What's the BEST diet for humans? | Dr. Christopher Gardner, PhD

What's the healthiest diet for humans? Why does this question seem so controversial and difficult to answer? Stanford researcher Dr. Christopher Gardner addresses his findings, sources of variability and conclusions of a 20+ year career studying human nutrition.

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Disclaimer: The contents of this video are for informational purposes only and are not intended to be medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment, nor to replace medical care. The information presented herein is accurate and conforms to the available scientific evidence to the best of the author's knowledge as of the time of posting. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions regarding any medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay seeking it because of information contained in Nutrition Made Simple!.

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0:00 Highlights
0:21 Is there a best diet for humans?
1:04 The foundational diet
7:33 Carbs, fat & protein
12:17 Why is it so hard to stick to a diet??
21:11 Human variability in nutrition
24:50 Additional factors for success
27:35 Insulin and hunger

[sew_gal]

My ancestors have both been in guiness book of world records for longevity, living well over 100 years old, my grandma died at 101 and my grandfather at 98. They always told me to balance everything in life, dont be strict and rigid in what you eat...but only eat whole foods (not processed). They are Japanese and only ate pizzas a few times a year, and it is always home made with ingredients grown in the backyard or from local farmers. 99% of the time we eat asian food, meat rarely...lots of tofu and veggies...fruit for dessert, very little seasonings...almost no oil (used water instead).

Also they kept their mind active, my grandparents played video games on the pc my husband built them...they laughed a lot...and went for walks every day...they LOVE animals and sees them as a great blessing. They really stressed on BALANCE to me and my brothers, or ying and yang!

[pranjalable]

GPT4 Summary:

The video features a discussion with Dr. Christopher Gardner, a nutrition scientist at Stanford University. Here are the key takeaways:

1. **Foundational Diet**: Dr. Gardner emphasizes the importance of a foundational diet that includes more whole foods and vegetables, less refined grain, and less added sugar. He believes that most dietary approaches, even those at polar opposites like keto and low-fat vegan, agree on this foundation. He suggests that if people could focus on these four aspects, it would resolve about 75% of nutritional issues.

2. **Individual Differences**: He acknowledges that individuals respond differently to diets. Some people thrive on certain diets while others don't. He believes that this could be due to differences in satiety responses to different foods, microbiomes, and metabolic factors.

3. **Quality of Carbs**: He discusses the importance of the quality of carbohydrates in the diet. He suggests that replacing low-quality carbs with high-quality ones could lead to better health outcomes. He also mentions that protein intake tends to remain consistent across different diets.

4. **Adherence to Diets**: Dr. Gardner talks about the difficulty of adhering to strict diets in real-world settings. He mentions that in his studies, participants were encouraged to find a balance in their diet that they could maintain in the long term, rather than trying to strictly adhere to a specific percentage of macronutrients.

5. **Personalized Nutrition**: He discusses the potential of personalized nutrition, where diets are tailored to individual needs and preferences. He suggests that while a foundational diet is important, there is room for personalization based on factors like satiety responses, microbiome differences, and metabolic factors.

6. **Impact of Life Events**: He mentions that life events can significantly impact a person's ability to stick to a diet. He suggests that during stressful times, being part of a study or maintaining a certain diet can provide a sense of control.

7. **Future Research**: Dr. Gardner expresses interest in further research to understand what explains the variability in how people respond to different diets. He mentions factors like satiety, the microbiome, and respiratory quotient (a measure of metabolic rate and the mix of fuels being used by the body) as potential areas of exploration.

[sectionalsofa]

I have no credentials but I've had a Venn diagram in my head for twenty five years. I noticed the overlap of the two main diet camps which is (just as he said) to eat vegetables and whole foods, don't eat added sugar and processed grains, so that's where I've lived. I'm now 90 percent whole food plant based, but the "whole food" part is as important to me as the "plant" part. I would sooner eat a piece of fish with a salad in a traditional restaurant than an oily, pasta based meal with no beans in a vegan restaurant.

