168 - Ty Beal: Nutrient Dense Foods, Nutrient Deficiencies, & More

There’s no strong evidence to say that at least a moderate amount of unprocessed red meat is harmful. There’s a lot of benefits from it - it’s high in satiety and it’s high in nutrients that are commonly lacking Share on X

Nutrition research is supposed to be unbiased. The keywords there are “supposed to be.”

But as we’ve recently seen with Tufts University’s Food Compass, which ranks Cheerios, sweet potato chips, and Lucky Charms higher than nutrient-dense foods like eggs and beef, much of the nutrition research out there is highly biased.

Major food corporations are funding this research to skew the data in their favor so that their not-even-remotely-good-for-you foods are touted as the healthier option despite being anything but.

Not only can this leave your head spinning and confused about who to trust, but it also means that whole, nutrient-dense foods like red meat are being demonized when they’ve been the healthier choice for hundreds of years.

Thankfully, not all nutrition researchers are bad, and there are plenty of good ones out there who aren’t receiving funding from the wrong folks.

And Ty Beal, nutrition researcher and Research Advisor on the Knowledge Leadership team at the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), is one of them.

Ty is a phenomenal, unbiased researcher who looks at nutrition science objectively, something all researchers are supposed to do, and he doesn’t take any industry funding.

He’s spent the last few years diving into the research globally to see what the most nutrient-dense foods are.

He also studied the nutritional deficiencies that we’re facing worldwide — in developing and well-off countries — to see what’s really happening here.

Ty also dives into micronutrient deficiencies and why this is crucial to pay attention to, how we can address these issues, and what the real food rankings should look like.

Globally, we looked at women of reproductive age and children under 5 and found that more than 1 in 2 worldwide are deficient in at least one nutrient. More than 2 in 3 children are deficient. Share on X

Ty and I also get into regenerative agriculture, different diets like vegan and carnivore, whether or not seed oils are unhealthy, and the bioavailability of food.

You’ll also hear Ty’s opinion on whether we should reduce our meat consumption, including red meat, his thoughts on saturated fat, and whether plant toxins are really an issue.

If you’re not familiar with Ty Beal’s work, he’s a Washington, D.C., based researcher and Research Advisor on the Knowledge Leadership team at the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN).

His objective work has been quoted in dozens of research papers to date, and he has extensive experience studying diet quality, food affordability, sustainable food systems, micronutrient deficiencies, global health, and more.

With his unbiased nutrition research background, I knew I had to get him on the show and share his incredible wealth of knowledge with you.

Here’s a peek at some of the topics Ty and I get into

What got Ty Beal into nutrition research
What he changed on his own health journey
What makes a food ultra processed?
What makes ultra processed foods so bad for your health?
The most prevalent nutrient deficiencies worldwide
Why are these nutrient deficiencies happening?
What are some of the most nutrient dense foods?
Where Ty goes to see the nutrient density of a food
What about the bioavailability of foods?
Is there enough scientific evidence to say that we should reduce our animal consumption?
Ty shares his thoughts on regenerative agriculture and using circular systems, including what the latter is
Should red meat be demonized as much as it currently is?
Is saturated fat really bad for us?
Ty also shares his thoughts on consuming seed oils