NutritionFacts.org Video Podcast: Recent Episodes
Michael Greger M.D. FACLM
Michael Greger M.D. FACLM brings you the latest in nutrition-related research delivered in easy to understand video segments.
Meta-analyses of studies involving more than ten million participants confirm that greater egg consumption confers a higher risk of premature death from all causes.
The overall cost-benefit ratio for mycotoxins depends on which food is contaminated. Is “toxic mold syndrome” real? And what do we do about toxic mold contamination of food?
The best apple, bean, berry, lentil, and nut are the ones you’ll eat the most of; but if you don’t have a strong preference, which has the highest antioxidant power?
Let’s discuss weight loss, cholesterol, and PCOS treatment with diet. What can a daily eighth of a teaspoon of onion powder do for body fat, and what can raw red onion do for cholesterol?
Is there an advantage to eating a raw plant-based diet over a diet of raw and cooked whole plant foods?
One reason kids may not be eating more healthfully is that their parents vastly overestimate the quality of their child’s diet.
What role do vegetarian diets and organic foods play in the prevention or promotion of a birth defect called hypospadias?
At this very moment, many of us have tumors growing inside our bodies, so we cannot wait to start eating and living more healthfully.
Is the link between flavonoid consumption and longevity cause-and-effect, and are all sources of flavonoids equally healthy?
Our bodies are exposed to about 20,000 hits of radiation from cosmic rays every second. Is that good or bad?
Inflammatory markers can double within six hours of eating a pro-inflammatory meal. Which foods are the worst, and which ones reduce inflammation? What does an anti-inflammatory diet look like?
Is green rooibos (analogous to green tea) healthier than red rooibos, the commercially more common oxidized form that’s akin to black tea?
How can we conserve NAD+ by preventing overactivation of the enzymes PARP-1 and CD38, which guzzle NAD+?
You can naturally get your body to make more NAD+ by boosting the NAD+ synthesizing enzyme NAMPT.
Particular caution should be used for NAD+-boosting supplements by those with cancer, a personal or strong family history of cancer and perhaps also by those with inflammatory disorders and certain active infections.
What happened when topical olive oil was pitted against an ibuprofen-type drug for osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis?
What are the pros, cons, and efficacy of dihydronicotinamide riboside (reduced NR), perhaps the most potent NAD+ precursor, as well as reduced NMN, taking NAD+ directly, or making it from scratch from tryptophan?
NR may just be a waste of money, safe but ineffective. NMN seems similarly useless in humans, but it may not even be safe.
Common drugs, foods, and beverages can disrupt the integrity of our intestinal barrier. Which foods should we avoid to prevent leaky gut? Which foods and food components can boost the integrity of our intestinal barrier?
The suppression of NAD+ synthesis by NR in humans may explain the disparate rodent results.
The metabolism of NAM may deplete our methylation capacity, interfering with the normal metabolism of hormones and neurotransmitters, and produce a neurotoxic compound in the process.
What did randomized controlled human trials find about the ways we may—or may not—benefit from eating onions?
Given niacin’s decades of use as a cholesterol drug, we have a good idea of its safety profile.
Even though using cannabis may help with IBD symptoms in the short-term, it may make the long-term prognosis worse.
Perhaps it’s no coincidence that an infusion of spinach leaves has evidently been used since ancient times to treat respiratory symptoms.
Eight threads of saffron a day can improve visual acuity in older adults with mild or moderate age-related macular degeneration.
Did the five randomized controlled trials of reishi mushrooms in cancer patients show benefits in tumor response rate, survival time, or quality of life?
What is the role of dietary beta-carboline alkaloids in the development of the most common movement disorder?
A prebiotic derived from a type of brown seaweed is used for mild to moderate Alzheimer’s dementia in China. Does it work?
Perhaps it should be less about personalized nutrition and more about taking personal responsibility for our own health.
Perhaps Ugandans had more than 50 times fewer varicose veins for the same reason they had 50 times less heart disease and up to 50 times less colon cancer.
There is a reason the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention prohibit not only smoking, but also scented or fragranced products in its office buildings.
Why might healthy lifestyle choices wipe out 90 percent of our risk for having a heart attack, whereas drugs may only reduce risk by 20 to 30 percent?
The secretion of melatonin appears to progressively decline with age, dropping as much as 70 percent between middle and older age.
Greens, apples, tomato paste, and grapes are put to the test as edible skin care candidates.
HMB, magnesium, omega 3s, and vitamin D are put to the test for muscle strength and function.
What did double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trials on berries and the first clinical study on the effects of berries on arthritis find?
Obesity can be so devastating to our health that the downsides of any effective drug would have to be significant to outweigh its weight-loss benefits.
How common are serious potential side effects of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs, such as suicide, pancreatitis, bowel obstruction, thyroid cancer, and pancreatic cancer?
How might we mitigate the gastrointestinal and muscle loss side effects of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs?
I recommend glass, ceramic, porcelain, or stainless-steel tableware and wooden or stainless-steel cooking utensils.
Why does weight loss plateau on GLP-1 drugs, and why do most stop using them within just three months even if they can afford them?
What is the hormone GLP-1, what separates GLP-1 mimics from previous weight-loss drugs, and how much weight may be lost before weight loss plateaus?
Even though dietary oxalates may have a limited effect on kidney stone risk in most people, there are some predisposing factors that can put anyone at risk. How much is too much spinach, chard, beet greens, chaga mushroom powder, almonds, cashews, star fruit, and instant tea?
The pros and cons of all the NAD+ supplements and what are the ways to boost NAD+ naturally with diet and lifestyle?
Regular mushroom consumption is associated with a lower risk of cognitive decline and dementia, but data from interventional trials are mixed.
What are the different impacts of plant protein versus animal protein, and do the benefits of plant proteins translate to plant protein isolates?
Vitamin B12 deficiency is one of the rare, reversible causes of hair graying through some unknown mechanism.
As with vitiligo in the skin, buildup of hydrogen peroxide kills the pigment cells in hair follicles.
What are the three sources of liver fat in fatty liver disease, and how do you get rid of it?
What did a pilot study on How Not to Die’s Daily Dozen and How Not to Diet’s 21 Tweaks find?
The Better Business Bureau and Federal Trade Commission explore the claims of Juice Plus+, a multi-level marketing company.
Even if we could accurately diagnose SIBO, if there is no difference in symptoms between those testing positive and those testing negative, what’s the point? It may not be the number of bacteria growing in our small intestine, but the type, which can be corrected with diet.
A century ago, the age of first menstruation averaged as late as nearly 17. Why is sexual maturity coming so much earlier now?
Irrigation (also called ear syringing), which involves flushing out ear wax with a low-pressure jet of warm (body temperature) water, works up to 70 to 90 percent of the time.
Photographs are taken inside the ear canal before and after ear candling to put it to the test.
Self-experimentation with the anti-aging drug rapamycin continues to be strongly discouraged.
Rapamycin appears to be a universal anti-aging drug, extending the lifespan of all animals tested to date; it’s the only known drug to do so.
Inhibiting mTOR, the “master determinant of lifespan,” is considered the best validated aging regulator.
Probiotics can actually interfere with microbiome recovery after antibiotics, rather than facilitate it.
It may be prudent to limit chronic, vigorous exercise to no more than an hour a day and no more than five hours a week, taking at least one or two days off. For runners, the recommended upper limit for longevity benefits is 30 miles a week.
