Thanks to the collective enthusiasm for sharing NutritionFacts.org by our subscribers, Twitter and Instagram followers, and 1.5 million Facebook and G+ fans, we averaged millions of video views a month this year. But it’s not about the numbers; it’s about the people whose lives we’ve touched, changed, or even saved. That is why I’ve dedicated my life to get new videos and articles up each and every day. A heartfelt thank you to everyone who has made this public service possible.

NutritionFacts.org arises from my annual review of the medical literature. With the help of a team of hundreds of volunteers, we churned through tens of thousands of papers published in the peer-reviewed scientific nutrition literature and are ramping up to break new records in 2018. How do I choose which studies to highlight? In general, I strive to focus on the most groundbreaking, interesting, and useful findings; but which topics resonate the most? Is it the practical ones, offering cooking or shopping tips? Or those that dissect the studies behind the headlines? Maybe it’s the geeky science ones exploring the wonderfully weird world of human biology? As you can see from the below list, the answer seems to be a bit of all of the above:

Actually, all the avocado videos were really popular this year. Also check out The Effects of Avocados and Red Wine on Meal-Induced Inflammation, Are Avocados Good for Your Cholesterol?, and Avocados Lower Small Dense LDL Cholesterol.

I figured this would be popular since it was a popular question I get, followed by What Is the Ideal White Blood Cell Count?

The picture kind of gives it away :). This was one of many popular Best Food for X videos this year, including Best Foods to Reduce Stroke Risk, Best Supplements for Prostate Cancer, The Best Food for High Cholesterol, Best Foods for Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), and Best Foods to Improve Sexual Function.

This was such a popular video it tempts me to do more analyses of the popular press. Let me know if any new books come out you’d like me to look at.

The other two really popular microbiome videos this year were How to Develop a Healthy Gut Ecosystem and Microbiome: We Are What They Eat.

The other coconut oil one I did was also really popular: Coconut Oil & the Boost in HDL “Good” Cholesterol.

Within hours of eating an unhealthy meal, we can get a spike in inflammation, crippling our artery function, thickening our blood, and causing a fight-or-flight nerve response. But there are foods we can eat at every meal to counter this reaction.

I had a feeling people would like this! I also did Greger in the Kitchen: My New Favorite Dessert and I’m toying with a New Favorite Breakfast, but first I want to get it just right!

I think this was so popular because of all the traffic we got from Google of people asking this exact queston. Well, what effect do chia seeds have on weight loss, blood sugar, cholesterol, blood pressure, and inflammation? Click the video to find out!

In my book How Not to Die, I center my recommendations around a Daily Dozen checklist of all the things I try to fit into my daily routine. This video version was so popular, that on January 26th we’ll be posting a second version up on the site to see which design people like better.

Yours in evidence-based nutrition—and… a happy, healthy new year!

In health,

Michael Greger, M.D.