# David L. Katz

David L. Katz (born February 20, 1963) is an American physician, nutritionist and writer. He was the founding director of the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center that was founded at Griffin Hospital in 1998. Katz is the founder of True Health Initiative and is an advocate of plant-predominant diets.

## Career

Katz received a BA degree from Dartmouth College, an MD degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and an MPH degree from Yale School of Public Health. He is board certified in preventive medicine.
Previously, Katz was a clinical instructor in medicine at the Yale School of Medicine. Katz formerly served as associate director for nutrition science at the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale, following his appointment in 2005. Although Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center is part of the Yale School of Public Health, Katz has not had an academic appointment with Yale since 2016 and is no longer academically affiliated with the university. Katz has authored over 400 scientific papers and written newspaper and magazine articles, including The New York Times and The Oprah Magazine. In 2000, Katz founded the Integrative Medicine Center at Griffin, which ceased operating in November 2014. Katz is a contributor and advisory board member for Naked Food Magazine. He was President of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine 2014–2016.
In 2015, Katz wrote two positive reviews in his Huffington Post blog for a science fiction book that he had published under a pseudonym, without disclosing that he was the author of the book; Huffington Post retracted the posts. In March 2020, Katz was invited by John Ioannidis to join in a proposed meeting intended to convince President Donald Trump not to employ lockdown measures during the COVID-19 pandemic; however, the meeting ultimately did not take place. Katz is a co-signatory of the Great Barrington Declaration.
Katz is the founder and president of True Health Initiative.

## Plant-based nutrition

Katz is an advocate of diets that are "plant-predominant" such as vegan, vegetarian, pescetarian and the Mediterranean diet. He has stated that the "best diets for human health are plant-predominant, whole food plant, predominant, so all of us should be eating plenty of plant foods". Katz has noted that it is long established that improving diet quality can reduce the risk of chronic disease and premature death.
Katz is not a vegan in his personal life but says he eats plant-based most of the time and gave up eating red meat for ethical and environmental reasons. He has commented that "a good vegan diet is not the only option for health promotion, but it is among the best". He has lectured on plant-based nutrition at SUNY Downstate Medical Center and for Plant-Based Health Professionals UK.
His book How to Eat: All Your Food and Diet Questions Answered, co-authored with food journalist Mark Bittman, was published in 2020. It promotes a plant-predominant diet.
Katz wrote a foreword to Sharon Palmer's book The Plant-Powered Diet.

## Selected publications

Articles
* Katz, D.L. (2004). Lifestyle and Dietary Modification for Prevention of Heart Failure. Medical Clinics of North America 88(5): 1295–1320, 2004.
* Hartwig, K.A., Dunville, R.L., Kim, M.H., Levy, B., Zaharek, M.M., Yanchou Njike, V., and Katz, D.L. (2006). Promoting Healthy People 2010 through Small Grants. Health Promotion Practice 2009, Volume: 10 issue: 1, page(s): 24–33 https://doi.org/10.1177/1524839906289048
* Katz, D.L., O'Connell, M., Yeh, M.C., Nawaz, H., Njike, V., Anderson, L.M., Cory, S., and Dietz, W. Public Health Strategies for Preventing and Controlling Overweight and Obesity in School and Worksite Settings: A Report on Recommendations of the Task Force on Community Preventive Services. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 54(RR-10): 1–12, 2005.
* Katz, D.L. (2019). Plant-Based Diets for Reversing Disease and Saving the Planet: Past, Present, and Future. Advances in Nutrition 1: 10(Suppl_4):S304-S307.
Books
* Katz, D.L., Bittman, M. (2020). How to Eat: All Your Food and Diet Questions Answered. Harvest. ISBN 978-0358128823
* Katz, D.L. (2022). Nutrition in Clinical Practice. LWW. ISBN 978-1975161491