Food Intelligence, Julia Belluz
Food Intelligence, Julia Belluz
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Food Intelligence
The Science of How Food Both Nourishes and Harms Us

Author: Julia Belluz, Kevin Hall, PhD

Narrator: Barrie Kreinik

Unabridged: 10 hr 2 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Published: 09/23/2025

Synopsis

“Food Intelligence dispels many popular myths we have about weight loss and breaks down the real drivers of the obesity crisis based on decades of research. I really hope everyone gets a chance to read this book." —Sanjay Gupta, MD, Chief Medical Correspondent at CNN and host of Chasing Life

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

**AN ECONOMIST BOOK OF THE YEAR**

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, Food Intelligence reveals:

The real science behind how protein, fat, carbs and vitamins impact our bodiesThe wonders of metabolismThe latest ‘theories’ about blood sugar trackers and ultra-processed foodsHow our food environment shapes our eating behaviors and the food choices we make every dayHow 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.

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.                                                                

Reviews

Goodreads review by Alan on October 16, 2025

Book was somewhat educational regarding the chemical process of body metabolism. It makes some points that stick well, like the "flex fuel" point, and makes a good case that focus on macro-nutrient balance is probably wrong. It disabused me of some ideas I had in my head, like that glucose spikes ne......more

Goodreads review by Shannon on October 24, 2025

I was really disappointed by this book. As a member of the nutrition and dietetics field, I’ve been a big fan of many of Kevin Hall’s studies for awhile; he always controls for the right confounders and investigates questions that we need answers to and others don’t seem to be addressing. My first p......more

Goodreads review by Alex on October 23, 2025

I was genuinely delighted to read Food Intelligence by Kevin Hall, PhD (with Julia Belluz). This is a rare nutrition book that manages to be balanced, evidence-based, and refreshingly free of hype. If you have a strong stance in the diet wars, this book is not for you. If you’re a charlatan hoping to......more

Goodreads review by Tom on October 29, 2025

This book rewards patient, thoughtful readers who appreciate the nuance of saying UPFs might be OK so long as they are not both calorie-dense and hyper-palatable. (Listened to the audiobook, which edition is not apparent in GoodReads yet, and I'm not taking the time to upload it). With nonfiction of t......more

Goodreads review by Rachelle on October 15, 2025

Written by a science journalist & an expert in nutrition and neuroscience, this breezily readable book offers research and information about nutrition, food, and the surfeit of subsidized crops used in ultra processed “foods” full of empty calories. This calorie glut creates a toxic food environment......more

Quotes

“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 the New York Times bestseller Super Agers

“This is not just one of the best science books I have read, but one of the best books full stop. It's funny, scholarly, and extremely important. Full of piercing observations, it ruthlessly cuts a path through the wilderness of nutritional nonsense that we have been lost in for so long. It is the first and last book anyone really needs to read on this subject.”-- Christoffer van Tulleken, MD, PhD, author of the New York Times bestseller Ultra-Processed People

“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, PhD, NYU professor and author of What to Eat Now

“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

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