Gene Eating: The Story of Human Appetite

by Giles Yeo

'It is rare to find a book, written by a world-class scientist, that is both informative and entertaining. Giles not only delves into the science of obesity but, with honesty and great precision, skewers many of the more foolish fad diets out there. ' DR MICHAEL MOSLEY, bestselling author of The 8-Week Blood Sugar Diet

'A hard-to-fault book written in a way that entertains as well as it informs ... Yeo's study of human appetite is packed with insights and revelations, incorporating up-to-date scientific thinking ... It's an anti-diet diet book you can trust' DAILY EXPRESS

'I really enjoy working with Giles - he makes so much sense, and cuts through the confusion about diet and health with refreshing directness. His excellent book Gene Eating busts myths and homes in on what you really need need to know. It's been a genuine help to me and I'm sure it will be to everyone who reads it.' HUGH FEARNLEY-WHITTINGSTALL

'Dr Yeo is a leading scientist in the field of obesity and one of our best science communicators. Everyone worried about their weight ought to read this book to digest its message about the importance of genetics.' ROBERT PLOMIN, author of How DNA Makes Us Who We Are

'An excellent and engaging book, but also an important one. It is about time that a serious, respected academic provided a voice of reason' Anthony Warner aka THE ANGRY CHEF

'Gene Eating is just a fantastic book exactly as you'd expect - but more so. Mainly it's very funny, packed with science and trivia and genuinely helpful weightloss and nutrition info' DR CHRIS VAN TULLEKEN, the BBC

Why are we all getting fatter?
Why are some people hungrier than others?
And why don't diets work?

In an age of misinformation and pseudo-science, the world is getting fatter and the diet makers are getting richer. So how do we break this cycle that's killing us all?

Drawing on the very latest science and his own genetic research at Cambridge University, Dr Giles Yeo has written the seminal 'anti-diet' diet book. Exploring the history of our food, debunking marketing nonsense and toxic diet advice, and confronting the advocates of 'clean eating', Dr Giles translates his pioneering
research into an engaging, must-read study of the human appetite.

Inspiring and revelatory, Gene Eating is an urgent and essential book that will empower us all with the facts we need to establish healthy relationships with food - and change the way we eat

Genres: Nonfiction, Health, Science, Nutrition, Food, Medicine, Diets

368 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2018

About the author

Giles Yeo MBE is a Principal Research Associate at MRC Metabolic Diseases Unit and a Scientific Director of the Genomics/Transcriptomics Core at the University of Cambridge.

He was born in London and lived in Singapore, San Francisco, United States, and since 1994 has been based in Cambridge, United Kingdom. In 1994 he graduated from University of California, Berkeley (Molecular and Cell Biology) and in 1997 he completed a PhD study at University of Cambridge (Molecular genetics). His focus is on the study of obesity, brain control of body weight and genetic influences on appetitive behaviour. He has presented three BBC Horizon documentaries: Why are we getting so fat (2016), Clean Eating: The Dirty Truth (2017) and Vitamin Pills: Miracle or Myth? (2018). Giles was also a presenter on BBC Two's Trust Me, I'm A Doctor. His first book, 'Gene Eating: The Story Of Human Appetite' was published in Dec 2018. His second book, 'Why Calories Don't Count' was published in June 2021.

Reviews

[Sue Page · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd love to rate this book higher, but I really felt it was let down by the publisher/editor/proofreader. This is so frustrating, because this was obviously a important title for the publisher, and it's a substantial piece of work that deserves to be read and enjoyed by many people. Probably the most significant criticism would be that, in the early pages of the book, Yeo emphasises the biological forces that drive eating behaviour (of course he does, that's his life's work), but really doesn't acknowledge that there can also be a multi-factorial emotional component (although this is touched on briefly later in the book). That alone is probably enough to make some readers close the book and open a packet of biscuits. I'm sure this could have been picked up and addressed at the initial edit. Other irritations include the use of 'see XXXX below', when the object being referenced is three pages away. 'See below' is fine in an academic paper; it's not helpful in a book, especially when it's aimed at a lay audience. There is also some unnecessary repetition, some poor sentence structure, an awful lot of variable tenses and a beaut typo on page 186 - Cladwell Esselstyn (although a mere two lines later we see the correct Caldwell spelling). Even the style used for emphasis is variable - sometimes we get bold, sometimes CAPS. None of this is down to Yeo; as the author, your job is to get your information down on paper. This is down to the publishing house. It's a real shame. (And just for context, I have been both a research scientist and managing editor at a trade publishing house, so perhaps I'm a little more sensitive to these things than some other people.)

