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 All Thumbs Book Reviews
Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy: The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy
Eating
By Walter Willet
Review by Sally Fallon
In case you're not impressed enough with the title, the Harvard seal
is included on the cover with its "Veritas." No false modesty here.
The author proposes a modified food pyramid based on conclusions drawn
from the Nurses Health Study. The gist of this research design is that
the nutritional habits of the healthiest nurses have been translated
into Dr. Willett's "Healthy Eating Pyramid"--one that has a fair chance
of replacing the current USDA version.
Before considering nutritional intake, the author recommends daily
exercise and "weight control" as the base of the pyramid. Fine advice
but often difficult to achieve.
We then "progress" to the next level of the pyramid, shared by whole
grain foods and plant oils. Many, but not all, benefit from including
an abundance of whole grains in their diets. We are not informed of
the dangers of phytates and how to minimize them, however.
Most alarming is the recommendation to consume vegetable oils frequently
and indiscriminately. Olive oil gets the same billing with corn, soy,
canola and safflower oils. In a book that invokes Harvard's name so
many times, I expected impressive data to support such recommendations
(especially following intemperate claims such as ". . . there is solid
proof that reducing saturated fats with unsaturated fats will
. . . lower rates of heart disease") (italics added). I was eager to
see the proof. He didn't offer any.
The notion of balancing omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids is dismissed.
We're told that the rate of heart disease will go up if people start
reducing their omega-6 fatty acids--the kind found in commercial vegetable
oils. Actually, as Americans have increased their intake of omega-6
vegetable oils, heart disease has soared. The author cites the Lyons
study to support the benefits of "Mediterranean" diets for survivors
of heart attacks but fails to mention that the ratio of omega-3 to omega-6
was controlled in that study.
Any doctor who goes to medical school will have learned in Biochemistry
101 that polyunsaturated oils contribute to cancer, heart disease, inflammation
and aging. Willett seems to have forgotten the basics in his bid for
political correctness--the vegetable oil industry is sure to love this
new version of the pyramid.
And the rest of the pyramid is also a paragon of political correctness.
Willett recommends lots of fruits and vegetables (except for high-glycemic-index
vegetables like potatoes), followed by nuts and legumes. Then, fish,
poultry and eggs.
Willett predictably attacks full-fat dairy products, blaming saturated
fat for prostate cancer and ovarian cancer. Little evidence is offered
to support these claims and none of it is conclusive. Willett says saturated
fat is bad because it contains high levels of calories--but what about
all those vegetable oils, they are just as loaded with calories. In
fact, saturated fats like butter and coconut oil contain slightly lower
levels of calories than polyunsatruated oils.
The "evil" end of the pyramid is shared by red meat and butter, on
one side, and refined carbohydrates on the other. To his credit, Willett
highlights the threats posed by increased soy consumption and refined
carbohydrates.
Categorical statements, such as his treatment of saturated fats as
inherently harmful, are easily refuted if you can find populations (presumably
other than nurses) that defy the statements. This is the heart of my
quarrel with Dr. Willett's book. If he had read the work of those who
came before him (such as Weston Price) he would be aware that many populations
have done splendidly on a diet high in saturated fats, animal products,
etc. He would know that consumption of processed vegetable oil (except
for extra virgin olive oil) is a modern experiment, and the experiment
has resulted in an epidemic of heart disease and other inflammatory
illnesses.
The author alludes to traditional diets in skeptical tones, opining
that there is no such thing as wisdom in traditional diets. Thanks to
one of the most highly-endowed nutrition departments in the world (endowed
with funding from the processed food industry) we can be saved from
the "fate" of eating what has nurtured countless generations in the
past.
About the Reviewer
 Sally
Fallon is the author of
Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct
Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats (with Mary G. Enig, PhD), a well-researched,
thought-provoking guide to traditional foods with a startling message: Animal
fats and cholesterol are not villains but vital factors in the diet, necessary
for normal growth, proper function of the brain and nervous system, protection
from disease and optimum energy levels. She joined forces with Enig again to
write Eat Fat, Lose Fat, and has authored numerous articles on the
subject of diet and health. The President of the Weston A. Price Foundation
and founder of A Campaign for Real Milk,
Sally is also a journalist, chef, nutrition researcher, homemaker, and community
activist. Her four healthy children were raised on whole foods including butter,
cream, eggs and meat.
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