Transcription
Nutrition is indeed a relatively young science. We have purely observational studies here, and there are these Nova classifications from a Brazilian professor, where four classes have been defined, yes, processing classes. And of course, the top class is unprocessed, and then come lightly processed, and then eventually these ultra-processed foods. And if we were to remove a quantity from the lower two segments, from your recently mentioned shopping basket, we would probably have already bought back 50, 60, 80% prevention. Welcome to the Academy for Human Medicine and to the House of Clever Minds for another top-level discussion. And today, thankfully, I have an old companion of many years, not in personal years, but in our collaboration, Dr. Jens Fräse with me, who has been training for a long, long time, sharing his knowledge just like you and I do. And today we have a great new achievement, namely the inverted nutrition pyramid. Welcome, Jens. Yes, dear Jörg, thank you very much for the invitation, and yes, we have an exciting topic, I would say. Yes, I would say so too, and we won't keep people with long explanations. You are known, I am known. So let's get started. Jens, what happened there? Yes, you actually just said it, didn't you? They simply turned the nutrition pyramid upside down. As everyone knows, there is a new administration and a new health minister in the USA, named Kennedy, yes, who spends his weekends in fitness studios, makes many Instagram videos, and shows the population that even at an advanced age, I think he's around his mid-70s, maybe already approaching 80, yes, yes, that one can still do pull-ups, that one can still do push-ups, that one can still have strength even at an advanced age. And I once said, at the beginning of my academic career, I studied sports at the German Sports University, and you have to take an aptitude test there. Okay. And this aptitude test requires, among other things, three pull-ups. So. And I once said, if I can no longer manage these three pull-ups, I will stop talking about sports. [Laughter] Yes. Yes. Yes. And years ago, I found a publication. I think it was from, the data comes from the then conscription data. They hung up those who wanted to go to war, who had volunteered, which has also been possible for women for some time, on a horizontal bar, not to do pull-ups, but just to hang there, and the boys held on for 30 seconds, and the girls fell off after 20 seconds. 20-year-old young people. Yes, it's a catastrophe. Yes, yes, yes. The fitness level is constantly declining, but it's no wonder. You just have to look around, right? We have engines in bicycles and everything else we've invented, and they are all very, very successful. I always say in seminars, everything that saves us the tedious muscle work is very, very economically successful. But today we want to talk a bit more about nutrition. Yes, that's the brother of movement, or the sister of movement, and I think nutrition is just as important as exercise. Where? No, I agree with that. Exercise is even more important, but today, intensive nutrition and so on. So, exactly. Yes. And I find this approach good, showing the population that they should become active, that they should adjust their diet. But in the USA, we don't, but the Americans have had eleven adjustments since the late 1970s. Adjustments to their dietary rules, with the result of 40% more obesity and 70% more overweight. This is not just the result of the dietary guidelines, but also lack of exercise and other factors that play a role. But still, it is legitimate to ask, people, hey, what is going wrong here? Yes, and what did Kennedy do? He simply pushed the old guidelines aside and said, "Okay, I'll bring in new people, fresh, young, uncorrupted people, and let them look at science completely unadulterated." And if you read these new guidelines more closely, which I did, very meticulously, there are many honest things in them, where they have been really honest with themselves, where they said, okay, we only have observational studies here. Nutrition is indeed a relatively young science. We have purely observational studies here, and from that, you can't really derive causality and similar things. So, therefore, we would actually need better studies, placebo-controlled studies, etc., which are often not available in many areas at all. So, therefore, they also state very clearly in these guidelines, there are many areas where we can make a statement today, but we will probably have to revise them in 5 years when we have finally done the studies that still need to be done. Second point, they have also been honest and said, okay, many professors who in the past, you are a professor yourself, who in the past gave their expertise, yes, are of course driven by interests. And what I didn't know, Jörg, unlike in Germany, is that in the USA, many professors do not have annual contracts or non-terminable contracts, but only nine-month contracts. Yes, meaning they are not paid during the semester breaks. So, what are they forced to do? They are forced to attach themselves to the pharmaceutical industry, the