[Tommy Lawler · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay. I dutifully read the whole book, cover to cover, and now I'm going to exercise my constitutional right to give it a bad review.

The book is called "Gene Eating." The author is a geneticist from a world-renowned university. The book cover shows a pear made out of double helices. I thought maybe, just maybe, this book was going to be about genetics. We live in an era of large-scale genetic + genomic analyses, with high throughput sequencing and enormous sample sizes, and I thought the author was going to provide us with a more in-depth understanding of the interaction between diet/nutrition and genetics.

As I realized approximately halfway through, the title could hardly have less to do with the actual contents of the book. Early on, we get a brief primer in genetics and an introduction to several genes that predispose to obesity, and that's it. The rest of the book is dedicated to personal anecdotes, railing again pseudoscience and fad diets, and an occasionally tedious explanation of basic nutrition concepts that could be found in any freshman nutrition course. Eventually, the last 10-15 pages circle back to genetics, and the author ensures us that it is currently not possible to prescribe individualized diets on the basis of our genetics. Womp.

Basically, I opened the book hoping to learn something new (who doesn't??), and was disappointed to find that it had little to offer except rehashed diatribes about fad diets. I do realize this book probably wasn't written for people with an academic and professional background in nutrition, and I'm sure those who want to gain a 'fact-based' (for lack of a better word) understanding of diet/nutrition will benefit from reading it. It's not badly written or anything, and the author is indeed knowledgeable and occasionally funny.

Although almost everything the author shares is textbook and (refreshingly) factual, there was one claim that made me nearly pull my hair out. On page 111 he writes, and I kid you not...

"This, by the way, is my riposte to those who say we can live perfectly healthy lives without eating any carbohydrates and just use ketones from the breakdown of fat as fuel. Without at least some carbohydrates in our diet, we would die."

He actually claims that we will die if we don't have any carbohydrates in our diet. This is a stupid thing to say, and if I didn't have more respect for the author's credentials, I would suggest that he didn't understand basic physiology or nutrition. This seems to result from his earlier conflation of dietary ketosis (mild ketosis caused by low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet) and diabetic ketoacidosis, a medical emergency caused by total loss of insulin in the bloodstream. I get and understand that not everybody appreciates low-carb diets, but there is no such thing as an essential carbohydrate, and even in the total absence of carbohydrates the body will still produce the requisite insulin and glucose required to keep us alive and healthy. Being fairly familiar with the research myself, I will confidently state that no one has ever diet from ketoacidosis caused by a low-carbohydrate diet.

So I wasn't entirely sure where that came from. But other claims are more thoroughly connected to reality, and people looking for a wide-ranging intro to nutrition could do worse than reading this book. More experienced readers should look elsewhere.

[Giulio Ciacchini · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is exactly what a scientific yet divulgative essay should look like
At the core of the book is the idea that our relationship with food is not just about willpower or choice, but also about how our genes interact with our environment. Yeo explains that evolution, unsurprisingly, shaped us to crave high-calorie foods because for most of human history, survival depended on securing enough energy. Modern abundance has turned that once-useful drive into a liability, with processed foods and sedentary lifestyles feeding the global obesity crisis.
The study on Labradors is eye opening: some Labradors carry a mutation in the POMC gene (pro-opiomelanocortin), which regulates satiety. Dogs with this mutation don’t feel “full” in the same way others do, so when placed in an environment where food is abundant, they’re far more prone to overeating and obesity.
Of course we must not fall into the opposite trap: we cannot influence our body weight because it is gene determined.
Or put simply this doesn’t mean weight is entirely outside our control. Yeo stresses that while we can’t change our genes, we can change our environment and habits — what food we keep at home, how we structure meals, how much we cook versus relying on processed foods. In other words, genes load the gun or are the poker cards in your hand, but environment pulls the trigger.
What makes the book stand out is Yeo’s tone. He writes in a witty, conversational style, mixing rigorous science with humor and anecdotes from his own research and life. The message is both compassionate and realistic: weight and appetite are not moral failings, but complex outcomes of biology and environment. Instead of blaming ourselves or chasing fad diets, we should aim for balance, moderation, and sustainable changes.

