Scott Kanoski
Professor of human and evolutionary biology and neurobiology at the University of Southern California who studies hunger, memory and diet
Scott Kanoski (Professor of human and evolutionary biology and neurobiology at the University of Southern California who studies hunger, memory and diet) has appeared as a guest on 1 episode in TMT. Topics they speak about most include GLP-1 receptor agonists, Ultra-processed food, Vagus nerve.
In their words
Positions and remarks grouped by topic, each with the exact quote and where it was said.
GLP-1 receptor agonists
Kanoski warns that GLP-1 use in lean individuals carries unknown risks because trials in that population have not been done.
“I think there are a lot of potential issues with GLP-1-based drug use in lean individuals that we just don't have any grasp on”
Huberman Lab: How Food Choices Shape Memory, Cognition & Cravings | Dr. Scott Kanoski (Oct 12, 2026) · Listen from 1:08:43
Kanoski says he is not concerned about GLP-1-induced micronutrient deficiencies because most users discontinue within two years.
“People don't take, in general, they don't take these GLP-1 drugs for a long period of time. A majority will discontinue treatment within two years of starting”
Huberman Lab: How Food Choices Shape Memory, Cognition & Cravings | Dr. Scott Kanoski (Oct 12, 2026) · Listen from 1:07:40
Kanoski says it is unclear whether newer GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy enter the brain, unlike earlier-generation drugs.
“Whether these newer generation GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, are getting into the brain is less clear”
Huberman Lab: How Food Choices Shape Memory, Cognition & Cravings | Dr. Scott Kanoski (Oct 12, 2026) · Listen from 7:47
Kanoski says there are no data on GLP-1 microdosing and he wants randomized controlled trials before believing it works.
“I'm old-fashioned, and I like to see the large clinical trials, randomized controlled clinical trials, before I start to believe something's actually working”
Huberman Lab: How Food Choices Shape Memory, Cognition & Cravings | Dr. Scott Kanoski (Oct 12, 2026) · Listen from 6:32
Ultra-processed food
Kanoski recounts that the sugar lobby issued public statements against his early sugar research after it received press.
“as someone who's researched the negative impacts of sugar consumption, I've had a few brushes myself with the sugar lobby”
Huberman Lab: How Food Choices Shape Memory, Cognition & Cravings | Dr. Scott Kanoski (Oct 12, 2026) · Listen from 1:53:41
Kanoski states that over 60% of calories many Americans consume come from processed foods and that over 40% of US adults are obese.
“At this point, over 40% of US adults are obese”
Huberman Lab: How Food Choices Shape Memory, Cognition & Cravings | Dr. Scott Kanoski (Oct 12, 2026) · Listen from 1:41:24
Vagus nerve
Kanoski says his lab has shown vagal nerve stimulation devices can rescue diet-induced memory impairments in rodents.
“Right now, we have shown that these devices can rescue the memory impairments from an unhealthy diet”
Huberman Lab: How Food Choices Shape Memory, Cognition & Cravings | Dr. Scott Kanoski (Oct 12, 2026) · Listen from 52:15
Kanoski explains that native GLP-1 fails to reduce food intake in animals with sensory vagus nerve lesions.
“If you do a selective lesion to the sensory vagus nerve as it comes up from the GI tract to the brain, and then inject GLP-1, it's not effective in reducing food intake”
Huberman Lab: How Food Choices Shape Memory, Cognition & Cravings | Dr. Scott Kanoski (Oct 12, 2026) · Listen from 17:47
Artificial sweeteners
Kanoski reports his lab found adolescent rodent exposure to sweeteners within FDA limits caused adult memory impairments and glucose regulation changes.
“we found that the animals had some memory impairments, which was an unexpected finding. We don't really know the mechanism for that”
Huberman Lab: How Food Choices Shape Memory, Cognition & Cravings | Dr. Scott Kanoski (Oct 12, 2026) · Listen from 22:59
Kanoski says the evidence on artificial sweeteners is too inconsistent for recommendations, though he personally drinks Coke Zero.
