Christopher Gardner

Christopher D. Gardner, PhD, Rehnborg Farquhar Professor, Department of Medicine, Stanford Prevention Research Program, Stanford University School of Medicine

Research Description: Dr. Gardner’s research program over the last 25 years has made important contributions to our understanding of dietary strategies to improve risk factors for diabetes and other chronic diseases. He has conducted over a dozen human trials involving over 2,000 participants. Dietary strategies have included antioxidants, omega-3 fats, soy food products, garlic, and various weight loss diets, in the form of whole foods or dietary supplements. Study outcomes have included weight, insulin and glucose dynamics, body composition, and immune function parameters. Dr. Gardner’s group specializes in adherence to study diets and assessment of adherence, among free-living, community dwelling, study participants. His group has long-standing, productive collaborations with many SDRC members. Dr. Gardner is current Director of the Clinical & Translational Research Core in the SDRC.

Selected relevant publications (Stanford DRC members in BOLD):

  1. Evert AB, Dennison M, Gardner CD, Garvey WT, Lau KHK, MacLeod J, Mitri J, Pereira RF, Rawlings K, Robinson S, Saslow L, Uelmen S, Urbanski PB, Yancy WS Jr. Nutrition Therapy for Adults With Diabetes or Prediabetes: A Consensus Report. Diabetes Care. 2019 May;42(5):731-754. doi: 10.2337/dci19-0014. PMID: 31000505; PMCID: PMC7011201. 

  2. Oppezzo MA, Stanton MV, Garcia A, Rigdon J, Berman JR, Gardner CD. To Text or Not to Text: Electronic Message Intervention to Improve Treatment Adherence Versus Matched Historical Controls. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2019 Apr 9;7(4):e11720. doi: 10.2196/11720. PMID: 30964436; PMCID: PMC6534047. 

  3. Gardner CD, Trepanowski JF, Del Gobbo LC, Hauser ME, Rigdon J, Ioannidis JPA, Desai M, King AC. Effect of Low-Fat vs Low-Carbohydrate Diet on 12-Month Weight Loss in Overweight Adults and the Association With Genotype Pattern or Insulin Secretion: The DIETFITS Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA. 2018 Feb 20;319(7):667-679. doi: 10.1001/jama.2018.0245. PMID: 29466592; PMCID: PMC5839290. 

  4. Grembi JA, Nguyen LH, Haggerty TD, Gardner CD, Holmes SP, Parsonnet J. Gut microbiota plasticity is correlated with sustained weight loss on a low-carb or low-fat dietary intervention. Sci Rep. 2020 Jan 29;10(1):1405. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-58000-y. Erratum in: Sci Rep. 2020 Jul 1;10(1):11095. PMID: 31996717; PMCID: PMC6989501. 

  5. Ward CP, Landry MJ, Cunanan KM, Raphael KL, Dant CC, Gardner CD, Pao AC. Urinary Response to Consuming Plant-Based Meat Alternatives in Persons with Normal Kidney Function: The SWAP-MEAT Pilot Trial. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol. 2024 Nov 1;19(11):1417-1425. doi: 10.2215/CJN.0000000000000532. Epub 2024 Aug 26. PMID: 39514692; PMCID: PMC11556914. 

  6. Landry MJ, Crimarco A, Gardner CD. Benefits of Low Carbohydrate Diets: a Settled Question or Still Controversial? Curr Obes Rep. 2021 Sep;10(3):409-422. doi: 10.1007/s13679-021-00451-z. Epub 2021 Jul 23. PMID: 34297345; PMCID: PMC9621749. 

  7. Aronica L, Rigdon J, Offringa LC, Stefanick ML, Gardner CD. Examining differences between overweight women and men in 12-month weight loss study comparing healthy low-carbohydrate vs. low-fat diets. Int J Obes (Lond). 2021 Jan;45(1):225-234. doi: 10.1038/s41366-020-00708-y. Epub 2020 Nov 14. PMID: 33188301; PMCID: PMC7752762. 

  8. Landry MJ, Crimarco A, Perelman D, Durand LR, Petlura C, Aronica L, Robinson JL, Kim SH, Gardner CD. Adherence to Ketogenic and Mediterranean Study Diets in a Crossover Trial: The Keto-Med Randomized Trial. Nutrients. 2021 Mar 17;13(3):967. doi: 10.3390/nu13030967. PMID: 33802709; PMCID: PMC8002540. 

