| View Larger Image | Good Calories, Bad Calories: Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health (Vintage) | Paperbackby Gary Taubes (Author)
| List Price: | $16.95 | | Price: | $11.53 | | You Save: | $5.42 (32%) | | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
| | Binding: | Paperback | | Publisher: | Anchor | | Edition: | Reprintth Edition | | Page Count: | 640 Pages | | Publication Date: | September 23, 2008 | | Sales Rank: | 2,455nd |
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FEATURES | - ISBN13: 9781400033461
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
For decades we have been taught that fat is bad for us, carbohydrates better, and that the key to a healthy weight is eating less and exercising more. Yet despite this advice, we have seen unprecedented epidemics of obesity and diabetes. Taubes argues that the problem lies in refined carbohydrates, like white flour, easily digested starches, and sugars, and that the key to good health is the kind of calories we take in, not the number. In this groundbreaking book, award-winning science writer Gary Taubes shows us that almost everything we believe about the nature of a healthy diet is wrong. |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 244 reviews)
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Taubes Should Win a Nobel Prize for GCBC by Steven Parker (Arizona USA)  5 Stars
November 24, 2009
Good Calories, Bad Calories deserves much wider currency among physicians, dietitians, nutritionists, and obesity researchers. The epidemic of overweight and obesity over the last 30 years should make us question the reigning theories of obesity treatment and prevention. Taubes questioned those theories and pursued pursued answers wherever the evidence led. He shares in GCBC his eye-opening, even radical, well-reasoned findings.
Ultimately, this tome is an indictment of the reigning scientific community and public nutrition policy-makers of the last four decades. That explains why, two years after publication, this serious, scholarly work has not been reviewed by the New England Journal of Medicine, the Journal of the American Medical Association, the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition , and the Journal of the American Dietetic Association (as of August, 2009).
In Part 1, Taubes examines the scientific evidence for what he calls the fat-cholesterol hypothesis. More commonly known as the diet-heart hypothesis, it's the idea that dietary fat (especially saturated fat) and cholesterol clog heart arteries, causing heart attacks. Taubes finds the evidence unconvincing. He's probably right.
Part 2, The Carbohydrate Hypothesis, revives and older theory from the mid-twentieth cenury that is elsewhere called the Cleave-Yudkin carbohydrate theory of dental and chronic systemic disease. In the carbohydrate theory, high intake of sugary foods, starches, and refined carbhohyrates leads first to dental disease (cavities, gum inflammation, periodontal disease) then, later, to obesity and type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, perhaps even cancer and Alzheimer's Disease. These are, collectively, the "diseases of civilization."
Part 3 tackles obesity and weight regulation. Taubes writes that "...fattening and obesity are caused by an imbalance - a dysequilibirium - in the hormonal regulation of adipose [fat] tissue and fat metabolism." Think of the transformation of a skinny 10-year-old girl into a voluptuous young woman. It's not over-eating that leads to curvaceous fat deposits; it's hormonal changes beyond her control. The primary hormonal regulator of fat storage is insulin, per Taubes. Elevated insulin levels lead to storage of food energy as fat. Carbohydrates stimulate insulin secretion and make us fat.
Although it's a brilliant book, by no means do I agree with all Taubes'conclusions. For instance, if carbohydrates cause heart disease, why is glycemic index only very weakly associated with coronary heart disease in men? It's way too early to blame cancer and Alzheimers on carbohydrates. Primitive cultures may not exhibit many of the diseases of civilization because their members die too young. Taubes is clearly an advocate of low-carb eating. Why didn't he directly address the evidence that fruits, vegetables, and whole grains in the right amounts are healthy?
I have to give Taubes credit for thinking "outside the box." His search for answers included reviews of esoteric literature and interviews with scientists in the fields of genetics, athropology, public policy, physiologic psychology, and paleontology, to name a few.
Towards the end of the book, Taubes describes a Mediterranean-style or "prudent" diet that is popular these days. After five years of research for his book, he says that whether a very low-carb meat diet is healthier than a prudent diet "... is still anybody's guess." It's hard for me to put aside numerous observational studies associating health benefits with legumes, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. So my "guess" is that the Mediterranean-style diet is healthier. Perhaps the answer is different for each individual. Heck, maybe the answer is low-carb Mediterranean. Both Taubes and I are prepared to accept either result when we have proof positive data.
Taubes doesn't base his opinions on late-breaking scientific results. Instead, his research findings mostly span from 1930 to 1980, especially 1940-1960. Once the fat-cholesterol(diet-heart) hypothesis took root around 1960 and blossomed in the 1970s, these data were ignored by the entrenched academics and policy-makers of the day.
To be fair, I've got to mention this is not light reading. A majority of people never read another book after they graduate high school. Of those who do, many (like me) will have to look up the definition of "tautology," "solecism," etc.
I was taught in medical school years ago that "a calorie is a calorie is a calorie." Meaning: if you want to lose excess weight, it doesn't matter if you cut calories from fat, protein, or carbohydrates. I really wonder about that now.
