
Emily Oster
@ProfEmilyOster
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Data-Driven Pregnancy and Parenting Economist @BrownUniversity Author #ExpectingBetter, #Cribsheet, #FamilyFirm, #TheUnexpected CEO of https://t.co/Q4hHIERBD5 👇
Providence, RI
Joined December 2012
What's going on with formula? Is it safe? Why is the FDA reviewing it? What's this stuff about seed oils? I unpack it all.
parentdata.org
In May of 2025, the FDA announced a new review of infant formula nutrients called “Operation Stork Speed.” The FDA periodically reviews its formula
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Are America's kids really doing much worse? And if so, why?.
parentdata.org
It is difficult to miss the recent attention to trends in child health. The Make America Healthy Again movement has put a laser focus on chronic diseases in
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Responding to RFK Jr is like wack-a-mole but here's today's: vaccines do not increase autism by 1135%.
parentdata.org
This is not true. Not the connection between vaccines and autism, not the claim of a cover-up, nothing. But beyond that, I want to unpack where this even
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My thoughts for what might come next for vaccines.
parentdata.org
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP, pronounced ay-sip) is inside the CDC. This group is responsible for making recommendations about who
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GLP-1s are everywhere -- what are the impacts on fertility? What if you get pregnant on one of them? What about breastfeeding? . We've got data and (some) answers:.
parentdata.org
Ozempic, Monjaro, Wegovy, Zepbound … GLP-1s are increasingly everywhere. Recent estimates suggest as many as 4% of Americans are now taking one of these
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Sunscreen -- is it safe, and what are the benefits? Just in time for Memorial Day.
parentdata.org
Sorry this post is like three months too late
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A cheat sheet for the MAHA commission report. All the data and context for the many claims, some better supported than others.
parentdata.org
This week, the MAHA Commission Report was released. The report was highly anticipated as a culmination of the Make America Healthy Again agenda and
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Today in ParentData: can I drink alcohol while nursing? (And other breastfeeding diet questions).
parentdata.org
What to eat and drink while you're nursing
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The snake oil pooling equilibrium.
thedispatch.com
When the lines between expert and huckster are increasingly blurry, how do we determine what’s authoritative?
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I've got something tomorrow in The Dispatch about why the concept of "pooling equilibrium" can actually help us understand online health influencers. Read it here tomorrow:
thedispatch.com
Fact-based reporting & commentary on politics & culture, informed by conservative principles. Discover breaking news & expert analysis.
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How much should you worry about microplastics? .
parentdata.org
Microplastics. It is hard to miss them in the news, in scary headlines, sometimes at my dinner table (“Mom, did you know we eat a credit card’s worth of
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There are a lot of panic headlines about arsenic in rice right now. Reality: less arsenic is always better BUT the amounts are A LOT lower than in places where we see impacts.
parentdata.org
Heavy metals are a popular panic headline topic. Lead is the one that comes up the most (see here for why), but a close second is the concern about arsenic in
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Is there a "best" way to discipline kids? Do you have to "gentle parent"? Do time-outs ruin your child? And what would "best" mean, anyway?. I investigate:.
parentdata.org
Unfortunately, we do not have as much data directly on discipline as we might like, but one thing we do have that gives a clue is a lot of data on schools. In
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Pregnant women get a lot of pressure to buy expensive prenatal vitamins. This is crap, and exploits parental anxiety. Cheap prenatal vitamins are fine. Here's the data.
parentdata.org
Prenatal vitamins! If there is any product that seems designed to prey on our fears, it is this one. You’re newly pregnant, or trying to get pregnant. You
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New series -- ParentData post of the day. Today's entry. Day Care: Is it Bad?.
parentdata.org
Child care choices always rank high in parent discussion and anxiety. Does day care generate behavior problems? Is a nanny dangerous? There are calls, often
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Why are autism rates going up? Simple question but hard to answer. I dig into the data .
parentdata.org
But if most (or all) of the changes are due to diagnosis, that means focusing policy efforts on better access to screening. Right now, a lot of energy is
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Post-COVID test score recovery and why we still need data.
parentdata.org
Five years out from those early days, we’ve had time to see the pandemic’s impact on kids, at least through their school performance, and to start to look at
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