What do hospitals have to say for themselves for feeding people meals that appear to be designed to inspire repeat business?
I was surprised by how much controversy is in the medical literature over whether the apparent longevity benefits of exercise are even real.
The evidence supporting the overall health benefits of physical activity is overwhelming.
One of the few food contaminants found at higher levels in those eating plant-based diets are mycotoxins, fungal toxins in moldy foods, such as oats. Most food crops are contaminated with fungal mycotoxins, but some are worse than others.
The official exercise recommendations are a “trade-off between optimizing health outcomes and minimizing requirements for individuals,” but what does the science say is best?
Five massive new trials have been published recently, randomizing tens of thousands to various formulations of fish oil versus placebo.
Caloric restriction can boost levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which is considered to play a critical role in mood disorders.
Blue-green algae, chlorella, and spirulina are all advertised as being beneficial, but they could be harmful because they are often contaminated with algal toxins.
After drinking two cups of water, the adrenal hormone noradrenaline can surge in your bloodstream, as if you just smoked a few cigarettes or had a few cups of coffee.
Currently, there are more than 30 FDA-approved testosterone products for men, but none for women.
If the nitrites in foods like ham and bacon cause lung damage, what about “uncured” meat with “no nitrites added”?
Other than a “space headache,” what might be the downsides of sleeping at a slight head-down tilt to accelerate fat loss?
How might we trick our body into producing this fat-burning exercise hormone without lacing up our gym shoes?
Palmitic acid, a saturated fat concentrated in meat and dairy, can boost the metastatic potential of cancer cells through the fat receptor CD36. Randomized controlled trials show that lowering saturated fat intake can lead to improved breast cancer survival.
When we get dehydrated, the shrinkage of our blood volume can lead to the release of angiotensin, which can lead to weight gain.
Those who stay hydrated tend to maintain a healthier body weight, but is it cause and effect?
Microwaving is probably the most efficient way to reduce agaritine levels in fresh mushrooms.
Herbalife supplements are considered to be a well-established cause of serious liver injury.
Dairy consumption is associated with years of advanced ovarian aging, thought to be due to the steroid hormones or endocrine-disrupting chemicals in cow’s milk.
How can you mediate the phytonutrient-destroying enzyme in avocados, bananas, and mushrooms?
An enzyme in bananas can destroy some of the phytonutrients in berries and cocoa, but there is a way to reduce the effect.
Hear the unbelievable story about what lobbying millions can do to shut down efforts to protect children.
Laser therapy is marketed as a promising alternative to drugs and scalpels for treating hair loss, but what does the research say?
If the relationship between exercise and dementia prevention is cause-and-effect, as much as 20 percent of Alzheimer’s disease may be attributable to physical inactivity.
Switching to a plant-based diet has been shown to achieve far better outcomes than those reported on conventional treatments in both active and quiescent stages in Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.
By eating at a lower rung on the food chain, those choosing plant-based diets suffer less exposure to the industrial pollutants that bioaccumulate up the ladder.
What were the findings of an analysis of common, non-drug, non-supplement, non-lifestyle approaches to dementia prevention and treatment?
Epigenetic clocks have become established as robust measures of chronological age, surpassing telomere length as the best age predictor.
A randomized controlled trial found that a low-fat diet can result in a ten-fold lower skin cancer rate.
Oral nicotinamide has been shown to prevent skin cancers in high-risk patients and cause precancerous lesions to disappear.
As of 2019, there are urine-free FDA-approved bioidentical hormones that skirt the standardization concerns of compounded preparations. Are they any safer?
The evidence supports the recommendation to follow a whole food, plant-based diet for healthier looking skin.
Dairy products can cause hypersensitivity reactions even in those who test negative for cow’s milk allergy.
One of the most popular herbs in traditional Chinese medicine, astragalus root is marketed as a "life-prolonging" tonic.
Although aluminum isn’t necessarily benign, what convinced me that it does not play a role in Alzheimer's disease?
Millet isn’t the name of a specific grain, but a generic term that applies to a number of totally different plants. Which is the most healthful? What were the remarkable results of a crossover study randomizing hundreds of people with diabetes to one and a third cup of millet every day?
Physician-assisted suicide–perhaps more accurately termed physician-assisted dying or medical aid in dying–allows the terminally ill to end their lives through the voluntary self-administration of a lethal dose of medication expressly prescribed by a physician for that purpose.
If you have diabetes, metformin can make things better, but if you don’t, the drug may make things worse.
For three cents a day, black cumin may improve cholesterol and triglyceride levels, blood pressure, and blood sugar control, as well as accelerate the loss of body fat.
Amazingly, diabetics placed on metformin may live longer lives than those who never got diabetes in the first place.
Amping AMP-activated protein kinase is one of the anti-aging pathways I cover in my longevity book, How Not to Age.
How much nori, dulse, or arame approximates the Recommended Daily Allowance for iodine?
Exercising may make our immune systems more than five times better at fighting infection.
Which might actually make cognition worse: Centrum multivitamin, vitamin C, beta carotene, Souvenaid, zinc, or calcium supplements?
A low-fiber diet is a key driver of microbiome depletion, the disappearance of diversity in our good gut flora. What would happen within just two weeks if you swapped the diets of typical Americans with that of healthier eaters?
The Prevention of Alzheimer’s Disease by Vitamin E and Selenium trial randomized more than 7,500 older men to take vitamin E, selenium, both, or neither (just placebos) for five years.
The biggest barrier to reducing toxic pesticides in cannabis is, not surprisingly, the cannabis industry itself.
Does walking with poles, also known as Nordic walking or “exerstriding,”, beat our regular walking for depression, sleep quality, and weight loss?
Green tea can help reduce plaque as much as the gold-standard chemical mouthwash without its side effects, but what about other aspects of oral health, such as bad breath?
After study participants took some garlic, researchers gave them whey protein, lemon juice, green tea, chlorophyll, 7UP soda, a raw pink lady apple, a cooked apple, parsley, spinach, and mint leaves. Which do you think worked best?
What does improving the cognition and function of Alzheimer's patients with lifestyle medicine actually translate to in terms of human impact?
Dr. Dean Ornish publishes the first randomized controlled trial investigating whether a plant-based diet and lifestyle program may reverse the course of early-stage Alzheimer's disease.
The FDA has concluded that only two sunscreen ingredients can be considered safe: zinc oxide and titanium dioxide.
Sunscreen is put to the test in a randomized controlled trial to see if it can actually prevent skin cancer.
The problem with fish advisories that tell pregnant women to cut down on fish consumption is that it may be too late for certain persistent pollutants.
Sunscreen is put to the test in a randomized controlled trial to see if it can actually slow skin aging.
I assumed that collagen proteins would get completely broken down in the digestive tract, but I was wrong.
If sugar consumption is considered to be the one and only cause of cavities, how much is too much?
How did the medical and dental community react to U.S. regulators’ total 180 over water fluoridation, going from presumptively safe to presumptively dangerous?
Based on new research, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ National Toxicology Program reached a draft conclusion that fluoride should be “presumed to be a cognitive neurodevelopmental hazard to humans."
Is heme just an innocent bystander in the link between meat intake and breast cancer, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and high blood pressure? Let’s take a look at heme’s carcinogenic effects.
There have been more than 50 studies showing an association between higher fluoride exposure and lower IQ, but is it cause-and-effect?
