Who Coined the Term Nutritionism?

December 23, 2025 •

3 min read

In the early 2000s, the term 'nutritionism' emerged as a powerful critique of modern food ideology, but its coining is often misattributed. It was the Australian academic Gyorgy Scrinis who first coined the term, with American journalist Michael Pollan later popularizing it in his widely-read works.

Quick Summary

The term 'nutritionism' was coined by academic Gyorgy Scrinis to critique the reductionist focus on individual nutrients, viewing food as a sum of its parts. Michael Pollan later popularized this concept, arguing it fuels an industry that profits from over-processed, health-claimed products rather than focusing on whole foods.

Key Points

Originator: Gyorgy Scrinis, an Australian academic, originally coined the term 'nutritionism' in his scholarly work.
Popularizer: American food writer Michael Pollan popularized the concept to a mainstream audience through his book In Defense of Food.
Definition: Nutritionism is the ideology that the nutritional value of a food is the sum of its individual, scientifically identified nutrients.
Critique: The term is often used critically to highlight how a focus on isolated nutrients can be reductive, misleading, and influenced by commercial interests.
Core Argument: Both Scrinis and Pollan argue that this ideology distracts from the importance of eating whole, traditional, and minimally processed foods.
Industry Impact: The ideology allows the food industry to market highly processed, fortified products as healthy, prioritizing profit over public health.
Solution: Pollan offers a simple counter-narrative: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants," emphasizing a return to traditional food wisdom.

The Academic Origin of a Revolutionary Food Concept

Gyorgy Scrinis, a sociologist of science at the University of Melbourne, is credited with coining the term 'nutritionism'. Scrinis developed this term to describe the ideology that defines the value of a food product by the sum of its individual nutrients rather than considering it as a whole. His work, including his book Nutritionism: The Science and Politics of Dietary Advice, analyzes how this approach to dietary advice has been shaped by historical and economic factors. Scrinis's framework identifies different phases of nutritionism, from addressing deficiencies to focusing on functional foods and optimal diets.

The Popularization by Michael Pollan

While Scrinis introduced the concept academically, journalist Michael Pollan brought nutritionism into the mainstream. Through his New York Times article "Unhappy Meals" and his book In Defense of Food, Pollan explained how this reductionist focus on nutrients, often championed by experts, contributes to public confusion and unhealthy eating habits. Pollan's well-known advice, "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants," highlights his emphasis on whole foods over a nutrient-centric approach.

The Core Tenets and Critique of Nutritionism

Nutritionism alters how we view food, moving away from a cultural experience to a more scientific one. Key criticisms include:

Reductionism: Breaking down food into isolated nutrients ignores the complex interactions within whole foods.
Reliance on Expertise: The focus on invisible nutrients requires reliance on experts, overshadowing traditional food knowledge.
Industry Influence: The food industry uses nutritionism to market processed foods fortified with specific nutrients, often masking their overall unhealthiness.
Confusion: Conflicting nutritional advice leads to public anxiety and distrust in eating.

The Impact of Scrinis and Pollan


Aspect	Gyorgy Scrinis's Contribution	Michael Pollan's Contribution
Role	Academic, Sociologist of Science	Journalist, Food Writer
Primary Audience	Academic scholars, researchers	The general public, mainstream readers
Key Medium	Academic books (Nutritionism: The Science and Politics of Dietary Advice)	Books (In Defense of Food), articles (New York Times), documentaries
Core Focus	Detailed analysis of the historical and ideological development of nutritionism	Popularizing the critique of nutritionism and offering simple, actionable eating rules

The Era of Functional Foods

Both Scrinis and Pollan have addressed the evolution into "functional nutritionism," focusing on specific nutrients and "superfoods". This trend, where manufacturers fortify products with ingredients like omega-3s, is seen as leveraging nutritionism for commercial gain, often misleading consumers about the product's overall healthfulness compared to whole foods.

Challenging the Ideology

The critique of nutritionism promotes a return to traditional diets and a more holistic view of health, emphasizing that food culture itself has long served as a form of public health guidance. The shift to processed, Western-style diets correlates with the rise of chronic diseases. The challenge to nutritionism doesn't dismiss nutritional science but critiques its oversimplification and commercial exploitation. The argument is that while nutrients matter, focusing solely on them overlooks the complexity of whole foods and eating patterns. Healthy eating is rooted in a diverse diet of whole, traditionally prepared foods, enjoyed within a cultural context, rather than consuming isolated, manufactured nutrients.

The Takeaway

The work of Scrinis and Pollan serves as a vital reminder to look past marketing and complex nutritional claims. Their message advocates for a simpler approach: eating real food, in moderation, with a focus on plant-based options. This encourages a return to appreciating food and relying on traditional wisdom over nutritional anxiety.

Conclusion

In summary, the term 'nutritionism' was originally coined by Australian academic Gyorgy Scrinis to describe the ideology that reduces food's value to its individual nutrients. American journalist Michael Pollan then popularized this critical framework, highlighting its role in modern food culture and its impact on public health. Their combined influence has sparked significant discussion about the food industry's practices and reinforced the importance of whole food diets over a nutrient-centric approach. Understanding the origins of this term is key to recognizing why many modern food products, despite their nutrient claims, may not be genuinely healthy.

Frequently Asked Questions

No, Michael Pollan popularized the term, but it was originally coined by Australian academic Gyorgy Scrinis. Pollan himself cites Scrinis's work in his writings.

Gyorgy Scrinis is the academic who developed the term and the detailed critical framework behind it for a scholarly audience. Michael Pollan is the journalist who introduced and simplified the concept for a broad, public readership.

An example is a highly processed breakfast cereal that is heavily fortified with vitamins and marketed as 'part of a healthy diet,' distracting from its high sugar content and highly refined nature.

Nutritionism can cause confusion and anxiety for consumers, who are constantly told to focus on shifting health claims and individual nutrients rather than relying on common sense about eating whole foods.

The 'ism' implies that nutritionism is not a scientific field itself, but rather an ideology or a set of shared, often unquestioned, assumptions about food and diet.

Focusing on whole foods de-emphasizes the reductionist view of food as merely a collection of nutrients. It encourages an appreciation for the synergistic effects of a food's full chemical complexity and its cultural role.

Yes, it has. The food industry has capitalized on the ideology of nutritionism by manufacturing and marketing processed products based on nutrient-focused claims rather than inherent food quality, which maximizes profit.