Professors Raubenheimer & Simpson receive Wertheimer Award for transformative obesity research

The Wertheimer Award, established in 1986, is awarded for outstanding basic research contributions to the field of obesity. It celebrates individuals who have made significant advances in understanding the fundamental aspects of obesity through rigorous scientific inquiry.

At the International Congress on Obesity 2024 in São Paulo, Brazil, the Wertheimer Award was conferred upon Professors David Raubenheimer and Stephen Simspon for their groundbreaking research in nutritional ecology. Their pioneering work, including the development of the nutritional geometry framework and the protein leverage hypothesis, has provided profound insights into the biological mechanisms driving obesity, reshaping our understanding of dietary behavior across species.

We are delighted to share Professors Raubenheimer and Simpson's speech, where they discuss their research journey and the implications of their findings for the global obesity epidemic.

It is a great honour to receive the prestigious Wertheimer Award for outstanding basic research contributions to the field of obesity. Especially so, considering that we entered obesity research almost by accident, drawn to it through curiosity-driven research examining how species in the natural world select balanced diets. 

To address this question, we invented a new approach for modelling nutrition called nutritional geometry and used it to examine diet selection first in locusts, then many other insects, and later vertebrates including mammals. We found that all these species share a crucial feature of their nutritional biology: they have several “nutrient-specific appetites”, each of which ensures the animal eats the required amount of a specific nutrient.

Nutritional geometry enabled us to examine how nutrient-specific appetites work together to guide animals towards a balanced diet, but also how these appetites for different nutrients can result in problems for animals confined to imbalanced diets. For example, we found that in many species the intake of protein is regulated most strongly – more so than fat, carbohydrate, or total energy intake - and as a result they will over-eat low protein diets to ensure they get their target intake of protein.

The protein leverage hypothesis emphasises several important issues in obesity research. First, it emphasises the importance of nutrient mixtures, rather than single nutrients such as fats or carbohydrates. Second, it emphasises that obesity is not a result of defective energy regulation by humans – our regulatory mechanisms are intact, the same as all the other species we have studied. Rather, the problem lies in our society. We have created food environments that are flooded with highly processed foods that are low in protein, fibre, and nutrients, and rich in simple carbohydrates and fats, to which our appetites systems are not adapted. Third, it emphasises that avoiding excessive energy intake and obesity are not solely up to the individual, but a collective responsibility of society.

Thank you to World Obesity for conferring this honour upon us, and for recognising that combining insights from different disciplines can provide new insights that not are not apparent from within the traditional boundaries of any single discipline.