nutritionism

These revisions include advice regarding dietary cholesterol, eggs, low- fat

diets, and beta- carotene supplements.8 However, my critique of nutri-
tionism is not based on a concern that nutrition scientists sometimes get it

“wrong”— indeed, the claim that there is a clear- cut “right” answer or sci-
entifi c truth regarding the health effects of nutrients is one of the features

of nutritionism itself. The point is not that nutrition science has not
yielded valuable insights into the relationships among nutrients, foods,

and the body, but that these insights have often been interpreted in a re-
ductive manner and then translated into nutritionally reductive dietary

guidelines. This reductive interpretation includes the decontextualiza-
tion, simplifi cation, and exaggeration of the role of nutrients in determin-
ing bodily health.