Marion Nestle

Marion Nestle (born September 10, 1936) is an American molecular biologist, nutritionist, and public health advocate. She is the Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health Emerita at New York University.

Through her work at NYU and her award-winning books, Nestle has had a national influence on food policy, nutrition, and food education. Nestle's name is unrelated to the company Nestlé, and is pronounced Nes-sul.

She received her BA in bacteriology from UC Berkeley, Phi Beta Kappa (1959). Her degrees include a Ph.D. in molecular biology (1968) and an M.P.H. in public health nutrition (1986), both from the University of California, Berkeley.

Career Nestle undertook postdoctoral research in biochemistry and developmental biology at Brandeis University, joining the faculty as a lecturer in biology, 1971-1973. Being assigned to teach a nutrition course stimulated her interest in food and nutrition and using them to teach critical thinking in biology. She describes the experience as like “falling in love".

In 1986 Nestle became staff director for nutrition policy in the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). From 1986 to 1988, she was senior nutrition policy advisor at HHS. She was editor of the Surgeon General's Report on Nutrition and Health (1988) and contributed to a report from the Food and Nutrition Board: Diet and Health: Implications for Reducing Chronic Disease Risk (1989). These reports set out the scientific background for the 1990 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. In 1996 Nestle founded the food studies program at New York University with food consultant Clark Wolf. Nestle hoped to raise public awareness of food and its role in culture, society, and personal nutrition. In this, she not only succeeded but also inspired other universities to launch their own programs. Safe Food (2003) won the Daniel E. Griffiths Research Award from the Steinhardt School of Education in 2004. In 2007 What to Eat won the James Beard Foundation Award for best food reference book and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society's Better Life Award. In 2012, Why Calories Count: From Science to Politics (co-authored with Dr. Malden Nesheim) won a book of the year award from the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP). Eat, Drink Vote: An Illustrated Guide to Food Politics won an IACP award in 2014. Soda Politics: Taking on Big Soda (and Winning) won the 2016 James Beard Foundation Award for Writing and Literature and the Jane Grigson Award for distinguished scholarship from the International Association of Culinary Professionals.

Nestle wrote the "Food Matters" column for the San Francisco Chronicle from 2008 to 2013. She blogs at foodpolitics.com, and tweets from @marionnestle.

Recognition Nestle received the American Public Health Association's Food and Nutrition Section Award for Excellence in Dietary Guidance in 1994 and was named Nutrition Educator of the Year by Eating Well magazine in 1997. and in 2011 was named a Public Health Hero by the University of California School of Public Health at Berkeley. In 2011, Forbes magazine listed Nestle as number 2 of "The world's 7 most powerful foodies." She received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Transylvania University in Kentucky in 2012. In 2013, she received the James Beard Leadership Award and Healthful Food Council's Innovator of the Year Award and the Public Health Association of New York City's Media Award in 2014. In 2016, Nestle was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Macaulay Honors College, City University of New York.

In 2018 Nestle was honored with a Trailblazer Award from the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP). She also received the Grand Dame Award of Les Dames d’Escoffier International and was appointed to Heritage Food Radio’s Hall of Fame. In 2019 she became the inaugural recipient of the Food Policy Changemaker Award, given by the Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center.

Nestle visited the Edinburgh Science Festival in 2023 to receive the Edinburgh Medal, which is awarded each year to those who make a significant contribution to the understanding and well-being of humanity through science and technology.

Media appearances

Nestle has appeared in the documentary films Super Size Me (2004), Food, Inc. (2008), Food Fight: The Inside Story of the Food Industry (2008), Killer at Large (2008), In Organic We Trust (2012), A Place at the Table (2012), Fed Up (2014), In Defense of Food (2015), and Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken! (2017).

Books Nestle has published at least 16 books and numerous articles. Reissued 2007, 2013. Republished as

(Marion Nestle, in conversation with Kerry Trueman.) (Memoir.) What to Eat Now. North Point Press. 2025.