Consensus: What 50 Experts Say You Should Eat (w/ ChatGPT)

If you are interested in optimizing your health through nutrition you will likely research in one of several places. The obvious options, books, podcasts and YouTube are good. We go online to the normal places and if, for example, you go to things like the National Health Service in the UK, you see fairly simple and straightforward advice. If you spend about five minutes digging into the subject you start to uncover discrepancies, where different sources report different things. If you dig deeper into this subject (and I mean read a few different books, listen to handful of different podcasts, etc) it very quickly becomes frustrating. There is so much contradictory information out there. It abounds and quickly, starts to seem like it’s not feasible to establish any certainty.

Why So?

This won't be an article explaining why that is so. I limit myself to saying this, some misinformation is cynical, if you find research funded by Coca-Cola, it may not be very useful. However, the main reason for contradictory information is that nutrition is a complicated subject, and those talking about it want to capture your attention by saying something interesting, unique, and controversial while also giving the impression it will have a huge impact (and everyone else has missed a trick). All these factors converge to ensure the space feels like sitting in echoey gymnasium with a hundred scientists and hippies shouting at you at the same time.

So, how do we answer the question; “How on Earth do we find any sort of consensus when even a modest amount of research seems to uncover huge differences between the advice from one expert to the next?”

Enter AI

We live in the age of the large language modeling technology, of AI and ChatGPT. These tools are phenomenal for aggregating data. I'm no expert on how this stuff works but I am starting to think more effectively of how we use these tools. We'll start with ChatGPT which has limits to how much you can ask it to do but if we ask it?

1. Which are the top 50 books on nutrition in the UK right now - it can answer that question.
2. If we ask it to list who the authors that wrote those books - it can answer that question
3. If we ask it what are the Central tenets that those authors lean on and state to be there reason to write the book - it can answer that question too and then… finally we feed in the three lines for each of the authors and ask chatGPT
4. Can you aggregate the data. that means we ask it to tell us where is the consensus across all of these nutritionists. the final prompt I used is below…

“Can you help me summarise the information in the following document. I'm looking for any consensus between the various summaries from each author. Are you able to give me ten rules for good nutrition based on the learnings of these authors…”

What follows are the areas of agreement across the top 50 authors writing in nutritional literature in the UK today. I will include some of the areas where they diverge but the following is where they align.

Areas of Consensus

These are the ten rules that emerge from our top 50 nutritional experts…

1. Emphasize Whole, Plant-Based Foods: Prioritize fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes in your diet. This aligns with the advice from T. Colin Campbell, Michael Greger, Joel Fuhrman, and many others who advocate for the health benefits of a plant-rich diet.
2. Minimize or Eliminate Processed Foods: Avoid foods high in added sugars, salt, and unhealthy fats. Authors like Michael Moss and Catherine Shanahan stress the importance of eating foods in their most natural state.
3. Incorporate Healthy Fats: Opt for sources of healthy fats, such as avocados, nuts, seeds, and olive oil, as recommended by experts like David Perlmutter and Mark Hyman.
4. Reduce Intake of Animal Products: Many authors suggest minimizing or eliminating meat, dairy, and other animal products, highlighting the link between these foods and chronic diseases.
5. Focus on Nutrient Density: Choose foods that offer the most vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants per calorie, a key principle in Joel Fuhrman's Nutritarian diet and echoed by others.
6. Listen to Your Body: Adopt principles of intuitive eating, as suggested by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch, to tune into your body’s hunger and fullness signals and make peace with food.
7. Consider the Gut-Health Connection: Prioritize foods that support gut health, including those rich in fiber and probiotics, as emphasized by Will Bulsiewicz and Raphael Kellman.
8. Limit Sugars and Refined Carbohydrates: Authors like Gary Taubes and Robert Lustig highlight the dangers of high sugar and refined carb consumption, advising a reduction to prevent metabolic diseases.
9. Stay Hydrated: Although not explicitly mentioned, hydration is a fundamental aspect of good nutrition, supporting overall health and helping with digestion and nutrient absorption.
10. Embrace Food Diversity: Aim for a variety of foods in your diet to ensure a wide range of nutrients, support gut health, and reduce disease risk, a principle supported by Tim Spector's research on the microbiome and personalized nutrition.

That Said…

In the tangled web of nutritional dos and don'ts, the quest for a consensus might seem as elusive as a polite conversation on Twitter. Yet, with some help from ChatGPT, a surprisingly clear picture emerges from the top 50 nutritional sages of the UK. What do they agree on? Eating should be less about culinary calculus and more about basic, good sense: whole, plant-based foods take center stage, processed foods get the cold shoulder, and healthy fats are the new rock stars. Reducing animal products is not just for the eco-conscious hipster but a mainstream mantra for health. Nutrient density is king, intuition overrules impulse, and you should listen to your gut. Sugars and refined carbs are the dietary equivalent of double parking—just don't. And hydration is critical.

This convergence of advice might not be the secret to eternal youth or the magic bullet for weight loss everyone wants. It's a solid, science-backed blueprint for eating well in a world awash with food fads and quick-fix diets. In essence, it's about going back to basics, tuning into your body, and remembering that the best diet is one that you can live with, joyfully and without too much fuss. In the grand tapestry of nutritional advice, these principles might just be the threads that hold it all together—simple, sensible, and, straightforward. With that simple framework and certainty, staying motivated is a whole lot easier.