“Yeah, I don't think we have the evidence for recommendations at this point. The literature is all over the place”
Huberman Lab: How Food Choices Shape Memory, Cognition & Cravings | Dr. Scott Kanoski (Oct 12, 2026) · Listen from 25:14
Oxytocin
Kanoski reports his lab found social facilitation of eating requires hippocampal oxytocin signaling, a role opposite oxytocin's usual intake-reducing effect.
“We found that that phenomenon requires oxytocin signaling in the hippocampus”
Huberman Lab: How Food Choices Shape Memory, Cognition & Cravings | Dr. Scott Kanoski (Oct 12, 2026) · Listen from 1:57:02
Food addiction
Kanoski declines to take a side on food addiction but says DSM criteria could be argued to apply to food.
“You can make an argument that there is food addiction based on those criterion, but that doesn't mean that it's the same thing”
Huberman Lab: How Food Choices Shape Memory, Cognition & Cravings | Dr. Scott Kanoski (Oct 12, 2026) · Listen from 1:51:52
Gut microbiome
Kanoski argues the microbiome field is too new to identify definitively good or bad bacteria.
“it's such a new field of research that I don't think you can say with clarity, like, here are the good bacteria and here are the bad bacteria”
Huberman Lab: How Food Choices Shape Memory, Cognition & Cravings | Dr. Scott Kanoski (Oct 12, 2026) · Listen from 1:32:41
Interoception
Kanoski says amnesic patients eat repeated meals while reporting fullness, showing the hippocampus is needed to interpret satiety signals.
“The hippocampus is needed to understand what that signal means”
Huberman Lab: How Food Choices Shape Memory, Cognition & Cravings | Dr. Scott Kanoski (Oct 12, 2026) · Listen from 1:21:57
Acetylcholine
Kanoski explains that hippocampal acetylcholine ramps up during eating and ends higher after a meal, which he thinks helps animals remember the meal.
“We think that that elevated postprandial level of coelacoline hippocampus is to allow the animals to remember what the hell's going on”
Huberman Lab: How Food Choices Shape Memory, Cognition & Cravings | Dr. Scott Kanoski (Oct 12, 2026) · Listen from 1:19:16
Alzheimer's disease
Kanoski argues that a lifelong healthy diet matters more for dementia risk than dietary change after symptoms appear.
“I think it's more important to have a healthy dietary pattern throughout life as opposed to once there's a problem, you know, switching at that point”
Huberman Lab: How Food Choices Shape Memory, Cognition & Cravings | Dr. Scott Kanoski (Oct 12, 2026) · Listen from 45:34
Advanced glycation end products
Kanoski describes unpublished findings that a heat-treated AGE-enriched diet impairs memory, reversible by reintroducing an eliminated bacterial population.
“There was a population of bacteria that was eliminated through the heat treatment process. And when we reintroduced it to the animals, we were able to reverse these memory impairments”
Huberman Lab: How Food Choices Shape Memory, Cognition & Cravings | Dr. Scott Kanoski (Oct 12, 2026) · Listen from 38:47
Western pattern diet
Kanoski reports that junk-food diets in juvenile rodents cause memory impairments that persist after switching to a healthy diet.
“they show these memory impairments that last even after you switch them to a healthy diet”
Huberman Lab: How Food Choices Shape Memory, Cognition & Cravings | Dr. Scott Kanoski (Oct 12, 2026) · Listen from 34:14
Appearances
How Food Choices Shape Memory, Cognition & Cravings | Dr. Scott KanoskiHuberman Lab · Oct 12, 2026 · 2 h 2 min
Andrew Huberman and neuroscientist Scott Kanoski discuss GLP-1 drugs, artificial sweeteners, diet's effects on hippocampal memory, the vagus nerve, the gut microbiome and food reward.
Often appears with
- Andrew Huberman · 1 shared episode