food industry, or some industrial interests somewhere to, so to speak, spruce up their income a bit. And from an individual perspective, you can even understand that. On the other hand, one does not free oneself from conflicts of interest, and they have stated that very clearly here. They are now trying to be as free from conflicts of interest as possible in the future. So, that is very honorable. And we don't need to point to the USA, because we can do just as well. I remember, it was shortly before the turn of the century. There was an outcry throughout Germany. Finally, we've managed to link industry and universities. Yes, we're doing joint projects and so on and so forth. And that started very soon, it was called joint ventures, and then the German Research Foundation immediately started to reduce its support. Today, it looks like this: if you are the head of an institute and are not able to raise third-party funds, you are out. No matter how good you are, if you don't bring in money, you're out. And that is practically the same on the institutional side as in America, that people are put under pressure. If you don't play along, when you come back, your place is gone. Yes. Yes. Or, to add to that, if you apply for a professorship and you don't bring any third-party funds, no connections, then you have bad cards. Yes, then it looks bad. Yes, so that's simply the background, you have to know that. We don't want to rehash the story of Encelas again. Yes, 70 years ago, when was that, there was also a guy who had a big professorship and sat there and thought about how to create a story, and then he deliberately falsified it. Yes, he deliberately chose which data to use, and then a great story emerged that still haunts us today, namely that fat is bad, right? Yes, exactly. That is the so-called cherry-picking science, which a former health minister of ours also often represents. Yes, I don't want to name names, but you know whom I mean. And one always looks only where it fits one's own narrative and then blanks out the rest accordingly. They have now tried to apply objective criteria as much as possible, so everyone has a certain subjectivity, that's just how it is. But to apply objective criteria, and then ultimately an inverted pyramid emerged, namely that protein and fat are now emphasized again. Yes, the evil fat, as you rightly said just now, that comes from this whole An Key story with the lipid-lowering agents and well, and at some point, and that was interesting, Jörg, at some point around 2015, to mention that briefly here, around 2015, I stumbled upon something. It suddenly said that the US Dietary Guidelines no longer make recommendations on cholesterol. And then I thought, oh, suddenly it's allowed, why is that? Then I researched for two or three nights, ended up with stock prices, and then saw, look, look, there are the usual suspects. 13 out of 15 US patents for cholesterol-lowering drugs have expired. It seems that the CEOs know each other and have shaken hands and said, okay, if we can't make money from it anymore, then we can just release the whole topic. So, from now on, nothing more about cholesterol. This has not yet been adopted in Germany, because there is also a current discussion about cholesterol. We could expand on that now, but for now, generally speaking, yes, in that sense, inverted, in that fat is not bad per se, but you really have to look at which fats we are actually talking about. If we are completely honest, it is actually only fatty acids that we alter with our technologies. Yes. All natural fatty acids that can be found in nature, in coconuts or wherever, in flaxseed, etc., are not bad per se. Of course, some oils have more linoleic acid, they have more omega-6 fatty acids, but omega-6 fatty acids are also essential, we need them. Yes, the only problem we have is that the balance is often wrong, that we consume too little omega-3 and thus do not balance the levels. Omega-6 fatty acids are very important for the start of inflammation, and omega-3 fatty acids are very important for the end of inflammation. However, we need both. When we get injured, when we have bleeding, when we have all these things that need to be repaired, we need both essential fatty acids. That's why they are called essential, because we cannot produce them ourselves. So we have to consume them through food. So, we must, and I have been doing this for many, many years, consider fat much, much more differentiated. Trans fats, as of January 1, 2025, 2025, will finally be banned by the EU. Yes, so all European countries in the EU will only be allowed to have 2 g of trans fat per 100 g of fat. The Danes have had this since the early 2000s, I believe, then other countries followed, and you can already see that cardiovascular health has changed somewhat. Tell us something about the term trans fat, because it's been known to us for a long time, but I'm sure it's not generally known out there. What is trans fat? Yes, trans fats are formed when you hydrogenate, meaning when you heat fats very strongly, around 120°, then the molecule is bent, so to speak. Yes, and then a cis