Can A Food Product Scoring System Improve Our Diet And Eliminate Nutrition Confusion? with Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian
This episode is brought to you by Cozy Earth, InsideTracker, Pendulum, and Pique. When it comes to diet, there's so much changing and conflicting information flying around that it can feel impossible to know where to look for sound advice. Decades of nutritional misguidance, lobbying, and corrupt food policies have only left us more confused when we head to the grocery store. Today on The Doctor’s Farmacy, I talk to Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian about Food Compass, a new food rating system aimed to help determine the general healthfulness of different foods and cut through the confusion when it comes to our food choices. Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian is a cardiologist, Special Advisor to the Provost, Dean for Policy, and Jean Mayer Professor at the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy; and Professor of Medicine at Tufts School of Medicine. His work aims to create the science and translation for a food system that is nutritious, equitable, and sustainable. Dr. Mozaffarian has authored more than 500 scientific publications on dietary priorities for obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases, and on evidence-based policy approaches and innovations to reduce diet-related diseases in the US and globally. He has served in numerous advisory roles, and his work has been featured in a wide array of media outlets. Thomson Reuters has named him as one of the World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds. This episode is brought to you by Cozy Earth, InsideTracker, Pendulum, and Pique. Right now, get 40% off your Cozy Earth sheets. Just head over to cozyearth.com and use code MARK40. InsideTracker is a personalized health and wellness platform like no other. Right now they’re offering my community 20% off at insidetracker.com/drhyman. Pendulum is offering my listeners 20% off their first month of an Akkermansia subscription with code HYMAN. Just head over to Pendulumlife.com to check it out. Right now you can take advantage of Pique’s limited-time special offer on your first month's supply of their Sun Goddess Matcha. Just head over to piquelife.com/farmacy for 15% off plus free shipping on your first month’s supply. Here are more details from our interview (audio version / Apple Subscriber version): Challenges and limitations of nutrition research (5:36 / 3:40) Food rating systems (14:02 / 11:50) The Food Compass rating system (26:14 / 19:43) Development and scoring domains of the Food Compass (30:34 / 25:18) Comparing Food Compass to other scoring systems (39:44 / 34:27) Research on how following Food Compass would affect health (41:57 / 36:49) Distinguishing a processed vs ultra-processed food (50:25 / 43:26) Limitations of and areas of controversy with Food Compass (1:00:46 / 55:46) How Food Compass scores cholesterol (1:07:11 / 1:01:54) Mentioned in this episode 2022 Task Force on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health Report