Chris interviews Dr. Christopher Gardner of Stanford to dispel protein myths. Is our obsession with protein-packed products — like David Bars and Magic Spoon — actually good for us, or just making us fat?
Viva Longevity’s mission is to find the most credible scientists and help them tell their stories.
Dr. Gardner’s amino acid graph:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Q3mnTB4BihJsxrA9Kv1Uw9U2X_aBVYAH/view
VIDEOS
The Protein Boom: How America Became Obsessed | The New York Times
Japan’s School Lunches Are The Envy of the World
We Analyzed 114 Country Food Guides. 1 Diet Ruled Them All.
PAPERS
Maximizing the intersection of human health and the health of the environment with regard to the amount and type of protein produced and consumed in the United States
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30726996/
A randomized crossover trial on the effect of plant-based compared with animal-based meat on trimethylamine-N-oxide and cardiovascular disease risk factors in generally healthy adults: Study With Appetizing Plantfood-Meat Eating Alternative Trial (SWAP-MEAT)
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32780794/
Dietary protein intake in midlife in relation to healthy aging – results from the prospective Nurses’ Health Study
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38309825/
Evaluation of dietary protein and amino acid requirements: a systematic review
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40610129/
Scientific Report of the 2025 American Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee
https://www.dietaryguidelines.gov/2025-advisory-committee-report
0:00 Factors causing the obesity crisis
4:20 Social media influencers are fueling the obesity crisis
10:20 Trust in science in the US has gone down
11:30 Christopher Gardner’s protein flip
15:20 Myth: plant foods are incomplete proteins
19:25 How almost 100% of Americans meet the protein RDA
23:40 Humans don’t store excess protein
25:39 SWAP-MEAT Study: plant vs. animal protein
26:50 Nurses’ Healthy Study: plant vs. animal protein
29:19 Debunking Peter Attia’s protein claim
32:09 It’s hard to get people to eat less than the RDA
33:59 Stu Phillips vs. Christopher Gardner: muscle building
37:05 Reviewing products with added protein
40:45 David Bar’s EPG ingredient: safe?
44:12 Peter Attia and Andrew Huberman are scammers
44:50 US Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee – why more beans, peas, lentils
52:00 Debunking Nina Teicholz
53:48 Protein powders?
55:15 Paul Saladino’s collagen with trachea – a scam?
56:47 How countries successfully reduce obesity
29 Comments
i genuinely didn't see this was 58 minutes. i never even checked the time. this video was so interesting and SO educational. thank you for making it and sharing it with us!
🎊🎊
This opinion is fringe science at best
I do have to wonder how people get enough protein. What could the possibly be eating to get so much every day? If I didn't have a protein shake in the morning (The medication I take works better when it is taken a protein source) the only protein source I'd get on a regular basis would be at dinner time. Occasionally I'll have a nice big steak or something which might get me 40-50g of protein, but that's pretty rare. Usually it will be some fish, prawns, a few small chunks of meat in a curry or noodle dish, a bit of chicken with salad, some beans, a small amount of tofu in a dish or something like that. If I was being generous, that's 20-30g a day at most, with periods where it would be a lot less. I'm a 5 foot 9 67kg woman if that makes any difference. Are people just having hunks of meat/rich protein sources at every meal??? Where is the American protein intake coming from?
funny to say "america leads the world in science and tech".
actually: for already some years, china leads the world in science and tech. whoever questions this, is just living in a fantasy world and shaped by propaganda. seriously.
This video is a joke 😅
I don't view the protein craze as being punctuated with shakes and bars. Most folks proffering this protein rich diet right now are in the body building community and are eating whole foods like eggs, chicken, yoghurt and fish, just in larger amounts than the baseline recommendation. I've seen short women recommending 160 g of protein per day even though the baseline recommendation is closer to 100 g for very active females. The reason why Americans are more obese than other countries is their lack of exercise and over-consumption of junk foods that are high in sugar and fat not protein. This has been very well documented in the literature. Moreover, many of the protein enriched products on the shelves today can actually help people eat less calorically-rich foods. There are protein fortified pasta and crackers now which can help people eat less of these foods because again, protein satiety is a well established fact in the literature…
from experience I think lean chicken meat is also very low in calories. I am on a diet in conjunction with weight exercise at the gym for the last 6 months now. I consume a lot of chicken and salmon, some vegetables like onions, spinach and spring onions and the occasional broccoli. I almost eat no carbs beside the occasional cheat meal. I also cut down on the intake of highly processed foods. I at age 30 now am in a better shape that most 20 year olds and I am nearly looking at a six pack now. Physically and psychologically I am feeling as good as I have never felt before in my whole life.
Across the board Americas biggest problem with food and health is that profit trumps everything else. Companies, politicians, and even scientists will gladly lie to the American people and sell the slop if it means a bigger paycheck.
Main reason for obesity, apart from lack of knowledge and listening to the wrong people, is the fact that there is no control whatsoever. We dont eat to live we live to eat. Temperance is the number one factor to a healthy live because even if you eat all the healthy and correct foods but you eat a ton of it and not allowing your body to process is you will get fat. Yes some people have used their knowledge to get rich from our desires but guess what our money talks meaning at the end of the day we are also part of the problem. This has been what ive realized the past couple of months. We need self-control.
