**1. Early Life and Education:**
– Raised in East End of London in an Orthodox Jewish family
– Won scholarships to Hackney Downs School and Chelsea Polytechnic
– Matriculated at Christs College, Cambridge as a scholar
– Graduated in biochemistry at age 20 in 1931
– Pursued PhD in Department of Biochemistry at Cambridge
**2. Career and Notable Work:**
– Completed medical studies in 1938
– Appointed Director of Medical Studies at Christs College
– Conducted research at the Dunn Nutritional Laboratory in Cambridge
– Served in Royal Army Medical Corps during WWII
– Elected to Chair of Physiology at Queen Elizabeth College in 1945
– Authored ‘Pure, White and Deadly’ in 1972
– Warned about the dangers of sugar consumption
– Linked sugar to conditions like dental caries, obesity, diabetes, and heart attack
**3. Fellowships, Honors, and Impact on Nutrition Field:**
– Became a Fellow of Kings College, London in 1971
– Awarded FRSC in 1938, MRCP in 1946, FIBiol in 1958
– Honorary Fellow of the Hebrew University, Jerusalem in 1993
– Established the first degree in nutrition in any European university
– Led the Department of Nutrition at Queen Elizabeth College
– Attracted students from developing countries
– Published extensively on various aspects of nutrition
– Focused on treating overweight and harmful effects of excessive sugar consumption
**4. Influence on Public Health and Dietary Impact:**
– Yudkin’s research suggested sugar’s link to obesity and coronary heart disease
– Found that patients with atherosclerotic disease consumed more sucrose
– Demonstrated metabolic differences between sugar and starch
– Argued sugar was more harmful than refined grains
– Suggested excessive sugar consumption could disturb insulin secretion
– Yudkin’s work influenced US dietary guidelines to reduce sugar intake
– Despite industry opposition, Yudkin’s research gained recognition
– Renewed interest in Yudkin’s research in the 21st century
– Media coverage and academic discussions revived attention to Yudkin’s findings
**5. Later Life, Legacy, and Recognition:**
– Yudkin retired in 1971 and left his professorship in 1974
– Continued writing research papers and books post-retirement
– Published works like ‘This Nutrition Business’ and ‘A-Z of Slimming’
– Authored ‘Eat Well, Slim Well’ in 1982
– Contributed to ‘The Penguin Encyclopedia of Nutrition’ in 1985
– Influence on contemporary debates on sugar consumption
– Posthumous acknowledgment of his work
– Continued relevance in nutrition and health discussions
– Recognition by peers in the scientific community
– Enduring impact on dietary guidelines and recommendations
John Yudkin FRSC (8 August 1910 – 12 July 1995) was a British physiologist and nutritionist, and the founding Professor of the Department of Nutrition at Queen Elizabeth College, London.
John Yudkin | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 8 August 1910 London, England |
| Died | 12 July 1995 (aged 84) London, England |
| Education | BSc (London) 1929[citation needed] BA (Cambridge) 1931 PhD (Cambridge) 1935 MB, BChir (Cambridge) 1938[citation needed] MD (Cambridge) 1943[citation needed] |
| Alma mater | Christ's College, Cambridge |
| Occupation(s) | Professor of Physiology, Queen Elizabeth College, London, 1945–1954. Professor of Nutrition, Queen Elizabeth College, 1954–1971. |
| Notable work | Pure, White and Deadly |
Yudkin wrote several books recommending low-carbohydrate diets for weight loss, including This Slimming Business (1958). He gained an international reputation for his book Pure, White and Deadly (1972), which warned that the consumption of sugar (sucrose, which consists of fructose and glucose) is dangerous to health, an argument he had made since at least 1957. Specifically, he wrote that sugar consumption was a factor in the development of conditions such as dental caries, obesity, diabetes, and heart attack.
Yudkin's failure to incorporate possible confounding factors in his case-control designs was an area of heavy criticism at the time; apart from other unmeasured known risk factors that might affect cardiovascular disease (CVD), data had emerged soon after, suggesting that sugar intake was associated with smoking, a big risk factor for CVD. Yudkin's failure to account for confounding factors led to harsh words from Ancel Keys at the time. From the late 2000s, there was a resurgence of interest in his work, following a 2009 YouTube video about sugar and high-fructose corn syrup by the pediatric endocrinologist Robert Lustig, and because of increasing concern about an obesity epidemic and metabolic syndrome. Pure, White and Deadly was republished in 2012, with a foreword by Lustig.