According to the CDC, about a third of American children now have some form of cosmetic defects in their tooth enamel due to fluoride exposure, known as dental fluorosis.
How good is the evidence that flossing is effective, and what have randomized controlled trials shown to be the optimal toothbrushing and flossing sequence?
Based on nearly 100 randomized controlled trials, fluoride toothpaste reduces dental cavity rates, but what about just adding fluoride to the water supply?
Beyond the antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and alkaline-forming qualities of fruits and vegetables in general, are there extra benefits our bones can get from particular produce?
Astonishingly, a baby with a heavy surrogate mother and a thin biological mom may harbor a greater risk of becoming obese than a baby with a slim surrogate mom and a heavy biological one.
Even just a single extra serving of fruits and vegetables per day is associated with lower bone fracture risk.
What are the effects of plant-based meats on premature puberty, childhood obesity, and hip fracture risk?
Randomized controlled trials have found that pneumonia vaccines significantly reduce the risk of pneumococcal pneumonia in people 65 and older.
Randomized placebo-controlled trials show that flu shots can be extraordinary lifesavers.
Duct tape beat out cryotherapy (freezing) and ten other treatments for removal of warts in a randomized, controlled, head-to-head trial. Why isn’t it standard practice?
How do two common supplements stack up against glaucoma, the leading cause of irreversible vision loss in the world?
Embraced by naturopaths, functional medicine, and anti‐aging doctors, does so-called adrenal fatigue even exist?
Exercise ramps up appetite, helping to explain why calories burned don’t necessarily equal calories lost, so how can we lose weight through physical activity?
How rare are the bisphosphonate class of osteoporosis drugs’ devastating side effects, which ironically include bone fractures?
Given the clear harms and the small and uncertain benefits, most men would presumably decide to decline PSA testing if they knew all the facts, but that’s up to each man to decide.
Eating licorice or drinking licorice tea can cause the loss of body fat by blocking the effects of a stress hormone, but at what cost?
How does sorghum compare with other grains in terms of protein, antioxidants, and micronutrients? What are the benefits of red sorghum compared to black and white varieties?
APOE is the primary cholesterol carrier in the brain and plays a major role in packaging and transporting LDL cholesterol throughout the body.
Based on a study of thousands of twin pairs, only about 25 percent of the difference in lifespan among people is genetically determined.
The unprecedented rise in the power, scope, and sophistication of food marketing starting around 1980 aligns with the skyrocketing of the obesity epidemic. We like to think we make important life decisions like what to eat consciously and rationally, but if that were the case, we wouldn’t be in the midst of an obesity epidemic.
Over time, the skin folding caused by everyday facial expressions etches once-temporary grooves into permanent wrinkles, but only in the context of underlying structural damage.
Randomized controlled trials put plant-based eating to the test for athletic performance.
Approximately half of the variability of age of menopause among women is explained by genetics. What behaviors or circumstances can help explain the rest?
One function of sleep is the clearance of toxic waste byproducts through a newly discovered drainage system in the brain.
Ready for the mind-blowing twist in the mystery of why the injection of blood from young animals into old ones has a rejuvenative effect?
At age 50, everyone should start supplementing with B12-fortified foods or supplements regardless of the type of diet they follow. Over age 65, only high-dose daily supplements may suffice. For prevention and treatment of vitamin B12 deficiency, cyanocobalamin in chewable, sublingual, or liquid forms (rather than in a multivitamin) is best under most circumstances.
Macabre experiments surgically attaching old animals to young ones show there is something in the blood that causes aging.
Doctors and patients alike vastly overestimate the power of bisphosphonate drugs to prevent fractures.
Does tea tree oil have enough antiviral activity to combat HSV-1 and papilloma viruses, the causes of cold sores and common warts, respectively?
What do more than 100 clinical trials on red ginseng, white ginseng, and American ginseng show?
What happens when you compare the trans fats, saturated fat, sodium, and cholesterol levels in plant-based versus animal-based burgers?
How can we make sense of the disparate results from the four primate studies on caloric restriction and lifespan?
Chemical peels and laser skin resurfacing may do more harm than good, and filler injections in certain areas of the face can cause blindness in rare cases.
The temporary quintupling of heart attack risk associated with cannabis smoking may be due to the increased heart rate, blood pressure, and carbon monoxide levels.
Botox injections and facelift surgery are considered to be relatively safe with complications happening in only about 1 in 2,000 and 1 in 20 procedures, respectively.
Aging is arguably one of the most important unsolved problems of humanity, yet less than 0.1 percent of the federal research budget is spent on understanding the aging process.
Is the higher rate of bladder cancer among hairdressers due to exposure to hair dyes? And what about at-home use of hair colorants?
The sugar industry’s response to evidence implicating sweeteners in the obesity epidemic.
Ginkgo does not seem to play a role in preventing cognitive decline or dementia, but it may play a role in treating it.
Many doctors mistakenly rely on serum B12 levels in the blood to test for vitamin B12 deficiency.
DHEA levels naturally decline with age. Does replenishing youthful levels have restorative effects?
Stomach acid–blocking proton pump inhibitor drugs—PPIs with brand names like Prilosec, Prevacid, Nexium, Protonix, and AcipHex—appear to significantly increase the risk of bone fractures.
What are the pros and cons of alpha hydroxy acid lotions and chemical peels, as well as the roles of topical antioxidants vitamin E and C, in reversing the signs of aging?
Niacinamide, a form of vitamin B3 also known as nicotinamide, is a precursor to two potent antioxidants that can help reverse signs of skin aging.
Is the link between breakfast skipping and obesity cause-and-effect? Breakthroughs in the field of chronobiology—the study of our circadian rhythms—help solve the mystery of the missing morning calories in breakfast studies.
Tretinoin, also known as all-trans retinoic acid (sold under a variety of brands including Retin-A), can reverse the signs of aging, but at what cost?
Soy can be considered a first-line treatment for menopausal hot flash and night sweat symptoms.
Why do 85 percent of menopausal women suffer hot flashes in some countries but only 15 percent in others?
Why did the makers of Prevagen settle a class action lawsuit in 2020 with the FTC over deceptive business practices and false advertising? Is Prevagen safe?
What are the pros and cons of voluntarily stopping eating and drinking to end your life?
Even under hospice with excellent palliative care, some spend their last months in uncontrollable suffering. What can be done in places in the United States that outlaw physician-assisted dying?
Fasting, followed by a plant-based diet, is put to the test for autoimmune inflammatory joint disease and autoimmune diseases such as lupus, ankylosing spondylitis, chronic urticaria, mixed connective-tissue disease, glomerulonephritis, and multiple sclerosis, as well as osteoarthritis and fibromyalgia.
Hospice is often framed as “giving up,” but, ironically, hospice patients sometimes actually live longer
Some animals, like the immortal jellyfish, can effectively live forever, so why can’t we?
I cover natural topical treatments for hair growth, including pumpkin seed oil, caffeine, green tea, pyrithione zinc, ginger, Chinese knotweed, and rosemary.
I discuss the safety and efficacy of the newest Alzheimer's drug treatments, aducanumab (Aduhelm) and lecanemab (Leqembi).
A list of “specific recommendations for the prevention of obesity by improving the circadian system health.”
An interventional trial found that dietary changes may slow or even reverse the loss of hearing.