configuration becomes a trans configuration, chemically speaking. And this trans configuration, we don't know it. It is unknown. It does not occur in nature. This means we incorporate these unknown fats into our cell membranes, and thus we disrupt communication between cells, but also between the matrix, i.e., outside the cells. Communication is impaired, and we see this, for example, in the heart and blood vessels, that something inflammatory changes there. And that is a major lever. But before we incorporate this into our cells, this technique turns liquid oil, which you can't spread on bread, into a spreadable margarine. Yes, exactly. And there we are again. I must honestly say, I still blush today because in the last century, I also recommended to my patients, who were brainwashed at the time, to eat the great sunflower margarine, it's a great vegetable margarine, to reduce their risk. It was totally wrong. Yes, but it was practical, of course. You could spread it nicely on toast. Everyone was happy, except for the pumps that then broke down. Yes. Yes, exactly. Exactly. But at the time it was invented, the pumps weren't that important yet because people died earlier anyway. I believe it was even good old Napoleon who commissioned it. Yes, because he needed some cheap food for his men at the front, and then this spreadable fat, in quotation marks, was invented. Well, so with fat, you have to look closely, right? Fat doesn't make you fat, that's anyway, we've known that for 50 years, that's a myth, but fats are not just energy fats, but they are building fats. Yes, we incorporate them into our cell membranes, and especially since we talked about longevity beforehand, cells have to regenerate, so the cell membranes, which are made of fatty acids, must constantly receive new supplies, and the higher the quality of the fatty acids. And I believe the highest quality, the highest quality oil you can consume is olive oil. And not necessarily because of the fatty acids, but because of the polyphenols, the secondary plant compounds. There was also a very nice study that practically factored out everything else from the Mediterranean diet and then arrived at one factor, namely olive oil. So, I can only advise everyone who is watching now, yes, please look at your household oils, throw out the ones rich in omega-6 a bit more, integrate olive oil as a standard oil, and then you have to supplement omega-3, of course, right? Yes, of course, we can't. We have both, we've had both on our marketplace for years. Let's have a short commercial break because it simply improves availability. People, think about where you spend your money. Of course, olive oil is much more expensive, yes, but you can't do anything better for your health. I absolutely agree with you that it's the top oil. Only you can't use it for grilling, of course. Yes, but you don't always have to grill. You can use it for normal cooking, you can use it for salads. Even a soup can easily handle olive oil. 100° is not a problem, but please don't deep-fry in it. Exactly. Exactly. Yes. And you can also add a tablespoon of it to your soup afterwards, as you just said. That makes sense too. Especially if you always have very high-quality oils where you can't see through. So, oils where all the suspended matter is still in them. Yes, these are of course the cold-pressed ones, which we sometimes, we order from Mallorca, for example, in 5-liter canisters. Yes, it's really freshly pressed, so to speak, and everything that the olive ultimately offers is still in it, except for the fiber, which you then have to get from other foods and foodstuffs. But back to the pyramid, the inverted one. So, fat is one thing, eating a diet richer in fat, but looking closely at which fatty acids they are. Then protein, also an important topic. We would actually have to talk about that for a long time now, if I have carbohydrates, we already have exactly, if we reduce carbohydrates a bit, then you have to look at how to increase the calorie count elsewhere. So, the suggestion here is to eat a protein-rich diet. They move far away from our 0.8 g per kilogram of body weight, but now recommend, regardless of age, 1.2 to 1.6 g per kilogram of body weight. Yes, we need to discuss that now. Is that really sensible? Does it make sense for an athlete? Does it make sense for a senior who doesn't exercise? Does it make sense for a teenager? So, I would want to differentiate more strongly there. We have also done that in the video. But the topic of bread and grains has also been addressed a bit. Yes, so people in the USA, and it's no different here, eat tons of grains. Yes, cereal in the morning, pasta at noon, a bread snack in the evening, then I've eaten only grains all day. So, and in between, don't forget the snack and the cake, the snacks for the cereals and so on, which were also heated to a high temperature etc. Well, they now say to reduce that a bit and, and this is the headline in the new guidelines. You really have to see this above everything. Eat real foods. That is above everything, and I mean, we've been saying nothing else for 20 years. Our problem is just that