Very informative and entertaining. Thank you for the good work.
Fat people become fat due to eating more calories than they burn. Not from eating too much protein. You can eat 1800 calories of protein, fat, or carbs, and your weight loss or gain will essentially be the same outside of protein being the only one allowing you to build or repair new muscle. High protein diets paired with exercise are extremely beneficial.
2:36 2:41 3:02 16:22
I love it
I don't understand how people could be getting over 1g/kg without really trying *unless* they're pretty light or also eating a shitton of calories or just eating straight meat. At 230lb I only get about 100g/day and eat 3500cal/day of mostly processed meals that are relatively high in protein.
Dude, "eat more protein" isn't about eating processed protein bars. WTF? Have you been listening to anything going on? America is obsessed with carbs, not proteins. The leaders in health are looking at protein because we simply don't eat enough of it. We don't eat enough fats, either. We need balanced fats and proteins. America fell prey to Ancel Keys's "Fat is bad" campaign. My mom fell for that crap in the 1990s and we all ended up eating fake butter and fat-free milk and crap. We need to focus on proteins and fats and control our obsessive consumption of carbs. Carbs are DELICIOUS. And suddenly highly available. It's no wonder health leaders are trying to revert to using more protein. Also, protein is EXPENSIVE. This further exacerbates the carb obsession.
Our health guidelines didn't come from Sweden, bro. This is insane talk. Everyone knows about Ancel Keys's fat-is-bad campaign and his ridiculous fake science and cherry-picking data.
You're fat because you eat way too much, not because of protein lmao. People will blame ANYTHING except a calorie surplus.
As a vegan, I’ve found focusing on protein by including a protein source at every meal and adding one protein shake a day has significantly improved my satiety levels. I just had a look at MyFitnessPal and I’m averaging 70-80g per day and about 20% of calories from protein. I feel worse if I eat more carbs and less protein than this.
if Spain or France has a declining rate of obesity it is not because of the dietetary guidelines, but because they have a mass african immigration and they are the least obese population of the world, yet.
The movment is huge, nearly 1% of african newcomers every year in France.
But when they become european, after only a generation, they become very obese.
Calories in calories out, got nothing to do with protein
I am the only one hearing him pronounce the word "Scientist" as something completely different ?
No one mentioned seed oils here , while they are the reason for all diseases 😂
I think everyone's different. I gained weight when I started consuming protein.
I participate in high intensity sport 3-5 times a week and I eat more protein to recover from the exercise… but you do actually need to be doing the exercise 😂
Really influencers are the problem ? It isnt the food companies and culture? Or that fact that food studies deeply flawed.
It is much more complicated than influencers
Why do you think Americans dont trust food guidelines? The whole system is broken
So.. what is the protein intake you recommend?
Nobody gets fat off protein.
The only way that would happen is if you ignored all the other ingredients and well, if you overconsume.
The cause of obesity is, as always, eating too much or not putting in the time to find out "what" you're eating by tracking the macros at least.
There is lots of "fake" protein rich food. But actual protein rich food will have less sugar and fat, so you will gain less from a similar amount.
Protein is also important if you want to keep a high lean bodymass. You'll also need more the less your body fat% is. (trust me, getting 100g of protein form regular food alone can be quite challenging, I'm not even promoting crazy numbers here)
That is ofc if you want to have some strength, which helps a lot with all age related issues, which ofc also means you exercise. But you won't get or maintain a decent amount of muscle mass without a good amount of daily protein intake.
Protein gets misused by many to promote their agenda. But ultimately it is the macro nutrient that is easiest to miss.
Well, I guess the other is a good Omega 3 to 6 ratio, most people have way to much 6.
The diets you're critizing rightfully are not really "high protein" diets in reality, they are high fat diets.
Because that's what beef and raw milk is all about. (sadly there is no rules as to what can be labled as high protein, if only there was a rule that the majority of calories have to come from protein to count as "high protein")
If you know anything about obesity, you should know that asians are genetically just less disposed to deposite a lot of body fat.
But what's rarely talked about is that asian people will get obesity related sickness with a lower BMI then westerners.
And ofc, American Asians are still Asians, part of their culture is about food, which translates over to america
btw, I am vegan for over 10 years now
I guess I'm part of the grp that cares about living longer and healthy, but ofc also be strong whole doing that. (which btw overlaps nicely, fit and mobile people have less joint/bone etc. issues)
There is an important biological factor to consider when putting people on different diets.
It takes time for the body and the gut microbiome to adjust. So ultimately you almost need to have a pre-run time on the diet for 4 weeks before you even start to measure.
You're also right to point out that protein "needs" scales with body fat percentage and activity lvls. The whole measurement by body mass is flawed.
It either needs to be scaled with body fat percentage or measured against lean body mass. (at best both)
Protein rocks!
There are no scientists in Nasa. Just storytellers. Stop believing satanic cultists lies. Stop listening to business men selling you 'health'. Food industry is paid by the pharma industry to purposely make people sick so both can profit. Wake up. Cancer shouldn't be as common as it is. They are feeding us cancer. And profiting. 50+ ingredients from a chemistry lab in your french fries from Mcdicks. Mcdicks is owned by freemasons, freemasons are satanic cultists. 🙄 Wake. Up.
average scrawny boomer take