Some studies found that higher levels of folate in the blood seem to correlate with better hearing, so researchers decided to put it to the test.
Those eating more plant-based diets have lower risk of having a stroke, including both bleeding and clotting strokes.
How does sorghum compare with other grains in terms of protein, antioxidants, and micronutrients? Learn why sorghum is one of my favorite new grains, and the benefits of red sorghum compared to black and white varieties.
A combination of resistance exercise to improve lower limb muscle strength and balance training can beat out drugs for preventing osteoporotic bone fractures.
Endotoxins can build up on pre-chopped vegetables and undermine some of their benefits.
A misinterpretation of lab tests may explain concerns over kidney safety with creatine supplementation.
When accompanied by a progressive strength-training regimen, 3 grams of creatine a day may improve muscle performance in older adults.
Soy foods may explain why Japanese-American women not only have the lowest rates of hot flashes in the United States but also have the lowest rates of vaginal dryness.
I discuss the first-line management of genitourinary syndrome of menopause (vulvovaginal atrophy).
Healthy plant-based diets appear to help reduce the risk of severe COVID-19 and getting infected in the first place, even independent of comorbidities.
Addyi (flibanserin), the drug marketed for “hypoactive sexual desire disorder,” is ineffective and unsafe. What about dietary approaches for female sexual dysfunction?
What was the secret to the public health community’s triumph when past attempts to regulate the food industry failed?
Adding a healthy option can actually drive people to make even worse choices, thanks to a mind-blowing glitch of human psychology.
Which legumes are best at inhibiting the matrix metalloproteinase enzymes that allow cancer to become invasive?
How can we avoid the breakdown product of pesticides that may increase the risk of Alzheimer’s disease as much as if you carried APOE e4, the so-called Alzheimer’s gene?
Comparing the diets of the Roman gladiator “barley men” and army troopers to the modern Spartans of today and meat-eating athletes are put to the test against veg athletes and even sedentary plant-eaters in feats of endurance.
I quantify the risks of colon and rectal cancers from eating bacon, ham, hot dogs, sausage, and lunch meat.
How did the meat industry, government, and cancer organizations respond to the confirmation that processed meat, like bacon, ham, hot dogs, and lunch meat, causes cancer?
Overrated “precision medicine” may just be serving vested interests, and consumer DNA testing can be useless—or even worse.
Seven dates a day for three weeks are put to the test in a randomized controlled trial.
Fasting and exercise can boost the longevity hormone FGF21, but what can we eat—or avoid eating—to get similar effects?
We co-evolved a symbiosis with our good gut bacteria but are not holding up our end of the bargain.
Oil pulling is put to the test head-to-head against chlorhexidine mouthwash for oral and dental health measures. It is also tested for teeth whitening, halitosis, and dental enamel erosion, the results were no better than rinsing with water—or even worse.
Exposure to the bovine leukemia virus from meat and dairy (or a blood transfusion from those who eat meat or dairy) is a risk factor for cancer.
As many as 37 percent of breast cancer cases may be attributable to exposure to bovine leukemia virus.
Are the apparently amazing benefits of amla—dried Indian gooseberries—too good to be true?
Billion-dollar drugs pulled from the market for carcinogenic contamination less than that found in a single serving of grilled chicken.
Are yellow-fleshed potatoes healthier than white? And, what about the glycoalkaloid toxins?
Broccoli, vinegar, and lemon juice are put to the test to blunt the glycemic index of white potatoes.
If you eat potatoes when they’re cold, as in potato salad, or chilled and reheated, you can get a nearly 40 percent lower glycemic impact.
Is the exaggerated reaction of many Crohn’s disease patients to baker’s, brewer’s, and nutritional yeast just a consequence of their inflamed leaky gut, or might the yeast be a contributing cause?
Does the link between white potatoes and diabetes extend to non-fried potatoes without butter or sour cream?
Prunes, figs, and exercise are put to the test as natural home remedies for constipation.
The remarkable impact of the structure of food beyond nutritional content or composition.
Inflammatory markers can double within six hours of eating a pro-inflammatory meal. Which foods are the worst?
The amount of beta-glucan fiber in just a dusting of nutritional yeast a day is put to the test in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial for the prevention of common childhood illnesses.
Pomegranates are put to the test for weight loss, diabetes, COPD, prostate cancer, osteoarthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis.
Does choosing organic over conventional foods protect against cancer? The effects of pesticides on cancer risk.
Perhaps it should be less about personalized nutrition and more about taking personal responsibility for your health.
In my book How Not to Die, I center my recommendations around a Daily Dozen checklist of all the things I try to fit into my daily routine.
Is the brain damage associated with milk consumption due to the banned pesticide heptachlor or the milk sugar galactose?
Weight loss, cholesterol, and PCOS treatment with diet. What can an eighth of a teaspoon a day of onion powder do for body fat, and what can raw red onion do for cholesterol?
Dr. Greger blends up a vegetable smoothie inspired by a recipe in The How Not to Die Cookbook.
I discuss the safety and efficacy for weight loss of everything from Botox and corsets to siphons and tapeworms.
Sham surgery trials have shown us that some of our most popular surgeries are themselves shams.
Walnuts, almonds, and hazelnuts are put to the test for erectile and sexual function, sperm count, and semen quality.
The recommended diet for leaky gut treatment. Which foods and food components can boost the integrity of our intestinal barrier?
Whole plant sources of sugar and fat can ameliorate some of the postprandial (after-meal) inflammation caused by the consumption of refined carbohydrates and meat.
Avoid these foods for leaky gut prevention: common drugs, foods, and beverages can disrupt the integrity of our intestinal barrier.
Experiments showing how much vitamin C our body absorbs and excretes can give us a sense of how many vitamin C rich fruits and vegetables we should be eating each day.
Those with genetic mutations that leave them with an LDL cholesterol of 30 live exceptionally long lives. Can we duplicate that effect with drugs?
Why might healthy lifestyle choices wipe out 90 percent of our risk for having a heart attack, whereas drugs may only reduce risk by 20 to 30 percent?
Boiling, steaming, microwaving, air frying, and sous vide cooking are put to the test for nutrient retention.
By losing 15 percent of their body weight, nearly 90 percent of those who’ve had type 2 diabetes for less than four years can achieve remission.
What did randomized controlled human trials find about the ways we may—or may not—benefit from eating onions?
Pomegranate juice for prostate cancer was finally put to the test in a randomized, controlled, clinical trial.
What happened when topical olive oil was pitted against an ibuprofen-type drug for osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis?
Why does the meat industry add salt to its products when millions of lives are at stake?
Losing weight without rearranging your gastrointestinal anatomy carries advantages beyond just the lack of surgical risk.
The extent of risk from bariatric weight-loss surgery may depend on the skill of the surgeon.
Today, death rates after weight-loss surgery are considered to be “very low,” occurring in perhaps 1 in 300 to 1 in 500 patients on average.
If the microbiome of those eating plant-based diets protects against the toxic effects of TMAO, what about swapping gut flora?
Is “toxic mold syndrome” a real thing? And, what do we do about toxic mold contamination of food?
How many cola cancer cases are estimated to be caused by Coke and Pepsi in New York versus California, where a carcinogen labeling law (Prop 65) exists?
Most food crops are contaminated with fungal mycotoxins, but some foods are worse than others.
