David Jenkins

What David says, topic by topic

Oil

Jenkins does not reject oil. On the Physicians Committee’s Exam Room podcast in 2026 he said lard and beef tallow raise cholesterol, while plant oils, above all the less processed first pressings, bring unsaturated fats plus polyphenols that may lower heart risk¹.

He pointed to the Spanish PREDIMED trial, where a diet enriched with extra virgin olive oil went with fewer cardiovascular events and, he noted, lower total mortality². He granted that extra virgin olive oil is costly, but said the nutrients in such first pressings are worth having, so the type of fat matters less than how it was processed³.

What all the experts say about oil

البروتين

Asked in 2026 whether soy helps on its own or by crowding out meat, Jenkins said both. In his view the mix of amino acids in soy protein lowers LDL, and it also displaces foods whose saturated fat and cholesterol would raise it⁴.

What all the experts say about protein

Nuts, seeds and avocado

Nuts are one pillar of Jenkins’s portfolio diet. In 2026 he described it as a menu: some soy, fruit and vegetables, and a set amount of nuts a day, where using half of it gives about half the effect⁵. He added that in PREDIMED the nut-enriched diet also cut cardiac events⁶.

What all the experts say about nuts, seeds and avocado

Soy

On the 2026 podcast Jenkins said that his breakfast that morning was tofu with tomato sauce, followed by fruit⁷. Soy protein is one of the cholesterol-lowering foods he groups in the portfolio⁵.

What all the experts say about soy

Starches

Jenkins’s group created the glycemic index. In an interview at a McDougall Advanced Study Weekend (recorded 2006⁸, posted 2013), he said they noticed that foods with the same amount of carbohydrate raised blood glucose differently, depending on fiber and on how the food was put together⁹.

He said a lower glycemic diet helps people with high glucose swings, insulin resistance or too much weight around the middle¹⁰. He warned, though, that a food can score low for the wrong reasons, since added fat slows the stomach, so fatty candy bars can rank below carrots¹¹. In his words the index is only one of many traits of a food and should never be the sole guide¹¹.

What all the experts say about starches

الألياف

Fiber is Jenkins’s original research field, as he said in the 2006 interview, and it shaped the glycemic index work⁹. In that interview he said the data did not yet support detailed changes, but that the leads point back to traditional plant foods with their fiber, vegetable proteins and oils¹².

In 2026 he said fiber is not one thing: to lower cholesterol, what counts are the sticky, viscous fibers of oats and barley, not those of wheat or corn flakes¹³. He explained that viscous fiber traps bile acids in the gut so they leave in the stool instead of being reabsorbed, taking cholesterol with them¹⁴.

What all the experts say about fiber

Whole grains, bread and flour

In his 2026 podcast interview Jenkins said “whole grain” is a loose label: few people could define it or list twenty kinds, and the big cohort studies file perhaps 70 different foods under it¹⁵. He did not take that to mean no advice can be given. In his view grains differ in their fiber, minerals and proteins, so they act differently on blood lipids and on blood pressure¹⁶.

He argued that nutrition researchers should name particular grains and fibers for particular jobs, so that the goal decides the choice; for lowering cholesterol he pointed to the sticky fiber of oats and barley rather than wheat or corn flakes¹⁷¹³.

What all the experts say about whole grains, bread and flour

Meat

On the 2026 podcast Jenkins recalled that the 2015 US dietary guidelines committee had proposed three model diets, one of them vegetarian, and said that option was dropped by Congress, which he put down to beef and dairy interests¹⁸. He regretted that current guidance now treats steak and beef fat as good things, and said he wants to move away from that toward plant-based eating, for human and planetary health alike¹⁹.

He tied the taste for beef to culture rather than biology, telling the story of Henry VIII, the sirloin and the beefeaters of the Tower of London, a culture he said later crossed to North America with the cowboy myth²⁰.

