John Yudkin

John Yudkin (8 August 1910 – 12 July 1995) was a British physiologist and nutritionist, and the founding Professor of the Department of Nutrition at Queen Elizabeth College, London. Yudkin wrote several books recommending low-carbohydrate diets for weight loss, including This Slimming Business (1958). He gained international fame with his book Pure, White and Deadly (1972), for his assertions that consumption of sugar is a major factor in obesity and heart disease.

Early life and education

Yudkin was born in London, England, to parents of Russian-Jewish descent. He attended City of London School and then studied Biochemistry at the University of Cambridge, where he earned his PhD in 1941.

Career

In 1945, Yudkin founded the Department of Nutrition at Queen Elizabeth College (now part of King's College London), the first department of its kind in a British university. He served as its head until his retirement in 1971.

Yudkin's research in the 1960s led him to conclude that a diet high in sugar was associated with an increased risk of heart disease. This was a controversial view, as the prevailing scientific consensus at the time was that dietary fat was the primary cause of heart disease. Yudkin's work was largely ignored or dismissed by his peers, but has been revisited in recent years as the role of sugar in obesity and heart disease has become a major public health issue.

Publications

Yudkin's most famous book, Pure, White and Deadly, was first published in 1972 and has been reissued several times. In it, he presents evidence linking sugar consumption to heart disease and other health problems. He also wrote This Slimming Business (1958), which recommended a low-carbohydrate diet for weight loss.

Legacy

Yudkin's work has been reevaluated in recent years, with many of his ideas about sugar and health gaining wider acceptance. His work has been cited by contemporary nutritionists and public health advocates as a prescient warning about the dangers of excessive sugar consumption.

See also

• Low-carbohydrate diet
• Obesity
• Heart disease