On April 12, the world's hottest health and nutrition expert Dr. Jonny Bowden was invited to give the fourth seminar on the “2013 Detao Master Forum” at Peking University. The topic of his lecture was commonly related to everybody: cholesterol, heart disease and weight problems.

In the lecture, Bowden used charts to present vividly the worsened trend of obesity from 1991 to 2010 in the United States. He pointed out obesity is not a problem that the Chinese people is immune to. At present, it’s the first time that the number of overweight people in China exceeds that of healthy types, so it’s a problem that should not be ignored by everyone.

However, Bowden noted that the relationships between heart disease, obesity and diabetes is not correctly understood by many people, who believed that carbohydrates cause weight gain and cholesterol brings in disease. In fact, cholesterol contains two kinds of low-density lipoprotein(LDL)-type A and type B, of which only type B is harmful to the body, while Class A is beneficial to the health of people, said Bowden. The wrong concept about cholesterol resulted in government recommended low-carbohydrates diets in U.S., which actually reduced the intake of type A LDL, thus aggregating the obesity problem.

So if cholesterol is not the direct factor that affects people's health, then what is it? Bowden’s answer is sugar, not just the white sugar we see in the kitchen, but including the sugar transferred from the food we consume. Therefore, he warned people to be alert to the dangers of junk food. In addition to the carbohydrate foods, body inflammation and pressure are also health hazards.

After explaining the theories, Bowden gave practical suggestions to fight against heart disease and obesity: to have more anti-inflammatory food, to control the intake of carbohydrates, to cope with stress actively, to have more exercise, to take reasonable nutritional products, to quit smoking and limit alcohol.

In the Q&A session, many students listed the typical food that they have in one day, and asked Bowden to comment on them. Bowden replied to the questions one by one, and made detailed analysis for each diet.

The “2013 Detao Master Forum” series is jointly hosted by the PKU College of Engineering, PKU Youth League Committee, and Detao Masters Academy (DTMA), and is included in PKU public optional courses in 2013. The next lecture will be presented by the main representative of the contemporary Japanese dry landscape, the Japanese monk master Shunmyo Masuno on April 18 (Thursday). More information about the lectures can be found on the DTMA website.

Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., is a nationally known US expert on weight loss, nutrition and health. He is a board-certified nutritionist with a master’s degree in psychology and a PhD in nutrition. He is the author of nine books on health, healing, food and longevity including two best-sellers, “The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth” and “Living Low Carb”. A frequent guest on television and radio, he has appeared on Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NBC, and CBS as an expert on nutrition, weight loss, and  longevity. He is a past member of the Editorial Advisory Board for Men’s Health magazine, is the Nutrition Editor for Pilates Style, and is a regular contributor to AOL, Vanity Fair Online, Clean Eating Magazine, Better Nutrition, and Total Health Magazine Online. He is board certified by the American College of Nutrition, a member of the prestigious American Society for Nutrition, and a much in-demand speaker at conferences and events across the country.