Nutrition data: Sorting out fact and fad

Milk
Gallons of milk sit on a cooler shelf at a Safeway grocery store August 20, 2007 in Washington, DC.
Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images

Diet science is confusing. Studies about calories, eggs, dairy and red meat seem to ricochet off each other leading to quite a mess for consumers to sift through.

Nina Tiecholz, journalist and author of "The Big Fat Surprise," says people feel whip-lashed by contradictory studies: Should we lay off salt and sugar? What about cholesterol?

Tiecholz and registered dietician Tori Jarzabkowski joined MPR News' Kerri Miller to talk about food scientists and what standard they expect for research. Is the science too soft?