In Defense of Food (Paperback)

~ Michael Pollan (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Penguin Books; Later printing edition (January 1, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0739497685
• ISBN-13: 978-0739497685
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #450,082 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Against Nutritionism, and For a Return to Basic Foods--With a Caveat, September 13, 2009

By	Jan Peczkis "Scholar and Thinker" (Chicago IL, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Pollan, the author, traces many of the maladies of modern civilization to the artificial aspects of many of our foods. For instance, our need for constant dental care stems from our western diets (pp. 96-97). Oddly enough, our digestive tract has as many neurons as the spinal column (p. 63). This suggests that the digestive process is a much more complex one than simply the breakdown of foods.

What if "western diseases" occur simply because people now live long enough to develop them? Pollan rejects this thinking, and presents evidence that a 70 year-old today is more likely to have diabetes or cancer than his counterpart a century ago. (p. 93)

Pollan notes that the Polish biochemist Casimir Funk discovered vitamins. In this book, he takes a middle view of their value. He suggests taking supplements, but also warns that they may be ineffective when out of the context of their foods.

In fact, Pollan's warnings about "nutritionism" may be illustrated by one common natural food: "Milk through this lens is reduced to a suspension of protein, lactose, fats, and calcium in water, when it is entirely possible that the benefits, or for that matter the hazards, of drinking milk owe to entirely other factors (growth hormones?) or relationships between factors (fat-soluble vitamins and saturated fat?) that have been overlooked." (p. 31)

Pollan generally agrees with those who suggest that overconsumption of nutritionally-barren refined carbohydrates is harmful (p. 59, 112-113). However, he cautions that the scientific reductionism of low-carb thinking as the full answer should be avoided.

Pointedly, there is no such thing as a single "natural diet". Evidently-healthy diets centered around seafood, meat, dairy products, and vegetarian products, have all been found worldwide (p. 97).

Let's consider nutritionism further. Although Pollan recommends the "Avoid eating anything that your great-grandma wouldn't recognize" rule, the "Don't eat anything incapable of rotting" rule, and the "Eat more vegetables rule", it may not be so simple. For one thing, farm vegetables may be short on nutrients because they had been bred for rapid growth, and because chemical fertilizers indirectly deplete nutrients (p. 115). In fact, the obesity prevalent in the west may be partly the result of the body attempting to accumulate enough nutrients through the overconsumption of these low-nutrient foods (pp. 123-124).

0 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "In Defense of Food", January 31, 2009

By	CJRW "CJRW" (Ct.) - See all my reviews

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