One of the few food contaminants found at higher levels in those eating plant-based diets are mycotoxins, fungal toxins in moldy food ingredients, such as oats.
What can reishi mushrooms, shiitake mushroom extracts, and whole powdered white mushrooms do for cancer patients?
Did the five randomized controlled trials of reishi mushrooms in cancer patients show benefits in terms of tumor response rate, survival time, or quality of life?
How few eggs should we eat to reduce the risk of prostate, ovarian, colon, and breast cancer?
The American Medical Association has passed a resolution encouraging healthy plant-based food options be available in hospitals.
There is another reason to avoid palm oil and question the authenticity of extra-virgin olive oil.
In this live presentation, Dr. Greger offers a sneak peek into his book How Not to Diet.
What we eat determines what kind of bacteria we foster the growth of in our gut, which can increase or decrease our risk of some of our leading killer diseases.
Having a so-called normal cholesterol in a society where it’s normal to drop dead of a heart attack isn’t necessarily a good thing.
Does the presence of Candida in stool correlate with “Candida-hypersensitivity” symptoms, such as headaches and tiredness? And what happens when people are placed on a high-sugar diet?
The FDA appears to have caved to industry pressure and allows intestines potentially infected with mad cow disease prions into food products and lipstick.
Which appear more protective: fermented soy foods, such as miso and tempeh, or unfermented soy, like tofu and soy milk?
Shockingly, this “outrageous assault upon the dignity” of female patients continues to this day.
What are the pros and cons of relative risk versus absolute risk versus number-needed-to-treat versus average postponement of death taking cholesterol-lowering statin drugs?
A Mayo Clinic visualization tool can help you decide if cholesterol-lowering statin drugs are right for you.
What is the dirty little secret of drugs for lifestyle diseases? If patients knew the truth of how little these drugs actually worked, almost no one would agree to take them.
What are the effects of açai berries, cooked and raw blueberries, grapes, cocoa, green tea, and freshly squeezed orange juice on artery function?
How can you calculate your own personal heart disease risk and use it to determine if you should start on a cholesterol-lowering statin drug?
How should we parse the conflicting human data on intake of aspartame (Nutrasweet) and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, multiple myeloma, leukemia, and pancreatic cancer?
It may not be the number of bacteria growing in your small intestine, but the type of bacteria, which can be corrected with diet.
Even if we could accurately diagnose SIBO, if there is no difference in symptoms between those testing positive and those testing negative, then what’s the point?
Most hunters may not be aware about the health risks related to consuming meat from animals shot with lead ammunition.
The current generation of American kids may be one of the first generations to be less healthy and have shorter lifespans than their parents.
The food industry fought tooth and nail to retain partially hydrogenated oils, even though they were killing 50,000 Americans a year.
Microwaving is probably the most efficient way to reduce agaritine levels in fresh mushrooms.
There is a food that offers the best of both worlds—significantly improving our ability to detox carcinogens like diesel fumes and decreasing inflammation in our airways—all while improving our respiratory defenses against infections.
Emulsifiers are the most widely used food additive. What are they doing to our gut microbiome?
In this “best-of” compilation of his last prior four year-in-review presentations, Dr. Greger explains what we can do about the #1 cause of death and disability: our diet.
There is a reason the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention prohibits not only smoking, but also scented or fragranced products in its buildings.
Dark green leafy vegetables are the most nutrient-dense foods on the planet. What’s the best way to prepare them?
Fasting and exercise can raise BDNF levels in our brain, but this can also be achieved by eating and avoiding certain foods.
Caloric restriction can boost levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), considered to play a critical role in mood disorders.
Miso is packed with sodium, which is linked to both stomach cancer and high blood pressure, so is it safe to consume?
Even though cannabis smoking may help with IBD symptoms in the short-term, it may make the long-term prognosis worse.
Women with breast cancer should include the “liberal culinary use of cruciferous vegetables.”
Can the consumption of sesame seeds improve the clinical signs and symptoms of arthritis?
Randomized controlled trials show lowering saturated fat intake can lead to improved breast cancer survival.
Palmitic acid, a saturated fat concentrated in meat and dairy, can boost the metastatic potential of cancer cells through the fat receptor CD36.
Perhaps dietary guidelines should stress fresh, frozen, and dried fruit—rather than canned.
For three cents a day, black cumin may improve cholesterol and triglyceride levels, blood pressure, and blood sugar control, as well as accelerate the loss of body fat.
What were the results of a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of a half teaspoon of powdered black cumin a day in Hashimoto's (autoimmune thyroiditis) patients?
What happened to women who were randomized to eat more meat and dairy during pregnancy? What effect does animal protein consumption have on cortisol and testosterone levels in men?
Is the apparent protection of plant-based diets for thyroid health due to the exclusion of animal foods, the benefits of plant foods, or both?
What did a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study of a food that costs pennies a day for ragweed allergy sufferers find?
Death in America is largely a foodborne illness. Focusing on studies published in peer-reviewed scientific medical journals, Dr. Greger offers practical advice on how best to feed ourselves and our families to prevent, treat, and even reverse many of the top 15 killers in the United States.
More than 95 percent of human exposure to industrial pollutants like dioxins and PCBs comes from fish, other meat, and dairy.
Miracle drug antibiotics are being squandered to compensate for the overcrowded, stressful, unhygienic conditions on factory farms.
How might we improve immune function in children and adults under physical or psychological stress?
What are the direct health implications of making clean meat—that is, meat without animals?
Why is the incidence of side effects from statins so low in clinical trials but appear to be so high out in the real world?
How extreme was Dr. Kempner’s rice diet compared to traditional surgical approaches? Is there a safer alternative?
Switching to a plant-based diet has been shown to achieve far better outcomes than those reported on conventional treatments in both active and quiescent stages in both Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.
Plant-based diets can be 98 percent effective in keeping ulcerative colitis patients in remission, blowing away other treatments.
Eating a diet filled with animal products can disrupt your microbiome faster than taking an antibiotic.
Inadequate consumption of prebiotics—the fiber and resistant starch concentrated in unprocessed plant foods—can cause a disease-promoting imbalance in our gut microbiome.
What are the three sources of the liver fat in fatty liver disease and how do you get rid of it?
What do hospitals have to say for themselves for feeding people meals that appear to be designed to inspire repeat business?
Cardiologists can criminally game the system by telling a patient they have a much more serious, unstable disease than they really have, fraud that results in unnecessary procedures, unnecessary cost, and unnecessary patient harm.
Over and over, studies have shown that doctors tend to make different clinical decisions for patients based on how much they will get paid personally.
Those with higher vitamin D levels tend to have lower rates of obesity, diabetes, and hypertension, but is it cause and effect? Interventional trials finally put vitamin D to the test.
Sham surgery trials prove that procedures like nonemergency stents offer no benefit for angina pain—only risk to millions of patients.
What do physicians and stent companies have to say for themselves, given that they are promoting expensive, risky procedures with no benefit?
A half-teaspoon a day of brewer’s yeast is put to the test in a randomized, double-blind, controlled clinical trial.
Why are doctors killing or stroking out thousands of people a year for nothing? How do doctors even convince patients to sign up for procedures that are all risk without benefit?
Most heart attacks are caused by nonobstructive plaques that infiltrate the entire coronary artery tree. There is no such thing as “1-vessel disease,” “2-vessel disease,” or “left main disease.” Atherosclerotic plaque is continuous throughout the coronary arteries of heart attack victims.
