The
Modern Nutritional Diseases -- heart disease, stroke, type-2 diabetes, obesity,
cancer – and how to prevent them,
by Alice Ottoboni & Fred Ottoboni, Vicente Books,
2002.
Reviewed by Rosalind
Michahelles, Health Counselor
Is the heart-healthy diet
actually healthy? Alice and Fred Ottoboni, both PhDs from the field of public
health, were baffled by the contradictions in contemporary advice about
nutrition. Prompted by the worrisome
result of a routine blood test, they decided to examine the science behind the establishment-backed
heart-healthy diet, the diet that replaces animal fat with vegetable oil and,
where possible, meat with grains.
Using text books, peer
reviewed scientific journals, and epidemiological studies correlating diseases
and diet, the Ottobonis found “a strong association between the major causes of
death, particularly among older people, and the highly touted low-fat,
low-cholesterol, high polyunsaturated vegetable oil diets.” (p.3) Their book explains how the so-called
heart-healthy diet has been a major contributor to the increase in heart
disease, stroke, type-2 diabetes, obesity, and even cancer. This is indeed sobering information.
Modern Nutritional Diseases is clearly written and unequivocal in its
message. Written for the average reader
in plain English, it also offers diagrams to demonstrate the relevant
physiological pathways, an understanding of which is critical to seeing the
difference between what happens when you eat, say, omega-3 instead of omage-6
fatty acids or when you choose fructose over glucose. To provide the context, the authors chart the
overall changes in the public diet in the 20th century and pick
apart some of the science that led to the shunning of animal fats in favor of
grains. They explain why it is that high
glycemic food, rather than food derived from animals, increases serum
cholesterol. They refer to several
decades worth of research into the effects of various diets on human populations
showing that “sugar, starches, and polyunsaturated vegetable oils, not dietary
saturated fat and cholesterol, are underlying causes of diseases such as heart
disease, stroke, type-2 diabetes, and probably many types of cancer.” (p.17)
The crux of the Ottoboni’s
argument is twofold: (1)that a
high-carbohydrate diet stimulates insulin and excess insulin become either body
fat or cholesterol; and (2)that the emphasis on polyunsaturated vegetable oils
has led to the important omega-3/omega-6 imbalance. Why important? Those two essential fatty
acids (“essential” because we must get them from diet as we don’t manufacture
them) are building blocks for processes involving blood clotting, immunity,
pain, inflammation, and blood pressure.
The authors refer to a study showing how omega-3s protect against
diabetes whereas high levels of omega-6 correlate with the development of
diabetes. Other research correlates high
omega-3 levels with low heart attack rates.
Throughout the book they are very clear that there is no research to
show that saturated fat causes cardio-vascular disease.
There are chapters in this
book devoted to related health problems (adverse drug reactions, senile
dementia), to the major nutrients (carbohydrates, proteins, fats), to
nutritional supplements, and to advice for the reader in “What Do You Do Now?” But my favorite chapter is “Buyer Beware,” which
starts with a quote from Mark Twain: “Be careful about reading health
books. You might die of a
misprint.” The authors then describe how
the heart-healthy diet is based on a faulty premise which, once accepted, has
grown and grown. Furthermore, without
surgery and drugs, the resulting overall effect would have been worse than it
has been. This helpful chapter also
provides a guide for readers to help them discriminate between reliable science
and pseudo-science, often reported by seemingly reliable intermediaries, like mainstream newspapers or even government
agencies.
The Modern Nutritional Diseases is a very satisfying book for anyone who is looking
for reassurance that what our ancestors ate was good for them and probably
still good for us. This common sense
notion has had some battering by the medical
experts and so to read a detailed, comprehensive, clear explanation
based on current peer-reviewed science justifying the traditional – now
alternative – diet is reassuring. Those
who’ve heard Sally Fallon speak at NOFA or read Barry Sears’s Zone books will
feel right at home in Alice
and Fred Ottoboni’s book.
______________
This article first appeared
in NOFA/Mass NEWS,
the bimonthly newsletter of the Massachusetts chapter of the Northeast
Organic Farm Association, the May/June issue, 2008, p. 13.
www.nofamass.org
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