Anyone who has tried ChatGPT knows first-hand that it is a very powerful tool capable of answering any question. Perhaps that’s why artificial intelligence is so prevalent nowadays, as more and more people turn to it to solve nutritional doubts, design diets, and share them on TikTok. The question is: Can ChatGPT replace a dietitian-nutritionist?

As an appetizer, it is worth noting that ChatGPT responds based on the information it gathers from the Internet. Like a deck of cards, it shuffles the cards (that is, how much has been published on a topic on the internet) and offers certain cards as a response. Sometimes it makes mistakes, although it later admits: “yes, you’re right…”

Nevertheless, ChatGPT is quite accurate in the nutritional field, even when ambushed. So much so that a scientific study titled “Comparison of responses between ChatGPT and human dietitians to common nutrition questions,” published in the Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism, concludes: “We have shown that the general-purpose chatbot in ChatGPT is at least as good as human dietitians in answering common nutrition questions.”

In view of this, “Comer” has posed two questions to three prominent dietitians and nutritionists: Can ChatGPT provide advice as accurate as a nutrition expert? And in what ways can ChatGPT help ordinary people?

To test the solid reputation that ChatGPT seems to have achieved among many food enthusiasts, some of whom already consider it their new nutritionist, both Griselda Herrero, Julio Basulto, and Júlia Farré have asked it a good number of questions: Can a pregnant woman eat Serrano ham? Is it healthy to drink a glass of red wine a day? Is intermittent fasting useful and safe for weight loss? How can I lose two kilos a week before my wedding? Are there detox smoothies and juices? Or could you recommend some social media accounts that offer healthy nutrition advice?

The result? While ChatGPT has managed to answer the more generic questions, it has struggled with the tougher ones. However, despite failing the test, the three nutritionists consulted have all agreed that ChatGPT can be a good source of culinary inspiration. For instance, suggesting ten breakfast options involving avocado, as just one example. Nevertheless, dietitian-nutritionist Júlia Farré has pointed out that most of the chatbot’s culinary suggestions have a strong Anglo-Saxon influence: “lots of syrup, plenty of pancakes with toppings, and many smoothies with raw spinach,” highlights the head of the Júlia Farré Nutrition Center in Barcelona, where nearly twenty professionals work.

Can ChatGPT replace a dietitian-nutritionist? “No,” says dietitian-nutritionist Griselda Herrero. For two reasons: because it lacks the experience of a professional and also lacks any empathy, as it does not delve into the detailed assessment of the person’s situation who is asking for advice: whether they are under stress, how many hours they sleep, if they smoke, etc. In short: a generic recommendation aimed at the whole world is not the same as a personalized piece of advice that takes into account the lifestyle and individual, non-transferable conditions of a specific person. “A dietitian-nutritionist does not give general recommendations, but analyzes dozens of factors before proposing a guideline,” argues this Biochemistry doctor who serves as a reviewer for the Spanish Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics and directs the Seville-based center Norte Salud.

“The main thing – Herrero points out – is that ChatGPT is not infallible.” Therefore, “it is important that whoever uses it is a professional (whether they are an architect, a nutritionist, or an aerospace engineer) with sufficient knowledge to cross-reference the information,” adds this expert. Otherwise, it is easy to give credence to erroneous messages or fall into eating disorders.

Julio Basulto is even more vehement. This dietitian-nutritionist has earned a well-deserved reputation in recent years as a defender of public health. Perhaps for this reason, Basulto gladly picks up the gauntlet and warns that ChatGPT sometimes offers genuine “chestnuts” on the sly.

The first thing anyone should know when they come to ChatGPT seeking nutritional advice—warns the author of books such as More vegetables, less animals, Mom eats healthy, or Secrets of healthy people—is that it is not a tool designed and (even more importantly) validated to provide health information or advice. In other words, ChatGPT does not have the ability to distinguish what is backed by science and what is not.

