Media mogul Oprah Winfrey recently drew criticism after stating on The View that she possesses “the obesity gene,” a claim that health experts are now challenging. According to physician Paul Saladino, who appeared on The Rubin Report, there is no such thing as an obesity gene.
“Oprah got on The View a while ago saying, ‘I have the fat gene.’ No, you don’t,” Saladino stated bluntly during the podcast discussion about modern eating habits and weight management.
While Saladino acknowledges that some people may have a genetic predisposition to experience more “food noise,” the constant thinking about and craving of food, he emphasizes that this differs fundamentally from having a predetermined genetic destiny toward weight gain. The real culprit, he argues, is not genetics but the ultra-processed foods that have become staples in American diets.
“We’re literally being poisoned by the foods that we are also being told are fine for us,” Saladino explained. He noted that people are often told they can eat small amounts of processed foods as long as they watch their calories, but this approach ignores how these foods affect brain chemistry.
The physician pointed to the ingredients commonly found in processed foods as the primary problem.
“You can eat 100 calories of Oreos. But what if the 100 calories of Oreos is actually poisoning your brain and making it hard to tell what kind of foods you should be eating when? That’s the trap,” he said.
These products contain processed oils, processed sugars, dyes, mono- and diglycerides, and other additives that can change how the brain processes hunger and satiety signals. Recent research from 2024 has even associated ingredients like mono- and diglycerides and carrageenan with increased rates of certain health conditions.
Saladino’s critique of Oprah’s statement comes as GLP-1 treatments like Ozempic and Wegovy have gained popularity for weight management. He notes that people taking these medications often report that their “food noise” disappears, but argues this is treating a symptom rather than addressing the root cause.
“The reason you need it to quiet that is because the foods you were eating in the first place were making it loud and were making it broken. So the simpler solution is eat good food,” Saladino said.
The doctor recommends focusing on single-ingredient whole foods, meat, eggs, fruits, vegetables, and avoiding the middle aisles of grocery stores where processed items dominate. He suggests using what he calls the “great grandmother rule”: if your great grandmother wouldn’t recognize the ingredients on a label, put the product back.
Rather than accepting weight struggles as genetic fate, Saladino encourages people to examine their food environment. Most Americans, he notes, are nutrient deficient because they’ve been told that the most nutrient-rich foods on the planet, animal products and organs, are harmful, based on what he considers faulty nutritional guidance.
“That’s just not how you create healthy humans. That’s been demonstrated time and time again,” he said.
While genetic factors do influence metabolism and body composition, Saladino argues that blaming genetics alone overlooks the significant role that food quality and processing play in modern health challenges.
