Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition
92
Adams Parker
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New York Times Bestseller
What happens when you eat an apple? The answer is vastly more complex than you imagine.
Every apple contains thousands of antioxidants whose names, beyond a few like vitamin C, are unfamiliar to us, and each of these powerful chemicals has the potential to play an important role in supporting our health. They impact thousands upon thousands of metabolic reactions inside the human body. But calculating the specific influence of each of these chemicals isn't nearly sufficient to explain the effect of the apple as a whole. Because almost every chemical can affect every other chemical, there is an almost infinite number of possible biological consequences.
And that's just from an apple.
Nutritional science, long stuck in a reductionist mindset, is at the cusp of a revolution. The traditional “gold standard" of nutrition research has been to study one chemical at a time in an attempt to determine its particular impact on the human body. These sorts of studies are helpful to food companies trying to prove there is a chemical in milk or pre-packaged dinners that is “good" for us, but they provide little insight into the complexity of what actually happens in our bodies or how those chemicals contribute to our health.
In The China Study, T. Colin Campbell (alongside his son, Thomas M. Campbell) revolutionized the way we think about our food with the evidence that a whole food, plant-based diet is the healthiest way to eat. Now, in Whole, he explains the science behind that evidence, the ways our current scientific paradigm ignores the fascinating complexity of the human body, and why, if we have such overwhelming evidence that everything we think we know about nutrition is wrong, our eating habits haven't changed.
Whole is an eye-opening, paradigm-changing journey through cutting-edge thinking on nutrition, a scientific tour de force with powerful implications for our health and for our world.
What happens when you eat an apple? The answer is vastly more complex than you imagine.
Every apple contains thousands of antioxidants whose names, beyond a few like vitamin C, are unfamiliar to us, and each of these powerful chemicals has the potential to play an important role in supporting our health. They impact thousands upon thousands of metabolic reactions inside the human body. But calculating the specific influence of each of these chemicals isn't nearly sufficient to explain the effect of the apple as a whole. Because almost every chemical can affect every other chemical, there is an almost infinite number of possible biological consequences.
And that's just from an apple.
Nutritional science, long stuck in a reductionist mindset, is at the cusp of a revolution. The traditional “gold standard" of nutrition research has been to study one chemical at a time in an attempt to determine its particular impact on the human body. These sorts of studies are helpful to food companies trying to prove there is a chemical in milk or pre-packaged dinners that is “good" for us, but they provide little insight into the complexity of what actually happens in our bodies or how those chemicals contribute to our health.
In The China Study, T. Colin Campbell (alongside his son, Thomas M. Campbell) revolutionized the way we think about our food with the evidence that a whole food, plant-based diet is the healthiest way to eat. Now, in Whole, he explains the science behind that evidence, the ways our current scientific paradigm ignores the fascinating complexity of the human body, and why, if we have such overwhelming evidence that everything we think we know about nutrition is wrong, our eating habits haven't changed.
Whole is an eye-opening, paradigm-changing journey through cutting-edge thinking on nutrition, a scientific tour de force with powerful implications for our health and for our world.
New York Times Bestseller
What happens when you eat an apple? The answer is vastly more complex than you imagine.
Every apple contains thousands of antioxidants whose names, beyond a few like vitamin C, are unfamiliar to us, and each of these powerful chemicals has the potential to play an important role in supporting our health. They impact thousands upon thousands of metabolic reactions inside the human body. But calculating the specific influence of each of these chemicals isn't nearly sufficient to explain the effect of the apple as a whole. Because almost every chemical can affect every other chemical, there is an almost infinite number of possible biological consequences.
And that's just from an apple.
Nutritional science, long stuck in a reductionist mindset, is at the cusp of a revolution. The traditional “gold standard" of nutrition research has been to study one chemical at a time in an attempt to determine its particular impact on the human body. These sorts of studies are helpful to food companies trying to prove there is a chemical in milk or pre-packaged dinners that is “good" for us, but they provide little insight into the complexity of what actually happens in our bodies or how those chemicals contribute to our health.
In The China Study, T. Colin Campbell (alongside his son, Thomas M. Campbell) revolutionized the way we think about our food with the evidence that a whole food, plant-based diet is the healthiest way to eat. Now, in Whole, he explains the science behind that evidence, the ways our current scientific paradigm ignores the fascinating complexity of the human body, and why, if we have such overwhelming evidence that everything we think we know about nutrition is wrong, our eating habits haven't changed.
Whole is an eye-opening, paradigm-changing journey through cutting-edge thinking on nutrition, a scientific tour de force with powerful implications for our health and for our world.
What happens when you eat an apple? The answer is vastly more complex than you imagine.
Every apple contains thousands of antioxidants whose names, beyond a few like vitamin C, are unfamiliar to us, and each of these powerful chemicals has the potential to play an important role in supporting our health. They impact thousands upon thousands of metabolic reactions inside the human body. But calculating the specific influence of each of these chemicals isn't nearly sufficient to explain the effect of the apple as a whole. Because almost every chemical can affect every other chemical, there is an almost infinite number of possible biological consequences.
And that's just from an apple.
