Food@Stanford Seminar

The Food@Stanford Seminars highlight innovative food-related research seeking to create nutritious, health-promoting, and sustainable food futures.

Refreshments will be available for registered guests after the presentations.

4:00 PM

CHRISTOPHER GARDNER, Rehnborg Farquhar Professor

Alternative Proteins: The Evidence Behind the Bite

Alternative proteins spark both enthusiasm and controversy but what does the evidence actually say? This talk summarizes findings from five studies, led by Christopher Gardner, PhD, Rehnborg Farquhar Professor of Medicine and Director of Stanford Nutrition Studies Research Group, including the original SWAP-MEAT trial (Study With Appetizing Plant-food – Meat Eating Alternative Trial) and four other follow-up publications from this study examining inflammation, kidney stone risk, and athletic performance. Together, these studies offer a clearer, data-driven understanding of where alternative proteins may provide benefits, where they do or do not perform similarly to animal proteins, and which questions remain for future research.