Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition

Practicing science requires careful collection of data, rigorous analysis of that data and then following that analysis wherever it leads, especially when the analysis leads into new territory or challenges old paradigms. In "Whole" Mr. Campbell accomplishes those requirements and exposes a lot of conventional nutritional thinking as unsubstantiated at best. Bravo!

It goes beyond the soundbites of contemporary media to explain how we've been baffled and bamboozled into thinking that processed, packaged and pre-prepared food is "healthy" and shows clearly how the health system isn't really set up to encourage health.

A great read for anyone who likes to eat, and particularly great for people who like to eat AND who like to think.

I love this nation - however there is an evil in built into the free enterprise system. The one with the most gold can shout down those with less capital. Campbell is one of a half dozen Medical Doctors who have become shunned by former partners because they became convinced by there studies of high Blood Pressure, Heart Disease, Diabetes, Diseases of the brain and muscles are caused by excess animal protein. Campbell's work on the China Study is explained in greater detail.

I love reading on this topic and the research is strong and it's an easy to read book... Definitely recommend this book to anyone that already believes in a whole food plant based diet or anyone who wants to take control of their health through nutritional excellence..

Colin Campbell does it again with an interesting book that really gets you thinking about nutrition and what you should be eating. The only weakness is that as a scientist Campbell loves to wow us with detail that justifies his thesis but is a bit boring to follow sometimes.

This book is the much awaited sequel to The China Study, the most important book on nutrition ever published. Both should be on the required reading list of doctors, legislators and anyone interested in good health and nutrition.

A thoroughly researched book, carefully exploring reductionism and wholism regarding health and nutrition. If everyone could read and understand this philosophy, what a healthy state we could all be in and there would be plenty Of food available globally.

Read "The China Study" first to get full context. It isn't a direct sequel, but will make more sense if you have that grounding first.
Whole is very informative.
Reductionism clearly isn't the answer - I'll be more aware of it in all food/health care messaging I see. The apple story is a real eye opener.... makes it all come together. Great read.

This should be required reading for anyone living in the United States that is trying to make educated health care decisions for themselves and their families. In fact, it should be required reading for anyone living in the United States and receiving health care!

Very informative and just goes to show how the wool is pulled over our eyes by various drug companies in an effort to make as much money at the expense of our health - everyone should read this especially if you are interested in your health.

"History is a race between education and catastrophe" -HG Wells, quoted in Whole.

As T. Colin Campbell writes, Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition is built on two basic insights: "First, nutrition is the master key to human health. Second, what most of us think of as proper nutrition--isn't." While for many (though, alas, still the minority) this isn't news, showing why this is the case with a carefully crafted, well-researched thoroughness is what makes this a signature T. Colin Campbell book. As anyone who has read The China Study knows, this MIT-trained, 50-plus year veteran of nutritional research and politics packs a crisp and well-trained punch. His power comes from his clarity of expression and the thoroughness of his research. Campbell builds his thesis with tight reasoning, backed by solid research that considers the big picture. That's why, even if you feel like you don't need convincing, it's great to have the data and clear rationale beyond what may feel intuitive to you; that is, that a whole foods, plant-based diet is the healthiest diet there is and our current nutritional-medical complex is harming millions and millions by disguising that nutritional fact (did you know that pharmaceutical companies spend considerably more on political lobbying than defense contractors?).

If you've read The China Study, Campbell's important bestseller, you'll be familiar with themes in Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition. But the focus is different. As Campbell writes, "The China Study focused on the evidence that tells us the whole foods, plant-based diet is the healthiest human diet. Whole focuses on why it's been so hard to bring that evidence to light -- and on what still needs to happen for real change to take place."

Much of the book lies in the difference between reductionism and holism. "If you are a reductionist," writes Campbell (p. 49), "you believe that everything in the world can be understood if you understand all its component parts. A wholist, on the other hand, believes that the whole can be greater than the sum of its parts. That's it: the entire debate in a nutshell." Much of the confusion the public has about the basic healthy way to eat is based on small studies that highlight a little something, but miss the bigger picture. Campbell has the research experience and brain power to tie it all together.

If there is one issue I have with the book, it is that Campbell doesn't really look at our individual tendency to rationalize and how that dovetails with the confusion created by the food and medical industries. That is, while it's true that a plethora of confusing and overwhelming information makes it difficult to hear loud and clear the truth about a whole foods plant-based diet, even many who are convinced it is the best way to eat, don't end up eating that way. Why? Because sugar, fat, meat, and junk food taste yummy (at least they do until you break the habit/s, and then they usually taste too much). In fact, they taste so good that most people end up kinda, sorta downplaying the consequence of indulging and are only too happy (unconsciously) to be bolstered by noisy and confusing nutritional headlines. Or, to twist the classic expression a bit: "the spirit is weak because the flesh is willing." For that reason, this is an important book: it helps bolster the resolve of anyone who kind of knows a whole foods approach is the way to go. And for those that don't, this book is a clear and easy to read education. This is definitely an valuable book that I hope is widely read.

Please read this book as well as the China Study.

T. Colin Campbell has done it again. If you think you know anything about nutrition but have never read this book, then your knowledge is incomplete.

Really has shifted my thinking and eating. Not quite ready to go over to that kind of diet totally. But my consciousness has clearly shifted. I am aware of what I eat and what it may be doing to my body. I suspect step by step I will be moving over.

It is so hard to navigate your way thru the business of trying to maintain healthy, no matter what level that you are trying to achieve. Doctor Campbell gives you away at looking and filtering the information. It gives you the information to discern fact and fiction.

A must read for everyone. It will simplify your life. We've been so brainwashed for so long about what to eat we've been getting it wrong because of confusion. This will clear it up. In addition, your eyes will be opened to the inner workings of the medical profession.

I recently began my plant based whole foods journey with The China Study. Now Whole truly opens minds as to the reasons behind our failed disease care system, and the lack of society's nutrition education despite the mountain of science supporting the health benefits of a plant based whole foods lifestyle.

This book explains why one should eat whole plant food. It gives the reader the view of nutrition researchers and unmasks the hype that passes for fact in many media sources. Anyone interested in health would profit from Campbell's book.

The 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee just came out with everything he preached in his book.
Go Mediterranean Diet! A plant based, whole foods diet, rather than animal products. H e covered it all through his book.

I wish this book was read by every single person. We need not get sick as much as. Healthcare costs will not be as crazy. Pollution will be much more contained. The Earth and us will generally be a better place.

I'm not sure how anyone can support animal agriculture after reading this. All roads lead to a whole food plant based lifestyle. Great read. This man has been fighting the fight for a long time. Keep up the good work Dr. Campbell.

