no good. For instance, government campaigns encouraging women to get adequate levels of folate has prevented numerous birth defects.

I think this is one of those topics where there is no easy answer.

In the big picture, I agree with this article, and I try not to eat a lot of processed foods. That said, it is only anecdotal evidence, but I do feel better and get sick less often when I take a multi-vitamin every day.

I think there are a lot of healthy ways to live and any philosophy is wrong when you take it to the level of zealotry. All scientific advancement isn't bad, but science isn't perfect either and it often contradicts itself.

This issue is my big pet peeve so forgive in advance.

The fewer chemicals the better. Our land isn't as rich as it was in Grandma's days. We've sucked it dry. I agree more with Pollan because I've seen the results of poor diet and smoking and over indulgence of just about everything and business seems to rule over health. Everyone wants it easy and they want it in their bank accout. Few want to look into the long term effects on individuals and the planet when it comes to food, science, and where the lines should be drawn.

Science, on the other hand, can be good thing. It gave us organ transplant capabilities and vaccines. But stay out of my damn food because I like it whole and fresh. It's the way science is used that matters. Afterall, science also made the atom bomb, and now we have cloned animals that will be slid into the food chain under labels that will change because of pressure from advocates who just want a fat wallet.

Buyer beware, this is not a new thing, its just newly labelled. I'm a baby boomer and really tired of being an experiment. Responsible farming and earth friendly is the best way to go in my opinion. We should become knowledgable, one item at a time. We should educate ourselves on this issue because uninformed is not good, and fanaticism is as bad as stupidity.

I find it interesting that there's such a movement against drug use yet science thinks nothing of putting them into our food supply. Chemicals, drugs, modifications....all the same thing. Anyone think that's a bit odd?

I'm with Michelle regarding moderation. In fact, I subscribe to Oscar Wilde's view of "All things in moderation, including moderation." In the end, it's all about balance and common sense.

Besides, your great-great grandmother probably cooked with lard. Lots of it. Yeah, I know, even lard is getting rehabilitated these days, but that just brings us back to moderation.

Thank you Genivieve for being shorted winded than me and saying it better.

The trap I fall into is that I am constantly reading about how nutrients evaporate from fruits and vegetables the minute they are picked, and that the produce you buy has been rendered nutritionally "void." So I operate with an unconcious feeling that it doesn't even matter about eating fruit and veggies unless I sow and reap them myself. I feel like we've had too much information about the food we eat. The way we feel about what we eat also affects how our bodies use it. There was an article about this recently, but I forget where. Is it this one?

Pollan’s simple argument makes sense from the standpoint of preventing disease. As a reasonably healthy person who eats a well-balanced diet of whole foods, I don’t feel the need to eat nutrient-fortified “food” created by food scientists. However, this doesn’t mean that science doesn’t have a place, especially when combating disease as others have pointed out above.

I do agree that our culture promotes excess and low quality (ie. cheap) eating habits, and that science is used to solve the problems that come from it.