David S. Ludwig (born December 24, 1957) is an American endocrinologist and low-carbohydrate diet advocate in Boston, Massachusetts. He is a promoter of functional medicine.
Education
Ludwig received a PhD and an MD from Stanford University School of Medicine. He completed an internship and residency in pediatrics and a fellowship in pediatric endocrinology at Boston Children's Hospital.
Career
Ludwig is a professor of pediatrics at the Harvard Medical School and a professor of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health. Ludwig is co-director of the New Balance Foundation Obesity Prevention Center Boston Children's Hospital. He has published several studies about the causes of obesity in children and adults, and attracted attention for his recommendation that severely obese children be removed from the custody of their parents. He is a paid associate editor of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and a US editor of The BMJ. Ludwig is a presenter for the Institute of Functional Medicine, an organization that promotes functional medicine. He has argued that low-fat high-carbohydrate diets are the underlying cause of obesity. He has received royalties for his low-carbohydrate diet books. He is a proponent of the carbohydrate–insulin model of obesity, a model which is not supported by good medical evidence.
Selected publications
- Always Hungry?: Conquer Cravings, Retrain Your Fat Cells, and Lose Weight Permanently (2016)
- Always Delicious: Over 175 Satisfying Recipes to Conquer Cravings, Retrain Your Fat Cells, and Keep the Weight Off Permanently (2018)
See also
- Gary Taubes
- Hereditary factors in childhood obesity