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Sophie's Reviews > How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease
How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease
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Utterly frustrating.
Full disclosure - I'm a Bioscience graduate specialising in Neuropharmacology and studied safety pharmacology extensively in university.
Firstly, Greger does not understand the basic principle of pharmacology which is honestly alarming as he is a doctor. Paracelcus, the biggest name in safety pharmacology, said "the dose makes the poison." This means that everything is toxic if you consume enough of it. Literally everything. So when Greger is raving about how turmeric is a miracle food and you should consume pepper to stop your liver detoxifying it (!!!) - take this with a pinch of salt. No food is a miracle. Eat lots of things in balanced portions. Do not glorify broccoli as the food that will save your life - it won't. He also says food does not has side effects - suprise! Everything will have a side effect if you consume too much of it.
Secondly, Greger can not read trials well. Dripping concentrated food extracts on a petri dish does not mean the same effects will be replicated in the body. ADME is a basic in safety pharmacology which stands for absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion. If a compound can not be absorbed into the body easily or does not get distributed to the brain due to the brain's protective features or is metabolised by the liver the moment it gets in the body and is excreted there will be no benefit . So many of the studies cited weren't based on proper science.
Thirdly, Greger says that food is inherently better than drugs and we can't prove that because doctors are paid by pharmaceuticals and no one will pay for the research because you "can't patent broccoli." You can. So many drugs are from natural products that are refined and improved to get the maximum efficacy. For example, Morphine is derived from poppy seeds. If you eat enough poppy seeds you will experience analgesia and side effects eg your breathing will become depressed. Again, this is how basic pharmacology works. If a food has not been made into a drug it's not because it's not profitable. It's because it doesn't work as well as existing medication.
Fourthly, Greger is so into his own principles (and veganism is great don't get me wrong) that he doesn't touch on research that doesn't fuel his own message - eg the food that is currently regarded as the most relevant to the development of dementia is sugar but this is never touched on.
Fifthly, Greger does not understand patient compliance. Sometimes, people just want to eat cheese and beef and fish and eggs and if you ban it they will still eat it. Doctors don't ban people from eating substances because it will not work a lot of the time. Drugs have better patient compliance so they are prescribed to help illnesses.
A pet peeve of mine - Greger said to avoid illness by using hand sanitizers! If you're a doctor or immunosuppressed - go ahead. If you're healthy, please don't. The way to live longer is to expose your immune system so your body has immunity by the time you become elderly and immunosuppressed.
Honestly, the book is written well it just lacks a lot of substance. Also the UK "translation" seemed a little jarring. It's clearly an American book - we know what walmart and the subway is you don't need to say "Tesco" and "the Tube" (why did they capitalise Tube? I am perplexed)
If you want a book on nutrition "Happy Food: How eating well can lift your mood and bring you joy" is much stronger. If you want to be healthy - eat more veg! Try to cut your meat and fish down. Try not to eat processed food. Stay in a healthy BMI zone if you can? Try to cut down on your sugar. Eat colourful food. Eat as varied a diet as possible - don't stick to your common ingredients. Take inspiration from the Mediterranean diet! Find what works for you :)
Full disclosure - I'm a Bioscience graduate specialising in Neuropharmacology and studied safety pharmacology extensively in university.
Firstly, Greger does not understand the basic principle of pharmacology which is honestly alarming as he is a doctor. Paracelcus, the biggest name in safety pharmacology, said "the dose makes the poison." This means that everything is toxic if you consume enough of it. Literally everything. So when Greger is raving about how turmeric is a miracle food and you should consume pepper to stop your liver detoxifying it (!!!) - take this with a pinch of salt. No food is a miracle. Eat lots of things in balanced portions. Do not glorify broccoli as the food that will save your life - it won't. He also says food does not has side effects - suprise! Everything will have a side effect if you consume too much of it.
Secondly, Greger can not read trials well. Dripping concentrated food extracts on a petri dish does not mean the same effects will be replicated in the body. ADME is a basic in safety pharmacology which stands for absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion. If a compound can not be absorbed into the body easily or does not get distributed to the brain due to the brain's protective features or is metabolised by the liver the moment it gets in the body and is excreted there will be no benefit . So many of the studies cited weren't based on proper science.
