Among the many uses that can be given to ChatGPT is to nutritional support. If we ask him for dietary and gastronomic advice, he will give it to us. But since this is not about doing tests for the hahahaha or shortening code to program faster, but about something that can be directly related to our health, the issue becomes more delicate.
To test the capabilities of GPT-4, Plus payment through, we wanted to do a little experiment: request a weekly menu with specific conditions, although not very specific, and ask two nutritionists to evaluate it blindly. That is to say, We have provided them with two diets: the one made by ChatGPT, and another made by another professional nutritionist; so that they evaluate them without knowing which was which. And thus prevent anyone from believing that they were giving an opinion with some kind of bias.
Two similar menus and opinions
These are the menus that we provide, without specifying which was created by ChatGPT and which was created by a nutritionist.
menu A (gpt-4)
menu B (a nutritionist)
Monday
Breakfast: Fruit smoothie (banana, strawberries, spinach) with almond milk and oats. Lunch: Grilled chicken salad with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, carrot and avocado. Olive oil, lemon and mustard dressing. Snack: Natural yogurt with honey and nuts. Dinner: Baked salmon with steamed potatoes and broccoli. Breakfast: Cup and a half of fruit, two glasses of fresh skimmed cheese, one glass of milk Lunch: Two large chicken fillets, one cup of fruit Snack: One cup of fruit, six slices of cold cuts Dinner: Two eggs, one can tuna, a cup of fruit
martes
Breakfast: Whole wheat toast with avocado, scrambled egg and tomato. Food: Quinoa with wok vegetables and chickpeas. Snack: Mango smoothie, natural yogurt and almonds. Dinner: Zucchini spaghetti with turkey meatballs in homemade tomato sauce. Breakfast: Cup and a half of fruit, two eggs, a glass of milk, half a tablespoon of olive oil Lunch: Two large fillets of oily fish, a cup of fruit Snack: A cup of fruit, a can and a half of tuna, melva or bonito, vegetables Dinner: Two large fillets of squid, cuttlefish or cuttlefish, a cup of fruit
Wednesday
Breakfast: Oat flakes with milk, red fruits and honey. Food: Stewed lentils with carrots, peppers, onion and tomato. Snack: Spinach, apple, kiwi and chia smoothie. Dinner: Grilled chicken breast with spinach salad, goat cheese, walnuts and raspberry vinaigrette. Breakfast: Cup and a half of fruit, a glass of milk, five slices of Serrano ham, a small handful of nuts Lunch: Two large beef steaks, a cup of fruit Snack: A cup of fruit, a medium tub of fresh cheese Dinner: A medium tub of fresh cheese, two eggs, a cup of fruit
Thursday
Breakfast: Oatmeal omelette with egg whites, spinach and fresh cheese. Lunch: Brown rice with stir-fried tofu, broccoli and mushrooms. Snack: Apple with almond butter. Dinner: Tuna salad, chickpeas, tomato, onion and olives. Breakfast: One and a half cups of fruit, one glass of milk, five slices of cold meat, a small handful of nuts Lunch: Two large squid, squid or cuttlefish fillets, one cup of fruit Snack: One cup of fruit, six slices cold cut Dinner: Two large pork steaks, a cup of fruit
Friday
Breakfast: Fruit smoothie bowl (banana, red fruits) with natural yogurt and homemade granola. Food: Grilled fish with sweet potato puree and green beans. Snack: Whole wheat toast with hummus and grated carrot. Dinner: Chicken fajitas with peppers and onions in corn tortillas, homemade guacamole. Breakfast: Cup and a half of fruit, two glasses of skimmed fresh cheese, one glass of milk Lunch: Two medium tubs of fresh cheese, two eggs, one cup of fruit Snack: One cup of fruit, one and a half cans of tuna, tuna or tuna, vegetables Dinner: Two medium tubs of fresh cheese, two eggs, a cup of fruit
Saturday
Breakfast: Oatmeal pancakes with banana and honey. Lunch: Quinoa salad, arugula, beetroot, walnuts and feta cheese. Snack: Pineapple, spinach and coconut milk smoothie. Dinner: Grilled beef steak with baked potatoes and asparagus. Breakfast: Cup and a half of fruit, two eggs, a glass of milk, half a tablespoon of olive oil Lunch: Two large fillets of white fish, a cup of fruit Snack: A cup of fruit, a medium tub of fresh cheese Dinner: Two eggs, a can of tuna, a cup of fruit
domingo
Breakfast: Muesli with natural yogurt, nuts and fresh fruit. Food: Seafood paella with brown rice. Snack: Whole wheat toast with ricotta, honey and fresh fruit. Dinner: Chicken skewers with peppers, onion. Breakfast: Cup and a half of fruit, a glass of milk, five slices of Serrano ham, a small handful of nuts Lunch: Two large pork steaks, a cup of fruit Snack: A cup of fruit, six slices of cold cuts Dinner: Two eggs, a small tub of queso fresco, a glass of whipped queso fresco, a cup of fruit
The prompt used for the ChatGPT diet was as follows, qualifying enough so that I could intuit my body conditions and my energy and macronutrient needs.
