Kris Verburgh

Kris Verburgh is the youngest author of a scientific book. In 2004, the then 17-year-old author of the book Schitterend! (Magnificent!) was our guest at PINC.5. He wrote this book on astronomy for his peers, when he noticed that many of them couldn’t grasp the much-admired book The Universe by Stephen Hawking.

Since then, Verburgh has graduated magna cum laude in medical science at the University of Antwerp and has written two further popular scientific books. In the first, the young scientist ponders the origin and evolution of life on earth. This book was also warmly received, but it was his third book, De Voedselzandloper (The Food Hourglass), that broke all his earlier records. As a medical scientist, Verburgh is specialized in aging. Based on leading scientific research published worldwide, De Voedselzandloper suggests a radically altered diet that will ensure good health into old age.

To clarify the principles of his diet, Verburgh designed the “food hourglass” as an alternative to the more common “food pyramid” or “five basic food groups”. The hourglass clarifies, at a glance, which types of food we should try to avoid and what they can best be replaced with. Since its release a year ago, De Voedselzandloper has sold 150,000 copies.