Giles Yeo

Giles will be speaking on the Garden Stage on both Saturday 24 & Sunday 25 August.

'Gene Eating: The truth about diets'

In an age of misinformation and pseudo-science, the world is getting fatter and the diet makers are getting richer. So how do we break this cycle that's killing us all?

Each New Year brings new diets and health fads. But what actually works? Giles Yeo explores how to break the cycle of pseudo-science and misinformation surrounding the world of dieting as he discusses his new ‘anti-diet’ diet book. He will examine the truths and fallacies in the claims made by populist diets including the Palaeolithic and ‘clean’ movements, take a closer look at our obsession with calorie counting and argue why we shouldn’t fear food.

Giles Yeo is a geneticist with nearly 20 years’ experience studying obesity and the brain control of food intake. He obtained his PhD from the University of Cambridge in genetics in 1998 and his current research focuses on why some people are lean and some obese, and the influence of genes on our feeding behaviour. Giles is also a broadcaster and author, presenting science documentaries for the BBC’s ‘Horizon’ and ‘Trust Me I’m A Doctor’ series. His first book ‘Gene Eating: The Science of Obesity and the Truth About Diets was published in December 2018.

"It is rare to find a book, written by a world-class scientist, that is both informative and entertaining. Giles not only delves into the sciense of obesity but, with honesty and great preceision, skewers many of the more foolish fad diets out there" Dr Michael Mosley, bestselling author of The 8-week Blood Sugar Diet