Have you, however, tried to stop eating when you are still hungry? It's difficult, even for one meal, because it's just not what we are designed to do. We have evolved to eat when we are hungry and when there is food, not to stop. Now imagine feeling slightly more hungry in this food environment and trying to halt the eating process every single day, for every single meal, for your whole life. This is what overweight and obese folk go through.
Obese people are not morally bereft, lazy or bad. They are fighting their biology. In fact, you could argue that being obese is the natural, highly evolved even, response to our 21st-century environment! We are simply preparing ourselves for a famine.. that is never ever going to arrive.
But here is the rub. Not everyone has become obese in this environment. This is in contrast to our response to starvation, which is reassuringly uniform, across not only humankind but pretty much across the entire animal kingdom; that is, to find enough food as quickly as possible and eat it before you die. The dying bit ensured that only animals with the required drive and tools to find and eat food survived.

Finally he touches upon a greatly misunderstood concept: caloric intake.
He takes on the “a calorie is just a calorie” mantra. While fundamentally true for weight loss—energy balance does matter—he stresses that calories from different foods affect hunger, satiety, and metabolism in different ways. For example, 200 calories of protein will keep you fuller longer than 200 calories of sugar.
Caloric availability refers to how easy it is for us to obtain and consume calories. For most of human history, calories were scarce and hard to get: hunting, gathering, farming, and food storage were labor-intensive, and famine was always a risk. That scarcity meant our bodies evolved to crave energy-dense foods (fat, sugar, starch) and to store them efficiently as fat.
But in the modern world, caloric availability has flipped completely. Ultra-processed foods give us huge amounts of calories with almost no effort—Yeo sometimes calls this “obesogenic environments.” A chocolate bar can provide as many calories as a whole meal, but without the same satiety or nutritional value. Our evolved appetite system, tuned for scarcity, hasn’t caught up with this sudden overabundance.

The inside of a bomb calorimeter, however, is an extreme environment, and is designed as such to ensure that every single calorie is accounted for. The biological process of food digestion within a living being is a little gentler. Apart from a bit of chewing at the very beginning, digestion is, by and large, a series of chemical reactions, accelerated by biological catalysts called enzymes. Don't get me wrong, it is still quite a harsh process; you wouldn't want to stick your hand into your stomach juices for instance, as it bears a strong resemblance to battery acid but it isn't anything like a bonfire. As a result, depending on its structure and content, how it has been processed, as well as who or what is eating and performing the actual digestion, each item of food will have a different caloric availability. This is a critically important concept to grasp. Caloric availability is the amount of calories that can actually be extracted during the digestion process, as opposed to the total number of calories that are locked up in the food.

Then he starts destroying the most popolar myths around food.
I was already aware about most of them, but it is still refreshing to see them defeated one by one, with data and reasoning
He debunks fad diets, showing that whether it’s paleo, keto, or detox plans, many work in the short term not because of magic rules but simply because they reduce calorie intake. His conclusion is that there is no one-size-fits-all diet: people respond differently depending on their genes, biology, and lifestyle.
Then there is the never-ending debate around lactose, should we drink milk?

Is consuming dairy bad for you per se? Having scoured the literature, the consensus appears to be that consumption of dairy does not lead to increases in heart disease and all-cause mortality (the cheerfully euphemistic scientific term for death). It doesn't appear to improve your health, but it is certainly not bad for you. There are layers of nuance in the data, though. So, for example, dairy consumption in children and adolescents is actually associated with reduced body fat and increased muscle mass. Thus, unsurprisingly, milk is important earlier on in life, to ensure proper growth. Another study, this time in adults, suggested that whole milk consumption may be directly associated with cancer mortality, while non-fat milk consumption was actually protective.20 This is only one study, though, and will need replication by someone else before it can be considered reliable. But if you take it at face value, then it argues that the fat in the milk is the problem, rather than the milk itself.
But here is the reality. As with ALL mammals, we have evolved to drink milk as infants and in childhood.

He then proceed to the popular hysteria around red meat, gluten, you name it.

