WISE and unWISE Reflections: Harvard's Outdated Health Advice

By Peter Castleman, Founder of WISEcode

Harvard, long seen as the gold standard in medical thinking, just released its latest advice on how to shop for healthier food. Backed by its T.H. Chan School of Public Health, the message went out loud and proud:

“Read the label. Focus on a few ingredients.”

That’s it? That’s the plan?

Let’s call it what it is: oversimplified, outdated, and borderline negligent. We’re living in a time of epidemic chronic disease, ultra-processed everything, and marketing that hides harmful ingredients behind a thousand aliases… and Harvard’s advice is to squint at fine print and hope for the best?

It’s like handing someone a rotary phone and telling them to find their way in a digital world.

The world has moved on. Nutrition has evolved. The answers are no longer buried in tiny ingredient lists or library stacks. They’re in the palm of your hand, with WISEcode.

The WISEcode app isn’t giving you 1970s advice, it’s giving you real-time power. In less than a second, it scans over one million ingredient entries across almost 700,000 packaged foods. It gives you an Ingredient Quality Score, your IQ Score,based on our Crazy Eights:

• Banned ingredients

• Processing level

• The four artificials (sweeteners, flavors, colors, preservatives)

• Seed oils

• Emulsifiers

This isn’t vague advice. It’s immediate, data-driven insight. We don’t tell you what to eat. We give you the knowledge to make your own choices. That’s transparency. You’re in the driver’s seat.

Let’s break it down:

• Harvard: Read the label. Focus on a few ingredients. Do your own research. Good luck.

• WISEcode: Scan. See the truth. Make an immediate, informed choice.

Harvard wants you in the stacks at Widener Library. We want you free, informed, and empowered in the aisle, at the table, and in your life.

The revolution in food transparency is already here. It just didn’t start in Cambridge.