The reason egg consumption is associated with elevated cancer risk may be the TMAO, considered the “smoking gun” of microbiome-disease interactions.
There are demonstrably no benefits to the hundreds of thousands of angioplasty and stent procedures performed outside of an emergency setting. They don’t prevent heart attacks, enable you to live longer, or even help with symptoms any more than placebo (fake) surgery.
What were the remarkable results of a crossover study randomizing hundreds of people with diabetes to one and a third cup of millet every day?
The case for using a plant-based diet to reduce the burden of diabetes has never been stronger.
Millet isn’t the name of a specific grain, but a generic term that applies to a number of totally different plants. Which is the most healthful?
If the nitrites in foods like ham and bacon cause lung damage, what about “uncured” meat with “no nitrites added”?
There is a toxin in lychee fruit that can be harmful, but only under certain circumstances?
Dr. Greger has scoured the world’s scholarly literature on clinical nutrition, and developed this live presentation on the latest in cutting-edge research on how a healthy diet can affect some of our most common medical conditions.
Rectal biopsies taken before and after eating meat determine the potentially DNA-damaging dose of heme.
What do clinical studies show about the role of heme in the formation of a class of carcinogenic compounds?
Laboratory models suggest that extreme doses of heme iron may be detrimental, but what about the effects of nutritional doses in humans? A look at heme’s carcinogenic effects.
Is heme just an innocent bystander in the link between meat intake and breast cancer, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and high blood pressure?
The benefits of taking a daily aspirin must be weighed against the risk of internal bleeding.
Clinical trials on Quorn show that it can improve satiety and help people control cholesterol, blood sugar, and insulin levels.
What are the effects of plant-based meats on premature puberty, childhood obesity, and hip fracture risk?
What are the different impacts of plant protein versus animal protein, and do the benefits of plant proteins translate to plant protein isolates?
What happens when you compare the trans fats, saturated fat, sodium, and cholesterol levels in plant-based versus animal-based burgers?
What are the effects of spinach and berries on oxidative stress, inflammation, and muscle soreness in athletes?
Environmental assessment of 50 different plant-based meats show them to be vastly more sustainable.
What are the risks and benefits of getting an annual check-up, a comprehensive annual physical exam, and routine blood testing?
How does sorghum compare with other grains in terms of protein, antioxidants, and micronutrients? And the benefits of red sorghum compared to black and white varieties.
Can the aroma of wood essential oils replicate the immune-boosting effects of walking in a forest?
Visiting a forest can induce a significant increase in both the number and activity of natural killer cells, one of the ways our body fights off cancer.
Increased risk of metabolic complications starts at an abdominal circumference of 31.5 inches in women and 37 inches in most men, though it’s closer to 35.5 inches for South Asian, Chinese, and Japanese men.
Physical fitness authorities seem to have fallen into the same trap as the nutrition authorities, recommending what they think may be achievable, rather than simply informing us what the science says and letting us make up our own mind.
The most well-published community-based lifestyle intervention in the medical literature is also one of the most effective.
What are the effects of weight loss on natural killer cell function, our first line of immune defense against cancer, as well as kidney function and fatty liver disease?
Sufficient, sustained weight loss may cut the risk of fatal heart attacks and strokes in half.
Dr. Greger whips up some matcha ice cream inspired by a recipe in his How Not to Die Cookbook.
Losing weight can reduce sciatica, hypertension, and cancer risk, and reverse type 2 diabetes.
Various health organizations offer clashing mammogram recommendations that range from annual mammograms starting at age 40 to eliminating routine mammograms altogether. Who should you trust?
Is there a nonsurgical alternative to knee replacement surgery that instead treats the cause and offers only beneficial side effects?
Various fasting regimens have been attempted for inflammatory autoimmune diseases such as lupus, ankylosing spondylitis, chronic urticaria, mixed connective-tissue disease, glomerulonephritis, and multiple sclerosis, as well as osteoarthritis and fibromyalgia.
Fasting, followed by a plant-based diet, is put to the test for autoimmune inflammatory joint disease.
The temporary quintupling of heart attack risk associated with cannabis smoking may be due to the increased heartrate, blood pressure, and carbon monoxide levels.
What do randomized controlled trials of high-dose daily vitamin B12 supplementation show about the effects on cancer risk, death, and longevity?
Increasing the cost of cigarettes through tobacco taxes is one of the most effective ways to decrease the harms of smoking. What does the science say about sodium, sugar and saturated fat?
An entire issue of a cardiology journal dedicated to plant-based nutrition explores the role an evidence-based diet can play in the reversal of congestive heart failure.
Does walking with poles, also known as Nordic walking (“exerstriding”), beat our regular walking for depression, sleep quality, and weight loss?
How much greenhouse gas does the production of different foods cause measured in miles driven or lightbulb hour equivalents?
Dr. Greger has scoured the world’s scholarly literature on clinical nutrition and developed this presentation based on cutting-edge research exploring the role diet may play in preventing, arresting, and even reversing some of our leading causes of death and disability.
Overt omega-3 deficiency is rare, but do short-term experiments on cognitive function suggest there might be an optimal DHA dose?
For prevention and treatment of vitamin B12 deficiency, cyanocobalamin in chewable, sublingual, or liquid forms (rather than in a multivitamin) is best under most circumstances.
At age 50, everyone, regardless of diet should start supplementing with B12-fortified foods or supplements but over age 65 only high-dose daily supplements may suffice.
Is there any benefit to resveratrol? If so, should we get it from wine, grapes, peanuts, or supplements?
What is the effect of cell phone radiation and WiFi exposure on sperm motility and DNA damage? Should laptops not be on laps?
How can soy foods have it both ways, pro-estrogenic effects in some organs that can protect bones and reduce hot flash symptoms, yet also anti-estrogenic effects in others that protect against breast and endometrial cancer?
Drink two cups of water and you can get a surge of the adrenal hormone noradrenaline in your bloodstream, as if you just smoked a few cigarettes or downed a few cups of coffee.
Why is the field of nutrition often more about marketing products than educating people about the fundamentals of healthy eating?
Drinking water can be such a safe, simple, effective way to prevent yourself from fainting.
What can our nutrient requirements, metabolism, and physiology tell us about what we should be eating?
Amazingly, a baby born to an obese surrogate mother with a skinny biological mom may harbor a greater risk of becoming obese than a baby from a big biological mom born to a slim surrogate.
Studies on green exercising, the value of greenspaces, or even just viewing trees outside the window on surgery recovery.
Given the lead contamination found in candies containing chili imported from Mexico, 25 hot sauces were tested for heavy metals.
Researchers tested 76 samples of different kinds of meat, both organic and conventional, for 33 different carcinogens.
Those on a healthy plant-based diet with elevated homocysteine levels despite taking sufficient vitamin B12 may want to consider taking a gram a day of contaminant-free creatine.
Extracts of amla (Indian gooseberry) were pitted head-to-head against cholesterol-lowering statin drugs and the blood thinners aspirin and Plavix.
What are the consequences of having to make your own creatine rather than relying on dietary sources?
Many doctors mistakenly rely on serum B12 levels in the blood to test for vitamin B12 deficiency.
Not taking B12 supplements or regularly eating B12 fortified foods may explain the higher stroke risk found among vegetarians.
Might animal protein-induced increases in the cancer-promoting grown hormone IGF-1 help promote brain artery integrity?
