Back on October 9, 2017 I blogged about a book in a post titled It must be true, since I read it in a book. Several months ago, at my friendly local public library, I saw the different 2017 book by Steven R. Gundry titled The Plant Paradox (and subtitled The Hidden Dangers in “Healthy” Foods That Cause Disease and Weight Gain) on the new books shelf. Amazingly there are 21 copies in the Treasure Valley libraries union catalog - six in the city of Boise, six in Ada County, etc. He opens by stating:
“Suppose that in the next few pages I told you that everything you thought you knew about your diet, your health, and your weight is wrong. For decades, I believed those lies as well. I was eating a ‘healthy’ diet (after all, I’m a heart surgeon). I rarely ate fast food; I consumed low-far dairy and whole grains.”
My reaction was about the same as when I saw the cover of the 1974 Firesign Theatre comedy album Everything You Know Is Wrong. While I am ready to be amused, it will take an awful lot more to persuade me. I just shook my head, put the book down and walked away.
At Science-Based Medicine on October 25, 2022 Harriet Hall reviewed that book in an article titled The Plant Paradox: Steven Gundry’s war on lectins. She concluded he was peddling nonsense. The Cleveland Clinic on May 22, 2022 has another article titled Plant Paradox diet: Does it work for weight loss? which says to try something else. And, back when the book came out, James Hamblin at the The Atlantic had yet another article on April 24, 2017 titled The Next Gluten.
It gets worse though. Dr. Gundry also is selling supplements. Joe Schwarcz at the Mcgill Office for Science and Society has an article on February 1, 2018 titled What’s a ‘Vital Red’ supplement and should I be taking it? Joe’s answer is heck no.
The image is edited from an old poster at the Library of Congress.
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