When Julie Bernstein’s doctor recently recommended that she start eating chicken and steak to get more protein, she felt a bit irritated. Bernstein, 76, had been vegan for decades, and she was not about to start eating meat again, she said. Her physician, lacking ideas on how to guide her toward vegan protein sources, suggested she turn to ChatGPT.
A few weeks later, Bernstein typed her goals into ChatGPT on her iPad and marveled at how quickly it churned out protein-forward menu ideas, grocery lists and meal-prep instructions that incorporated lentils, quinoa, protein powder and chia seeds.
“It was like a cookbook tailored for me,” said Bernstein, who lives in Harbor Springs, Michigan. The responses seemed to “get” her, she said.
Since ChatGPT was released in 2022, chatbots have become a popular source of health information. In a survey of more than 5,500 US adults published in April, 1 in 4 respondents said they had recently used chatbots for health guidance. Another survey, published in January, found that among 1,000 US adults, a third reported having used ChatGPT or another artificial intelligence-powered tool to create nutrition or weight loss plans.
We recently asked New York Times readers to share their experiences with using chatbots for help with nutrition; more than 500 people responded. Their stories were overwhelmingly positive, with many delighting in the bots’ abilities to provide quick and helpful advice.
