The Truth About Nutrition: How You Can Take a Science-Based Approach | Bradley Johnston PhD

**Dr. Gabrielle Lyon** (0:00)
The loaded term and phenomenon of misinformation has left many Americans asking, what if everything I know about nutrition is wrong? How often have we trusted headlines only to find years later, the advice was misleading or incomplete? From demonizing red meat to hyping plant-based diets, nutrition science has become a battleground for conflicting advice and misconceptions. Hi, I'm Dr. Gabrielle Lyon, and today we're cutting through the noise to uncover the truth about what we really know about nutrition. Joining me is Dr. Bradley Johnston, a world-renowned expert and researcher who's reshaping the way we think about food and health. With almost 200 peer-reviewed papers, Dr. Johnston has been at the forefront of nutrition science, who has tackled some of the most intense topics. His groundbreaking studies have sparked global debates and even challenged the advice from organizations like the World Health Organization. In this episode, we'll tackle how much influence we have over the dietary advice we're told to trust. We're also going behind the scenes to explore how public health policies are shaped, uncover hidden biases in nutrition science, and give you actionable tips for making smarter food choices, backed by evidence, not hype. So my friends, if you've ever felt overwhelmed by conflicting advice about what to eat, or you've questioned whether you're getting the full story, this episode is for you. Join me as we separate fact from fiction when it comes to nutrition.
Dr. Bradley Johnston, welcome to the show. I am so thrilled to have you here. I've been a huge fan of your work. I think that you've done a tremendous job at helping us think about evidence-based practices, how we can sift through information. And you have your PhD. You also, I believe that you're also a professor now. Are you still, are you teaching?

**Dr. Bradley Johnston** (2:20)
Yes, I'm a professor, Texas A&M University.

**Dr. Gabrielle Lyon** (2:23)
Amazing, amazing. Tell us a little bit about your background, what your PhD is in, how you became interested in the work that you're doing now.

**Dr. Bradley Johnston** (2:31)
Yeah, sure. So thanks for asking. Thanks for having me. My undergraduate degree is in kinesiology, and then I did doctoral training in experimental medicine at the University of Alberta. And then from there, I did post-doctoral training in evidence-based health care at Oxford University or University of Oxford and McMaster University in clinical epidemiology and biostatistics.
And it was really at McMaster where my understanding and passion for evidence-based practice and health research methodology, I should say human health research methodology, really kind of was inspired, I would say.

**Dr. Gabrielle Lyon** (3:15)
It is all coming into focus for me now because one of our mutual colleagues, Stu Phillips, says McMaster is the home of evidence-based practices. Have you heard him say that?

**Dr. Bradley Johnston** (3:27)
I haven't, but this is true. And my mentor when I was at McMaster, Dr. Gordon Guyott is kind of the guy who coined the term evidence-based medicine. And he's a wonderful mentor to this day and a great friend. So I've been very fortunate to work with him.

**Dr. Gabrielle Lyon** (3:46)
The term is thrown around a lot. What is involved in studying evidence-based? And do you say evidence-based medicine or do you say evidence-based practice? What would be the correct term?

**Dr. Bradley Johnston** (3:57)
Yeah, good question. I think evidence-based practice is a better term because it's applicable to medicine, nutrition, pharmacology, etc., etc., surgery. And it's really three central tenets of evidence-based practice. Number one is, well, first, you actually have to start with what is your clinical question or your public health question, so your target population, intervention, comparator, outcome. You're a clinician, so you're faced with clinical questions on a regular basis. Once you have clarity on that and what you're trying to resolve clinically or from a public health perspective, the first central tenet is using the best available evidence.
To answer that question, and it's usually not always in the form of systematic reviews, high quality, up-to-date systematic reviews with meta-analysis, or high quality, up-to-date practice guidelines, whether it's a clinical practice guideline or a public health practice guideline. Second tenet is expertise. Dr. Lyon, you've got lots of clinical expertise that really matters. It's a part of evidence-based practice. And the third tenet is it's not the evidence that drives the decision clinically. It should be the values and preferences of your client or your patient or your target population. If they're informed, if your patient or client or the population has an understanding and is informed about the best available evidence.

**Dr. Gabrielle Lyon** (5:33)
That's quite fascinating. I don't think I've ever really thought about the tenets and how they would then apply, right? As a clinician, you think, here's a problem, here's the outcome. For example, we want to help you lose body fat or lower your blood pressure. We then go to, you know, for physicians in the US or elsewhere, there's up-to-date. It would be a database that pulls together and utilizes all the information out there and then provides processes, algorithms to then treat. Yeah. I have two questions. I suppose the first one is, how did you become interested in that? Because you were interested in it before I think it was a thing. You know, I don't exactly know how to put that in terms. Before it was something to be thought of.