I am really enjoying this book as Dr. Campbell points out all the flaws in the current medical and nutritional system. All this stuff going on behind our backs is terrible. I'm glad he is exposing it the best way that he can. I really enjoyed The China Study that he wrote and now this is a good follow-up book.

If you need more inspiration, read this book! How can the American public not get wise to the issue after all these years?? More books written by scientists like T. Colin Campbell will certainly pave the way.

well written commentary on the science of nutrition.challenges the way we have been taught to study the science of nutrition.will open your eyes and make you demand govermental change on nutrition policies.

I liked this book but found it hard to follow at times. I don't know if I exactly believe in a WHOLE FOOD DIET. Sometimes following the read was hard because of the scientific jargon..... but there are parts I really did like. I don't know if I would recommend the read to anyone to be honest. I'm on the fence about this book.

I learned a lot. makes u second guess things and that's very important when we expand out side of the norm. food was not important cause I didn't realize that its whats in it , I figured if it looked good, tasted good and I wasn't over weight who cares? this book opened my eyes

He has put so much research behind what he is talking about rather then just regurgitating studies done by others. He explains things in detail and how industry run their tests so they can keep making the money they are making and having gov't work on their side. It may be a bit difficult to read but it is well worth the read.

I've read countless books on nutrition but this one is different. If you like books about scientific research and books about the truth about food and nutrition, then I am sure you will enjoy this book. It has changed the way I thought and I am grateful for it. I eat better and make better choices now. It may start out slow, but keep going...

I was hoping to learn more about nutrition but instead this guy goes OFF THE RAILS and focuses the majority of the book on how he and his research has been denigrated by the powers that be. And much of this resentment is repeated ad nauseam. I'm not doubting there's merit to his research but that's just a tiny fraction of the book. At times delves into conspiracy theory. What would be so very helpful is ideas on WHAT I SHOULD EAT now that the author has established animal proteins are going to give me cancer (technically not cause cancer but aid it if present). The discussion on the power of industry (big pharma, diary, junk foods) and it's controlling elements: government, via revolving doors, and organizations (ACS, AND etc) via donations, is both interesting and depressing.

Two stars for research, but one of the most boring books I have ever read on what could have been summed up on one page. Many of his verbose rambling never comes to a conclusion so you arent really sure just what information he thought was important and what you should get out of it.
I liked other Campbell books but this was written for a scientific audience unless you are just dying to hear about Reductionist Biology or Genetic Complexity versus Reductionism pass and read something else. Campbells China Study was at least interesting this book is not. I will sell this in my garage sale--waste of my money.

Anyone interested in their health should read this book. A great followup book on the China Study. He gives you a lot to think about and followup on regarding nutrition. The book would be easy to read on kindle.

After having read the china study , its easy to read style and the convincing science my wife and I have changed our lifestyles,( we are both M.D's. ) I found Whole to be an anti climax having expected more of the same but found it to be very disappointing as it didn't really add anything new.

Written be one of the few scientist that cannot be bought off by the special interest groups.
They have done their best to confuse us with junk science, as Dr McDougall states, industry has won we have lost.
Read this along with his other book, The China Study and discover what pawns we really are or keep eating the garbage we have been told is good for us and get sick and die before our time.
These are five star not two.

Written be one of the few scientist that cannot be bought off by the special interest groups.
They have done their best to confuse us with junk science, as Dr McDougall states, industry has won we have lost.
Read this along with his other book, The China Study and discover what pawns we really are or keep eating the garbage we have been told is good for us and get sick and die before our time.
These are five star not two.

After reading The China Study and totally remaking my diet to 100 % plant based, I could not wait to read Whole. The book is written in not only very easy to understand information while not being condescending to the reader. After the last page it would almost impossible for anyone to continue the SAD (standard American diet) way of life. This book is not only transforming but essential for living a long and healthy life! Thank you SO much, T. Colin Campbell and Howard Jacobson for your knowledge and hard work that went into this gem. I am so grateful that I have changed the course of my life with your help.

I was very excited about this book. However, Campbell goes on a long tangent about his plight of being a whole-foods plant based nutritionist, which seemingly doesn't end. I was expecting a lot more science in this book, but it seems to be just an extension of The China Study.

I read "Whole" with a book group. Those who already believed in his diet thought it remarkable. I was willing to be persuaded, but Campbell refused to make the case for his reductionist hypothesis that animal protein causes numerous diseases. Rather, he said, believe what I believe because I have worked on this for years. Much of his information about how complex is the human body and nutrition was helpful. I was willing to forego all animal protein until it became clear, there was no evidence for his main hypothesis. Some of those who wrote against Campbell's book were criticized by him because they were not of his professional standing. Yet, they asked only what I did. If you want me to buy your reductionist hypothesis, show me evidence.

Though I did enjoy "The China study", this book not so much. The underlying point of the book, reductionism vs wholism, could have been made in an article. The book, for the most part, reads as one long rant against the current establishment.

There are also some amusing inconsistencies, for example the author states you can't meaningful state the degree some disease is effected by genetic factors as a percent and brought up a case where he refused to do this. Yet, a few pages later he is claiming that X is "XX%" diet. It seems he wants to play it both ways.

One thing I appreciated about The China Study is that it was mostly free of dogma, where as in this book the author seems to play up certain fad diets like the 80/10/10 diet. He says that he doesn't focus much on macro-nutrient ratios, but then makes specific statements about macro-nutrient ratios. It is, at least to me, by no means clear that a whole foods plant based diet always leads to a 80/10/10 ratio. Or that, that is even the average unless you're intentionally trying to keep protein and/or fat down. For example someone that eats a lot of legumes, nuts and seeds will have a higher ratio of protein and fat. On the other hand a diet that is mostly fruit based will be rather low in protein and fat. Both are whole.

Regardless, I would say that this book doesn't provide much value to someone who has already read "The China Study".

I admire Dr. Campbell, but found this book disappointing. I learned almost nothing new from it, having previously read The China Study and other articles either by Dr. Campbell or articles that refer to him. I was hoping that he might present further research that supports the benefits of a plant-based diet, and also give me some ideas on how to promote such diets.

At the end of the book he gives a only a single paragraph on how to create change: each of us should switch to a plant-based diet, and that will force industry to change. I was hoping for much more than this!

For those already familiar with Dr. Campbell's publications, part three of the book may be most useful. He discusses his experiences and knowledge of how the food, medical, pharmaceutical, and supplement industries influence government agencies, academic researchers, and even organizations such as the American Cancer Society and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. I did not realize that various food companies donate money to the latter organization, which determines the education and exams required to become a “registered dietitian” (an RD).

