Book
Taubes G. Good Calories, Bad Calories: Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health. New York: Knopf; 2007. 640 p.
Why we cite it
Historical narrative tracing how dietary guidelines developed over decades, arguing that the low-fat consensus was based on flawed science (particularly Ancel Keys's dietary-fat hypothesis). Champions the carbohydrate-insulin model of obesity — that refined carbohydrates drive fat storage through insulin. Note: the book's central carbohydrate-insulin hypothesis has been significantly challenged by subsequent research, including NuSI-funded metabolic ward studies that did not support key predictions of the model.
About the author
Gary Taubes is a science journalist with degrees in applied physics (Harvard), aerospace engineering (Stanford), and journalism (Columbia). He won the National Association of Science Writers' Science in Society Journalism Award three times (1996, 1999, 2001). He co-founded the Nutrition Science Initiative (NuSI) with Peter Attia in 2012 to fund rigorous nutrition research; NuSI dissolved in 2021 after its funded studies largely did not support the carbohydrate-insulin hypothesis. Other books include *Why We Get Fat* (2010) and *The Case Against Sugar* (2016).
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