Nutritional science, long stuck in a reductionist mindset, is at the cusp of a revolution. The traditional “gold standard" of nutrition research has been to study one chemical at a time in an attempt to determine its particular impact on the human body. These sorts of studies are helpful to food companies trying to prove there is a chemical in milk or pre-packaged dinners that is “good" for us, but they provide little insight into the complexity of what actually happens in our bodies or how those chemicals contribute to our health.
In The China Study, T. Colin Campbell (alongside his son, Thomas M. Campbell) revolutionized the way we think about our food with the evidence that a whole food, plant-based diet is the healthiest way to eat. Now, in Whole, he explains the science behind that evidence, the ways our current scientific paradigm ignores the fascinating complexity of the human body, and why, if we have such overwhelming evidence that everything we think we know about nutrition is wrong, our eating habits haven't changed.
Whole is an eye-opening, paradigm-changing journey through cutting-edge thinking on nutrition, a scientific tour de force with powerful implications for our health and for our world.
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Eye-opening and Alarming. There is a quotation from Isaac Asimov at the beginning of Chapter 9 of the book, “The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.” One of the primary reasons that science is gathering knowledge faster than we gather wisdom is the nature of scientific research. The first major lesson you will learn is the difference between a holistic, or as the author coins it a wholistic approach and a reductionist approach to research. The wholistic approach backs up and looks at the big picture in context. The reductionist model narrows the scope and looks at isolated, small slices of research. We have been moving deeper and deeper into a reductionist model in so many areas of modern life and in particular in scientific research. You will need to keep these two approaches in mind as you read through the book. Mr. Campbell believes that we gain insight and therefore wisdom by taking a wholistic view of things in the proper context.Mr. Campbell tries to condense 50 years of professional research, the wisdom gained from that research and the transformation of his personal philosophy into a 300 page book. That is a very difficult task. While he does a very admirable job, I believe it is asking a bit much to think that most readers will reach the same level of understanding that he achieved after a life-time devoted exclusively to this study.The major theme of this book is that our health-care system is ” …more properly called a disease-care system, because it just reacts to and manages disease, producing the expensive and disappointing outcomes we’ve come to tolerate and expect without knowing there’s another, better way.” The better way in his view is Whole Food Plant Based diet. Mr. Campbell states, “The foods you consume can heal you faster and more profoundly than the most expensive prescription drugs and more dramatically than the most extreme surgical interventions, with only positive side effects.”A most compelling argument is made against the vitamin and supplement market. He makes a convincing case that for the most part we are fooling ourselves and literally wasting billions of dollars when taking these. Filling our bodies with vitamin pills does not come close to providing the benefits we expect for the simple reason that the pill does not remotely match the vitamins and minerals found in the natural fruits and vegetables. In fact some supplements we think are doing good are actually doing significant harm. “In a study in Finland showed that beta-carotene supplements given for 6.5 years increased lung cancer deaths by 46%.””What you eat every day is far more powerful determinant of your heath than your DNA or most of the nasty chemicals lurking in your environment.” Currently, hundreds of billions of dollars are being spent on genetic testing and sequencing every year in the United States, without getting us any closer to solving our health-care crisis.” Mr. Campbell’s major argument, backed up with significant proof, is that a plant based diet is a fast, efficient path to better health. It would put us on the path to better health with no side effects.The tone of the book was Mr. Campbell against the world. While there is no doubt that he must feel like a lone voice crying in the wilderness, I am not sure this approach is the most effective for converting large numbers of followers. He launched a direct assault on the pharmaceutical industry, medical profession, food industry, academia, non-profit health organizations, the news media and the government. He makes a very compelling case that all those organizations have absolutely no incentive to change. In fact to change would decrease their power. My only concern when you are vastly out-numbered and facing foes with unlimited resources, a frontal attack is ill-advised. A more prudent approach would be to use guerilla tactics.The second issue I have is that as consumers, we certainly must share the blame for our current health care mess. We don’t/won’t do the things we should be doing for better health. The pharmaceutical industry did not condition us to prefer a pill over the proper diet and lifestyle. Humans are lazy and have always sought the magic bullet. There are countless stories of people who will not abandon their vices even when they know they are dying a slow death.Mr. Campbell is a highly trained, well-recognized scientist. Having spent his life doing research to very exacting standards, he is conditioned that his claims must withstand scrutiny. His conclusions are based on scientific research. You will be impressed with his knowledge and the level approach he takes. He is constantly seeking to find the truth. Since he is no longer dependent on research grants, he is free to speak very frankly about his intimate knowledge of scientific/medical research.As I was reading this book, I could not help but think of Galileo. He was among the first to teach that the earth was not the center of the universe, that in fact it revolved around the sun. Galileo had scientific proof for his belief. He was not greeted with open praise for his discovery. He was tried by the Catholic Church and found “vehemently suspect of heresy”. When facts contradict thousands of years of practice, change and acceptance comes slowly. There are too many people with too much vested in the status quo.A very eye-opening and alarming book. We have been conditioned – brain washed – about that constitutes good nutrition. It is ruining our health. You have the power to take control and totally change that.