Dr. Greger has scoured the world's scholarly literature on clinical nutrition and developed this presentation based on the latest in cutting edge research exploring the role diet may play in preventing, arresting, and even reversing some of our most feared causes of death and disability.
How can we explain the drop in stroke risk as the Japanese diet became Westernized by eating more meat and dairy?
What does a review of the evidence on the effects of coconut oil on weight loss and belly fat find?
Could the apparent increased stroke risk in vegetarians be reverse causation? And what about vegetarians versus vegans?
Blueberries can significantly improve cognitive performance within hours of consumption.
The first study in history on the incidence of stroke of vegetarians and vegans suggests they may be at higher risk.
What do 56 randomized clinical trials involving nearly 100,000 people between the ages of 18 and 107 show vitamin D can do to our lifespan? And what is the safe dose of vitamin D supplementation to get most of the population to the optimal level of 2,000 IU a day?
The nutritional benefits of guacamole extend beyond just the nutrients avocados themselves contain.
What works better against aphthous ulcers? Honey applied with a cotton swab three times a day after meals was compared head-to-head against an over-the-counter soothing pain-relieving paste and a prescription steroid cream.
Most people have between 3 bowel movements a day and 3 a week, but normal doesn’t necessarily mean optimal. Squatting and leaning can help straighten the anorectal angle, but a healthy enough diet should make bowel movements effortless regardless of positioning.
Rheumatoid arthritis may be triggered by autoimmune friendly fire against a urinary tract infection bacteria called Proteus mirabilis, which could help explain why sufferers randomized to a plant-based diet experience such remarkable benefit.
There are things you can do right now to reduce your risk of falling seriously ill and dying from this disease.
What does the clinical course of COVID-19 look like for both those who survive and those who don’t?
How much vinegar should you consume with a meal to improve satiety and reduce the spike in blood sugar, insulin, and triglycerides?
Why can’t we stop COVID-19 like we stopped SARS and MERS, the other two 21st century coronavirus outbreaks?
Over-activated TOR signaling may help explain the link between acne and subsequent risk for prostate and breast cancer.
The role wet markets, wildlife trafficking, and pangolins have played in the emergence of SARS-CoV-2.
How do the blood-pressure lowering effects of hibiscus tea compare to the DASH diet, a plant-based diet, and a long-distance endurance exercise? And be aware, the impressive manganese content of hibiscus tea may be the limiting factor for safe daily levels of consumption.
The role live animal markets and the trade in exotic animals have played in the emergence of deadly coronavirus outbreaks.
In the last 17 years, there have been three new deadly coronavirus epidemics, but where do emerging diseases emerge from?
Since many tumors take decades to grow it’s remarkable that cancer risk can so dramatically be reduced– even late in life.
I recommend glass, ceramic, porcelain, or stainless-steel tableware and wooden or stainless-steel cooking utensils.
Less than a teaspoon a day of turmeric appears to significantly lower the DNA-mutating ability of cancer-causing substances.
What to eat and what to avoid to lower the cardiovascular disease risk factor lipoprotein(a).
What effect do artificial sweeteners such as sucralose (Splenda), saccharin (Sweet & Low), aspartame (Nutrasweet), and acesulfame K (Sweet One) have on our gut bacteria?
The fat-burning properties of brown adipose tissue can be boosted by cold exposure, certain flavor molecules, and arginine-rich foods.
Implausible explanations for the obesity epidemic, such as sedentary lifestyles or lack of self-discipline, serve the needs of the manufacturers and marketers more than the public’s health and the interest in truth.
Like the tobacco industry adding extra nicotine, the food industry employs taste engineers to accomplish a similar goal: maximize the irresistibility of their products.
What effect does coffee and tea consumption have on longevity, cancer risk, GERD reflux, bone fractures, glaucoma, sleep quality, and atrial fibrillation (irregular heartbeat)?
We all like to think we make important life decisions like what to eat consciously and rationally, but if that were the case we wouldn’t be in the midst of an obesity epidemic.
Should we be concerned about high-choline plant foods, such as broccoli, producing the same toxic TMAO that results from eating high-choline animal foods, such as eggs?
The unprecedented rise in the power, scope, and sophistication of food marketing starting around 1980 aligns well with the blastoff slope of the obesity epidemic.
Why are U.S. taxpayers giving billions to support the likes of the sugar and livestock industries?
One food may be able to combat all four purported causal factors of autism: synaptic dysfunction, oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, and neuroinflammation. The sulforaphane found in five cents’ worth of broccoli sprouts has been shown to benefit autism in a way no drug ever has in randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study.
The rise in the U.S. calorie supply responsible for the obesity epidemic wasn’t just about more food but a different kind of food.
We have an uncanny ability to pick out the subtle distinctions in calorie density of foods, but only within the natural range.
Flax seed consumption may play a role in preventing and treating breast cancer by blocking the inflammatory effects of interleukin-1.
Rather than being some kind of disorder or failure of willpower, weight gain is largely a normal response, by normal people, to an abnormal situation.
The big fat “fat gene” accounts for less than 1% of the differences in size between people.
Why should we wait ten minutes after chopping or crushing garlic before we cook it unless we’re going in for elective surgery within the next week?
The common explanations for the cause of the obesity epidemic put forward by the food industry and policymakers, such as inactivity or a lack of willpower, are not only wrong, but actively harmful fallacies.
How to treat the cause by preventing the emergence of pandemic viruses in the first place (a video I recorded more than a decade ago when I was Public Health Director at the HSUS in Washington DC).
What would happen if you centered your diet around vegetables, the most nutrient-dense food group?
CT scans confirm that daily vinegar consumption can lead to a significant loss of abdominal fat.
Why has fish consumption been associated with cognitive impairment and loss of executive function?
The consumption of animal fat appears to increase the growth of gut bacteria that turn our bile acids into carcinogens.
A list of “specific recommendations for the prevention of obesity by improving the circadian system health.”
Insufficient intake of fiber-rich foods may lead to the stiffening of our arteries associated with risk of having a stroke.
The myth that plant proteins are incomplete, necessitating protein combining, was debunked by the scientific nutrition community decades ago.
The Paleolithic period represents just the last two million years of human evolution. What did our bodies evolve to eat during the first 90% of our time on Earth?
While epidemics of chronic disease are currently by far our leading causes of death, global warming is considered a looming public health threat. How can we eat to combat dietary diseases and greenhouse gas emissions at the same time?
Only 2 out of 12 supplement companies were found to have products that were even accurately labeled.
Does the fructose naturally found in fruit and fruit juice have the same adverse effects as excess “industrial fructose” (table sugar and high fructose corn syrup) and if not, why not?
A cup a day of beans, chickpeas, or lentils for three months may slow resting heart rate as much as exercising for 250 hours on a treadmill.
Less than 3% of Americans meet the daily recommended fiber intake, despite research suggesting high-fiber foods such as whole grains can affect the progression of coronary heart disease.
Star fruit contains a neurotoxin known as caramboxin that can cause irreversible brain damage at high enough doses.
Lack of adequate blood flow to the brain due to clogging of cerebral arteries may play a pivotal role in the development and progression of Alzheimer’s dementia.
The deleterious effects of a Paleolithic diet appear to undermine the positive effects of a Crossfit-based high-intensity circuit training exercise program.