Basulto mentions a recent study, whose first author is Dr. Angeline Chatelan from the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics at the Faculty of Health Sciences of Geneva, that has evaluated the potential of ChatGPT as a “nutritional base,” to warn that its responses are based on “websites of companies, posts in forums, and conversations on social networks available on the Internet.” This is why many of its pieces of information contain “myths, misinformation, and biases about nutrition and dietetics.” However, these responses “may seem plausible, even scientific, but they can end up being inaccurate, if not harmful,” this research specifies.

For example, when Chat GPT was asked for a diet to lose two kilos a week (a trick question, as healthy weight loss ranges between 0.5 and 1 kilo per week), it gave six tips, four of which, in Basulto’s opinion, did not seem accurate: following a diet rich in protein, following a hypocaloric diet, “eating at regular times to help keep metabolism active,” and “drinking enough water to reduce fluid retention.”

Basulto continues with other examples: “When asked for advice for a cancer patient, ChatGPT recommended soups, even though their low calorie content can be really dangerous if the patient is experiencing caquexia,” he comments, recalling that weight loss is responsible for one in every five cancer deaths. “So, ChatGPT’s mistake is not exactly small,” he points out.

“I just asked the following: Is it useful and safe to use intermittent fasting for weight loss?” Basulto continues to comment without taking his eyes off the computer screen. “His conclusion is that ‘it may be effective and safe in healthy individuals, as long as it is followed appropriately and adapted to individual needs and lifestyle.’ He has overlooked in his response that the only thing that intermittent fasting has rigorously proven is to make us lose muscle mass,” affirms this well-known dietitian-nutritionist citing a new study.

Júlia Farré and Griselda Herrero provide other examples that demonstrate that ChatGPT fails in important questions. For instance, when Farré asked if a pregnant woman could eat Serrano ham, the artificial intelligence responded that to avoid toxoplasmosis (an infection that can be life-threatening for the baby), the ideal choice was to eat cooked ham, York ham, or freeze the Serrano ham. “However, it forgot –Farré cautions– about listeriosis,” a foodborne infection that can cross the placenta and affect the baby.

Finally (although there are more examples suggesting that attention to detail is not the specialty of the house, at least for now…), when Griselda Herrero asked Chat GPT to recommend some social media accounts that offer healthy nutrition tips, Chat GPT chose influencers without any qualifications, hipsters living on the outskirts of existing scientific knowledge, or amateur athletes passionate about nutrition who have their own ideas of what is good or bad.

Another critique was that the GPT Chat focuses too much on calories and nutrients, when a diet is not just a simple sum of minerals and vitamins, but a lifestyle that must be sustainable and adapted to individual needs and preferences.

The verdict of the three dietitians and nutritionists consulted is that although ChatGPT is making progress, there is nothing to indicate that it could take away their work in the short term.

And so… What is the use of Chat GPT in relation to nutrition?

For many, as long as its use is appropriate and the person using it has discernment, ChatGPT bases its responses on the information available on the web, “whether good or bad, true or false,” emphasizes dietitian-nutritionist Griselda Herrero. Júlia Farré believes that ChatGPT could eventually become a fundamental tool for dietitian-nutritionists when devising menus or recipes. “Just as I currently can’t create a diet without Excel spreadsheets, something similar could happen in the near future with the chatbot,” she says. Lastly, Julio Basulto thinks that ChatGPT, and artificial intelligence in general, can help generate ideas on issues such as nutritional education, infographics, images, informational texts, or forms. “According to ChatGPT itself (and yes, I asked it how it could help me), ‘it can assist in automating some basic responses to common inquiries, freeing up dietitian-nutritionists to focus on cases requiring their direct intervention,’” reveals this expert about ChatGPT’s response to his question. “It can also be useful for reviewing texts that we, as communicators or educators, write, checking their grammar or adding ideas,” Basulto continues. “The same goes for providing summaries on complex subjects, but always bearing in mind that ChatGPT is not subject to constant scrutiny and evaluation to ensure the accuracy and updating of its information,” he concludes, to convey that, although the chatbot does not avoid any questions, its answers are not always accurate.