BOOK REVIEWSndi_1457 202..203
Great Wealth Poor Health:Contemporary Issues in Eatingand Living
Farrell D. Copyright Publishing, Brisbane, 2009, 350pages, $33.00, ISBN 978-1876344634I’m sure you groan (as I do) at the sight of nutrition bookswritten by ‘experts’ such as airline pilots, actors and celebritychefs. I should therefore warn you that the author of thisbook has been a greaser and a donut maker. He has also helda personal chair in nutrition at University of New England,directed a major poultry R & D Centre, and produced some450 research papers in human and animal nutrition (fornon-academics among you, that’s awesome). He has alsomade a major personal contribution to agriculture in devel-oping countries, and last year was made a Fellow of theNutrition Society of Australia (their highest honour). Onbalance, these later achievements compensate for his earlycareer choices.
He identifies the book’s target audience as ‘those primarilyconcerned with mankind’s future direction and how we arebeing manipulated by politicians, scientists, spin doctorsand greed’ and hopes it will be ‘of interest not only toscientists but to enquiring lay persons’ (priv comm).
It is not intended as a nutrition textbook in the conven-tional sense—so don’t discard your treasured and well-thumbed current textbook. It does cover many of thestandard topics: e.g. overweight and obesity; environmentand energy; disease and dietary fibre; fats: the good the badand the unhealthy; glycaemia, the glycaemic index and dia-betes; weight-losing regimes. But it also delves into topicsour textbooks often shy away from: GM foods; organicfarming; the palaeolithic diet; health care, the medical pro-fession and drug companies; food and the food industry. So,a wide-ranging focus, as David prods you into thinking morecritically about some of today’s trendy nutrition concepts.
To give you the flavour of his conclusions, his summary ofhealthy eating on p 226
. . . There are simple steps that need to be followed in ahealthy diet. . . . Fruit, vegetables and pulses are at thetop of the list. Refined carbohydrates (sugar and whiteflour) should be avoided as far as possible and wholemealand natural products favoured. Reduce intakes of fats andoils, particularly the polyunsaturated oils in all forms. Usebutter in reasonable amounts. Monounsaturated oils arerecommended. Animal protein, particularly fish andpoultry products, are in. Red meat is limited. Processedfoods are on the restricted list. Take away foods are a treat.
I think that many of us would agree with much of thepreceding quote, although (like me) you may quibble on acouple of points.
He takes eloquent, and not always approving, aim atvarious targets• professional nutrition conferences (on p viii: ‘No longer
are meetings held in modest surroundings, such as onuniversity campuses and participants housed in collegeaccommodation, but have moved into plush five-starhotels on the assumption that everyone is rich and wishesto embrace such luxury’)
• the medical establishment, the Heart Foundation, thepharmaceutical industry, the food industry and FAO
• sugar, glycaemic index, red meat, the CSIRO diet, salt,omega-6 fats and trans fats (although he sees omega-3s asvery good). He’s sceptical about the claimed benefits ofGM crops, organic farming and (at least for twenty-firstcentury humans) the palaeolithic diet.The book is a stimulating journey with a richly informed
nutritionist who writes in a clear and lively way, and pro-vides extensive citations of the research literature (from boththe twenty-first and the twentieth century). There wereremarkably few typos. On several points, I found myselfdisagreeing with his conclusions, but his writing forced meto take a fresh look at the evidence base for my professionalconvictions. So, it was well worth reading—I learned a lot,and I thought a lot. (From an academic, that is a highaccolade indeed!) I encourage you to read it yourself, andhope you derive similar benefit.
Perhaps I should add that proceeds from the sale of thisbook will go to a project to help disadvantaged children inCambodia.
David Woodward, PhDHonorary Research Associate, School of Medicine
University of TasmaniaHobart, Tasmania, Australia
ndi_1458 202..203
The Entrepreneurial Nutritionist
King K. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins P/L, Philadelphia,2009, 352 pages, $82.50, ISBN 10 0781793696Extensively updated and complete with brand new sections,the fourth edition of The Entrepreneurial Nutritionist is avery useful reference and essential reading if you are juststarting a private practice or consulting business. If you are
Nutrition & Dietetics 2010; 67: 202–203 DOI: 10.1111/j.1747-0080.2010.01457.x
© 2010 The AuthorsNutrition & Dietetics © 2010 Dietitians Association of Australia
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