The rest of the book is to some degree a collection of Dr. Campbell’s views on a number of topics, including dietary supplements, carcinogen assays, and the effects of producing animal foods on the environment.

I would have liked to see Dr. Campbell give more support for his dietary recommendations. In particular he recommends only 10% fat, with no oils of any kind. I would have liked his views on recent studies showing beneficial effects of extra virgin olive oil. With regard to the cancer-causing effects of animal proteins, I was hoping that he would provide information about the incidence of cancer in vegans. Preliminary results from the Adventist studies (Vegetarian Dietary Patterns and Mortality in Adventist Health Study 2, JAMA Intern Med. Published online June 3, 2013) suggest that the cancer rate in vegan Adventists is only about 10% lower than in nonvegans.

Some interesting info i disc 1, but beginning with disc #2 and continuing in disc #3, the same information was repeated over and over again! Not GOOD! Haven't listened to the others yet, but very disappointed!

I’m just going to cut to the chase and spell out the main problems I have with this book.

1. Early on, on page 7, Campbell lays out what he calls his “ideal human diet” (as if all humans have identical metabolisms and nutritional needs): “Consume plant-based foods in forms as close to their natural state as possible (“whole” foods). Eat a variety of vegetables, fruits, raw nuts and seeds, beans and legumes, and whole grains. Avoid heavily processed foods and animal products. Stay away from added salt, oil, and sugar. Aim to get 80 percent of your calories from carbohydrates, 10 percent from fat, and 10 percent from protein.” If this is really the “ideal human diet,” it’s curious that virtually no one ate this way prior to Campbell coming along, and the people who attempt his sort of regimen are lucky if they can maintain it for more than a few years. I am aware of some East Asian, Pacific Islander, sub-Saharan African, and southwestern Native American populations who approximated the very high carb, low fat, low protein macronutrient ratio Campbell recommends. But ALL known indigenous populations of humans consumed animal products in some form or another, and many made use of salt, oil, and/or sugar. If you are of European descent, which is probably the majority of Campbell’s readers, then chances are, your ancestors got anywhere between 20-40% of their calories from fat due to the use of whole milk, butter, cream, and cheese, and also olive oil in southern Europe. Eating the way Campbell recommends will put you at high risk for fat soluble vitamin deficiencies, and you will be hungry all the time due to the lack of protein.

2. Campbell has an entire chapter dedicated to bashing dietary supplements when the very “plant-based” diet he recommends requires, at the bare minimum, supplementation of vitamin B12. In fact, Campbell only makes one mention of B12 throughout all of “Whole,” and it’s in reference to its chemical isolation in 1948 - nothing about how there are no proven reliable plant sources of this vitamin. Some of Campbell’s colleagues including Michael Greger, Joel Fuhrman, and Ginny Messina also recommend that vegans supplement iodine, vitamin D, calcium, and DHA.

3. It’s interesting that somebody who is so opposed to “reductionist” thinking about nutrition (focusing on individual nutrients as a cause of wellness or disease, and not the bigger picture of how everything a person eats interacts together) has such a single-minded fixation on the idea of animal protein as a carcinogen. Campbell goes so far as to call meat and milk “very unhealthy” on page 288. No stipulation on where that meat or milk comes from - healthy animals from organic farms, or sick animals from feedlots. No stipulation on how MUCH meat and milk a person consumes, and what they eat in the rest of their diet to balance them out. Seems pretty “reductionist” to me, though I will concede milk is categorically unhealthy for people who are lactose intolerant. Also, why were eggs left out of this passage?

4. Both the China Study and rat studies Campbell talks about, where rats fed an extremely high casein diet got liver cancer at a higher rate when exposed to aflatoxin (found in moldy peanuts), are extremely weak evidence for veganism. It’s particularly egregious how Campbell never mentions that in the Indian studies which were his “aha” moment about animal protein, half of the rats fed the low-casein diet died, whereas all of the rats fed the high-casein diet survived, in spite of more of them having cancer. And even if we grant that The China Study showed what Campbell claims it shows, that there was a gradient towards less heart disease, cancer, type II diabetes, etc. the less animal products were consumed, that still does not make the case for a vegan diet. There are no wholescale populations of vegans in China, especially back in the 80s when Campbell did his study, so the best Campbell can say is that people should eat a LOW animal food diet, with around 10% of calories from animal foods. To use rural Chinese people, who are eating a lot of vegetables and white rice (gee, there’s one of those evil refined plant foods!), and a little bit of fish, pork, chicken, duck, or egg on the side as evidence for veganism is pure extrapolation. It’s also pretty ironic that at the beginning of chapter 16, Campbell quotes Albert Einstein as saying “unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth.” The typical response of Campbell and other vegans to Denise Minger’s criticisms of The China Study is “she’s a blogger and an English teacher, she doesn’t have the proper credentials to interpret the data like Campbell does.”

The part of “Whole” I don’t really have a problem with is when Campbell talks about the how the medical industry is corrupt, and how organizations like the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (formerly the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics) and American Cancer Society receive corporate sponsorship, and stifle any cures for disease outside the mainstream. Campbell also talks about the silly myth, clung to by braindead people, that diseases like cancer are “genetic,” and have nothing to do with processed garbage people shovel down. I will concede that the diet Campbell recommends may be good for a short term cleanse. It’s the long-term sustainability which I’m not convinced of.

The author claims that humans have evolved to digest predominately plant food. But where does he provide any supporting evidence of this? I think it is just as fair to say humans have also evolved to handle meat. But, the author, in his bias, conveniently leaves this out. "Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It" and "Good Calories, Bad Calories", both by Gary Taubes, will make you healthier --and smarter about nutrition.

This book aims to answer two primary questions: What does science say is the best way to eat? and why don't people already know about it?

Dr Campbell asserts that proper nutrition is the key to eliminating, reversing or lowering our top chronic diseases in America.
What is proper nutrition? What is the ideal human diet?

Dr Campbell calls it WFPB or The Whole Food Plant-based diet, which means consume plant-based foods in forms as close to their natural state as possible(whole foods). Eat a variety of vegetables, fruits, raw nuts and seeds, beans, legumes and whole grains. Avoid heavily processed foods and animal products. Stay away from added fat, salt, oil and sugar. Aim to get 80% of your calories from carbohydrates, 10% from fat and 10% from protein.

He covers ALL the science in DETAIL which made it read like a research paper but was extremely informative. He deals with critics of his work, and also why the media, pharmaceutical, meat, dairy, and medical industries don't want you to know this simple information.

