IDOF - Ch.2: Nutritionism Defined

Question 1

Define nutritionism and some of the ‘unexamined assumptions’ that follow from this ideology (in Pollan’s mind)

Answer 1

the -ism suggests it’s not scientific, but an idealogy

foods are essentially the sum of their nutrient parts.

since nutrients, as compared with foods, are invisible and therefore slightly mysterious, it falls to the scientists (and through journalists which scientists can reach publicly) to explain the hidden reality of foods to us

pg. 28

Question 2

In the last paragraph of section 2 (Nutritionism Defined), the most troubling feature of nutritionism is
proposed. Describe what this is and why it is so troubling. Who is NOT troubled by this?

Answer 2

When the emphasis on quantifying the nutrients contained in foods (or, to be precise, the recognized nutrients in foods), any qualitative distinction between whole foods and processed foods is apt to disappear.

gyorgy scrinis is not troubled by this