Thirdly, Greger says that food is inherently better than drugs and we can't prove that because doctors are paid by pharmaceuticals and no one will pay for the research because you "can't patent broccoli." You can. So many drugs are from natural products that are refined and improved to get the maximum efficacy. For example, Morphine is derived from poppy seeds. If you eat enough poppy seeds you will experience analgesia and side effects eg your breathing will become depressed. Again, this is how basic pharmacology works. If a food has not been made into a drug it's not because it's not profitable. It's because it doesn't work as well as existing medication.
Fourthly, Greger is so into his own principles (and veganism is great don't get me wrong) that he doesn't touch on research that doesn't fuel his own message - eg the food that is currently regarded as the most relevant to the development of dementia is sugar but this is never touched on.
Fifthly, Greger does not understand patient compliance. Sometimes, people just want to eat cheese and beef and fish and eggs and if you ban it they will still eat it. Doctors don't ban people from eating substances because it will not work a lot of the time. Drugs have better patient compliance so they are prescribed to help illnesses.
A pet peeve of mine - Greger said to avoid illness by using hand sanitizers! If you're a doctor or immunosuppressed - go ahead. If you're healthy, please don't. The way to live longer is to expose your immune system so your body has immunity by the time you become elderly and immunosuppressed.
Honestly, the book is written well it just lacks a lot of substance. Also the UK "translation" seemed a little jarring. It's clearly an American book - we know what walmart and the subway is you don't need to say "Tesco" and "the Tube" (why did they capitalise Tube? I am perplexed)
If you want a book on nutrition "Happy Food: How eating well can lift your mood and bring you joy" is much stronger. If you want to be healthy - eat more veg! Try to cut your meat and fish down. Try not to eat processed food. Stay in a healthy BMI zone if you can? Try to cut down on your sugar. Eat colourful food. Eat as varied a diet as possible - don't stick to your common ingredients. Take inspiration from the Mediterranean diet! Find what works for you :)
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Reading Progress
January 7, 2019
–
Started Reading
January 7, 2019
– Shelved
January 12, 2019
– Shelved as:
non-fiction
January 12, 2019
–
Finished Reading
January 12, 2020
– Shelved as:
biomedical-books
Comments Showing 1-3 of 3 (3 new)
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by
Co
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Jan 17, 2021 01:00PM
I love Dr Gregor (I think he means well) but your critique makes a lot of sense. I will try to get the book you recommended as well. Thank you for your well articulated review.
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I'm sorry but I cannot agree with this review and I think the ignorance is palpable. Firstly the fact you have a degree means absolutely nothing. I will go through each point in turn 1) he doesn't claim you should eat too much of anything, at all, ever. In fact he goes through many different types of foods and the pros and cons of these. He does however say don't eat meat and he backs it up with a wealth of evidence to why this is. Since when does 'all food' have a side effect? Yeah broccoli is well known for having side effects. 2) Gregor does mention some studies only based on using Petri dishes, but he acknowledges that and caveats it well. What you fail to mention is that this makes up a tiny portion of the studies. You don't mention the many studies he evidences completed by such amateurs as Harvard or the national cancer institute etc using double blind methods with subjects into their thousands. 3) of course drugs use the natural ingredients but he makes it clear these are not as effective as the live version taken from plants and again uses much evidence to support this. If you believe that a half a trillion pound (per year) business can be trusted and not questioned, you are beyond nieve. 4) this book has so !such so substance, he lays his arguments out superbly and uses studies to substantiate this. So what he doesn't include one foodstuff. It's also worth pointing out he doesn't argue against sugar, in fact for diabetes, he lays out of is not sugar that's the issue but meat fat. 5. Why should he? I'm fact he used superb arguments that doctors shouldn't his the truth just because it's convenient. Your argument is both lazy and damaging. It's like saying maybe carry on taking smack because you won't change, it's nonsensical. 5. If he does mention it, it is fleeting and you are just trying to pick holes now. Finally the biggest joke is the book lacks substance. Anything but, it is full of substance; evidence, studies, personal experience and humanity. Oh and your last paragraph, is basically what Gregor recommends. I wanted to write this comments so others are not put off by this ridiculous review (I don't have issues with the low scoring reviews, just this one). If you are thinking about reading this make your own mind up, I suspect there is an ulterior motive at play here.
Yeah, the last paragraph of this review is literally his recommendation. I can see some of these points but it mostly reads as a medical professional getting defensive and explaining why they aren't pushing a plant-based diet...and then suggesting a plant-based diet.
