I’m reading How Not To Die by Michael Gregor right now, and in a lot of ways, this book is exactly the kinds of thing that I’m looking for. It’s written by an M.D. and explains both the how and the why, citing studies to back up his claims.
I’m looking for something like this book, but the problem that I have with this book is that it specifically advocates veganism. I’m not opposed to veganism and in general I’m convinced that it leads to an overall healthier diet. Michael Gregor makes it known in the introduction though that he has a bias against eating animal products, and that bias is pretty clear even from chapter 1, where he seems to be cherry picking studies and skipping over crucial pieces of information.
I’m not trying to inflame vegans or Michael Gregor fans here. I hope I haven’t done that. I’m just here to ask if anyone knows of good nutrition books in the same vein of this one which are written by experts who don’t have any ethical attachments to the conversation, and who I can be more confident are just trying to tell me the science. Thank you in advance!
Our book recommendation page has an entire section on nutrition textbooks, which are going to have way less bias due to their need to appeal to nutrition professors across the country than a pop-sci book aimed at a lay audience that has no ability to distinguish fact from hyperbole.
Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy is good and scientifically accurate. Like others stated, the general advice of eat more fruits & veggies, more whole gains, and less processed foods are the main ideas across most nutrition books. The book does not advocate for veganism, but does suggest making meat a smaller focus in the diet, and goes into detail about the science that led to his recommendations.
The Path to Longevity by Luigi Fontana.
A good resource to check for scientific accuracy on a few popular nutrition/health books is https://www.redpenreviews.org/reviews/ . Some authors really have terrible scores.
Just gonna repeat what I usually answer on book recommendation threads :
MARION NESTLE.
If you’re more interested to learn about food science as opposed to nutrition, On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee.
Maybe try Boundless by Ben Greenfield, he can be a bit fridge at times but he’s well educated and reads tons of published studies and condenses the information for the masses in his podcast and articles he writes.
‘Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It’ by Gary Taubes. This book was life changing for me and also helped me to better understand nutritional studies and how to tell which are bull shit or not.
I would also suggest the ‘Primal Blueprint’ and ‘Fat for Fuel’.
I echo your thoughts. I enjoyed the book and have adopted much of his advice, although it is clearly cherry picked—how could a whole chapter on dementia prevention neglect to mention the studies that show the positive effect of fish on brain health?
Not much to add, other than I’m reading around just like you.