There appear to be just two types of people in the world: those who have mostly Bacteroides type bacteria in their gut, and those whose colons are overwhelmingly home to Prevotella species instead.
The new dietary guidelines for beverages recommend tea and coffee second only to water in healthfulness, but what about concerns they might impair the function of our endothelium?
Four simple health behaviors may cut our risk of chronic disease by nearly 80%, potentially dropping our risk of dying equivalent to that of being 14 years younger.
Peeled apples are pitted head-to-head against unpeeled apples and spinach in a test of artery function.
Grain consumption appears strongly protective against Alzheimer’s disease, whereas animal fat intake has been linked to dementia risk.
The spice turmeric appears to be able to switch back on the self-destruct mechanism within cancer cells.
Losing a pound of fat can take as few as 10 calories a day or as many as 55, depending on whether you’re improving food quality or just restricting food quantity.
When placed head-to-head against the American Diabetes Association diet, how do plant-based diets fare in terms of not only blood sugar, body weight, and cholesterol control, but also mood and quality of life?
A light broth soup, packed with a rainbow of vegetables and hearty buckwheat soba noodles. Toss in edamame or your favorite vegetables and spices to make this recipe your own. This recipe comes from Hailey, our Chinese Social Media Manager.
Ancient dietary practices based on analyzing the fiber content of fossilized human waste can give us insights for combating the modern obesity epidemic.
Cherry consumption has been shown to successfully prevent gout arthritis attacks, but what about cherry juice concentrate?
Within a matter of weeks, participants placed on the vegan diet outlined by the prophet Daniel experienced improvements in blood pressure, cholesterol and insulin levels, insulin resistance, and C-reactive protein levels, a marker of inflammation within the body.
Why does our immune system confuse unhealthy diets with dysbiosis—an overrun of bad bacteria in our colon?
A single serving of Brazil nuts may bring cholesterol levels down faster than statin drugs and keep them down even a month after that single ingestion.
A cruciferous spin on macaroni and cheese, this recipe takes comfort food to a whole new level, and is a tasty way to check off a few servings on the Daily Dozen checklist. This recipe comes from Kristina, our Social Media Director.
Certain foods are linked not only to increased happiness, but also to greater “eudaemonic” well-being—feelings of engagement, creativity, meaning, and purpose in life.
What can we eat to combat “inflamm-aging,” the chronic low-grade inflammation that accompanies the aging process?
Lifestyle changes could potentially prevent hundreds of thousands of cases of Alzheimer’s disease every year in the United States. And the role of the Mediterranean diet in preventing and treating dementia.
Commercial fruit and vegetable washes fail to work better than tap water, but there is a cheap do-it-yourself solution that may completely eliminate certain pesticide residues.
Researchers find exercise often works just as well as drugs for the treatment of heart disease and stroke, and the prevention of diabetes. Exercise is medicine.
Pregnant and breastfeeding women should probably be advised to either decrease, or where possible, cease cannabis use entirely. And, couples trying to conceive may also want to consider cutting down.
Every hour, there are 800 incidents of DNA damage in our bodies. Which foods help us patch back up: apples, broccoli, celery, choy sum, lemons, lettuce, oranges, persimmons, or strawberries?
Given their oxalate content, how much is too much spinach, chard, beet greens, chaga mushroom powder, almonds, cashews, star fruit, and instant tea?
Even though dietary oxalates may have a limited effect on kidney stone risk in most people, there are some predisposing factors that can put anyone at risk.
Some herbs and spices—including cinnamon, cloves, lemon balm, marjoram, oregano, and peppermint—are so rich in antioxidants that just a small pinch can go a long way.
Dark green leafy vegetables are the most nutrient-dense foods on the planet. What’s the best way to prepare them?
Evidence-based medicine may ironically bias medical professionals against the power of dietary intervention.
Duct tape beat out cryotherapy (freezing) for treating warts in a randomized controlled head-to-head trial.
A brain parasite is considered “probably one of the most important risk factors for schizophrenia.”
Which foods are best at removing carcinogenic bile acids from the body: asparagus, beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, collards, eggplant, green beans, kale, mustard greens, okra, or peppers? And do they work better raw or cooked?
Nearly one quarter of Americans have already been infected with the brain parasite toxoplasma.
Extraordinary results reported in a rare example of a double-blinded, placebo-controlled, randomized trial of a dietary intervention (flaxseeds) to combat one of our leading killers, high blood pressure.
How do canned versus germinated beans (such as sprouted lentils) compare when it comes to protecting brain cells and destroying melanoma, kidney, and breast cancer cells.
Does cooking meals at home lead to improved health outcomes? And how do TV dinners compare nutritionally to TV-chef recipes?
An eighth teaspoon of powdered ginger was found to work as well as the migraine headache drug sumatriptan (Imitrex) without the side effects.
The first-line treatment for hypertension is lifestyle modification, which often includes the DASH diet. What is it and how can it be improved?
Why don’t authorities advocate a sufficient reduction in cholesterol down to safe levels?
Tracing the source and legitimacy of a disorder purporting to describe an “unhealthy obsession with healthy eating.”
There’s a cheap concoction one can make at home that safely wipes out cavity-forming bacteria on our teeth better than chlorhexidine mouthwash and also reduces their plaque-forming ability.
The biggest barrier to reducing toxic pesticides in cannabis is, not surprisingly, the cannabis industry itself.
There are two superfood classes of vegetables most adept at blocking human cancer cell growth in a petri dish.
The galactose in milk may explain why milk consumption is associated with significantly higher risk of hip fractures, cancer, and premature death.
A guideline is suggested for how to read food labels for packaged grain products such as bread and breakfast cereals.
If depression can be induced with pro-inflammatory drugs, might an anti-inflammatory diet be effective in preventing and treating mood disorders?
What do studies not funded by the chocolate industry show about the effect of cocoa on arterial health?
How few eggs should we eat to reduce the risk of prostate, ovarian, colon, and breast cancer?
The most comprehensive controlled trial of diet and mood finds that a plant-based nutrition program in a workplace setting across ten corporate sites significantly improves depression, anxiety, and productivity.
Based on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which foods best supply shortfall nutrients while avoiding disease-promoting components?
Sweet potatoes are not just one of the healthiest and cheapest sources of nutrition; the predominant protein is a type of protease inhibitor that may have cancer-fighting properties.
Preventing and treating chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and stroke with diet and lifestyle changes is not just safer but may be dramatically more effective.
Randomized controlled trials put plant-based eating to the test for athletic performance.
Lifestyle changes are often more effective in reducing the rates of heart disease, hypertension, heart failure, stroke, cancer, diabetes, and premature death than almost any other medical intervention.
Freedom of Information Act documents reveal that the U.S. Department of Agriculture warned the egg industry that saying eggs are nutritious or safe may violate rules against false and misleading advertising.
How does sweet potato baking compare to boiling and steaming, and should we eat the skin?
Does the threshold for toxicity of fructose apply to fruit or just to added industrial sugars such as sucrose and high fructose corn syrup?
Randomized controlled studies put nuts, berries, and grape juice to the test for cognitive function.
Ground ginger powder is put to the test for weight loss and NAFLD, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.
What happens when you put diabetics on a diet composed of largely whole grains, vegetables, and beans?
Vitamin C, vitamin D, and omega-3 fish oil supplements put to the test to improve the core symptoms of autism spectrum disorder.