Let's compare this with smoking. According to Cancer Research UK, smoking three cigarettes a day increases your risk of lung cancer by six times... which is a 600 per cent increase. Smoking 20 cigarettes a day increases your likelihood of getting cancer by 2,600 per cent (not a typo)!16 With these numbers, it doesn't matter what your absolute risk is! So processed meat increases risk of cancer, but one has to keep things in perspective. This is currently the most powerful evidence linking an animal-based protein to cancer.
Red meat is next on the list, but to quote the Lancet Oncology paper:
'Chance, bias, and confounding could not be ruled out with the same degree of confidence for the data on red meat consumption, since no clear association was seen in several of the high-quality studies and residual confounding from other diet and lifestyle risk is difficult to exclude. The Working Group concluded that there is limited evidence in human beings for the carcinogenicity of the consumption of red meat.
Translating that into English, what IARC are trying to say is that some studies show a risk, while others don't.

[Shahrazad · Rating 4 out of 5]

The ultimate anti diet book, in this book Yeo scientifically debunks most popular diets and spells out in an accessible and sarcastic way why most diet fads are ridiculous .

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you’ve ever even thought about going on a diet, read this book. Solid science takes on the post-truth, dollar- driven diet industry. Atkins. Cleanse. Raw. Fasting. Paleo. Plant-based. Superfoods. The bottom line — No diet will alter your genes and they are a big part of how you eat, what your body does with food and where you carry around your excess weight. And many diets as an approach to losing weight or being “healthy” can actually hurt you.

[Larisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let the war on diets begin! Sometimes terribly funny, other times a bit acidic but all for a good cause: to debunk myths on diets and to train your critical thinking in order to avoid harmful trends in health and fitness. From Paleo to alkaline diet, Dr. Giles Yeo provides an evidence-based approach in understanding the pros and cons in adopting such changes in your lifestyle.

[Olga · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the title somewhat misleading. I actually hoped for more info on the genetics of food consumption and eating behavior and less of the popular fad analysis. So, my (unfounded?) expectations unmet, this is still a really good book — it’s just not so much about what I was thinking of while looking at its title.

[Deborah Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this. Written by Singaporean Cambridge geneticist, Giles Yeo is informed, evidence based and highly entertaining.

[Leeanncb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scientifically sound. Interesting. Not much on genes. Corny humour.

[Josie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of really interesting information in here about how different bodies react to food. Our genes have a lot to say about how hungry we will be, how we'll retain or lose fat, how we've selected (as a species) for different traits in different environments, etc. I think a lot of this book, for me, was: "Don't be so hard of yourself. It's difficult to be healthy, but we're not starting at the same spot." Some of those celebrity fitness/health gurus, or super skinny celebrities might have a genetic predisposition. (Or maybe they are just more committed and work harder at it.)

There was also a significant bit on debunking certain fad diets. These were diets that have made their creators RICH, so I'm guessing a lot of people buy into them...but whoa, they were all a little oddball. Maybe that part wasn't the most useful for me.

[Christine Alexandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very refreshing. A man of science who doesn’t take himself too seriously. Debunking major dietary fads with a sense of humour. Recommend!

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this book, due to get published on the 27th of December 2018, Dr Giles Yeo explores the biological basis of obesity. A geneticist at the University of Cambridge, he explains how our genes can affect both our eating habits and our metabolism, often resulting to obesity. Yet, he acknowledges the complex interactions between our genes and the environment, and argues the multifactorial nature of obesity.

He then discusses a number of famous diets, such as Paleo, Atkins, Dukan, plant-based, gluten- and dairy- free diets. These diets focus on weight loss, and/or improvement of health. Dr Yeo then explains why, even though these diets may be successful in the short term (weight loss), they fail in the long term (weight regain). He also explains the health risks associated with some of these diets. He convincingly demonstrates that these diets are based on pseudo-scientific premises, and follow a simplistic reductionist approach.

On the contrary, he endorses intermittent fasting and the Mediterranean diet, which is widely considered one of the healthiest in the world. The Mediterranean diet includes relatively high consumption of fruits and vegetables, olive oil, grains, legumes and nuts, moderate consumption of fish and poultry, as well as red wine, and low consumption of diary products and red and processed meat. It has been linked to reduced risk for cardiovascular disease, certain types of cancer, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases, and increased longevity.

Dr Yeo highlights the problems associated with excluding certain food groups from our diet and depriving ourselves of certain nutrients; instead, he supports a more holistic and balanced approach where all foods are allowed. Moderation is the key, and I couldn’t agree more. Here Dr Yeo quotes the ‘Father of Medicine’, Hippocrates.

