Foundational Diet Axiom

Individual Variation Is Substantial

Statement

Optimal diet varies by genetics, microbiome, activity level, health status, and preferences --- no single diet is universally best

Why it matters

Prevents dogmatic diet recommendations --- what works
for one person may fail or harm another

Why Foundational

Foundational because variation magnitude is empirically demonstrated — PREDICT 1 (n=1,000+, identical meals) found coefficient of variation 103% for fat, 68% for glucose, 59% for insulin responses; the Zeevi study (n=800, 47,000 meals) confirmed carbohydrate content alone poorly predicts glucose response. Optimal diet varies by genetics, microbiome, activity level, health status, and preferences — no single diet is universally best. Prevents dogmatic recommendations: what works for one person may fail or harm another.

What would change our mind

Falsifiability: explicit upgrade/downgrade criteria from source

• We'd revise it if large, replicated trials found one dietary pattern working best for nearly everyone, with people's responses to the same foods converging rather than differing.
• We'd also revise our caution about testing if replicated trials showed that diets chosen from blood type or genetic tests reliably beat general advice, since the science is currently far less precise than it is marketed.
• What would NOT move us: one person's success on a diet, since a single case does not generalise; a single trial of one diet against a weak comparison; or marketing for blood-type or gene-based eating plans.

Sources (5)

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