What all the experts say about meat

دهون مشبعة

Asked in 2026 how plant oils compare with lard or beef tallow, Jenkins said the animal fats are the clearer case: they are saturated and will push cholesterol up²¹. In his summary, plant foods bring mostly unsaturated fats and animal foods the saturated ones, though he stressed that the other protective nutrients in plants count as much as the type of fat²².

In the 2006 interview he made a related point about the glycemic index: a high-calorie food rich in trans and saturated fat may score low, but that does not make it healthy¹¹.

What all the experts say about saturated fat

Cholesterol

Jenkins said on the 2026 podcast that statins replaced the older drug cholestyramine, which patients disliked, and became the standard cholesterol drug, though he expects newer drugs such as inclisiran and bempedoic acid to take over²³. When his team compared diet with a statin, he said, the effects on risk factors were quite favorable; he added that these were risk-factor results, not long-term outcome trials²⁴.

He called LDL the harmful form because it can build up in the arteries²⁵. HDL, in his account, rises with weight loss, exercise and quitting smoking, so a higher HDL signals being on the right track with diet and lifestyle rather than being a target in itself²⁶.

Asked whether a diet free of cholesterol can be healthy, he said the portfolio was built from plant sources of fat, protein and carbohydrate with no cholesterol in it, much like the plant-heavy diet of the great apes²⁷. He said eating cholesterol is not needed for health, but that such a diet is a big change, which is why his team coaches people on it²⁸.

What all the experts say about cholesterol

Carbohydrates and low-carb diets

Jenkins explained in 2006 that his group indexed foods by how they raise blood glucose, to compare them on a level field, and then used the index to design diets that raise glucose less, which he said is what one wants in diabetes²⁹. He admitted the field has been full of controversy, because foods are grown and processed in different ways and their starches, sugars and fiber behave differently³⁰.

In a statement quoted by the Physicians Committee (2023, updated 2024), he objected to a journal publishing glycemic index tests done on monkeys, saying the index came from human studies and its testing “must be done in humans”; he favored continuous glucose monitoring in people instead³¹.

What all the experts say about carbohydrates and low-carb diets

Mediterranean diet

Jenkins noted in 2026 that the 2015 US guidelines committee listed a Mediterranean diet among its three model diets, describing it as richer in plant foods¹⁸. He cited the PREDIMED trial in Spain, where adding extra virgin olive oil or nuts to the usual Spanish diet went with fewer cardiovascular events, and the olive oil version also with lower total mortality³²².

What all the experts say about mediterranean diet

Cravings and food addiction

Asked in 2026 why changing what people eat is so hard, Jenkins said the struggle is the same on every continent, only the foods differ: in his view such addictions come from culture more than from genes³³.

What all the experts say about cravings and food addiction

Heart disease

In 2006 Jenkins said the evidence did not yet allow detailed rules, but its leads point back to traditional plant foods, which he linked to a time when diabetes and cardiovascular disease were almost unknown; most people, he noted, had turned instead to processed foods and animal products³⁴³⁵.

In 2026 he said statins have probably had a major effect on cardiovascular disease rates³⁶. He added that the portfolio foods lower LDL and carry more potassium, as in the DASH diet, so with lower blood pressure and LDL, and no smoking, a person’s Framingham risk score can fall a great deal³⁷.

What all the experts say about heart disease

High blood pressure

In 2026 Jenkins said the plant foods of the portfolio bring more potassium, giving a DASH-like pattern that lowers blood pressure along with LDL³⁷. He also said different whole grains have different effects on blood pressure as well as on blood lipids, and that more studies are needed¹⁶.

What all the experts say about high blood pressure

Diabetes

In the 2006 interview Jenkins said diets that raise blood glucose less are what one wants for diabetes²⁹. In his group’s view, people with large glucose rises, insulin resistance or too much weight at the waist benefit from lowering the glycemic impact of their diet¹⁰.

He linked traditional plant foods, with their fiber, vegetable proteins and oils, to a time when diabetes was almost unknown, and said there are good scientific leads to go back to them³⁵.

What all the experts say about diabetes

Each small number links to its reference at the bottom of the page: the video at the exact second, or the page where it was said.