A Healthier You: What You Need to Know about Diet and the Microbiome with Christopher Gardner

Christopher Gardner is the Rehnborg Farquhar Professor of Medicine and director of nutrition studies at the Stanford Prevention Research Center. Professor Gardner’s research is focused on investigating the potential health benefits of various dietary components or food patterns, and what to choose to eat or avoid for optimal health, including garlic, soy, fish oil, weight loss diets, vegan, Mediterranean, and Ketogenic diets. He has conducted and published the findings of more than 20 human nutrition intervention studies with more than 2,000 participants over the last 25 years, working with a diverse set of collaborators, from microbiologists to chefs. Watch his engaging presentation offered with a unique blend of humor and evidence-based science, and an emphasis on unapologetic deliciousness.

[warrenmclaughlin]

I am always amazed at how many arm chair experts come out of the woodwork trying to discredit someone who actually does actual peer reviewed science. You rock Chris.

[lokiuk]

I have changed my diet at the age of 37. Let's see what difference it will bring? But I have full faith in Dr. Christopher Garder.

[Starcraftghost]

I consume a variety of fermented foods, including the infamous natto. Natto is sooo nutritious that I can ignore the gooey texture. I douse it with kimchi to mask the flavor. Among the fermented foods I consume (natto, kimchi, yogurt, sauerkraut, kombucha, kefir, miso), natto is the one that I felt an improvement in what I feel.

My husband had an undiagnosed illness that has symptoms similar to CFS. His symptoms had improved after eating natto. He is not 100% but it is noticeable from what he used to be to now.

I have periodontal disease and my dental health has improved after consuming natto. My periodontist considers me as their star patient.

[XX-qieu]

Home-made: Sauerkraut, Kombucha and kefir--is easy. I make lemon-ginger kombucha, non-fat milk kefir; using the whey to make a low-salt sauerkraut (purple/green cabbage, carrots and garlic). Per the talk, the 4-6 servings come to about 300 calories. I eat fermented food before other foods. Kefir Whey reduces TMAO. If you must eat meat, eat small condiment amounts on occasion and eat kefir-whey before eating meat.

[BartBVanBockstaele]

I happen to love natto. I see it as one of the most delicious foods known to exist. Kimchi is great too, but since most kimchi we can buy in Toronto contains sugar, I don't often buy it because sugar gives food a "dirty" taste (I find no better word to describe it).

[samieramohamed]

The problem with fermented foods should be taken in small portions as they contain histamine and this may cause allergies as it stimulate immune system. My personal experience as a medical doctor applying healthy lifestyle.

[ummahzait]

What about sprouting these legumes /seeds / nuts before consumption?

[peterdroubay]

one possible problem in those eating high fiber: if they had a lot of American hybridized wheat: this causes inflammation and zonulin formation; you needed to exclude wheat;

[samanthab]

I'm currently 16 weeks pregnant but in Pennsylvania. It would have been cool to participate. My husband and I eat a mostly whole foods plant based vegan diet so I'm already getting 50-70 g/day of fiber on average. The only fermented food that's been appetizing recently is siggi dairy free yogurt and sour kraut. Tempeh and miso are other fermented soy products that we occasionally eat but need to be careful not to heat them too much if you want the bacteria. I'm currently sitting at about 1 serving of fermented food per day... May try to increase that now that the nausea has lifted.

[dianaalexdaniel]

Awesome, Video, very knowledgeable information, thank you for sharing, sincerely, Diana Lipski ❤️

[felixfelix]

I like him. I liked to see Dr. Gardener at the Palo Alto farmers market to see what he bought

My major was Food, Nutrition and Dietetics at UC Berkeley in the 70s (brand new program requiring we do premed program to elevate respect for dietitians). As an undergrad, I felt guilty about using the mice to demonstrate amino acid deficiency effects on weight (knowledge we already had in books)... I made sure my mouse got the whole protein diet (HA!) and visited him/her during its short life to make it a little better. They were killed at the end. All we did was weigh them and chart that.

I felt that the Ph.D. candidate's experiment I participated in around 1978 taking data on N balance in the 3rd trimester of pregnancy was not good for the young women involved. The subjects were poor, disadvantaged, mainly unwed mothers. In exchange for a small amount of money, they were fed a powdered RDA diet for several weeks and kind of tortured. (They were sequestered in "The Penthouse" and not allowed to leave.) They ate a powdered diet for all their meals, wore uncomfortable suits to collect sluffed cells and hair....rendered tooth brushings, blood, urine, exercise data from masks used to collect expiration... All poop was collcted, checked for N output). These were young women who did it in exchange for a few dollars they needed.

Back then things that Dr. Gardner is talking were not considered. I knew there were things they had not discovered yet which were left out of the pregnant girls' diet for the experiment.

Was this an example of the privileged exploiting the disadvantaged? That certainly entered my mind and still stays with me. Some of the girls could not take it alone living in that unnatural, invasive environment in the mental and physical state they were in. They left.

PS Natto (YUCK!)... an acquired taste, so my Japanese girlfriend who likes it says.

[joecaner]

Broccoli is food.
Beyond Meat is product, not food.

[hikedayley]

So....in other words....eat six servings of fermented foods daily. A couple spoons of sauerkraut during the day, a drink of kefir, a little plain yogurt, a bottle of kombucha, some Kim chi and you are good to go.

[hiker-uybi]

Lots of fermented foods are high in sodium. Be careful. I usually just stick to unsweetened Greek yogurt.

[MariaRodriguez-gcjk]

The Hadzas don’t sit in front of the computer all day and on the couch for the rest of their day/ night, so they can eat tons of carbs!

[rebeccabriggs]

I had a gut that looked like his, until I quit 5 years vegan and eat 50-70% meat, eggs etc. And the rest is selected lower oxalate, lower anti nutrient fruit and veges.
No bloating, no gas, no odour. Healthy poop. Also my grey hair is vanishing. Chronic pain, brain fog etc all gone.

[cicciobellomio]

I think you have to comment on the lifespan of the hunter gatherers versus the SAD group. I realize there are other factors, but how does this sync with longevity?

[jimstone]

His gut shows poor health from visceral fat around the organs. Poor diet and its affects on metabolism causes this. Research visceral fat and health.

[lgltios]

Hunter gathers eat with their hands. Trade microbiome with each other

[timbarrett]

So MR G is saying we all need to eat more fiber? 😮