A concise, entertaining book that demystifies the benefits of balanced microbes through healthier eating.
Spector (Genetic Epidemiology/King’s Coll. London; Identically Different: Why We Can Change Our Genes, 2013) asserts that essential digestive microbes are major determinants of body composition.
Following a jarring health scare that led to a personal “wake-up call,” the author began investigating how to improve his own health through a proactively healthful food plan and wound up juggling confusing, conflicted “quackery” with a bounty of counterintuitive diets (Atkins, Paleolithic, South Beach, etc.). Spector’s employed groups of 50 individuals along with thousands of adult twins he’d already been studying for two decades, supplemented with his own personal biology, all in an effort to “separate the effects of diet and environment from the effects of our genes.” After delineating the details of human microbe colonization, Spector analyzes key dietary macronutrients like fat, protein, carbohydrate, sugar, and fiber components and how they correspond to the accumulation or decimation of human gut bacteria, which primarily thrive on the kind of natural, nutrient-dense, diversified food sources many avoid. Alongside discussions of sugary drinks and unsavory yet prevalent “chubby” cheese mites, Spector bolsters his arguments with anecdotes from exceptional experiments akin to his own short-lived unpasteurized French cheese diet (“to test the best variety of French cheeses to provide a wide variety of microbes”). The author fully supports the idea that a healthy amount of stomach flora naturally wards off harmful microbes, while a diet rich in highly processed food destroys scores of these organisms, leaving the body susceptible to deteriorative disease. While Spector’s skepticism about calorie counting and probiotics may raise eyebrows, serious foodies and wellness experts will best appreciate his urgency at addressing what he deems a burgeoning global “nutritional disaster.”
A concise, entertaining book that demystifies the benefits of balanced microbes through healthier eating.Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4683-1151-8
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Overlook
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
Useful but disappointingly commonplace tips.
In a follow-up to The End of Illness (2012), which explored how technological advances will transform medicine, Agus (Medicine and Engineering/Univ. of Southern California) restates time-tested but too often overlooked principles for healthy living.
The author outlines simple measures that average citizens can take to live healthier lives and extend their life spans by taking advantage of modern technology to develop personalized records. These would include a list of medical tests and recommended treatments. Agus also suggests keeping track of indicators that can be observed at home on a regular basis—e.g., changes in energy, weight, appetite and blood pressure, blood sugar and general appearance. He advises that all of this information be made available online, and it is also helpful to investigate family history and consider DNA testing where indicated. Along with maintaining a healthy weight, Agus emphasizes the importance of eating a balanced diet, with plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables and a minimum of red meat. Avoid packaged vitamins and food supplements, and if possible, grow your own vegetables or buy frozen vegetables, which will generally be fresher than those on supermarket shelves. The author also warns against processed foods that make health claims but contain additives or excessive amounts of sugar or fat. Regular mealtimes and plenty of sleep, frequent hand-washing and oral hygiene are a must; smoking and excessive time in the sun should also be avoided. Agus recommends that adults should consider taking statins and baby aspirin as preventative measures. He concludes with a decade-by-decade checklist of annual medical examinations that should be routine—e.g. blood pressure, diabetes and cholesterol screenings, from one’s 20s on; colonoscopies, prostate exams and mammograms later—and a variety of top-10 lists (for example, “Top 10 Reasons to Take a Walk”).
Useful but disappointingly commonplace tips.Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4767-3095-0
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 30, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Oncologist Agus (Medicine and Engineering/Univ. of Southern California) predicts that the application of advanced technology for modeling complex systems will transform 21st-century medicine.
The author writes that a remark Nobel Laureate Murray Gell-Mann made to him in 2009—“Look at cancer as a system"—transformed the way he views his own specialty and the entire field of preventative medicine. It made him realize that “[r]ather than honoring the body as the exceedingly complex system that it is, we keep looking for the individual gene that has gone awry, or for the one ‘secret’ that can improve our health.” Agus writes that although the ability to sequence the entire human genome is a great step forward, it is insufficient for achieving a significant breakthrough. Even though it may start with a mutation, cancer “is a dynamic process that's happening…far from the confines of a static piece of DNA”—it involves the body's immune system, its ability to regulate cell growth, metabolism and more. Agus directs his university’s Center for Applied Molecular Medicine and is the co-founder of two personalized medicine companies, Applied Proteomics and Navigenics. His hope is that their research will contribute to developing better analytical tools for preventative medicine and for the treatment of cancers. These will address the functioning of the body as a whole, applying digital technology already used by physicists to provide virtual models of cancers and model the action of proteins that regulate cell communication in the body. He also hopes to develop tools that will provide information on the concentration of different proteins in a drop of blood taken from a patient, which may reveal the onset of disease. The author also includes some guiding principles and warnings about certain healthy practices that may not be so healthy. A refreshing change of pace in the medical field, but by venturing beyond his field of expertise to pontificate on a wide range of subjects, Agus makes his otherwise intriguing narrative difficult to follow.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4516-1017-8
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Free Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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