If you like science and learning (in detail) about research and nutrition than this book is for you. This book is not about being practical, in the sense of telling you what to eat, providing you with recipes etc. Its about the hardcore science of proper nutrition and why this information is being kept from you. I like more practical books myself with not so much science but it was worth the read.

**Just as a side note I adopted a plant-based diet about two and a half years ago and have never felt better. Im currently working on getting my macronutrient ratios more close to Dr Campbell's recommendations**

Tony Rogers Jr
Author of Visionary: Making a difference in a world that needs YOU

This book goes against the mainstream food industry and points out things that are causing disease by what we are eating. I was not able to finish the book because the authors views are so extreme it made it hard to believe. There is so much conflicting information about what is good and what is not for us to eat that it is difficult to decipher what is truth and what is not. For me I did feel this book was a little too extreme and therefore would not recommend it to anybody.

We need more research. Professor Campbell summarized the basic diet in one paragraph. However where is the research to control diabetes? Prevent breast cancer? Prevent IBS? Etc...It makes sense eating whole foods and avoiding junk, but we still need the basic research. I was uninterested in the corruption that was repeated in Whole and Also described in the China Study. Even giving us some guidelines on getting off the sugar train would be helpful. It seemed this book spent a lot of space explaining a reductionist approach vs whole view. In the end it weakened the case. I liked his brief insight on how amazing our body is in modifying the intake of nutrients based on the immediate needs. Nutrition is very complicated and designing meaningful studies needs giants like Campbell. I would like more personal insights he has on what he has been eating and exercising and giving us his best "Guess"about how us ordinary mortals might approach shopping for food and meal plans. As an aside he did mention you don't have to be vegan. I like eggs and fish etc. How might we do it "safely" eating small amounts of animal based proteins. . It occurred to me most of the Chinese in the China study were not vegans.

This book is absolutely amazing. Dont think about it twice, its worth every single penny and much more! You can not put a price on such valuable knowledge. Everyone needs to read this book : parents, "healthy" people, young adults, college students , everyone!

If you know anyone who is suffering from diabetes,high cholesterol, obesity, heart disease, cancers, has a tendency to have one of those or it runs in the family, liver problems, needs to loose weight, has acne , suffers from many colds/flus, needs to improve energy levels, cure erectile dysfunction, has a bad metabolism : THIS IS THE BOOK FOR THEM . ALL the solutions are in this book! All those medicines are killing you (3rd leading cause of death in the US!) STOP and read this book!

I have personally cured myself from high cholesterol and diabetes with this lifestyle : Whole Foods Plant Based diet (high carb/low fat).

“Eat a variety of vegetables, fruits, raw nuts and seeds, beans and legumes, and whole grains. Avoid heavily processed foods and animal products. Stay away from added salt, oil, and sugar. Aim to get 80 percent of your calories from carbohydrates, 10 percent from fat, and 10 percent from protein.” - T. Colin Campbell

If you are debating between this book and The China Study, here are my thoughts:
-The China Study is all about evidence after evidence (some people need lost of it). It did have a lot criticism (it was expected... the industries such as dairy dont want you to know this information!) , so Whole answers all of this criticism providing more evidence.
-If you already have a little background about this type of lifestyle , I would suggest to skip The China Study and purchase this one.
-If you are stuck to your way of eating and are very stubborn read both!

"Whole" by T. Colin Campbell is a fact-based well reasoned survey of the corruption in our economy and government. It is about food as well, and its relationship to disease, but the biggest problem is the labyrinthian web of corruption and denial that we have built into our deepest levels of society about brainwashing ourselves about what is healthy for us to eat.

There are deep problems with eating a lot of animal-based products. Study after study show this, and yet the major diseases of our day have a close relationship to the processed food industry and animal products.

I see this issue as the powers in charge of our society got there by doing wrong. They probably didn't realize it as we built this huge juggernaut of destruction around the world, move in, take over, displace people, grab resources, exploit resources, create products that appeal or can be made to appeal to our markets the people who are working can afford to buy and just try to crowd everything else out in the world. This system that has grown like a week though out the world does not work for human or the planet, and every page of Colin Campbell's book screams it.

The way the Anti-Cancer groups are connected to the meat lobby insures that these problems will probably not make it to the awareness of the average citizen consumer. Another sector of our economy is based on maintaining and strengthening these delusions.

This is a very important book to read and understand. Not until this kind of thing is read, processed, understood and discussed on a national and international level do I see hope for change.

There are all kinds of facts like for example how much water it takes to raise meat versus how much water it takes to raise vegetable, and then the other side of it is how much better for us the vegetables are than the meat. One of the reasons there is this huge economic whole and so much inequality in the world, and injustice, is the pit of energy, resources and labor it takes to maintain this food system and how it affects world geopolitical stability.

10/10 - A Must Read !

The configuration housing could have more room in the small diameter allowing the tightening of the base nut and have less threads to tighten up.I am referring to the tubing that meets under the sink for the hot,cold, And feed line to the spout.

Thanks to newsmax trying to sell me a book with membership on heart attack symptoms, I googled the doctor to see if there was a more inexpensive book at the store. I found this book instead and purchased it. The delivery with Prime was faster than I expected which was great because I wanted to start immediately. The book sobered me up as to my eating habits. Even if one can not follow everything in the book, it makes great reading and gives one cause for thought. Myself, I'm going to follow the book, not for weight loss which will come, but because I'm 61 now and want to play with my grandchildren for 30 more years. I'm too young to lose life because of poor eating and here's proof. There are "evil and designing men" in the form of corporations etc, that want to make money. It's not always in our best interest. If you want to learn how to cut your medical costs and feel better, this book is for you. Good nutrition is a great healer.

This is just quite a complex book. I really cannot write a review that will do it justice. The author redefines holisism as wholism - explaining how the whole is greater than the sum of the parts and the wholist paradigm encompases reductionism, which is today's tendancy to break things down to the smallest parts and examine each individually.
This book is as much about philosophy as it is about diet.
As far as diet goes, the author recommends eating "whole, plant-based foods, with little or no added oil, salt, or refined carbohydrates like sugar or white flour." He explains that we do not need to consume animal protein - milk, meat and eggs, and that over a very small amount, animal protein is carcinogenic to us and should be avoided. He also explains that our health care system has profit as it's goal rather than health. It really is an eye-opening book and I highly recommend it.

"The whole is greater than the sum of its parts."
- Aristotle

WHOLE

How many times have you heard Aristotle's quote,
which begins this review? What is the meaning?

Quite simply, the car you drive today will contain
about 30,000 different parts to it, from Mary
Anderson's brilliantly conceived windshield wipers
to a radiator invented by Karl Benz, to the
Cristoforis carburetor, to Entienne Lenoir's
internal combustion engine.

