Joe Rogan Experience #1393 - James Wilks & Chris Kresser - The Game Changers Debate

Wilks shows how re‑grouping percentages (e.g., “84% show no association or inverse association”) can sound reassuring while obscuring that a non‑trivial portion of studies did show increased risk; he argues this is technically true but potentially misleading if you don’t also disclose the increased‑risk slice.

Both acknowledge many omnivores are B12‑deficient due to absorption issues, not intake; Wilks uses Kresser’s own materials to show roughly 40% of people have low‑normal B12 and argues the safest, simplest strategy for everyone—meat‑eater or vegan—is to supplement rather than rely on modern soil/water or animal foods alone.

They largely converge on a consensus range of about 1.2–2.2 g/kg/day for athletes, with ~1.6 g/kg near optimal for most. Wilks demonstrates, using USDA data and Kresser’s own recipes, that common plant foods (lentils, peanut butter sandwiches, tempeh) can match animal foods in total protein and that caloric ‘penalties’ are often over‑stated.

Wilks argues that as long as you hit daily protein (1.6–2.2 g/kg), get enough leucine and essential amino acids in each meal, long‑term muscle growth is similar whether the protein is plant or animal. The DIAAS ‘protein quality’ score, he says, was built for preventing malnutrition in poor countries, not for optimizing hypertrophy in athletes.

They discuss how studies funded by sugar, meat, and dairy interests are 4–8x more likely to favor the sponsor’s product; Wilks criticizes NutriRECS for both its meat and earlier sugar analyses, arguing you can’t cite its red‑meat meta‑analysis without also accepting its “no reliable evidence sugar thresholds are harmful” conclusion.