Bioactive Bites - Episode 1 (8 September 2026)

In this first episode of Bioactive Bites, anthropologist Dr Paul Mason speaks with Associate Professor Gyorgy Scrinis, author of "Nutritionism" (2013), about the limits of nutrient-based thinking and the future of food science. Scrinis unpacks his influential concept of nutritionism (the reduction of food to its chemical parts) and explains how this reductive framework continues to shape public health policy, food industry marketing, and everyday eating habits.

 

Mason and Scrinis explore what a more holistic and rigorous science of food might look like: one that recognises the synergy of whole foods, the context of eating, and the social and ecological relationships that sustain health. Using bioactives as a case study, the conversation considers whether emerging research on plant compounds like polyphenols and carotenoids can move us beyond nutritionism and toward a deeper understanding of how fresh produce nourishes both body and planet.