We asked Dr Michael Mosley for his thoughts on 13 food and drink items.
Dr Mosley will speak at his Wonders of the Human Body event at Civic Theatre on Wednesday night.
Red meat: "I'm OK with meat. I think if you eat it a couple of times a week that's fine. Red meat is a good source of iron."
Bacon: "I love bacon but have it rarely. I don't think it's a terribly healthy thing. Processed meat is not so great."
Butter: "I'm a fan of it. I do think the arguments about saturated fat are overdone, particularly when it comes to dairy. I'm a big fan of full fat yoghurt and things like that. We drink full fat milk these days and we have butter, not huge amounts though."
Margarine: "Hate the stuff. It's a horrible processed food. I try to keep as close as I can to real foods."
Dairy: "Dairy has quite a lot of good stuff in it. The Australian Heart Foundation recently changed its guidelines and said there's no particular benefit from low-fat dairy, so why bother?"
Eggs: "Big fan. I have eggs most days. The idea that eggs are bad for you and increase cholesterol is almost a total myth. They have lots of protein, nutrients and vitamins."
Wheat: "It depends. We know fibre is good for your gut bacteria and microbiome, but it doesn't have to be wheat. I eat oats. Gluten intolerance is on the rise. That's a genuine thing. I love bread so it's very difficult. I tend to go for rye bread and the dark stuff."
Vegetables: "Try and get as rich a variety of colours as you can because those colours all represent different phytonutrients. Now I eat a lot more veg and a lot less pasta and carby stuff."
Fruit: "You're better off eating fruit that's not too sweet. Unfortunately, things like melon and grapes are almost pure sugar. I tend to go for apples, oranges, pears. I eat the whole thing down to the stalk. Most of the goodness is in the skin, obviously not in the case of oranges. With mangoes I also eat the skin."
Sugar: "I try to avoid it. I still have a sweet tooth for chocolate, which is regularly voted the world's most addictive food. I'm yet to shake off my addiction to that."
Chocolate: "There's lots of fibre and good stuff in cocoa. It's the sugary stuff which is not so good. I can eat a square of dark chocolate and not feel the need for more. When I eat the milky stuff, I eat the whole thing and feel terrible afterwards."
Alcohol: "There's quite good evidence around the benefits of red wine in moderation. It seems to be better than any other form of alcohol. It has higher levels of phytonutrients. I wouldn't describe it as a health drink. I have the odd glass of red wine."
Coffee: "I'm a big fan of it. There's lots of evidence that drinking four or five cups a day is quite good for you because of its interesting nutrients. People are very variable in their response to coffee."
