5 Nutrition Myths That JUST. WON’T. DIE. — Transcript

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1. 0:00Myth #1 is that intermittent fasting diets are healthier than
2. 0:03diets without fasting
3. 0:04because of...
4. 0:05AUTOPHAGY!
5. 0:08Many proponents of intermittent fasting
6. 0:10utter the words like they're casting a magic spell.
7. 0:13The effect of the spell is that the debates you are having with
8. 0:16them is instantly ended with them emerging victorious.
9. 0:20Here's the thing... Autophagy is real and it's great
10. 0:23for your health. Autophagy is basically a cellular cleanup process.
11. 0:26You can think of it as internal recycling in your body.
12. 0:29It cleans up damaged cells, and it's great for intercellular repair.
13. 0:33However, autophagy is stimulated by any energy deficit.
14. 0:37In the only study we have that directly contrasted a fasting diet
15. 0:41with a non fasting diet with continuous energy restriction,
16. 0:44both diets had similar markers of autophagy.
17. 0:47So there is no evidence
18. 0:48that fasting diets actually stimulate more autophagy than non fasting diets.
19. 0:53What predicts autophagy in research is the energy deficit.
20. 0:56You can get very significant autophagy with any diet
21. 1:00that puts you in an energy deficit.
22. 1:01So fasting is not required.
23. 1:04On average in research
24. 1:05fasting diets are no healthier than diets without fasting.
25. 1:08To quote a 2024 meta-analysis: “Isocaloric intermittent fasting...”,
26. 1:13meaning that you control for energy intake between the two diets, “...is not superior
27. 1:17to calorie restriction in enhancing health outcomes in adults and the elderly.
28. 1:22The health benefits induced
29. 1:23by intermittent fasting are calorie restriction dependent.
30. 1:26Intermittent fasting does not provide additional health benefits
31. 1:30beyond those achieved by calorie restriction.”
32. 1:32So fasting can be great for your health if it puts you in energy deficit,
33. 1:36but it's the energy deficit that really makes you healthier.
34. 1:39Myth #2 is that branched chain
35. 1:41amino acid supplements help you build muscle.
36. 1:44Compared to absolutely nothing, that is true according to some research.
37. 1:47Because BCAAs are protein, and protein helps you build muscle.
38. 1:51But the reason that you consume protein is that you get all of the constituent
39. 1:55amino acids of protein.
40. 1:57Our bodies don't actually have a protein requirement,
41. 2:00we have a requirement for essential amino acids.
42. 2:02So when your total protein intake is sufficient and it comes from reasonably
43. 2:06high quality sources, you also get enough branched chain amino acids in your diet.
44. 2:11As a result, a 2025 systematic review of 14 studies concluded that:
45. 2:15“Leucine supplementation...”, which is kind of the star of the BCAAs,
46. 2:19“...does not confer significant benefits
47. 2:21in muscle growth, strength, or recovery in healthy, trained young adults.”
48. 2:24A multitude of other studies have found
49. 2:26that BCAA supplementation on top of a sufficient dietary
50. 2:30protein intake, does not help you build muscle or strength.
51. 2:34You already get all the BCAAs you need from your diet.
52. 2:38Myth #3 is that carbs make you fat.
53. 2:40This is still a very widespread concern in the general population.
54. 2:44The research, however, is very clear.
55. 2:46There are a lot of studies showing
56. 2:48that low carb diets result in better fat loss compared to higher carb diets.
57. 2:52However, what happens in these studies is that the people on the low carb diets
58. 2:57consume more protein and often also end up with a lower energy intake because of
59. 3:01the satiating effects of sometimes ketosis and often the higher protein intake.
60. 3:06When you strictly control for energy and protein intake, and you compare
61. 3:09diets that differ only in the degree of carbohydrates,
62. 3:13so high carbohydrate-low fat versus high fat-low carb, we see that
63. 3:18there is no significant difference in fat loss or weight loss between the groups.
64. 3:23So no, carbs do not make you fat.
65. 3:25Chronically consuming in an energy surplus is what makes you fat.
66. 3:29Myth #4 is that high protein diets are bad for your kidneys.
67. 3:33Again, this myth seems to have some truth to it
68. 3:36because if you look at people on high protein diets, then in their urine
69. 3:40and in their blood
70. 3:41you will see that they have elevated levels of creatinine and nitrogen
71. 3:44in many cases. However, this just means that the body is processing more protein.
72. 3:49When there is more protein going in, there is more waste products of protein
73. 3:53going out, and many tests of kidney filtration function,
74. 3:57they also simply rely on these creatinine levels.
75. 4:00If your doctor told you this means there's something wrong
76. 4:02with your kidneys, you should probably find a new doctor,
77. 4:04because there is now overwhelming support from multiple systematic reviews
78. 4:08and health organizations that have concluded high protein
79. 4:11diets are actually safe for your kidneys and overall health.
80. 4:15In fact,
81. 4:15a 2024 meta analysis found that high protein intakes were associated with lower
82. 4:20incidence of chronic kidney disease, particularly when the high protein intake
83. 4:23came from plants or seafood.
84. 4:25Even in many studies in people
85. 4:27with preexisting kidney problems, high protein diets are safe.
86. 4:30However, if you do have an actual
87. 4:32preexisting kidney problem, then of course talk to your doctor, yada yada...
