Nutrition Advice Decoded: What Foods Are Actually Good For Us, What Should We Avoid, and Why Is It All SO Confusing?

Gastropod

Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley

Science, Food, History, Arts

4.7 • 3.5K Ratings

🗓️ 25 March 2025

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Are eggs going to give you high cholesterol, or are they the base of a great protein-rich meal? Will coffee give you cancer, or will it help you live longer? If you're confused about what nutrition science has to say about which foods are healthy and which are not, you're not alone. But why is it so hard to figure out what's good for us, and why does the advice seem to change constantly? This week on Gastropod, we reveal the hidden history of how nutrition science got started, why its early successes saved millions of lives, and how those successes then led the field astray. From debunking the Blue Zones, to the discredited “French paradox” that had everyone washing their Brie down with glasses of red wine, to the most recent research on ultra-processed foods, we’re breaking down how nutrition research actually gets done—and what that means for what should be on your plate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	We found our first blue zone about 125 miles off the coast of Italy on the island of
0:09.0	Sardinia, and not the entire island.
0:11.0	The island is about 1.4 million people, but only up in the highlands, an area called the
0:15.0	Noural province.
0:16.0	And this is a place where people not only reach age 100, they do so with extraordinary
0:20.0	vigor, places where 102-year-olds still ride their bike to work, chop wood, and can beat a guy 60 years younger than them.
0:29.3	Oh, wow. Is this the episode where we reveal these hardy old people's secrets and finally become millionaires?
0:37.8	Should you eat organic meats or should you be eating tofu?
0:41.8	How about these hormones or a resveratrol?
0:44.3	I'd love one of those answers to be the key to eternal life, but sadly no.
0:48.4	It turns out that the secret of these so-called blue zones has in fact recently been revealed.
0:53.3	You know what it takes to ride your bike and
0:55.0	chop wood like the younger guys? You are one of the younger guys. You're not actually 100.
1:00.3	Cynthia, how are we going to monetize that? I hate to say it, but you're not doing this right.
1:06.0	Sadly, no, but hopefully we can get the science and history right. We, of course, are gastropod,
1:10.6	the podcast that looks at food through the lens of science and history.
1:13.1	I'm Cynthia Graber.
1:13.9	And I am a very disappointed Nicola Twilly.
1:16.9	But this episode is a tale of high hopes and deep disappointment, plus a whole lot of confusion.
1:23.2	For one, we're telling the story of why the Blue Zones became trusted nutrition wisdom
1:27.7	and why it seems as though it's actually kind of a made-up story.
1:32.1	This is part of a bigger story.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.