Even a Neanderthal named Aaki played a role by
inventing one of those unique 30,000 parts, the
wheel. Not a single part of the complex car works
alone and by itself but when you put 'em all
together, what do you end up with? A car!

It takes all 30,000 to create the WHOLE which
drives most Americans three blocks to purchase
a loaf of bread. The car is the whole and it
is indeed greater than the sum of its parts.

My first of dozens or more goose bump moments
occurred when reading the inside jacket cover
of WHOLE. Dr. Campbell wrote:

"The traditional 'gold standard' of nutrition
research has been to study one chemical at a time
in an attempt to determine its particular impact
on the human body...every apple contains thousands
of antioxidants...because almost every chemical can
affect every other chemical, there is an almost
infinite number of possible biological consequences."

You've got to read this book. It gets better and
better, chapter by chapter. I found nothing to
disagree with, and everything to heartily support.

On page six, Campbell comments on the Centers for Disease
Control (CDC) list of leading causes of death in America
by writing:

"Notice anything strange? Not a peep about the medical
system being the third leading cause of death in the
United States."

Dr. Campbell goes on to comment:

"What you eat every day is a far more powerful
determinant of your health than your DNA..."

Bravo for this brilliant man, for by writing WHOLE,
he has created a work of medical art which must be read
by you and every individual on your 'loved-one' list.

I just counted more than two dozen additional goose-bump
moments on my list, each one being as important as the
next one. I wanted to write a chapter or paragraph on each,
but to do so might result in a book that is lengthier than
this well-referenced 292 page work of a lifetime.

Highlights: See page 7 for the ideal human diet which
Dr. Campbell calls the WFPB lifestyle (whole foods
plant based). On page 11, he offers advice regarding the
constant bombardment of questions such as "Where will
I get my protein?" or "What about Vitamin B-12?" I can
closely relate to such questions, and love Dr. Campbell's
single word response: "Relax!" With T. Colin Campbell,
one simple word is worth a thousand pictures.

On page 29, we learn that the man's entire childhood
was spent milking cows. On page 31 he defines protein
and explains that one calorie of spinach or kale contains
double the amount of protein as a lean cut of beef.
Campbell begins chapter 4 with a dazzling quote from
the Talmud, which to me (not him) eloquently defines
many of the world's most clueless nincompoops, such
as Dr. Atkins, Dr. Sears, and Dr. Mercola:

"We do not see things as they are.
We see them as we are."

One of the most significant points made by Dr. Colin
Campbell is his comment on "reductionist-style"
experiments. He writes:

"Given enough time and money, I could conduct
reductionist-style experiments that show health
benefits for coke, deep-friend snickers bars,
and AF (aflatoxins)."

On page 78, he describes the state of modern day
medicine by writing:

"Many scientists still operate with both feet
firmly planted in a seventh-century Newtonian universe;
especially the ones like nutritional scientists
responsible for studying human health and disease."

Chapter 8 (page 107): Genetics versus Nutrition.
Chapter 9 (page 125): The secrets of doctors.

Campbell quotes Dr. Lewis Thomas by writing:

"The great secret of doctors, known only to their wives,
but still hidden from the public, is that most things
get better by themselves; most things, in fact, are
better in the morning."

There is more, so much more, and I've told you so much
already. If you wish to arm yourself against any
meat-eater's argument, this is the textbook that
22nd. century nutritionists will be using.

Let me leave you with one more quotation which
I found to be quite magical. Dr. Campbell found
it at the Mate Factor Café in Ithaca, New York.
The unsigned quote which opens Chapter 19
(Making Ourselves Whole) goes like this:

"If a little bird were to take a grain of
sand in its beak from the seashore and somehow
manage to fly it to the furthest quasar in the
universe, and if it returned and repeated the
process until all the sand of the oceans both
from the beaches and the bottoms were gone,
eternity would be just beginning."

* * * * *

"A man is the WHOLE encyclopedia of facts."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"One touch of nature makes the WHOLE world kin."
- William Shakespeare

"One does a WHOLE painting for one peach and
people think just the opposite - that particular
peach is but a detail."
- Pablo Picasso

"Only the poet can look beyond the
detail and see the WHOLE picture."
- Helen Hayes

T. Colin Campbell: WHOLE encyclopedia of facts,
WHOLE touch of nature, WHOLE painting consisting
of details, the WHOLE picture.

Posted by Julie Tuesday from a column written by the Notmilkman.

I tend to exaggerate. That being said, this book has me feverishly excited about how the conversation about food/nutrition should finally change. Please read this book and pass along to your friends and family. If this book does not change the dynamic of our conversations, policies and decisions about food/nutrition and where the research should be focused, I am confident it will spark those that are capable of doing just that. Thank you T. Colin Campbell for a scathing, articulate and stunningly insightful look at the corruption of our conversation about food and its role in nutrition. This is a book that will survive all intelligent conversations about food for generations to come!

I am too excited to finish the book. I have an Audible.com audiobook and, just when I thought, Dr. Campbell had blown me away in "The China Study" and he could not possibly be more of a genius, he blows past being a genius into eons beyond previously defined genius! I will listen to this book numerous times and read it numerous times and get so amazed at the integral beauty of the natural world, ourselves as we are made from it, and plants and the animals that feed on the plants. His previous book led me to further reading including "The 80/10/10 Diet," and others such that I am a fruitarian with occasional lapses, much to the detriment of my digestive system.

Dr. Campbell, if you read your reviews, you saved me from being a full-blown "old-age" diabetic to having to have multiple joint replacements in ankles, knees, and hips. There has always been a saying, I just want the experience of what I have in my middle or old age, but the body of a youth--your suggested food choices and food lifestyle has made that seemingly impossible hope one of reality for me. From barely being able to walk to now striding all day, enlarging my garden with enough energy in the evenings to read and learn more from you, I recommend you be given a sainthood because of the loss of pain you have saved many, many others from experiencing along with a bank account of gold whether in money or in life fulfillment.

I listened to this book on Audible. I'm a fairly well educated, cynical, skeptical, and scientific-minded person; this book seriously rocked my world. I am buying copies for my entire family, and I Whole heartedly (heh, get it?) recommend this for anyone interested in an eyes-open look at nutrition, our health, diseases like cancer and heart disease, the health care system, factory farming, and the environment.

First, a couple of lines from the movie A River Runs Through It. " Again, half as long. My father, being a Scot, thought the art of writing lay in thrift."

That's my only criticism of this book. The China Study comes across as being fairly clear-cut, and concise. The message here seems a bit drawn-out.