I am a 32-year-old man, I am 1.90 m tall, I weigh 89 kg, I have an extremely sedentary job but I go to the gym for an hour of weight training five times a week and I go for a run between 5 and 15 kilometers two to three times per week. Prepare a weekly menu for someone like me, based on fresh food, without industrial or ultra-processed products. From Monday to Sunday, breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner.
It was not about comparing the two diets for the same person, but rather comparing them in isolation. And of course, without considering that B represents his entire guild.
The first nutritionist is Miriam Ruiz, doctor and nutritionist, creator of the Edyal online food and health school and author of the book ‘Feed your health with real food’ (Aguilar editorial). The second, Alberto Esteban, dietitian nutritionist at the Virgen del Rocío hospital, in Seville.
Miriam explains that if she had to prepare a menu, she would have done A (without knowing that this was the one that ChatGPT prepared). “They have differences. For example, A describes foods without establishing quantities, while B does focus on quantities. It is striking that B does not smell of vegetables, legumes, tubers, or whole grains… Except for the fruit, it would seem like a low-carbohydrate diet. And it uses processed meats, such as cold cuts, something that menu A does not have and makes me think that menu A is more interesting.” He adds about the absence of vegetables that “cannot be substituted for fruit”, although for some it may seem so.
Alberto ve the B “more attractive in fiber and more balanced in protein”, but considers that the A “has a greater and better variety of foods, more appetizing to consume in a balanced menu: salad, baked salmon… The B is limited to giving you food, without indicating preparation techniques. It’s repetitive.”
A seems quite positive to him, although “I miss local products. A little more bread, something for breakfast as usual as coffee or infusions… But it’s not bad”. Regarding B, he believes it is suitable for someone with nutritional experience, since he will know how to prepare food to make it attractive and appetizing. For those who do not, it may be unsustainable.
“If I have to choose one, I would choose A, because it is attractive and varied,” says Alberto. “A’s defect is that I would perhaps get more legumes and less meat, but more or less it is very well designed. You bring out a menu like that for me and I think it’s luxurious, with two tweaks it looks great,” adds Miriam.
As an extra, Juan Revenga, nutritionist and associate professor at the San Jorge University and the San Francisco de Vitoria University, as well as author of the book ‘Adelgázame, miénteme’, he has also made some assessments of the ChatGPT diet: “From the outset, It’s good, because it doesn’t include bullshit. The best advice that can be given to someone to eat well is to stop eating intrinsically negative products. Bag chips, carbonated soft drinks, chocolate cookies…”. A starting point as simple and effective as it is difficult for many to achieve.
“Only with that, they have already earned 70% of healthy eating. In addition, he has a good imagination, although he lacks some fruit and specifying the quantities a little more. For example, when he talks about chicken fajitas. He does not say if it is either something that you have to buy or if you have to do it. Just that. You can see that he is inviting you to cook”.
Alberto agrees with the question of quantities, with some nuance: “It is true that it lacks grammages, but it is also true that people do not usually weigh things, it is not practical. If anything, at first, to get an idea. People it works differently, but today the networks show us diet Taliban.
no misinterpretations
Does this mean that we can forget about human nutritionists and that GPT-4 makes their work obsolete? Of course not. Miriam explains it in a more than reasonable way: “ChatGPT gives a thousand kicks to the classic drawer diet, from the 80s, which has not been updated in a long time. But it does not replace the nutritionist. The nutritional education that he does, ChatGPT is not going to do it for you”.
And he qualifies the differences in the role of one and the other: “Its function is not to make you a diet, it goes much further: It educates you nutritionally, accompanies you, makes adaptations… The menu that ChatGPT gives you may be perfect, but perhaps it may not fit your lifestyle or your tastes. A nutritionist adapts it to you, helps you cope. The question is not whether the menu is good or bad, but that the work of the nutritionist dietitian goes much further.”
As with so many other professions, it shapes up better as a co-driver for the productivity-boosting professional than a replacement. “It’s an interesting tool for professionals. For someone who spends all day designing menus for patients, you can ask him for suggestions and have him review and tweak it. It saves a lot of work because he does it quite well. If I were to invent menu A from zero, it would take longer than if ChatGPT took it out and I only have to make a couple of changes to it. It’s a good support tool.”
Alberto sees it in the same way: “It’s a tool for the professional. It gives you ideas and you can start from there.” We insist: as in so many other guilds.
Featured Image | Javier Lacort with Midjourney.
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