-Steve Parker, M.D., author of The Advanced Mediterranean Diet: Lose Weight, Feel Better, Live Longer
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If You are serious about living healthier, a must read by Readsvoraciously 5 Stars
November 17, 2009
A ton of historical, factual, scientific information that will blow your mind, make you think, change your viewpont, and give you a different perspective on what we eat, how we eat, and what it does for and in our bodies. I could say more, but it's ALL been said by others. I just wanted to add to the positive numbers :)
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A must read if you want cancer, flabby muscles and a shorter life. by D. M.  1 Stars
November 15, 2009
The book accuses others of ignoring evidence that doesn't fit their preconceived ideas. But Taubes should be in the Guiness Book for ignoring evidence that doesn't fit his own preconceived ideas.
What about cancer? Reducing protein reduces IGF which is a risk factor for cancer. In laboratory animals reducing protein can stop tumors from growing. In various regions around the world people who eat less protein than we do in the states are much less likely to get cancer.
What about heart disease? Everybody seems to agree that oxidized LDL is a stronger risk factor for atherosclerosis than total cholesterol. Taubes argues that a high carb/low fat diet produces LDL that is more easily oxidized. But these studies were done in the U.S. where the carbs are mostly refined. In many parts of the world where the carbs are mostly unrefined, a high carb/low fat diet is associated with extremely low rates of heart disease and obesity. CRP (an indicator of inflammation) is also a strong risk factor for heart disease. And eating more red meat is associated with higher CRP levels and a higher rate of metabolic symdrome.
Is saturated fat really harmless? No, but other risk factors (confounders), make heart disease studies more complicated and controversial to interpret. And all saturated fat isn't the same. Coconut oil seems to be more healthy than bacon grease. Also, when there are only minor differences in the saturated fat of the control group and the experimental group the results can be inconclusive. But when saturated fat is dramatically reduced the results are also dramitic.
What about the claim that his recommendations fit our evolutionary past? Based on our teeth and digestive tracts, humans are omnivores, not carnivores. We only need a relatively small amount of protein to maintain our nitrogen balance. Only 0.36 grams of protein per pound of body weight will keep us healthy. He says exercise isn't important, but hunter/gatherers couldn't have been sedentary. A recent study showed that aerobic exercise reduces IGF and is associated with longer survival in cancer patients. And agriculture has been around long enough for natural selection to have an effect. It's only the refined carbs and vegetable oil that are relatively new. And if you take the Bible literally, we all started out as vegetarians.
What about the claims that people who eat high protein and high fat can remain healthy? Taubes offers the Masai and the Inuit as prime examples. The reason the Masai have low cholesterol levels in spite of eating a lot of saturated fat is because they eat plants that have a powerful cholesterol lowering property. When they stop eating these plants, their cholesterol goes up and their rate of heart disease goes up. And the Inuit people have lower cholesterol than you would expect for genetic reasons. And they have the worst longevity statistics in North America.
What about obesity? We eat out more than we used to. And recent studies say we are eating more fat and total calories than in the past. But Taubes wants you to think it's not the calories, it's the carbs. But what kind of carbs are people eating? Refined ones. Children especially are sitting and watching more television than they used to and therefore getting less exercise. But does Taubes think exercise would help? He wants you to think exercise makes you gain weight. Can low carb diets help you to lose weight? Sure, and so can healthy alternatives. Most people when they switch to a low fat diet, also increase refined carbs instead of fruit, vegetables, whole grains and beans. This could explain most of the complaints about low fat diets.
What about longevity? In The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who've Lived the Longest and other books about long lived people there is a pattern. Eat less meat not more if you want to live a long healthy life.
Taubes is no expert on nutrition. But I agree with him that refined carbohydrates and vegetable oil high in omega-6 are are harmful and contribute to the diseases of civilization, that total cholesterol is not the best indicator of heart disease and that cholesterol can even be too low. And I agree that new research could clearify the role of various fats, proteins and carbohydrates in health and disease. And I agree that there is a need for "this unending exchange of critical judgment" if scientists are to avoid errors. And that also applies to the ideas in Good Calories, Bad Calories.
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Good Calories, Bad Calories by Imelda S. Rabben (USA) 5 Stars
October 30, 2009
Gary Taubes presented a compelling and well- researched book on health and diet. Why it is taking so long for the experts on nutrition and diet to accept it and verify that we must keep our food just like in the very long past, lean, simple, from the earth, shows the force of political and commercial involvement in what should be for the good of all.
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Good Calories Bad Calories by Eve Gabriel 5 Stars
October 22, 2009
One of the best books on nutrition I've read in years.
Succinctly written, yet thorough. A great historical
review of weight management during the past 100 years.
A compelling discussion of metabolic syndrome and a
convincing argument for treating obesity, diabetes and
heart disease as symptoms of one endocrine disorder.
Bravo! to G. Taubes for tackling this giant, and for
his reasoned, unbiased work.
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