Highly informative look into impact of nutrition on health and health policy in the US. Whole is a provocative reflection on nutrition and its role in health. The author gives a highly critical account of health policy and nutrition in the United States from his long experience in both policy, medicine and biochemical and nutritional research. The book is balanced, the author tries to be objective to the extent possible when one has an entrenched view, and full of evidence. The account is fairly damning of reductionist western medicine’s philosophy on health and methodology for curing disease. The author believes the complexity of the human body does not lend itself to targeted cures based on the body having missing ingredients and believes we need to view the body wholistically and that nutrition is the most import determinant of health. Furthermore good nutrition is founded in a whole foods and plant based diet and that animal meat and dairy are key sources of free radicals. Unfortunately after reading this it is pretty hard not to rethink your diet so practically the book is inconvenient but of course the lessons learned are truly invaluable.The book is separated into 4 sections which the first and last are an introduction and conclusion. The first core content section is titled Paradigm as a Prison. The author goes about discussing the current western paradigm of medicine and health for which reductionism is king. The author discusses how reductionism makes sense for certain kinds of problems but when faced with complexity of a level that is incomprehensible reductionism leads to misunderstanding and is akin to people being blinded trying to understand an elephant by considering a small part. The author shows some metabolic charts and describes some of his early research regarding a potential carcinogen and how the concepts of cause and effect turned out to be so much more nuanced than initially believed. There is no question that reductionist science has been the way of progress for science from the enlightenment with its champion being physics but there is definitely a growing appreciation of the intrinsic difficulty to understand the details of complex dynamical systems in other parts of applied math and science more broadly. The author notes that though broad based health studies don’t use the same kinds of statistics and chemical analysis to try to argue their point, they give a robust view of how health is impacted by diet and his China Study gives a form of insight into nutrition and health that is of extreme importance. In particular the author argues convincingly that nutrition can’t be understood by decomposing the orange as the nutrition absorbed by the parts is different from the whole and that a whole foods and plant based diet leads to much lower cancer rates. These are the results from his China Study which looked at health across China as a function of different diets. Its almost impossible for someone to believe that nutrition doesn’t impact health but nonetheless the author notes as a general point that cancer rates of ethnic groups are a function of their local conditions and eating habits. The more contentious point is not about the importance of nutrition for health but on its magnitude of influence and its speed of effectiveness. The author believes that cancer rates are predominantly determined by nutrition, not partially and that a turn to a whole foods and plant based diet can have quick turnaround effect. As a consequence of these two fundamental differences he believes health policy needs to be totally changed.This takes the author into his next section which is a description of the status quo. It is fairly damning and many of the institutions most people think are promoting worthy goals the author takes apart. Many people will likely be offended but the authors arguments are clear and most are persuasive. The author argues that the current policies in place focus on health care after health issues surface rather than the recipe that people should follow to prevent health problems from arising. The author also argues that from multiple directions the whole foods plant based diet will help the planet and that includes environmental noting the methane emissions from the dairy industry. The author argues that the current health care system and reductionist medicine already is the third largest killer in the United States though that is not a recognized fact though there is strong evidence to suggest it. The author argues that the funding of research science lends itself to trials with narrow goals and is funded by a combination of the government and drug companies (which are subsidized by the government) and narrow goals are perpetuated by self interest. The medical profession is also biased by its self interest and as a consequence not for profit foundations, headed by doctors, continue to pursue solutions that are within the current western paradigm to the detriment of the health of society. The author argues that the research centers, both university and professional, the medical profession, the government, many of the large charities and the media are all doing society a disservice with their current approach (some more consciously than others).Whole is a great book that makes the reader re-think a lot of things that are taught to them throughout their lives with strong evidence. One comes away with more healthy skepticism and some reinforced beliefs about the role of diet in healthy living. Unfortunately the diet proposed is pretty hard to follow so unfortunately most of us will fail at it due to problems of self control, but nonetheless important lessons are learned from this and a more realistic perspective of the medical profession and current policy are formed. Definitely recommend this
eye-opening!!!
Great book, with lots of useful information. A must after the China study.Bought it second-hand. The book came in good condition, but I did expect a better-looking cover. Delivery was delayed.
A real eye-opener. Excellent book and a very convincing, and factual explanation of our misguided health care system. If you watch any TV, about 99% of commercials are from junk food companies or pharmaceutical companies pushing drugs to manage disease symptoms. But you also hear in fast talk-the horrific potential side effects that are deliberately minimized. After reading the book, one also looks at the contents of the grocery stores where we shop and suddenly realize-it is mostly harmful garbage that no one should be consuming—at least no one who wants to be healthy!! And from personal experience in the health care field, I can guarantee you-pharmaceutical companies are extremely powerful and influential —no matter how hard you try to resist their influence. It will be an uphill battle and the odds are against people giving up junk foods ir quick fixes.I will personally have a difficult time giving up dairy. I don’t even like meat so that isn’t a problem. However, I am going to do the best I can. Unfortunately, I think even the plants we get in a grocery store are unhealthy ie loaded with chemicals and not many people can grow their own food.