David S. Ludwig
Secondary Faculty

David S. Ludwig

Professor in the Department of Nutrition

Nutrition

Other Positions

Professor of Pediatrics

Pediatrics-Boston Children's Hospital

Harvard Medical School


Overview

David S. Ludwig, MD, PhD is an endocrinologist and researcher at Boston Children’s Hospital. He holds the rank of Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and Professor of Nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Ludwig is the founder of the Optimal Weight for Life (OWL) program, one of the country’s oldest and largest multidisciplinary clinics for the care of overweight children. He co-directs the New Balance Foundation Obesity Prevention Center.

For more than 25 years, Dr. Ludwig has studied the effects of diet on metabolism, body weight, and risk for chronic disease – with a special focus on low-glycemic index, low-carbohydrate, and ketogenic diets. He has made major contributions to the development of the “carbohydrate-insulin model,” an alternative perspective on the pathogenesis of obesity. In addition, he conducted some of the original studies linking sugar-sweetened beverages and fast food to obesity. Described as an “obesity warrior” by Time Magazine, Dr. Ludwig has fought for fundamental policy changes to improve the food environment.

Dr. Ludwig received the E.V. McCollum Award (2008) from the American Society for Nutrition, the Oded Bar-Or Award (2015) from The Obesity Society, and the Samuel J. Fomon Nutrition Award from the American Academy of Pediatrics (2019). He has been Principal Investigator on numerous grants with 20+ years of NIH funding and has raised over $50 million in philanthropic support. He co-authored over 250 scientific articles, many in the world’s leading medical and scientific journals. He was a Contributing Writer for JAMA and presently serves as associate editor at the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. He has written 3 books for the public, including the #1 New York Times bestseller Always Hungry? Conquer Cravings, Retrain Your Fat Cells, and Lose Weight Permanently (Grand Central Publishing, 2016). He appears frequently in national and international print and broadcast media.

Samuel J. Fomon Nutrition Award2019
American Academy of Pediatrics

Oded Bar-Or Award for Pediatric Obesity Research2015
The Obesity Society

The E.V. McCollum Award for Clinical Research2008
American Society for Nutrition

First Incumbent, The John Fielding Crigler, Jr. Chair in Pediatric Endocrinology2007
Children's Hospital Boston


Bibliography

Obesogens and Obesity: State-of-the-Science and Future Directions Summary from a Healthy Environment and Endocrine Disruptors Strategies Workshop.

Heindel JJ, Alvarez JA, Atlas E, Cave MC, Chatzi VL, Collier D, Corkey B, Fischer D, Goran MI, Howard S, Kahan S, Kayhoe M, Koliwad S, Kotz CM, La Merrill M, Lobstein T, Lumeng C, Ludwig DS, Lustig RH, Myers P, Nadal A, Trasande L, Redman LM, Rodeheffer MS, Sargis RM, Stephens JM, Ziegler TR, Blumberg B.

Am J Clin Nutr. 2023 07. 118(1):329-337. PMID: 37230178


News

Experts question USDA recommendations around dairy

The science underpinning the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) recommendation of three servings of dairy per day is thin, according to experts from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. In a February 14, 2020 WebMD.com article, Walter…

Advice for a healthy diet

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health nutrition researchers Walter Willett and David Ludwig spoke to the Boston Globe Magazine for an August 25, 2019 article exploring current trends in healthy diet advice.