It's about how "reductionism" operates as one of the prevailing paradigms in North American culture. And how this mindset, of looking at things in isolation, has led to ( as Dr. Campbell has stated ),"Wealth for the few, at the expense of the health of the many."

If you're looking for a book on how to better transition to a whole foods, plant-based diet, this isn't it. This book examines fundamental flaws and failings within our contemporary "cathedrals of sickness" ( an Esselstyn quote referring to North American hospitals ) that are rooted in a profit-oriented, reductionist ethic.

Because, like chain smokers unwilling to wean themselves of nicotine, or alcoholics unable to confront their drug addicted state, the conventional medicine being practiced today, often responds to "sickness", not by removing the offending factor, or behavior, but by skirting around the real issue. And then offering only "half-way technologies" ( drugs and procedures ) that generally don't address the underlying cause of many of our most common chronic diseases. Leading to an ever-increasing cascade of poor health outcomes.

As I can see no way of ending this review on a more uplifting note, I'll at least get in some humor. By quoting a couple of Bill Maher's lines that were featured in "Forks Over Knives". You see, there's no money in healthy people, and there's no money in dead people. The money's in the middle. People who are alive, sort of, but with one or more chronic conditions . . ." Youtube "Bill Maher pharma rant" for the whole hilarious spiel.

T. Colin Campbell follows up his groundbreaking book "The China Study" that examined the impact of nutrition on cancer with "Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition" which explains why there has been so much resistance by our health care system and government to examine nutrition's impact on our health. Campbell gives an overview of his research and the reasons why his work continues to be challenged. He provides insight into the medical community, pharmaceutical industry, supplement industry, media and government. He backs up his ideas and statements with examples and research making this book a rich source of information (much like "The China Study") that everyone should read. Since his first book is such a large reason why this book was written I would recommend reading "The China Study" before this book, but you don't have to read that book before this one to understand the issues. When I finished reading this book I was disgusted and discouraged by our health care system and inspired to do what I can to change it. I highly recommend this book to everyone because American's can't afford to ignore this research.

The one thing that is missing is the how to adopt a plant based diet easily, in terms of time and money. After reading the China Study, I changed my health significantly, my HDL went from 38 to 52 from daily exercise and my LDL went from 187 to 58. The device that worked for me was a high speed mixer, VitaMix or Blendtec. I put in fruits, veggies, a cup of oatmeal, and frozen blueberries! and in one minute I have my breakfast. In the afternoon I use spinach, pineapple and an orange for my afternoon smoothie. I also read the Time magazine article by Stephen Brill, Salt Sugar, and Fat, by Michael Moss. I also visited the John McDougall facility in Santa Rosa, where couples pay $800.00 for ten days at a motel. I looked at the people in the group of fifty, and observed that they were not what I expected. Not all young, old fat, or wealthy. I checked the cars in the parking lot also. Everybody who is interested in adopting a healthy lifestyle and why should read The China study. After reading the reviews of Whole, I am re-reading The China study again. The new book is timely, because of the recent report from the AHA about statins. It is much more important that children learn how to live healthy, than knowing when George Washington was born. The states should consider giving a discount to drivers with a BMI under 22. The future of this country depends on people living a healthy lifestyle. Bravo to Dr. Campbell. Companies including Safeway are giving financial rewards for healthy employees
Forward thinking companies should offer healthy smoothies FyeREE to its employees. Many years ago my office employees had a coffee club for Five dollars a month. I put in a decaf unit next to it for free. In two months they gave up the coffee club. Nutrition should be taught in primary schools, and even medical schools. But imagine the economic impact of the incomes of the doctors, heart surgeons, hospitals, food companies, the dairy industry etc if everybody started to adopt a healthy diet as set forth so articulately by Dr. Campbell

I had no idea this book would change my life the way it is. I had been eating a vegan diet for a few months, and was starting to wonder if it was worth it/good for me. Every time I searched for answers I ran into the same things over and over again "we need animal protein to survive," "there are special nutrients in dairy that vegans are lacking..." and so on and so forth. This book totally confirmed what I had originally believed; that a whole food plant based diet IS what we are supposed to be eating, and it is the best way to achieve the best health we can hope for. This book was full of air tight evidence, and because I was slightly aware of the massive scientific paradigm currently in place, this book was a huge breath of fresh air and made me so confident about the lifestyle I have bern trying to follow. I know myself how hard it is to spread the amazing information he reveals in this book- people are skeptical, they don't believe we could possibly have it so very wrong, and so I can only imagine how exasperated he must be, having such a vital key to health and not being able to effectively share it due to resistance. TRULY AMAZING MUST READ.

The author clams that cancer will go into remission if the afflicted stops eating animal products and quits using pharmaceuticals, and he presents his wife as living proof that one need not submit to surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation to beat cancer, but this is anecdotal evidence. Where is the hard, credible evidence for the efficacy of this response to cancer? I'd very much like to believe that one is better off not attacking the cancer, but instead, strengthening the body's ability to deal with it by eating properly and eschewing pharmaceuticals, but one needs more than anecdotal evidence.

The author's beef with mainstream science is that it's reductive, not wholistic. But science is all about hard evidence and peer review. Where is the hard evidence and peer review supporting his approach to cancer?

I've created a video "overview" of this book on youtube entitled:

"Whole, Rethinking The Science of Nutrition. 2 Thumbs Way Up for Dr. T. C. Campbell"

It's rather detailed, and about 16 minutes, still it only scratches the surface of the strong case Dr. Campbell builds. As a 50 year old endurance athlete on a reasonably good quality vegan "diet" for the past 2.5+ years, I feel I've proved to myself that Dr. Campbell is spot on accurate in his thinking. I too love Dr. John McDougall's books, ideas, etc. As well as John Robbins work and that of accomplished vegan athletes like Scott Jurek, Dr. Ruth Heidrich and Rich Roll.

Randy Kreill
Beavercreek, OH

(In 2004, I was diagnosed with Thyroid Cancer and successfully treated. This led to a years long search for the truth about what likely caused my cancer and how to lower the odds of recurrence. After going onto an all plant based diet in late 2010, my vision has improved, I've adopted several of the good habits of the Tarahumara, written about in Born To Run, have run 50 miles, and completed a do it yourself full iron distance triathlon on my 50th Birthday. On my youtube channel are videos relative to this stuff and more) I'm a full believer that Dr. Campbell is showing you how to avoid cancer and hundreds of other diseases, ailments, etc.