we also have to implement it accordingly, and that's why you sometimes need a nutritionist, a nutrition coach, to provide help for self-help, because the crucial thing is, and I've been doing nutrition counseling for 25 years, the crucial thing is not that my advice reaches the customer in a Zoom call, but the crucial thing is that the customer makes the decision to want to change. That is the really crucial thing. Yes. And we need to have someone who takes us by the hand, because it's damn hard, when I go to the supermarket with my shopping cart, and I have to say, I allow myself this, I'm single, I cook twice a day, so I go shopping regularly. If I go to the supermarket with my shopping cart and don't pay close attention, I'll come out with 5% industrial waste. Yes, at least. So you really have to look very carefully at what you take, and there's a great principle that's been around forever. It's very simple: if you decide not to buy anything with a label on it. If there's a label on it, someone has touched it and processed it further. But look for original foods. In German, the word "Leben" (life) is in the word "Lebensmittel" (food). Yes, not food, but life. So, it's damn difficult, and that's why I'm with you. And I also think it's good what you've been teaching in this direction for years. We need coaches. I said a few years ago, this can't be true. Coaches, coaches, coaches everywhere, but the reason is very simple. The citizens are so dumbed down by the TV that they don't know the simplest things anymore, and that includes nutrition, and then you need someone to take you by the hand and first go to the refrigerator and say, "Look what's in there." Yes, then most people are shocked. Yes. Yes, it's true. Especially when I'm advising younger athletes, I often ask them to take photos of their refrigerators, yes, before we've even spoken, just as an initial analysis, and then you see the whole refrigerator is full of packaged foods. Yes. Full of plastic, so not full of food, but full of plastic. Yes, and that's already the first impression, where you already know, okay, at which points, at which levers do we need to start. But you said a very important point, and the new US dietary guidelines are now addressing this. And that is, they now have ultra-processed foods in their sights, and finally, finally, they are really being elevated to the very top. So, not so much the individual macronutrient distribution patterns, which we've been arguing about for 80 years, but rather saying, "Hey, eat real food, eat the apple, don't drink apple juice. Eat the orange, don't drink orange juice. Eat fewer ultra-processed foods." And there are these Nova classifications from a Brazilian professor, where four classes have been defined, yes, processing classes. And of course, the top class is unprocessed, and then come lightly processed, and then eventually these ultra-processed foods. And if we were to remove a quantity from the lower two segments, from your recently mentioned shopping basket, we would probably have already bought back 50, 60, 80% prevention. And even if the Nova criteria can be criticized, the approach is correct. And if you ask me, Jörg, if I were the Minister of Health now, I've discussed this many times online with many people, I would completely change the taxes here, yes, and not increase taxes, yes, that's always said to be a tax increase, we can't do that. The CDU just rejected it carelessly, there was a proposal from a state premier, I didn't think it was so wrong, it was rigorously rejected because they said, no, we won't do that, no tax increase. But they didn't understand it at all. It wasn't about a tax increase at all, but the state should have a steering effect. So, wouldn't it be ideal if we bought vegetables and fruits without VAT, and we would have, for example, 25% VAT on Snickers, Bounty, and Mars, I don't want to offend anyone, but to name three sweets, then we would have a steering effect. Over 100 countries in the world are already doing this. Yes, there are some countries. Let's take our neighboring country, Great Britain, they introduced this sugar tax, in quotation marks, which was somewhat misrepresented, but what did it lead to? It didn't lead to the state increasing its revenue. It simply led to the manufacturers producing cola reducing their sugar content. So. And that is what we actually want to achieve. So. And then it's immediately dismissed. We can't do that, it's a tax increase. That's complete nonsense, right? But Jens, we also have this phenomenon with tobacco. That's also known there. Australia is the best example. They significantly increased tobacco taxes. That really hurt. What was the effect? Tobacco consumption dropped drastically. It's only about 10%. We're still at 20 to 25%. That means a quarter of the population smokes, even though we know very well that it leads to our death. And there's no denying that. And yet, this health government cannot manage to raise the taxes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Perhaps, just to summarize these guidelines, even if they are not perfect, even if they can be criticized. And they