Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
By T. Colin Campbell, PhD, with Nelson Disla, BenBella Books, $49.99.
One of the eminent leaders in nutrition today makes a landmark contribution to this field with his book. Although it is ostensibly about the future of nutrition, much of it is a historical overview.
An American biochemist, T. Colin Campbell specialises in the effect of nutrition on long-term health. He is the Jacob Gould Schurman Professor Emeritus of Nutritional Biochemistry at Cornell University.
Dr Campbell’s first book, The China Study — described as “the most comprehensive study of health and nutrition ever conducted” — laid out the exhaustive evidence for the whole foods, plant-based diet as the healthiest way to eat.
Having been at the forefront of nutrition research, he says: “There are few things more provocative than the food we choose to eat, both in terms of its effect on health and people’s sensitivity surrounding those choices. Any suggestion of dietary change is rife with potential agitations. This has been the case for at least four decades, and I have had the unusual privilege of witnessing and experiencing that agitation up close many times since my professional career began some 60 years ago”.
Despite the many advances in science and technology, why does our health only seem to be getting worse? While Dr Campbell attempts to answer this question, he also addresses the prejudices in science holding us back, as well as, how cancer and heart disease continue to affect so many.
“If we take a more proactive approach through the science of nutrition, we can ensure the future of nutrition is different than its past, and we can work to heal our society and our environment.”
Written in collaboration with Dr Campbell’s grandson, Nelson Disla, The Future of Nutrition enlightens us on the many factors that have contributed to our poor understanding of nutrition.
