Food Intelligence: The Science of How Food Both Nourishes and Harms Us

by Julia Belluz, Kevin Hall PhD

Overview

The essential guide for understanding what you’re eating, and the forces that are driving you to eat it.

Nutrition isn’t rocket science; it’s harder.

There are new diet fads, bold claims about superfoods and articles promising the secrets to lasting weight-loss and longevity. The more ‘expert’ advice we hear about diet, the less clarity we have about what to eat.

In Food Intelligence, award-winning health journalist, Julia Belluz, and internationally renowned nutrition and metabolism scientist, Kevin Hall, cut through the myths about nutrition to deliver a comprehensive book on food, diet, metabolism and healthy eating.

Breaking food down into its constituent parts, they reveal the science behind how protein, fat, carbs and vitamins impact our bodies. They shine a light on the wonders of metabolism, and debunk the latest ‘theories’ about blood sugar trackers and ultra-processed foods. They reveal the ways that the world around us – our food environment – shapes our eating behaviors and the food choices we make every day. Diseases like obesity and type 2 diabetes are not a result of a failure of will power; they are consequences of food systems working as designed.

Humane and deeply reported, this journey into the science of what we eat will equip you with the food intelligence you need to better understand what’s on your dinner plate, how it got there, and why you eat it.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780593332306
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	09/23/2025
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.88(d)

About the Author

Julia Belluz is a journalist and a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times. She has reported extensively on medicine, nutrition, and global public health from Canada, the US, and Europe. Previously, Belluz was Vox’s senior health correspondent in Washington, DC, and a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. A Canadian, she holds an MSc from the London School of Economics and Political Science and lives with her family in Paris, France.

Kevin Hall, PhD, is an internationally recognized expert in human nutrition, metabolism, obesity, and neuroscience. Despite being a physicist by training, Dr. Hall has led groundbreaking clinical research investigating how our food environment shapes our diet and how our diet affects the physiology of our bodies and our brains. Dr. Hall has twice received the Director’s Award from the US National Institutes of Health and has also received the E.V. McCullum Award from the American Society for Nutrition, the Lilly Scientific Achievement Award from The Obesity Society, and the Guyton Award for Excellence in Integrative Physiology from the American Physiological Society.

Editorial Reviews

A must-read breath of sanity, written with great expertise that can improve the health of all of us.” —David Kessler, MD, author of the New York Times bestseller Diet, Drugs, and Dopamine

“If you are going to read one book about nutrition and health, then make it this one. Food Intelligence is so insightful, so beautifully researched, so fascinating in the telling, that you will finish it—as I did—feeling smarter about what you eat and about yourself as well.” —Deborah Blum, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Poison Squad

“If you want to understand how nutrition became so contentious and why we are still arguing about whether it’s better to eat more or less fat, carbohydrates, protein, or vitamins, you must read Food Intelligence. Well-written, historically accurate, and scientifically rigorous, this book brings you up to the moment on contemporary dietary issues.” —Marion Nestle, NYU professor and author of What to Eat Now

“If there were ever two people to turn to understand the complexities of our diet, metabolism, and nutrition—and their role in promoting our health—it would be the noted science journalist Julia Belluz and leading nutritional scientist Kevin Hall. Their landmark book Food Intelligence will make us all smarter about what we eat.” —Eric Topol, MD, author of New York Times bestseller Super Agers

“Food and nutrition are fascinating, complex, and important to every person on earth. This book brings it all alive into a compelling, valuable story of why, what, and how we eat, and how to do better.” —Kelly D. Brownell, PhD, Dean Emeritus of the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University

“Junk-food giants hijack your biology. Wellness hucksters sell you false hope. In a food environment rigged against you, this is your guide to fighting back.”
—Henry Dimbleby, author of Ravenous and architect of the UK’s National Food Strategy

From the Publisher