themselves say that. They say, we have to start now, so to speak, we have laid the first stone, yes, and now we have to start researching further in this direction. It's no longer about these eternal discussions, low carb, high fat, whatever, yes, but it's now really about the foods themselves. How processed are they? Then they belong on the bottom shelf, and I'd say all vegetables and fruits belong on the top shelf. So, we can also differentiate there. Where does it come from? Is it seasonal? Is it regional? Is it from Chile, or with which pesticides was it treated? I know all these discussions, but we have to start somewhere. Yes, and therefore, I think the first step, and that's how you have to see it, because they rightly said, we've already taken seven steps, eleven steps, and they all went in the wrong direction. Yes, and now we have to take a different path, and if you're on the wrong track, you have to change direction. That's logical. We don't do it, and Jörg, we don't have current figures in Germany. Yes, I've been waiting for the National Consumption Study 3 for years. It's not coming. Now you can research it online, yes, Corona, we postponed it and so on. So, I don't think we'll get it before 2030. The last survey was in 2008. It's almost 20 years old now. We don't even know where we stand. Yes. Yes. Although I would like to cautiously say that at that time, 10% were eating correctly. In the USA, or rather, in Germany, it was 11%, in the USA it was 12%. That means we were in the same boat together. I don't think much has changed, rather it's gotten worse, but I would like to address another aspect, briefly, Jens. Namely, we have a dietary trend in recent years called vegetarian and vegan. And regarding that, I would like to say, dear, dear people, I have great respect for all those who refrain from meat out of pity for animals, but people, think about what you eat afterwards. Yes, those who don't eat naturally, but rather eat these artificial products, have lost. Yes, and that is also stated in these US Dietary Guidelines. It's no longer about this war of faith. Yes, because I believe we both agree that humans are omnivores. So, now you can discuss at length. Is it sensible to eat meat every day? Is it sensible to eat farmed animal meat? So, that's a discussion we can have academically. Yes, and if you look at large studies, I've just done that on meat consumption, you also see that with every 100 g of meat you eat, for example, the risk of colon cancer increases. That's a fact. We don't know exactly what the cause is, but epidemiologically, that's how it is. It could be due to the preparation methods. Yes, it could be due to animal husbandry in general, due to antibiotics and similar things. Yes. Yes. But in terms of trend, we see that epidemiologically, i.e., from a population statistics perspective, that's how it is. That cannot be denied either, but we don't know the cause. So, but no, meat has so many beneficial nutrients. There is no better iron than from meat. There is, if it's grass-fed beef, as they say in the USA, meaning animals that have truly grown up on pasture, that have been kept in a species-appropriate manner, then they have a different fatty acid composition, and they naturally provide the highest quality protein, which plants cannot. And we also briefly touched on that in the last video, so for those watching who might want to watch the last video again. We discussed that plants also contain a high proportion of non-protein nitrogen content. That means a lot of junk, so to speak, where you think you're eating a protein-rich diet, but in the end, you're not. So, if you want to reach 1.6 g with vegan food, you have to eat a hell of a lot of vegan food, and then you have the problem again that you have to eat a lot of grains again, that you consume a lot of sugar indirectly, and yes, and then of course low-fat dairy products, butter substitutes, and all these things that were recommended in the past. Yes, then again lead in a direction that we don't actually want. I would like to briefly touch on aquaculture, because fish farming is also part of it. And one is very inclined, due to overfishing and so on and so forth, to switch to farmed fish. Then you buy a beautiful, delicious salmon. I must say, it tastes really good, and it's not a lie that it has an omega-3 content, when we talk about the important essential fatty acids, an omega-3 content that corresponds to or even exceeds that of wild salmon. What the advertising doesn't say, and I looked into this when I visited a fish farm in Norway, a colleague told me when I asked how you breed them, he said, it's very simple, we feed them omega-6 fat, then they get fat quickly. He said, how do you prove that you have so much omega-3 in them? Very simple, 3 weeks before, we switch to omega-3, then we pump them full of omega-3, but that they are naturally still full of omega-6, nobody says. Now you eat such a nice salmon fillet and have your amount of omega-3, but ten times the amount of omega-6. It shows again, when the industry has its fingers in food preparation, then what comes out is almost toxic for