by Mike Critelli, 

As we prepare to launch our innovative browser-based tool designed to alert you about harmful food additives and preservatives, it's important to first understand why these substances are so prevalent in today's food supply. Producers, retailers, restaurants, and bakeries all incorporate additives into their products—but why?

Historical Context: From Daily Markets to Supermarket Shelves

A century ago, shopping for food was a daily activity, driven largely by seasonal availability. Advances like frozen vegetables were groundbreaking during my childhood, allowing food choices to become less seasonal. Today, this innovation has significantly expanded—but it has also introduced a range of artificial additives and preservatives to our diets.

Why Food Producers Rely on Additives

Food producers use additives for several reasons:

• Preservation and Shelf Life: Additives prevent spoilage caused by bacteria, mold, and oxidation. Without them, food would need more frequent replenishment, increasing costs and reducing supermarket shelf space.

• Visual Appeal: Artificial colors make foods appear fresh, vibrant, and consistently appealing, capitalizing on consumer preferences.

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by Mike Critelli, 

Many of us know about obvious food allergies and intolerances - peanuts, shellfish, the lactose intolerance I discovered on my honeymoon. But what about the hidden dietary triggers behind your chronic headaches, seasonal allergies, or heart palpitations?

Beyond these obvious food issues, there are broader, less obvious connections with commonly-occurring medical conditions. AI large language models cannot replace licensed healthcare professionals, but they can be an extremely useful complementary tool to help zero in on root causes that healthcare professionals are unlikely to uncover.

Here's the reality: Medicare and commercial insurance pay healthcare providers to diagnose and treat diseases, not to identify root causes. AI can scan a broader landscape of food triggers faster and more reliably than time-constrained clinicians.

When Doctors Miss the Connection

The Racing Heart Mystery

Twice in my 20s in Chicago, and again at age 61 in Connecticut, my heartbeat spontaneously sped up to 180 beats per minute while at rest. Cardiologists diagnosed "spontaneous SVT of unknown origin" and prescribed Inderal.

In May 2010, another SVT episode sent me to Dr. Edward Schuster of the Stamford Health System. He didn't seem alarmed and said he thought he knew what was happening. When I arrived, he asked two simple questions:

1. Did you take a Sudafed decongestant pill today?

2. How many cups of coffee did you drink today?

I had taken Sudafed for severe spring hay fever and had unusually high coffee consumption because a restaurant server kept refilling my cup.

I gave up decongestants and strictly controlled caffeine. Dr. Schuster commented that I had just passed a free stress test with flying colors. The combination may have triggered all my episodes.

The Wine Connection

In 2004, two glasses of California white wine at a Los Angeles restaurant left me with excruciating abdominal pain for two days. Multiple specialists, countless tests—no answers.

Three years later, my sister mentioned she'd stopped drinking white wine for the same reason. Her doctor identified sensitivity to the sulfites used as wine preservatives. Sulfite sensitivity is linked to abdominal pain and many other symptoms. A simple connection that could have saved me years of wondering.

The Sugar-Allergy Link

I've had seasonal allergies since childhood. Antihistamine sprays, decongestants, allergy shots, and even deviated septum surgery at age 38—nothing worked.

In June 2019, Dr. Thomas Brunoski recommended changing my diet to reduce a high A1c level. He prescribed something resembling the Atkins diet: heavy on protein, low on sugar and simple carbohydrates.

By April 2020, I had lost 25 pounds and my A1c dropped to normal. But I also noticed something unexpected: my brutal spring allergies had virtually disappeared. My daughter Katie connected the dots—added sugars increased inflammatory reactions that had accentuated my allergic predisposition.

Why AI Changes Everything

When I query AI large language models about dietary connections, they reveal links between food practices and medical issues that don't appear food-related—musculoskeletal pain, headaches, seasonal allergies, respiratory infections.

Added sugars, food and beverage preservatives like sulfites, processed foods, and sodium in packaged foods can trigger or worsen a wide range of conditions. The recent FDA reversal on Red Dye #3 being "generally regarded as safe" shows how food additives can even trigger childhood hyperactivity.

Healthcare providers have 15-minute appointments and insurance pressures. AI can provide a much larger checklist of possible root causes that providers may not have time to identify.