This one book on health and diet and lifetyle and the effects of diet on health as well as the dangers of reductionist pseudo science stands as the top of my list of hundreds of
health books I have read. it is a critical book for everyone's eduction in real health and verifiable research .
Uncovering the blatant lies by the medical and research industry and the paid for research that characterizes our national programs and beleifs "Whole" is an important book for you and your familyt and your community and anyone you know who is in ill health

With all of the celebrity diet books and cook books out there screaming for attention I have found myself looking for the voices that can put a little authority behind their words. T. Colin Campbell is one of those authorities. I was anxious to read this because I had read his book The China Study a few years back. This is another of those books that explains the science of nutrition in a way that a lay person can understand. He also discusses the way nutrition research and research funding works. Those sections are depressing but not surprising to anyone who has read anything about the influence of money on food regulations. I recommend this book to anyone who is looking for some solid, well researched nutrition information.

There is another Campbell, other than the author of this impressive follow-up to THE CHINA STUDY, the now deceased philosopher Joseph Campbell who said things such as `Life has no meaning. Each of us has meaning and we bring it to life. It is a waste to be asking the question when you are the answer.' He was also a believer in the importance of myths, and if you take that to an extreme, then old children's songs and old sayings such as `An apple a day keeps the doctor away' take on new meanings.

That is the kind of warm approach T. Colin Campbell, PhD offers in this book about the invitation and encouragement for his readers to return to a diet based on whole, plant-based food as a means to diminish the risk of encountering heart disease, diabetes, obesity and even cancer. In WHOLE, Dr. Campbell embellishes his previous writing with a book that establishes the scientific evidence for his concept of the basis and the facts about nutrition.

Here are some facts presented that may disturb many readers unfamiliar with the manner in which `food' is presented for consumption, but it is time these facts wee placed within the context of science and not under the shadow of those who profit form fast food chains or packaged foods that contain harmful elements that can actually bruise our immune systems into dysfunction. It would not be possible to provide an overview of this entire book, nor will that help anyone in deciding to purchase it. But the time has come in our nation of unhealthy obese children and adults for everyone to take responsibility for our health and that can only happen if we are confronted with the facts and the relatively simple manner in which we can change our lives by altering our diet.

So put down the fad drinks, the power pills, and the `diet in a bottle' and learn the basics of food and nutrition. Your life depends on it! Grady Harp, May 13

A book on much more than just nutrition, very different from others. The authors analyze the reductionist focus underlying the science of nutrition research and explain in detail its fatal flaws.

Dr. Michael R. Edelstein
author, Three Minute Therapy: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life

Whole by T. Colin Campbell is a provocative book that reveals why the whole foods plant based diet lifestyle is not publicized on every street corner for the lightning speed cure for diseases that ails you! It connects the dots on why the typical animal based diet sets us all up for these diseases. It's not our genes it our food choices.

Way to go Dr. T. Colin Campbell for your tireless courageous research on unveiling the miraculous benefits a whole food plant based lifestyle provides! Your WFPB lifestyle changed my health destiny and reversed my husband's heart disease, my sister's diabetes and my son's chronic pulmonary disease!!

Dr. T. Colin Campbell is the KING of nutrition science and wrote the best-selling book The China Study; the most in depth study of diet, lifestyle and nutrition every conducted. Over a forty year period his peer-reviewed research proved without a shadow of doubt that a whole food, plant based eating lifestyle guarantees radiant health and cures an array of diseases that plague the world.

In Whole, Dr. Campbell's reveals the miraculous food pill that cures "eat a variety of vegetables, fruits, raw nuts and seeds, beans and legumes, and whole grains. Avoid heavily processed foods and animal products. Stay away from added salt, oil, and sugar. Aim to get 80 percent of your calories from carbohydrates, 10 percent from fat, and 10 percent from protein." In fact in 1978 Dr. T. Colin Campbell coined the phrase "Whole food, plant based diet". He refers to is as a whole food, plant based lifestyle because in his mind diet means labor and punishment and this way of eating is a lifestyle that he and his entire family enjoys immensely and you will to!! Our most valuable asset is our health.

His calling and research placed him as a leader in the grass roots movement that stomps out the scourge of cancer, heart disease and diabetes. Dr. T. Colin Campbell and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn Jr. inspired me to take the food cure and become a good news messenger, health advocate, author and educator on empowering individuals to be masters of their health destiny all by learning how to eat delicious high flavored foodie quality meals!

Dr. T. Colin Campbell states the fact that "nutrition is the master key to human health". "The remarkable health effects of this delicious eating lifestyle prevents 95% of all cancers, including those "caused" by environmental toxins, prevents nearly all heart attacks and strokes, reverses even severe heart disease, prevents and reverses type 2 diabetes so quickly and profoundly that, after three days eating whole plant foods, it's dangerous for users to continue to use insulin."

In Whole Dr. Campbell answers in detail these questions. Why this life changing news is not advertised on every bill board? Why are America's heroic doctors and scientists i.e. Dr. T. Colin Campbell, Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn Jr., Dr. Neal Barnard and Dr. John McDougall research not on the front page of every newspaper across the nation? Prior to confronting serious health issues of my own it was hard for me to fathom that this food cure would be hidden from public view. Don't be naive read Whole with an open mind. Education unlocks motivation and willingness. Embracing a whole food, plant-based lifestyle becomes the best gift you can ever give your self.

It's sad but 100% true that we live in a culture where money rules and the powers that be actually suppress, ignore and systematically dismiss the truth about this nutrition based therapy. Our government is allied with the economic interests of the medical and agriculture establishments that want to keep this truth from public knowledge. Heart disease and cancer alone add up to 500 BILLION in revenue annually. In Whole Dr. Campbell creatively describes what would occur if these industries could invent a WFPB pill that would cure all these diseases. You can be sure that it would be publicized nonstop!

Oh and before I go let's sing together with Dr. Campbell all the side effects of eating delicious whole plant-based cuisine. "Unwanted pounds drop off, energy sky rockets, migraines, acne, cold and flu, chronic pain, arthritis and intestinal distress disappears and erectile dysfunction is cured"!! Order your copy of Whole today and celebrate with the multitudes of people who are falling in love with food that loves them back!!

Linda Berson
Author of Green Scene Diet

Prof. Dr. Campbell presents a new way of thinking about nutrition using a systems approach. The standard model for research in nutrition is to analyze nutrients singularly. Instead of this reductionist approach, one needs to consider the nutrient collectively with other nutrients, and to examine the effects of the nutrients within the whole system. For example when analyzing "keto diets" the whole diet needs to be defined, including what fat types are being ingested, and the diet needs to be analyzed beyond whether one has lost weight. Other endpoints besides weight loss, such as dysbiosis, neurodegeneration, and CVD, which result from "keto diets," need to be part of a systems analysis. This is similar to what is now being used in therapeutic development, where therapeutics are not only being analyzed at the systems level, but are also being designed with multiple molecules to target multiple pathways in the system to treat diseases, as I describe in my book, "Stem Cell Released Molecules: A Paradigm Shift To Systems Therapeutics."