us. Yes, absolutely. But there are also studies that show that the omega-3 content in farmed fish has halved. That means you would have to eat twice the amount of Captain Iglo to get the children to the normal ratio, and no one can manage that anymore. Therefore, this is really a point, it's also called dietary supplements. Yes. Sometimes you get the feeling that you have to put a plate down in the morning, and then you have your drops, and then the topic is settled. No, nutrition first, please. And then supplement at important points. That was also your starting point in your prevention career, to say, okay, vitamin D, and then omega-3 and other things were added. Yes, at the points where it is really sensible, and that is really an absolutely sensible supplement. We cannot avoid it. So, everyone should do it. My customers always ask me, Jörg, Mr. Fräse, how long should I do this? [Laughter] Then I always say: "Well, how long should you drink water? A year, two years, lifelong?" Yes, well, then you've answered my question. [Laughter] Yes. Yes. Yes. So, in this context, I also think again about eating original food. Yes. Yes. We don't eat our food for ourselves, but we eat our food for the little creatures inside that need to be fed so that they can continue to feed us. And if we eat this junk food, there's practically nothing in it that they need. That means we are killing our team that works for us in the gut, right? Yes, we are practically killing them, and then we wonder why the body doesn't work anymore. So, this has also taken on a completely different dimension through microbiome research, what food really means to us. From my perspective, we should not make one mistake. On Instagram and social media, those who move to extremes are always the most liked. Hmm. So, but when I'm advising patients, yes, I have to express myself in a moderating way. I have to say, it makes sense to reduce by 10, 20, 30%. So, we shouldn't think in extreme terms. Yes, we will not be able to avoid eating packaged foods. I do that, you do that, everyone in this country does that. Yes, we can't eat 100% real foods, but let me just throw in a few numbers. Highly processed foods, if you only eat chips, cola, and these things, 10% more calories from UPFs, i.e., ultra-processed foods, and you have a 14% higher risk of type 2 diabetes, a 13% higher risk of cancer, a 10% higher risk of overall mortality, and a 7% higher risk of obesity, depending on the study. I believe if you only take this message from this video, to reduce it and supplement with real foods, you can start with 10% and then go to 20, 30 and change it over, let's say, 6 months, slowly but steadily. Yes. Yes, then you will also slowly but steadily bring your health in a completely different direction. That was the right closing remark. Thank you. Slowly but surely, once you've understood it, start sustainably and stick with it, because we all want to live a few more years longer, and everyone talks about longevity, but it only works as you said, slowly turning in the direction and then continuing accordingly. In this, allow me one more sentence. Yes, of course. Come here. As we discussed beforehand, I've been doing nutrition counseling for so long, and I've given so many wise pieces of advice that were never implemented. That's why the most important message today, in my mature age, is to say, okay, you first have to make the decision for yourself that you want to change that. Before this decision is made, you won't change anything. Then you can devour books and still not move an inch. Yes, last sentence. Yes, great. One more thing occurs to me. I think this is also the case with this webinar. We see each other in this, with this broadcast, we see each other again in the foreseeable future for a webinar, where both of us will answer questions. Anyone can join from outside, and we can discuss it. Everyone can add their own two cents, and that is linked below. Just like our training, like your training, and people invest in their health. It's the best thing you can do. Yes, gold is stolen, cryptocurrency goes bankrupt, and real estate is taxed. Health is absolutely top. Keep it up, Jens, thank you for today. Thanks for the invitation. Bye bye. Ciao. Ciao. Ciao. Thank you for staying until the end. This means that this video has obviously reinforced your interest in a new health culture and inspired you to take a look at your own health and your own life. For this purpose, we have linked the "Gesundle Leben" (Healthy Living) questionnaire for you in the video description. This questionnaire is our gem in knowledge transfer. Remember that it is never too late to make positive changes. We have also linked a video for better understanding at the top. If you liked the video, show us your support by giving it a thumbs up, subscribing to our channel, and activating the bell icon so you don't miss any of our future content. We regularly share valuable insights and tips that can help you lead a healthier and more fulfilling long life. Follow us on Instagram for more inspiring content and everyday health tips. 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