Dr. Robert Lustig, MD, MSL
Professor Emeritus of Pediatric Endocrinology, UCSF
Dr. Robert Lustig is a pediatric endocrinologist at UCSF whose research on fructose metabolism explains why certain processed foods rank high on the WI Score even when their glucose impact appears moderate. His work shows that fructose is processed exclusively by the liver, forcing fat synthesis and chronically suppressing leptin, the satiety hormone. Together with insulin, this dual mechanism explains why processed food drives metabolic disease independently of total calorie intake.
Key works
Fat Chance (2012)
The first major clinical text to frame processed sugar as a metabolic toxin, not merely an excess-calorie problem.
Metabolical (2021)
How the food industry corrupted nutrition science and what Real Food can do to reverse the damage.
Areas of expertise
- Fructose Metabolism
- Liver Fat Accumulation
- Insulin
- Leptin Resistance
- Sugar Science
- Metabolic Syndrome
- Pediatric Endocrinology
- Processed Food