There are, of course, notable exceptions, where dietary exclusions are necessary for health reasons; for example, sufferers with diabetes should avoid sugar, sufferers with coeliac disease should follow a gluten-free diet, and people who allergic to certain foods should avoid these foods. Intolerance is, however, something different, and, Dr Yeo argues, does not necessarily require a complete avoidance of the foods we’re intolerant to.

Overall, I found ‘Gene Eating’ a very interesting and informative easy-to-read book. Most importantly, Dr Yeo’s writings are backed by his own research experience as well as his review of the science behind diet and eating.

[Sally Abou Ouf]

I liked the book and I highly recommend it. The author is well versed in the subject matter and he backs up his claims with scientific data. Several myths I previously held about food were debunked by him. It is a book about peacefully reconnecting with all types of food without the diet fads that are invading our lives today. Well done!

[Parita · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a myth buster book on diets and obesity, exploring all related aspects including the social pressures related to these matters. Yeo's writing styling is amusing, laughter inducing at times, which is a welcome relief at times when the subject becomes too heavy, or when the genetics related to obesity seem depressing to those of us trying desperately to lose weight!

Keeping in mind that inherently genetics is a rather complex subject, Yeo does a great job of explaining it as simple as it can be for the lay man reading this book. However, the more important plus point is that latter topics related to the genetics of obesity have been explained such that they can be understood even without truly getting the basics of the obesity-related genetics. Explained rather systematically in the book are various fad diets and the pros and cons of each, allowing these to be looked at in a new light. It does appear at times that Yeo is attempting to banish all fad diets, but if carefully considered, Yeo is providing factful information to the reader to choose from a range of diets based on how they do or do not work scientifically.

I believe that one of the most refreshing aspects of this book are the implications of Yeo's studies' - social considerations associated with obesity. These have been discussed with utmost importance in the book. Setting limits to wanting to be super think, discussing the cons of losing weight and accepting limits of diets as well as yourself are subjects that few other books of this type address and are so much needed in the current environment of media-induced perception of self. I would definitely recommend this book to those who want to have a detailed understanding about obesity, dieting and its limitations.

[Elisabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did enjoy this book which brought to light how so many diets are fad diets, making someone money and occasionally causing people to die as they refuse treatment to medical conditions.
I enjoyed the debunking of alkaline diets, paleo diets, genetic testing for obesity, and even giving clarity to the plant based movement, with the leaders in a way, Dr Campbell and Dr Esselstyn not exactly 100% claiming what they preach or wrote in the China study is the truth.
I was not so keen on the very frequent comments about the author's own food endeavours, skills in the kitchen or personal story, as it was just a bit too much. But interesting to learn more about the role of genes in obesity on a population level. Definitely would recommend for a reader looking for evidence based information on diets, instead of following another cult trying to make money. And no, the author is not paid off my big pharma.

[Thomas Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of interesting content, and an easy style with moments of humour. But a little confused in its theme and structure. As others have mentioned, this isn't very much about genes really, it's more summaries and anecdotes of programmes the author has filmed about diets. And leading to a half-hearted and vague "eat in moderation" conclusion. Also in pursuit of humour and emphasis, the author does one a few occasions somewhat misrepresent or exaggerate the ideas of others, such as by saying that people following a plant-based diet for health do so because "they believe that animal-based protein will kill them". There are a few moments in which he seems a little confused as to what he is trying to argue. But on the whole his writing is concise and quite clear.
Definitely a good book for some context around genetic factors and obesity - but just to bear in mind that most of it is not focussed on that, and don't expect any actual ideas for tackling the obesity issue.

[Verena Hagenbusch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really interesting to get the insights, which are obviously scientific and fact based. After the first chapters it becomes a bit too theoretically and the second half is a lot about bashing several diets. Of course most of the diets are a lot more marketing strategies than sustainable lifestyle choice but it felt like more like coming down to discrediting others for promoting a wrong choice to make money.
At the end the recommendations everybody is hoping to get from the book are nothing new - but really true! In fact I was hoping to get more of this than just 8 pages, but it is really down to earth and useful.

