Book Recommedation

Are you confused the by the ever-changing world of nutrition science? Do you get frustrated when the media say a food is good for you one week and then the next week, change their mind? Do you look at a box of cereal and scratch your head at the too-good-to-be-true health claims? Then you, my friend, need to read Coffee is Bad Good for You. It’s a hilarious new book about nutrition science written by “healthy skeptic” Robert Davis. Yes, I really did write “hilarious new book about nutrition science.”

I have to be upfront here, I am more than just a fan of this book. For nearly a year, I worked with Mr. Davis as his research assistant. I found and evaluated studies, proofread chapters, wrote sidebars, and helped him come up with crazy anecdotes to use in his funny chapter introductions.

In our past lives, Davis and I both worked for CSPI, publisher of the Nutrition Action Healthletter. If you’re a fan of the somewhat snarky, witty writing style of the healthletter, then you’ll love this book! In it, you’ll find out:

• Is locally grown produce more healthful than fruits and vegetables from across the globe?
• Is saturated fat really bad for you?
• Does alcohol cause breast cancer?
• Do you really need eight glasses of water a day for good health?
• Is milk really necessary for strong bones?
• Can oatmeal lower cholesterol?
• Is sea salt more healthful than regular salt?
• Are low-fat cookies better for you than high-fat cheese?

An excerpt from the chapter on garlic:

            If you’re a pitchman for a product known as “stinking rose”—the nickname for garlic—sooner or later you’re likely to wind up with a similar label.  That’s what happened to Larry King, whose radio ads for Garlique brand garlic pills earned him the appellation “garlic breath” among online posters.  It didn’t help that Donald Trump said to King during an interview, “Do you mind if I sit back a little bit because your breath is very bad.  It really is.”

            In those ads for Garlique, King claimed that garlic “has been clinically shown to maintain healthy cholesterol levels”—a euphemism for “lowers cholesterol.”  By using such language, the manufacturer avoided having to provide evidence to the FDA.  A wise move, since King’s claims don’t quite pass the smell test.

            Animal research suggests that garlic may work by inhibiting the body’s production of cholesterol or decreasing its absorption in the intestines. But human studies have produced inconsistent findings.  In a review of ten randomized trials, six of them showed garlic to be effective, reducing total and LDL (bad) cholesterol by about 10 percent. A 2001 meta-analysis of studies found that garlic slightly lowered cholesterol for three months, but when taken for six months, didn’t appear to work.  A more recent meta-analysis, this one of 13 trials, concluded that garlic has little or no benefit.

Want to read the rest of the chapter? Win a copy of the book! I have one to giveaway. Just leave me a comment below to enter. I’ll pick a winner on Saturday, February 11th. What confuses you about nutrition?