[Fellipe]

When talking about nutrition, even though this is not an obligation for scientists, I think it's important to take into account also how compatilble a diet is for most of the population. This envolves economics and ethnicity, for instance. Most of the world cannot digest lactose, most people cannot buy good quality fish, especially sea fish. In those cases it is important to ask what are the alternatives for those foods, since guidelines are based around them

[carinaekstrom]

At first it takes disciplin and motivation, but later it's just habit and it becomes the thing you prefer in all ways.

[erocnw]

It's so refreshing to see realistic, science based, non-extreme nutrition information on YouTube. It seems like 90% of the nutritional information on YouTube is focused on about 5% of the population at the extreme ends of the spectrum.

[CristinaAcosta]

Dr. Gardner looks so happy with his work. Great presentation. As a non-STEM person this is easy to understand and apply advice. Thanks

[adimlah]

I say this over and over again, you don't have to focus on cutting calories. Focus on eating more whole foods. Whole foods are already naturally lower in calories.

[sffmbip]

The point about most of these extreme diets being hard to stick to for most people, but not for some, is quite interesting to me. I find most types of food pretty tasty and don't mind repeating the same meal every day so it has been pretty easy for me to stick to "extreme" diets like HCLF and vegan keto, but I think something I was overlooking is how little benefit there actually is to going this far. All these YouTube doctors promise you marvelous benefits to sticking to their special variation of a diet, like "curing" cancer, diabetes, heart desease, etc., and even extending life/healthspan. But in reality I imagine 90% of the benefits come from just cutting out all the processed foods & being at a healthy weight, and if you're trying to go beyond that, it quickly becomes a case of diminishing returns. Or at least, it seems like we don't currently have enough scientific evidence to support anything beyond that. And all these people trying to eke out those last 10% of benefit are the ones getting riled up every time there's a new study that comes out that didn't go extreme enough in enforcing some sort of diet.

[Chris.]

Dr. Gardner seems like such a wholesome guy. never heard him speak before until now. thoroughly enjoyable.

[alfonso]

Man, the quality of the information and discussions in this channel is top notch. This video in particular is going to be so helpful for my patients!

[polmestra]

Dr Gardner's passion for his work is so pleasant to watch! This real world approach is a nice twist on nutrition. Thank you for this interview!

[samuelbass]

Coherent talk from Dr. Gardner. He boils all the various diet discourses down to a simple common foundation: eliminate sugar and refined flour (bad carbs) and tinker with good fats, protein and low carbs to suit your own metabolic traits. Thanks Gil for having this guest.

[waynecoxdrums]

What an excellent video! The simple answer seems to be eat whole foods, not too much, mostly plants.

[ramachandran]

This a very fascinating as well as the most comprehensive discussion I have heard (as a non-academic) about diet, nutrition, and health all packed in one place. As a retired scientist in my 70'ies, (Ph.D. in material science), find such discussions and information priceless. As we are living at a time where there is total information overload at the speed of light, it is so helpful to have such content that is credible and worth more than all the books I can read in a year to extract the core information I need to make personal health decisions.

[Donadzea]

This is probably the best video about nutrition on youtube and I've watched more then enough over 10 years.

[kengoodrich]

Having binged on YouTube nutrition videos for about three months, I have to say this is the single most informative and entertaining one I've come across. Thank you for pulling so much together.

[jimmaworkurgessa]

Eating healthy food, walking a lot, reduced stress, making fun and having healthy social life is mandatory to be healthy as well as to live longer.

[k.h.]

In my experience satiety changes. But yes, in my transition to a healthier diet, I first went for more nuts - to replace junkier foods I had in my diet & deal with cravings. I eat a lot less of those nuts now, because the cravings are gone. So I do think a change mindset is crucial. When transitioning to a healthier diet: swap unhealthy processed foods for healthier plant based foods - that work for you right now. And then when you're at something stable that works, you can start tweaking, because baseline has changed.

[stellasternchen]

The more I read about nutrition, the more confusion and division there is. What I discovered is there are some basic principles in most diets, regarding food quality. So I'm glad I'm on the right track with that.