Book
Lustig RH. Fat Chance: Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity, and Disease. Hudson Street Press, New York, 2012. 320 pages.
Why we cite it
Provides the most widely read popular-science treatment of fructose metabolism and its role in metabolic disease. Translates peer-reviewed mechanisms (de novo lipogenesis, fructose-alcohol parallels, disrupted satiety signaling) into accessible language. Importantly, this is a popular science book with an advocacy thesis ("sugar is a toxin"), not a peer-reviewed study — the "toxin" framing is Lustig's interpretation, claims about sugar addiction are more contested in the literature, and the book has been criticized for not addressing individual variation in genetics and physical activity. Core metabolic claims are consistent with the peer-reviewed literature (csf01, csf02, csf03).
About the author
Robert H. Lustig, MD, MSL: Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics, Division of Endocrinology, University of California, San Francisco. BS from MIT, MD from Cornell University Medical College, MSL from UC Hastings College of the Law. Over 105 peer-reviewed publications and 65 review articles on neuroendocrinology, childhood obesity, and metabolic health. Creator of the viral UCTV lecture "Sugar: The Bitter Truth" (over 5 million YouTube views). Former chair of the Obesity Task Force of the Pediatric Endocrine Society.
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