  9. Roberts AK, Busque V, Robinson JL, Landry MJ, Gardner CD. SWAP-MEAT Athlete (study with appetizing plant-food, meat eating alternatives trial) - investigating the impact of three different diets on recreational athletic performance: a randomized crossover trial. Nutr J. 2022 Nov 16;21(1):69. doi: 10.1186/s12937-022-00820-x. PMID: 36384651; PMCID: PMC9666956. 

  10. Crimarco A, Landry MJ, Carter MM, Gardner CD. Assessing the effects of alternative plant-based meats v. animal meats on biomarkers of inflammation: a secondary analysis of the SWAP-MEAT randomized crossover trial. J Nutr Sci. 2022 Sep 23;11:e82. doi: 10.1017/jns.2022.84. PMID: 36304815; PMCID: PMC9554424. 

  11. Sobba W, Landry MJ, Cunanan KM, Marcone A, Gardner CD. Changes in Ultra-Processed Food Consumption and Lifestyle Behaviors Following COVID-19 Shelter-in-Place: A Retrospective Study. Foods. 2021 Oct 23;10(11):2553. doi: 10.3390/foods10112553. PMID: 34828834; PMCID: PMC8619493. 

  12. Mathur MB, Peacock J, Reichling DB, Nadler J, Bain PA, Gardner CD, Robinson TN. Interventions to reduce meat consumption by appealing to animal welfare: Meta-analysis and evidence-based recommendations. Appetite. 2021 Sep 1;164:105277. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2021.105277. Epub 2021 May 11. PMID: 33984401. 

  13. Jiang Z, Zhao M, Voilquin L, Jung Y, Aikio MA, Sahai T, Dou FY, Roche AM, Carcamo-Orive I, Knowles JW, Wabitsch M, Appel EA, Maikawa CL, Camporez JP, Shulman GI, Tsai L, Rosen ED, Gardner CD, Spiegelman BM, Svensson KJ. Isthmin-1 is an adipokine that promotes glucose uptake and improves glucose tolerance and hepatic steatosis. Cell Metab. 2021 Sep 7;33(9):1836-1852.e11. PMID: 34348115; PMCID: PMC8429235. 

  14. Gardner CD, Landry MJ, Perelman D, Petlura C, Durand LR, Aronica L, Crimarco A, Cunanan KM, Chang A, Dant CC, Robinson JL, Kim SH. Effect of a Ketogenic Diet versus Mediterranean Diet on HbA1c in Individuals with Prediabetes and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: the Interventional Keto-Med Randomized Crossover Trial. Am J Clin Nutr. 2022 May 31:nqac154. PMID: 35641199. 

  15. Landry MJ, Ward CP, Cunanan KM, Fielding-Singh P, Crimarco A, Gardner CD. Switching diets after 6-months does not result in renewed weight loss: a secondary analysis of a 12-month crossover randomized trial. Sci Rep. 2024 Apr 29;14(1):9865. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-60547-z. PMID: 38684815; PMCID: PMC11058757. 

  16. Rosas LG, Perez JA, Chen WT, Xiao L, Rodriguez Espinosa P, Venditti EM, Lewis MA, Gardner CD, Marti A, Martinez E, Murthy M, Hauser M. Vida Sana y Completa: A randomized controlled trial to examine the effectiveness of diabetes prevention with and without medically supportive groceries among Latina women. Contemp Clin Trials. 2024 Aug;143:107582. doi: 10.1016/j.cct.2024.107582. Epub 2024 May 27. PMID: 38810932. 

  17. Ward CP, Perelman D, Durand LR, Robinson JL, Cunanan KM, Sudakaran S, Sabetan R, Madrigal-Moeller MJ, Dant C, Sonnenburg ED, Sonnenburg JL, Gardner CD. Effects of fermented and fiber-rich foods on maternal & offspring microbiome study (FeFiFo-MOMS) - Study design and methods. Contemp Clin Trials. 2025 Mar;150:107834. doi: 10.1016/j.cct.2025.107834. Epub 2025 Feb 1. PMID: 39900290; PMCID: PMC12108452. 

  18. Moya-Garzon MD, Wang M, Li VL, Lyu X, Wei W, Tung AS, Raun SH, Zhao M, Coassolo L, Islam H, Oliveira B, Dai Y, Spaas J, Delgado-Gonzalez A, Donoso K, Alvarez-Buylla A, Franco-Montalban F, Letian A, Ward CP, Liu L, Svensson KJ, Goldberg EL, Gardner CD, Little JP, Banik SM, Xu Y, Long JZ. A β-hydroxybutyrate shunt pathway generates anti-obesity ketone metabolites. Cell. 2025 Jan 9;188(1):175-186.e20. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2024.10.032. Epub 2024 Nov 12. PMID: 39536746; PMCID: PMC11724754.