Join me in Episode #266 for a two-hour exchange with Dr Walter Willett, the most cited nutritional scientist in the world. An absolute powerhouse of knowledge, Dr. Willett has published over 2000 studies and shares key insights in this episode to help you lay the foundations of a healthy diet.
“If we’re really going to discuss whether something is good or bad or neutral, it’s all about comparison. What’s the alternative? That can make a huge difference.”
If you’re looking to recentre your nutrition philosophy with the guidance of a true expert, this is the episode for you. Dr Willett’s approach steps away from silver bullet solutions and embraces a comprehensive approach that can be applied to almost any diet, leaving you with actionable advice you can implement right now.
Dr. Walter Willett is a physician, epidemiologist, and Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He served as Chair of the Department of Nutrition at Harvard for 25 years. Much of his work has been on the development of methods, using both questionnaire and biochemical approaches, to study the effects of diet on the occurrence of major diseases. He is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and the recipient of many national and international awards for his research.
“It’s not just about living or dying, it’s about quality of life as well.”
Within the first five minutes of this conversation, you’ll learn the central pillars of a diet that promotes health and longevity. Dr Willett addresses today’s chronic disease burden, assessing the factors that carry the most weight in causing this issue. We also discuss the importance of substitution analysis, correlation versus causation, and how we interpret and give weight to scientific evidence.
We explore Dr Willett’s nutrition journey and hone in on the design and findings of his studies that have tracked more than 250,000 people for decades. You’ll learn about types of fat, what foods to emphasise and avoid, and the key swaps you can easily make to improve your diet instantly.
Specifically, we discuss:
- Introduction (00:00)
- Which Foods Should You Eat to Stay Healthy? (04:10)
- Does the Quality of Foods Matter? (06:39)
- The Impact of the Average American Diet on Health (08:29)
- Do We Have Sufficient Evidence on How Nutrition Impacts Our Health? (11:05)
- Key Tasks/Leaves to Make Healthy Choices (14:03)
- How Diet Patterns Have Changed from the 70s till Now (15:09)
- Walter Willet: A Nutrition Story (18:20)
- Ancel Keys’ Research on Fat (19:40)
- Three Large Observation Studies by Walter Willet and His Team (27:19)
- Advantages of Large Observation Studies over Randomized Control Trials (32:45)
- Correlation and Causation in Nutrition (39:15)
- Food Frequency Questionnaire: Importance of Methods for Measuring Dietary Intake (50:58)
- Biochemical Analysis in Three Cohort Observations of Walter Willet’s Studies (55:18)
- Are Low-Fat Diets Good for Cardiovascular Health? (1:00:37)
- Polyunsaturated Fats and Cardiovascular Disease (1:02:21)
- Benefits of Switching from Saturated Fat to Unsaturated Fats (1:08:31)
- Is Dairy Bad or Good? (1:09:04)
- Should You Consume Full-Fat or Low-Fat Dairy? (1:11:29)
- Daily Recommendation for Dairy Consumption (1:16:03)
- Can You Be Healthy Without Consuming Dairy? (1:20:42)
- Confusion Surrounding Unprocessed Red Meat (1:23:00)
- What is Substitution Analysis? (1:25:55)
- Insights into the Research Process (1:27:45)
- Contrast and Exposure in Research (1:29:33)
- Safe Intake of Red Meat (1:33:02)
- Is Grass-Fed Beef Good for Me? (1:33:51)
- Is White Meat Better Than Red Meat? (1:35:57)
- Fish vs. Legumes: A Comparison (1:36:37)
- Dietary Cholesterol and Its Impact on Human Health (1:40:08)
- The Best Diet for a Healthy Life (1:43:28)
- Outro (1:52:01)
It’s an honour to have Dr Willett on The Proof for this very important conversation. His prolific career and commitment to advancing nutrition science are a great source of inspiration to me, and I hope you find clarity and confidence in his heavily evidence-based insights into a healthy human diet. Make sure to head to YouTube and let me know in the comments what information you found the most interesting or helpful.
To learn more about Dr Walter Willett and read his studies, head to his Harvard Academic Profile. Dr Willett has also published four books; you can find his bestseller, Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy: The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating here.
The best way to support the show is to use the products and services offered by our sponsors. To check them out and enjoy great savings, visit theproof.com/friends.
Enjoy, friends.
Simon
More about Dr Walter Willett
Dr. Walter Willett is a physician and epidemiologist and Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He served as Chair of the Department of Nutrition at Harvard for 25 years. Much of his work has been on the development of methods, using both questionnaire and biochemical approaches, to study the effects of diet on the occurrence of major diseases. He applied these methods starting in 1980 in the Nurses’ Health Studies I and II and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. Together, these cohorts which include nearly 300,000 men and women with repeated dietary assessments are providing the most detailed information on the long-term health consequences of food choices. Dr. Willett has published over 2,000 research papers, primarily on lifestyle risk factors for heart disease and cancer, and has written the textbook, Nutritional Epidemiology, published by Oxford University Press. He also has four books for the general public. Dr. Willett is the most cited nutritional scientist internationally. He is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and the recipient of many national and international awards for his research.
Supporting studies
- Biomarkers of Dietary Omega-6 Fatty Acids and Incident Cardiovascular Disease and Mortality • PMID: 30971107
- Dairy fat and risk of cardiovascular disease in 3 cohorts of US adults • PMID: 27557656
- Dietary fat and cardiometabolic health: evidence, controversies, and consensus for guidance • PMID: 29898882
- Dietary Fat and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease: Recent Controversies and Advances • PMID: 28645222
- Dietary Fats and Cardiovascular Disease: A Presidential Advisory From the American Heart Association • PMID: 28620111
- Dietary Fats and Cardiovascular Disease: A Presidential Advisory From the American Heart Association • PMID: 28620111
- Dietary intake and biomarkers of linoleic acid and mortality: systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies • PMID: 32020162
- Effects of red meat, white meat, and nonmeat protein sources on atherogenic lipoprotein measures in the context of low compared with high saturated fat intake: a randomized controlled trial • PMID: 31161217
- Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT-Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems • PMID: 30660336
- Health Professionals Follow-Up Study • Harvard
- Intake of trans fatty acids and risk of coronary heart disease among women • PMID: 8094827
- Linoleic Acid in Adipose Tissue and Development of Ischemic Stroke: A Danish Case-Cohort Study • PMID: 29945915
- Nurses’ Health Study • Nurses’ Health Study
- Protein foods from animal sources, incident cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality: a substitution analysis • PMID: 33411911
- Saturated Fats Compared With Unsaturated Fats and Sources of Carbohydrates in Relation to Risk of Coronary Heart Disease: A Prospective Cohort Study • PMID: 26429077
