1/11 WHAT IS THE BEST DIET FOR HUMANS?

A Twitter thread...

I've spent the last 10 years wondering about this. A TED Talk and paper by @segal_eran (refs at end) has completely blown my mind
He provides some of the answers - but they may not be what you think

Here goes....

2/11 The incidence of diet-related disease has in last 30 years

In 70% of population are overweight, diabetic or have NAFLD (fatty liver)

38% are obese

10% have type 2 diabetes

Diet and lifestyle are the major drivers

3/11 So why don't we know what is the best diet for humans?

It's because we are asking the wrong question

Much of what constitutes the best diet depends on the individual human every bit as much the food

Nutrition needs to be personally tailored to each individual

4/11 What's the best measure of healthy nutition? He suggests thatin blood glucose (sugar) after a meal (aka post meal glucose response) is the best

Why? Because blood sugar after a meal causes hunger and wt and is *associated* with obesity, #T2DM, heart disease and death

5/11 He got 1,000 healthy people and monitored their blood sugar levels using a continuous glucose monitor for 1 week and logged everything they ate (50,000 different meals)

This is the biggest trial ever to address this problem

So, what did the results show?.....

6/11 General principles:

More carbs in mealssugar levels
More fat in mealsugar levels

Same person eating same meal gave v similar responses

BUT

*WHEN DIFFERENT PEOPLE ATE THE SAME MEAL THE RESPONSE WAS VERY DIFFERENT*

eg response to white bread varied ++ between people

7/11 "It's not simply about the food it's also about the person eating it"

Icecream causes some people's sugar to spike but not rice

BUT rice caused some people's sugar to spike much > icecream

"The best diet for humans does not exist. Our responses to food are personal"

8/11 Our microbiome (gut bacteria) is really important because it helps digest food. Artificial sweeteners in fizzy drinks cause microbiome changes. If you transfer these bacteria to mice they get #T2DM

Good diets change our microbiome and changes persist after the diet stops

9/11 @segal_eran 's conclusions:

There is no single best diet for humans because we are all too different

Your dietary failures may not be your fault, you may be eating the wrong foods for you

10/11 My question:

How are individuals to know what diet IS right for them?
I can't see an easy solution (yet)
For most people, wearing a continuous glucose monitor is not affordable or practical nor is having detailed biometric testing and personal + microbiome DNA analysis

11/11 References and thanks:

Obviously, huge thanks +++ to @segal_eran for blowing my mind
His wonderful YouTube Ted Talk is only 19 mins and is here


His much more detailled paper in Cell is here
https://www.cell.com/cell/pdf/S0092-8674(15)01481-6.pdf