Do you realize how closely your diet affects your general health and well-being? Have you ever wondered how advertising affects what you eat? How much do you think your childhood diet is affecting your health in the long run?  

In today’s episode, Jonathan is joined by Prof. Walter Willett to discuss the importance of carefully considering what you eat and making decisions that support your health.

Professor Walter Willett, from the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, is the world's most cited nutritional scientist — with over 2,000 publications and several books to his name. Prof. Willett has focused much of his work over the last 40 years on the development and evaluation of methods to study the effects of diet on the occurrence of major diseases. 

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Timecodes:

00:00  Introduction

01:42  Quickfire questions

04:07  What is the average Western diet today?

08:01  Why is so hard to get a straight answer on diet and disease?

10:15  The latest understanding on the link between diet and disease

14:31  Carbohydrates: distinguishing the beneficial from the detrimental

17:47  The hidden truths behind refined starches and sugary beverages

27:06  Diet is a public health issue

32:18  How bad is red meat consumption and soy alternative?

46:09  Exploring the impact of childhood dietary habits on lifelong health

54:21  Is it too late to change what we eat and benefit from it?

58:10  Walters view on the current American diet guildelines    

1:05:15 What is the influence of vitamin supplements on sustaining peak vitality?

1:09:13 How the traditional Mediterranean diet can prevent diseases    

1:11:07 Summary

Mentioned in today’s episode:

Diet assessment methods in the Nurses' Health Studies and contribution to evidence-based nutritional policies and guidelines from the American Journal of Public health

Diet, lifestyle, and genetic risk factors for type 2 diabetes: A review from the Nurses’ Health Study, Nurses’ Health Study 2, and Health Professionals’ Follow-up Study from Current Nutrition Reports

Association between healthy eating patterns and risk of cardiovascular disease from JAMA Internal Medicine 

The Mediterranean diet: Science and practice from Public Health Nutrition

Books:

Nutritional Epidemiology by Walter Willet

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Episode transcripts are available here.