88. 4:35If you are genuinely concerned about your kidney health
89. 4:38as a strength training on a high protein diet,
90. 4:40especially if you're also supplementing creatine, you should check your Cystatin C.
91. 4:44Cystatin C is not influenced by your muscle mass, your activity level,
92. 4:48or your age, unlike creating levels,
93. 4:50so it is a much better biomarker for us lifters to check our kidney health.
94. 4:54A 2021 systematic review of randomized controlled trials found no significant
95. 4:58adverse effects of high protein diets in elderly individuals.
96. 5:02Moreover, a 2020 meta analysis of cohort studies
97. 5:05found no association between all cause mortality and protein intake.
98. 5:08Best of all, a 2025 German umbrella review of other systematic reviews
99. 5:13found no evidence for an association between either plant or animal protein
100. 5:17intake and coronary heart disease, stroke, or total cardiovascular disease risk.
101. 5:23This was conducted by the German, so we know it was good work.
102. 5:26Myth #5: Creatine causes hair loss.
103. 5:29This myth originated from a small study in rugby players, which found that
104. 5:34creatine supplementation resulted in a small increase in DHT levels.
105. 5:38DHT levels in the scalp, at least, are associated
106. 5:41with more hair loss and early pattern male balding.
107. 5:45As a result, this study caused widespread alarmism that creatine supplementation
108. 5:49causes hair loss.
109. 5:51However, there is no study that has actually reported
110. 5:53hair loss as a side effect of creatine supplementation.
111. 5:56Moreover, multiple other studies have failed to find any hormonal effect
112. 6:00in the first place of creatine supplementation. And recently
113. 6:03a study directly put this alarmism to the test and found that after 12 weeks
114. 6:07there were no significant differences between the groups’ changes in hair
115. 6:10density, follicular unit counts,
116. 6:12cumulative hair thickness, testosterone levels, or DHT levels “...providing
117. 6:16strong evidence against the claim that creatine contributes to hair loss.”
118. 6:20Myth #6...
119. 6:21Yes, there are 6 myths, even though the title only said 5.
120. 6:24That's because my marketing department tells me you guys have
121. 6:28some weird fetish-like distaste for even numbers.
122. 6:32You know that's fucked up, right?
123. 6:33That's like seriously weird.
124. 6:35They say influencers are weird, but you guys are not well.
125. 6:39Anyway, this one's on the house.
126. 6:40Myth #6 is that you cannot gain muscle and lose fat at the same time.
127. 6:44This is based on a completely misguided understanding of energy balance.
128. 6:48Yes, you can only be in energy surplus or in energy deficit, but this says nothing
129. 6:53about which substrates your body is losing or building at any point in time.
130. 6:57In fact, at any point in time in your whole body,
131. 7:00your body is breaking down and building tissues all over the place.
132. 7:04So there's absolutely no reason why your body couldn't break down
133. 7:07fat and gain muscle somewhere else at the same time.
134. 7:10This is in fact happening everywhere.
135. 7:12And while we're talking about muscle growth or fat loss over time,
136. 7:15all that we're really talking about is the cumulative balance over time.
137. 7:19There are literally hundreds of studies showing that people can lose fat
138. 7:23and build muscle on the same program.
139. 7:26And yes, there are also many studies
140. 7:29showing this occurs in previously trained lifters.
141. 7:32I see it all the time in my clients.
142. 7:35I would go so far as to say that if you are intermediate
143. 7:38or novice level trainee then you should be recomping on a good program.
144. 7:42The fact that we see that even on programs from research which are not optimized,
145. 7:47they're not customized,
146. 7:48and they often only have people follow a training program or a nutrition program
147. 7:53not to optimize programs at the same time means that it's in fact rather easy
148. 7:58to achieve body recomposition, unless you're already very advanced.
149. 8:02So I would say that
150. 8:03for many individuals, you're actually doing something seriously wrong
151. 8:07if you're not gaining muscle in energy deficits
152. 8:10unless you are an advanced lifter. If you're losing muscle in energy
153. 8:14deficit, you better be super advanced or there's something seriously wrong.
154. 8:17The vast majority of my clients, literally over 99%,
155. 8:21continue to gain strength in energy deficit.
156. 8:24Research also confirms
157. 8:25that strength development, in particular, is not influenced very heavily
158. 8:29by being in energy deficit.
159. 8:31You should be gaining strength at a minimum because of neural adaptations.
160. 8:34Even if you're not getting much muscle,
161. 8:36you're just clinging on to your existing muscle mass.
162. 8:38That said, it gets much harder to recomp when you're leaner and more advanced,
163. 8:43so a high level bodybuilder is very unlikely to recomp
164. 8:47and is, in fact, if they are truly at their natty max,
165. 8:50inevitably going to lose some muscle mass over the course of their contest prep.
166. 8:54But for most men above 10% body fat, and women above 20% body fat
167. 8:58that are not yet near their maximum muscular potential,
168. 9:01body recomposition is possible, and in fact quite realistic in many cases.
169. 9:06If you're interested in an individualized and optimized evidence based strength
170. 9:10and nutrition program,
171. 9:11then click on the link in the description to get a free program in my
172. 9:14MH Physique App to take your physique to the next level.
173. 9:17I hope you enjoy it.