Giles Yeo

At a glance

• Giles Yeo is an American-British biologist. He is professor of molecular neuroendocrinology at the MRC Metabolic Diseases Unit, University of Cambridge, and scientific director of a genomics core facility.
• He studies how genes such as FTO and MC4R influence appetite and body weight through the brain.
• His book Gene Eating (2018) explains why some people are genetically more prone to obesity.
• In Why Calories Don’t Count (2021) he argues that not all calories are equal: protein and fibre are more filling and are processed differently from highly processed carbohydrates and fats.
• He has presented BBC documentaries, including a critical Horizon episode on ‘clean eating’, and hosts the podcast Chewing the Fat.
• For longevity, he matters because he explains obesity as an interplay of biology and environment, without blame and without fad diets.
• Takeaway: choose meals with enough protein and fibre to keep you full, and be wary of diets that ban entire food groups.