The Real Health Podcast: Fat, food and the science of appetite with Professor Donal O’Shea, Dietician Sarah Keogh and Professor Carel le Roux

We discuss calories appearing on restaurant menus, something Donal says can have a positive impact on people’s health: “The calories on menu boards...it works. It’s proven to impact by about 100 calories per purchase for 30pc of people who are looking at the menu. That’s a massive reach at population level. Only vaccination would have that kind of population reach as a health measure.”

The second clip is with registered dietician Sarah Keogh, where she busts the food myths she encounters regularly in her job.

While sometimes it is people misinterpreting the science, Sarah says this can lead to people becoming fearful of some foods or ingredients: “I hear the biggest myth about dairy is that it causes cancer and I hear that a huge amount and what's very interesting if you go to the actual science on it. it, that's not there at all.”

We also discuss myths that surround fruit and vegetables.

The final clip on nutrition comes from my conversation with Carel Le Roux, an expert in metabolic medicine and Professor of Experimental Pathology, University College Dublin.

Carel explains that when it comes to losing weight, it takes more than just willpower to help people to reach their goals. The main reason for this, is the power of the brain and its role in trying to retain bodyfat.

“Anybody who has been on a diet will tell you that they’ve never been as obsessed with food as when they were on a diet. That is normal physiology. That’s exactly what the brain needs to do...that is normal.”

Carel says that for people to lose weight, in particular those with obesity, the brain needs to be made feel comfortable at a lower weight. That, Carel says, is where modern treatments like medicines and diets come in.

You can listen to the full episode here or wherever you get your podcasts.