Is a Calorie a Calorie? Processed Food, Experiment Gone Wrong

Christopher Gardner and Robert Lustig discuss the nutritional differences between food sources, arguing that processed foods and sugars affect metabolism differently than other calories.

We’ve all heard the dictate that a calorie is a calorie regardless of its source. But are all foods truly created equal in terms of how they affect our health and weight? Given the barrage of competing information directed at us every day, what do we really know about healthy eating? Speakers: Christopher Gardner, PhD and Robert Lustig, MD. Want to know more? The librarians at Stanford Health Library are here to help you find trustworthy information to answer your health-related questions. Use our free research service and other resources: l.ead.me/ask-us Listen to Stanford Health Library's free mindfulness and meditation resources including guided meditations to help ease pain, aid in healthful sleep, promote successful surgery, and more: l.ead.me/shl-mindfulness Robert Lustig, MD, is Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology at University of California, San Francisco, and the author of Fat Chance: Beating the Odds against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity, and Disease. Christopher Gardner, PhD, Professor (Research) of Medicine is a nutrition researcher at the Stanford Prevention Research Center whose research has been investigating the potential health benefits of various dietary components or food patterns, explored in the context of randomized controlled trials in free-living adult populations.