[Mario Sailer · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is quite entertaining, but if you expect to get some help on what to eat it is rather disappointing. The book says, more or less, that if you are lean and slim or rather chubby depends more on your genes than on your willpower. Everybody has a genetically predisposition that determines your risk to get obese and that determines the "natural" amount of fat that gets deposited in your body to cater for times of famine. Fighting against this natural fat level is mostly unsuccessful because your body wants to be in equilibrium with this level - at least when it comes to too few fat reserves.
The vast part of the book is about divers diets with a lot of narratives around them. The conclusion: The can scientifically not be verified, much of the claims posed can even be refuted. But since most of them advice to eat more plants and less carbohydrates (even if the arguments behind them are wired) they do not harm either. In fact some are really healthy. You only should not spend money for them because the same results can be achieved with ... eating more plants and less carbohydrates. One exception is the Atkins diet, which, while reducing the intake of carbohydrates, is increasing the amount of meat above a healthy level. Too much proteins however do not harm when you are young, but they increase the risk of cancer when getting older. So one should refrain from eating to much protein.

[Cari · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally, a book that makes sense after all the diet research I've done. Yeo debunks the myths of weight loss and genetics, explaining in detail how the environment and genes work together to create our weight. He's very funny, and I enjoyed the anecdotes about his travel, especially when he interviews specialists in the Cleveland area, where I'm from. I thought it was cool that he really looked at the science behind all the latest claims and lays it straight out - diets do work, but only if you stay on them, and our bodies are designed to want to stay at a certain weight (determined in part by both genetics and the environment). A calorie is not a calorie, as fat, protein, and carbohydrates all affect the body in different ways, but genetics impacts how each of our bodies process those types of calories. Obese people are not simply lazy, but are working against their genetics - even people with healthy habits and diets can be overweight and even obese. It's not an excuse to go eat a bunch of junk, but we should be careful about how we judge others by outward appearances. This is a text I will return to (especially when my mother tells me I could lose more weight).

[Pam Hutley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have picked up a number of books on a similar theme- following listening to podcasts. I think it helps to have the voice of the writer in your head and to understand their key concepts first. This is a myth busting book about all things food and nutrition. It hacks away at our long held beliefs - fallacies about what is good for us and why and considers why we are obsessed in our fast moving media fuelled society with what is good for us … ( usually fads and pseudo science being promoted by those with much to gain) . I loved the wry style of Dr Giles Yeo - yep I skipped some of the more heavily scientific stuff but within a few pages was a subtitle that got be hooked straight back in. If anything Dr Giles preaches moderation in all things. He does not take sides in the battle of the diets and points out the major flaws of all. I really enjoyed this non fiction read and recommend it to all who jump diets and fads, who ail and need assistance with their nutritional thinking ( even if they think they don’t ) . Book two on similar theme is in line to be read and comparisons will be interesting … ( different scientist).

[Annie H · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really REALLY enjoyed this book. A lot my friends, once telling them I am reading this, think that I am reading a 'diet book'. It IS NOT a diet book, and it is not telling us what is the best diet is, rather it is debunking many myths surrounding diet and obesity and criticizing these modern day 'fad diets' for claiming to provide the 'magic pill' for weight loss even though their claims are backed up by bad (or no) science.
The writing is really entertaining and the author does a really good job at making the information digestible. Maybe one ever so slight point to make other readers aware of is a couple of sections go (what I think is) relatively quite in depth to scientific/molecular side of things, which being in a science profession myself I appreciated, I am not sure if people from a non-science background might find these sections heavy going. My boyfriend is reading it next so I will see what he thinks!
I would recommend this to anyone regardless. Really interesting, really enjoyable, and definitely made me think about things in a new light.

[Wendy Otero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Food is one of life’s greatest joys, yet many in the developed world demonise and exclude certain food groups in order to reduce their waistline or improve their health. Obesity Geneticist, Dr Giles Yeo has dedicated over two decades researching how the brain controls food intake, and how this differs between lean and obese people.

In his ‘anti-diet’ book, Yeo focuses on the central question: why do some people eat more than others? He explains the science of obesity and analyses the myriad of popular diets being marketed to us as a cleaner and healthier lifestyle: Paleo, Keto, Mediterranean, the Alkaline Diet, and Clean Eating all fall under Yeo’s scientific gaze as he breaks down the truths and fallacies of each dietary approach. The narrative in this book is effective and often entertaining, aimed at assisting a general audience to navigate through our modern food environment.

Published in The Advertiser, 2nd March, 2019.

