Spoon-Fed: Why almost everything we’ve been told about food is wrong

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The high-octane, polemical approach that has become popular amongst a certain set of evidence-driven, 'rationalist' authors — a symptom perhaps of their vying for limited attention in a social media landscape already overwhelmed with the misinformation they're combating — isn't one I'm fond of, and doesn't often have the effect, I suspect, they're after. I'd have preferred a subtler, analytical, less 'campaigney' lense - even at the risk of it making for a drier read.

I especially appreciated how Tim Spector criticises the food industry's sinister tactics in marketing certain foods as healthy that are actually full of sugar and additives. Of course, it's ultimately up to the individual to manage their food choices, but there are so many underhand tactics that big food companies use to confuse the general public and it's nice to see someone calling out their bullshit.

The greatest contribution to saving the planet me can make is to reduce our intake of meat, fish and dairy

One insight from the study is that people who consumed a greater diversity of plant-based foods pre-pandemic appear to be less susceptible to catching Covid-19, or becoming severely ill from it. While this doesn’t prove definitively that eating a diverse plant-based diet can ward off infections, Spector believes it could help: “Your immune system is compromised if you don’t have a good microbiome controlling it, and so it may either under- or overreact [to pathogens],” he says. “I don’t think eating for our microbiomes would stop pandemics, but I think it could make everyone less ill if they got infected.” A study found that the restriction of gluten led to suboptimal dietary intake of heart-healthy whole grains, which could increase the risk of heart disease Tim Spector has pioneered a new approach to nutrition, encouraging us to forget misleading calorie counts and nutritional breakdowns. In Food for Life he draws on over a decade of cutting-edge scientific research, along with his own personal insights, to deliver a new and comprehensive approach to what we should all know about food today. the uniqueness of individuals (one size [recommendation] does NOT fit all), and the recent increased understanding of the role their own unique microbiome plays. A range of observational studies has consistently shown that a good diet, one high in plants and seeds and variety, is linked to reduced levels of depression.

All the chapters within them dissect prevailing myths and Spector examines how substantial the evidence is or -often- isn't in support of these received ideas that we've gradually subsumed through cultural osmosis and it is urgently fascinating. Neither GPs nor hospital doctors are obliged to keep up to date with any changes in diet or nutrition advice as part of their continuing education- not even diabetes doctors