Nutritionism: The Philosophy and Politics of Nutrition
Nutrition science research and dietary advice have been shaped by particular scientific paradigms and assumptions, and influenced by social, political and commercial contexts in which this knowledge is produced and translated into dietary advice and products.
This series of projects and publications examines the philosophy and politics of nutrition science and dietary advice. This includes:
- analysis of ‘nutritionism’ — nutritional reductionism —as the dominant paradigm in nutrition science;
- the influence of food corporations on nutrition science and expert advice;
- exploring alternative nutritional paradigms.
Grants
NHMRC Project Grant (2018-2021)
‘Strengthening the Evidence Foundation for Public Health Guidelines’
- Chief Investigators: Lisa Bero (University of Sydney), Allman-Farinelli, M., Lawrence, M., Scrinis, G., McKenzie, J., Helf, F., Gill, T., Baur, L., Nestle, M., Raubenheimer, D.
- Project Description: This research project measured the influence of bias at all stages in nutrition research in order to improve the evaluation of this research and the evidence base for dietary guidance.
Dyason Fellowship, University of Melbourne, 2014
‘Food corporations’ strategies for designing and marketing healthier processed foods’
- Chief Investigators: Gyorgy Scrinis &Jennifer Clapp (University of Waterloo, Canada).
- Project Description: This project examined the strategies food manufacturing corporations are using to respond to health concerns over their processed food products, and the forms of power that these corporations exercise.
Publications
- Scrinis, G. (2013), Nutritionism: The Science and Politics of Dietary Advice, New York: Columbia University Press.
- Scrinis, G. (2022) Les Dérives de la Nutrition, Paris: Thierry Souccar Editions (French Edition of Nutritionism: The Science and Politics of Dietary Advice).
- Scrinis, G. (2021). Nutricionismo: a ciência e a política do aconselhamento nutricional. Editora Elefante (Brazilian edition/ Portuguese translation of Nutritionism: The Science and Politics of Dietary Advice)
- Scrinis, G. (2012), ‘Nutritionism and Functional Foods’, in The Philosophy of Food, ed. David Kaplan, University of California Press, p.269-291.
- Scrinis, G. (2020) ‘Ultra-Processed Foods and the Corporate Capture of Nutrition’, BMJ.
- Scrinis, G. (2020) ‘Reframing malnutrition in all its forms: A critique of the tripartite classification’, Global Food Security, 26.
- Scrinis, G. (2022). A critique of obesity as a category of malnutrition in all its forms. In Gard, M. et al (eds) Routledge Handbook of Critical Obesity Studies (pp. 381-392). Routledge.
- Clapp, J. & Scrinis, G. (2017) Big Food, Nutritionism, and Corporate Power. Globalizations, 14(4), 578-595.
- Fabbri, A., Chartres, N., Scrinis, G. & Bero, L. A. (2017) Study sponsorship and the nutrition research agenda: analysis of randomized controlled trials included in systematic reviews of nutrition interventions to address obesity. Public Health Nutrition, 20(7), 1306-1313.
- Scrinis, G. (2016) "Reformulation, fortification and functionalization: Big Food corporations’ nutritional engineering and marketing strategies." Journal of Peasant Studies 43 (1):17-37.
- Scrinis, G and Parker, C (2016) Front-of-pack labelling and the politics of nutritional nudges Law & Policy 38(3): 234-249.
- Scrinis, G. (2015), ‘Big Food corporations and the nutritional marketing and regulation of processed foods’, Canadian Food Studies. 2 (2):136-145.
- Scrinis, G. (2014). ‘On the Ideology of Nutritionism’. In J. Pilcher (Ed.), Food History: Critical and Primary Sources (Vol. 4). London: Bloomsbury, p. 405-421.
- Scrinis, G. (2013), ‘The Nutricentric Person’, in Doing Nutrition Differently: Critical Approaches to Dietary Intervention, ed. J. Hayes-Conroy. Ashgate, p. 239-248.
- Scrinis, G. (2008), ‘On the ideology of nutritionism’, Gastronimica, 8 (1).