The RHL Research Foundation is an independent research foundation dedicated to five key strategic areas of interest.

Since giving a public lecture entitled “Sugar — the Bitter Truth” (shared on YouTube in 2009 and now exceeding 15 million views), Dr. Robert Lustig has emerged as a global leader in the conversation about nutrition, metabolic health, addiction, and social devolution. Dr. Lustig has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles and four books for the public, one of which is a New York Times bestseller. A highly effective clinician-researcher, Dr. Lustig was compelled to provide global leadership when he saw that multiple paradigm shifts were needed to halt the pandemic of the metabolic disease plaguing the planet. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, Dr. Lustig’s prescient warnings about metabolic health turned out to be central to understanding why some thrive and others die when faced with the virus that has placed the human race on pause.

There are complex but clear and compelling characteristics as to why Dr. Lustig’s work has been impactful. This independent research foundation is being created not to enshrine the man and his mission but rather to propagate and perpetuate the paradigm-shifting clinician-researcher model that he exemplifies so well.

The RHL Research Foundation is an independent research foundation that bridges public health, policy, and law and leverages its impact on metabolic health by partnering with leading institutions.

An independent foundation is needed precisely because Dr. Lustig’s work integrates multidisciplinary and translational approaches that transcend traditional academic siloes and defy standard research allocations and administrative agendas.