In a video critiquing Joe Rogan’s workout program, Dr. Mike Israetel, an exercise scientist and professor of sport and exercise science, took issue with Rogan’s claim that eating the same food in Italy doesn’t lead to weight gain because of superior quality ingredients.
The moment came during a conversation between Rogan and chef-rapper Action Bronson about weight management struggles.
When Bronson mentioned he couldn’t keep his weight down, Rogan immediately identified pasta as the culprit. He then suggested that eating the same foods in Italy wouldn’t cause weight gain, implying that American food quality was to blame.
“Clearly though the difference between like the stuff that we get here and the stuff that they get in like Italy, you eat in Italy same stuff, and you don’t get fat,” Rogan stated.
Dr. Israetel wasn’t buying it. “Joe, we should go to Italy together and I will step on the scale before and I’ll step on the scale after, your boy can gain some weight,” he responded, listing Italian delicacies like gelato, coppa, and pan pizza that could easily lead to weight gain.
The exercise scientist explained that Italians’ different relationship with weight has multiple factors beyond food quality. According to Israetel, Italians have different genetics, maintain a marginally more active lifestyle, and practice different eating patterns, including more family meals and less convenience eating. He even noted, somewhat controversially, that cigarette smoking—common in Italy—acts as an appetite suppressant.
Most importantly, Dr. Israetel emphasized that decades of research show food types and ingredients don’t significantly matter for weight control. Instead, two primary factors determine weight management: palatability (how tasty food is) and calorie density.
“If you really like the taste of fresh melons, you eat a whole melon and that’s like, I don’t know, 200 calories. How many whole melons can you eat?” he explained, contrasting this with high-calorie, highly palatable foods like pasta, burgers, and pizza that can easily lead to overconsumption.
Rogan also suggested that American wheat is sprayed with folic acid and genetically modified, implying this contributes to weight gain. Dr. Israetel dismissed this claim, explaining that GMO wheat has no greater propensity to cause weight gain than non-modified wheat, and that all modern wheat has been dramatically altered through selective breeding over millennia.
Despite challenging Rogan’s nutrition claims, Dr. Israetel praised the podcast host’s dedication to fitness at age 57, calling him “a guy to look up to” for maintaining peak health and consistency in training despite his wealth and Hollywood lifestyle.
The scientist concluded that if someone truly wants to manage their weight while eating a highly palatable diet in Italy, they absolutely can—the location and food quality aren’t magic bullets against weight gain.