Recent research reveals connections we didn't know five years ago. For example, people with diets high in ultra-processed foods or added sugars were more at risk of COVID hospitalization. A 2022 UK Biobank study entitled "Consumption of ultra-processed foods increases risk of COVID-19" is one of many suggesting this link.

The Opportunity

Our MoveFlux business is developing a browser-based solution to help patients with this root cause analysis. We're building tools that don't replace doctors, but arm both patients and providers with better data for more targeted treatment.

Imagine walking into your next appointment not just with symptoms, but with AI-identified patterns linking your migraines to specific preservatives, or your joint pain to particular food combinations.

We can experiment with dietary changes to isolate root causes tailored to our individual metabolism. Healthcare professionals we consult also need the best available information to diagnose and treat whatever issues we present.

Drawing these links could transform how we think about our health and the partnerships we establish with our healthcare providers. That's personalized medicine powered by data—and it's what we're building now.

by Mike Critelli, 

In the mid 2000s, as Pitney Bowes’ CEO, I embarked on an initiative to improve how our employees ate when at work or when commuting to and from work. I was influenced by research summarized by Prof. Brian Wansick, then at Cornell, in a book called Mindless Eating. His research demonstrated that much of our excess food and beverage consumption was driven by environmental factors unrelated to our craving for food.  

That made complete sense to me for several reasons:

1. Grocery retailers charge consumer packaged goods companies far more for placement of foods and beverages at certain places in the store. They specifically recognized that if a food or beverage item was on a shelf between an adult’s waist and eye level, it was far more likely to be purchased. Retailers initiated “shelf placement fees” to capture additional revenue. In retail grocery stores, candy and junk food at the checkout counter are both highly profitable and easily accessible. It was often an impulse purchase, especially for parents with impatient children. Think of these fees as the equivalent of a first class airplane seat.

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by Makeuswell, 

Dr. Patrick Leahy isn’t just leading a university. He’s keeping something sacred alive.

At Monmouth, through the Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music, he’s helping us hold on to the sounds that shape who we are. This isn’t just about records in boxes. It’s about the music that lives in our bones.

Think about when John Fogerty sings “Put me in, coach!” in Centerfield. It hits something deeper than the ears. It taps into our collective consciousness. The part of us that remembers backyard games, big dreams, and second chances. That’s the power Dr. Leahy is helping preserve.

Abir, chairman of MakeUsWell, has gotten to know Dr. Leahy over time. He speaks of him with respect—as a brilliant mind and a pragmatic builder. Someone who sees the long game, but never loses the human note.

Under Dr. Leahy’s watch, Monmouth has become more than a school. It’s a place where music, history, and identity are treated with care. A place where the soul of American sound is archived, explored, and honored.

At MakeUsWell, we believe in what brings people together. Sometimes it’s health. Sometimes it’s data. And sometimes—it’s a song that makes you remember who you are.

That’s what Dr. Leahy is keeping alive. And we’re all better for it.

by Mike Critelli, 

Last year, Dr. Gary Welch and Colleen McGuire of Silver Fern Healthcare joined our MakeUsWell Network. Their tag line is “Human Understanding Unlocked.” Their business is focused on addressing a fundamental issue we must address if we are to have viable healthcare and health insurance systems and to have global competitiveness across a variety of fronts.

The United States throws more money at health and healthcare than any other nation in the world, and achieves horrible outcomes. We have the same pathology in our public education system as well, but this blog will just focus on the issue of health improvement.

When I was growing up, the way we thought about health was that we “got sick” through no fault of our own, either because of an infectious disease like pneumonia or a gastrointestinal condition from eating contaminated food. One of my grandmothers had diabetes and had one leg amputated below the knee, but I did not understand what caused it. At the time, we thought about diseases and illnesses as conditions that happened to us and over which we had little or no control. 

There were exceptions. We knew about alcoholism, drug addiction, and lung diseases from excessive smoking. I had uncles, aunts and cousins who had alcohol dependency or died of lung cancer. But we did not focus on obesity or the metabolic disorders to which it contributed. Hypertension, coronary artery disease, Type 2 diabetes, and cancers of our gastro-intestinal tract were not as common as they are today.

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