S1E126 - Dr. Robert H. Lustig
This episode began with a discussion of 2009 as a watershed year before major belief in diseases tied to genetics began to be replaced by ones tied to mitochondria, food and the role of insulin. Michael Krasny brought up the link of diabetes to genetics and Dr. Bob Lustig indicated that the causation factor is only 15%, whereupon he talked about genes and obesity and different kinds of fat and fat and sugar followed by Krasny asking his reaction to the appointment of Robert F Kennedy Junior as the head of HHS. Dr. Lustig revealed that he refused an offer to head NIH.
A listener asked Dr. Lustig about glyphosate in the food supply and another about processed food in school lunches, which prompted Krasny to ask about processed and ultra-processed food. Dr. Lustig spoke of food industry strategies and the USDA. Krasny then asked him about eating habits and lifespan in Japan as well as fructose and calories and Dr. Lustig spoke about body temperature being down in the U.S. and a connection to mitochondrial dysfunction. Krasny went back to an interview he did with Nobel laureate James Watson in which Watson mentioned longevity and his Norwegian mitochondria and Krasny then asked Lustig about sugar and fruit, which prompted Lustig to pinpoint sugar as a primary cause of Alzheimer's and to speak about ways to mitigate fructose. Lustig then spoke of the effects of sugar in a 1953 UK study which followed sugar rationing. Michael Krasny brought up arguments against "the demonization of sugar" and seeing it as toxic and addictive and Dr. Lustig responded with an adamant defense of the dangers of sugar, including its addictive power and its toxicity.
Biography
Robert H. Lustig, M.D., M.S.L. is Emeritus Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology, and Member of the Institute for Health Policy Studies at UCSF. Dr. Lustig is a neuroendocrinologist, with expertise in obesity, diabetes, metabolism, and nutrition. He is one of the leaders of the current “anti-sugar” movement that is changing the food industry. He has dedicated his retirement from clinical medicine to help to fix the food supply any way he can, to reduce human suffering and to salvage the environment, by interacting with all stakeholders to bring them together around a common vision of metabolic health: protect the liver, feed the gut, support the brain. Dr. Lustig graduated from MIT in 1976, and received his M.D. from Cornell University Medical College in 1980. He also received his Masters of Studies in Law (MSL) degree at University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 2013. He is the author of the popular books Fat Chance (2012), The Hacking of the American Mind (2017), and Metabolical (2021). He is the Chief Science Officer of the non-profit Eat REAL, and a member of the Nutrition Task Force of the American Dental Association. He is also the Chief Medical Officer of Biolumen, Ireneo Health, and Perfact.
Conversation recorded on May 2, 2025.