[Ram Vasudeva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let me start abruptly without spoilers!
Written by a world-class Scientist in the interest of everyone, scientists and lay people, to understand the simple/complex things about Diet. Why is Obesity so hard to beat? For me the entire book, each an every chapter, is a crucial read. It weaves in research, facts and pseudoscience giving us a clear glimpse into what to avoid and how. The language is simple and the flow is pretty easy. The entire books has many surprises about the fads/misconceptions surrounding diet- it has become such an obsession that people are sometimes uncomfortable to talk about it- so much that they feel scared if the topic of diet surfaces. Much of this is to do with factors within the societies, education about using them (ingredients) being one and how important food is from a cultural angle within a society can also impact your views about diet. Read it, an essential text, can save you from falling prey to pseudoscience or at the least save you some money!

[Adelyne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book after hearing Giles speak at an event to which I’d invited him (a graduate student social at Cambridge), where he talked more about his own career path rather than his research. The subsequent conversation we had over dinner though, made me interested in his research, and also convinced me that this book would be good as Giles does incredibly well in making his research accessible to the non-expert.

The slightly humorous approach that he takes makes this book nice and light to read (my wife says this!), yet it is also framed in a very logical way that makes his argument easy to follow. Does well to quash some of the myths of weight loss and fad dieting, while providing the scientific rationale behind why certain practices work in the context of weight loss. Very educational, I enjoyed this one. 4 stars.

[Dixit Nagpal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Health Enlightenment - Myth busters - this would be my title for this amazing , eye opening and really so far best book for me for 2019. I mean there is so much of information and clear explanations about nature vs nurture and how it plays role in our health and eating habits
With amalgmation of evolutionary inherited food habits to what it means to fight your biology to loose weight and not just think fat people as lazy ( except that some really are , including me ) but I mean it does gives u in depth perspective on eating , health and science behind it.
This book indeed has helped me to make informed choices when I choose to eat something and how look at food now and also not Ignoring what makes me eat at the first place

Thanks Dr Giles for this amazing piece of highly informative narrative.

[Bojan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book presents a scientific perspective and view on obesity and modern diets. This modern perspective is confirmed by studies and work with patients. The explanation of genetics and the functioning of the organism does not provide too much news to those of us who have a meical education, while it is certainly quite informative for the rest of the readership.
What I don't like is the scientist's attempt to be funny: he does it in a rather forced way. Some comments flir with chauvinism, some conclusions seemed to have been made out of wrath. The middle of the book is calmer and readable, but from the middle to the end the writer's comments become more and more forced and less pleasant. Some parts are too trivialized, and some conclusions are not approached from a critical perspective but with a hard-nosed attitude, while the writer calls for critical review all the time.

[João Pedro Neves · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well… I found Yeo’s books from his podcast with Steven Bartlett, which was quite good and funny because of his natural way of not taking himself too serious, which is quite refreshing in a scientist 😂

Maybe I was expecting something else, but I felt the book had an amazing potential to explore the concepts in a deeper manner instead of leaving it mostly at the surface educational level.

It’s quite positive the work Giles does on educating people to be observers and question the information (or misinformation) that’s spread daily on food, specially the “magic diet”.

But, I would love some facts and figures on his research on the effect of genes in our body and how we can adapt and make better choices based on that.

Onto his next book 🤙🏼

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very helpful explanation of why, although of course to lose weight you must burn fewer calories than you ingest, all calories are not equal. Also lots of great analysis of various diets and explanations about the genetic factors impacting obesity. Covers the same information in Why Calories Don't Count: How We Got the Science of Weight Loss Wrong but more accessibly and with less technical detail.

[Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fresh and honest

I loved this book! I am a friend of faddy diets and (even as a scientist) I want them to work. However, this book tells the plain, honest truth of why a diet will or will not work and the genetic basis of why people get overweight in the first place. A must read to navigate modern societies food myths and promises. Even as a factual book (my affinity is firmly in fiction) I found it a pleasure to read and kept having to share with my children and friends all the things I was learning.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book. I think it is the perfect balance of informative, interesting and entertaining. I certainly learned a few new things, especially regarding gluten and lactose intolerance. I think the world needs more scientists like Giles Yeo who are willing and able to debunk pseudoscientific myths and present some real science in a way which can be understood by non-scientists like me. My only criticism is the poor editing / proof reading of the book. There are a lot of typos in fewer than 350 pages. Do publishing houses not edit or proof read books nowadays?