I loved Dr. Campbell's book! As a researcher and scientist and vegan, I really appreciated Dr. Campbell's comprehensive and detailed book looking at the reasons his and others' research on a whole foods plant-based diet has not been accepted or incorporated widely into American culture/society. He also goes into detail about problems with our 'disease care system', the profit model that our 'disease care system' is based on, why health policy is not influenced by his and others' research showing why a plant-based diet is better for most people [and can reduce cancers, diabetes, and many other health-related problems], problems with supplements, problems with Big Pharma, and many, many more. This is an important and valuable book that I encourage everyone to read! We do have control over what goes in our own mouths, even if we may not be able to influence the policy makers that much!

The author has shared his life's work and frustrations with the compromised health (disease) system in America. I was humbled several times in the light of Campbell's erudite and comprehensive review of nutritional knowledge and understanding of metabolism. Remember the Krebb's Cycle for the production of ATP etc.? Imagine that one pathway as one of a myriad maze of reactions, each of which communicates and is affected by untold thousands of other reactions! The value of Whole Food, Plant Based diet is fully justified and its role in our bodies control and protection against cancer is made understandable and immediately comprehensible. Highly recommended for serious readers, but not for those looking for another diet book or collection of recipes.

Life changing. Dr. Campbell will hold you to a higher standard of health and vitality. If you can't agree with what he's saying about eating right, then maybe being healthy isn't for you. For everyone else, just buy it. It'll help you to change they way you think and live.

This is truly a worthwhile read. Well written with good data to back up his claims, Dr. Campbell has produced a valuable resource for the every day person concerning nutrition. Hopefully some people will read it and become healthier. Couldn't give it a five star rating because some of his rants became highly too personal and obsessive with his conspiracy theory getting kind of old by the end of the book.

I read every credible publication I can find regarding health and nutrition, and while I loved Colin Campbell's China Study, this one is my favorite. The volume of research he sourced for this book is stunning. This book, "Whole", will have a significant impact in our culture and around the World, and will no doubt contribute to the improved health and longevity of countless thousands.

I found this book to be definitely controversial. The subtitle of this book is "rethinking the science of nutrition". The author has certainly rethought the field of nutrition. The author argues that in the scientific world we have gone too far in using the reductionist approach as opposed to a wholistic approach. Reductionist means narowing things down to one thing that causes this and one thing that causes that. He believes the wholistic approach is better with the whole being greater than the sum of its parts.

As an herbalist, I have been aware of this debate in the field of herbalism. Is the whole herb preferable to a certain constituent of an herb? Now I have read about it in the field of nutrition. According to the author this permeates nutrition science. His arguments are quite compelling and he also argues in favor of a plant based diet, using the whole plant or as he puts it whole foods.

There is quite a bit of controversy oveer these ideas and I think every person needs to think it through for him/her self. While I agree that whole foods are probably best, I believe there is also room for the reductionist approach in certain circumstances.

This book is a bit on the scholarly side and makes one think. An educated lay person would probably get something out of it, but the ordinary person on the street would most likely have a problem grasping the idea. I found it to be most interesting and for me it was a good read. -- Valerie Lull, Author, Ten HealthyTeas

The author of this book wrote The China Study and made the mistaken assumption that everyone - consumers, the FDA, the health industry - would get on board. Eight years later he writes that this was a naive assumption and has written "Whole" to further substantiate his findings and advocate for them. Well written and supremely informative!

REad this book & turn your health around. If you value your years & the quality of your years, and would like to not take the common path of drugs & less & less function & shorter life, then follow the information in WHOLE, and see how much more vibrant
you can feel & be! Dr Campbell authored the longest running health study ever, The China Study, detailed in his first book of the same name. The human anatomy & physiology is herbivorous. Dr Campbell's equally brilliant MD son co-authored this best selling book.

Be healthy. Eat plants.

A clear description of why we have eaten the ways that we have & how to grow whole again, as a culture and individually. I am especially grateful for Chapter 12, Reductionist Social Policy and the discussion of climate change. This whole book is like the best homily, the best gospel, the most hopeful and empowering gift.

Maybe the authors premise that being a vegetarian and never eating dairy is indeed correct. He does not make the case though. Instead he goes on and on about he was persecuted for his views. I was looking for practical advice on diet and sound reasoning for why but got neither. So many other excellent books out there.

Having met the author, and heard him speak several times over the years, I know him to be a man of integrity and purpose. This is just about common sense; eating the way our bodies are designed to eat, eliminating all of the junk and eating mostly whole plant foods. It is great to see distinguished doctors and health experts supporting his work: John McDoughall, Sean Ornish, Caldwell esselstyn, to name a few. I highly recommend this book for anybody interested in improved health for this world, our bodies, and all of lEfe.

Due to this book it now makes sense why there is so much contradictory information about nutrition which is exactly the confusion Big Pharma, Big Medicine, Big Business want to maintain in order for us to continue with our SAD (Standard American Diet). I no longer pay attention to Dr. Oz and the latest headlines for the newest magic pill or supplement. I have adopted a whole foods plant based diet and have lost weight and dropped my cholesterol 50 points in a short time and take no medications or supplements. It is liberating to be in control of my health knowing that very few in the medical profession are interested in anything other than dispensing medication or performing expensive surgeries and pretending there is no cure because they don't want anyone to know that changing ones diet will prevent most diseases and reverse most diseases. I am grateful to Drs. Campbell, Essestyn,McDougal, Barnard,Greger, Ornish and Furman who do care enough to stand up and speak the truth.

I'll start off by saying I'm a huge nutrition nerd and proponent of a plant-based diet. I'm not sure what I was expecting with WHOLE, but I feel like it missed the mark.

I'll start with the good. The beginning made me laugh and the stories related to T. Colin Campbell's career. He thought everyone would get on the whole food plant-based diet bandwagon when the research was presented but he was met with resistance. He explains why in the book. As a future nutritionist, this information was eye opening for me.

The rest of the book was challenging to read, even for someone with a college education. I found the concepts and writing itself to be extremely repetitive. I re-read sentences to decipher them and later on skipped over entire paragraphs. I almost didn't finish the book! It seemed like the same information regurgitated. (ie the entire medical industry is corrupt, which we already know)

Another reviewer said that the book reads like one long rant and I have to agree. It's great to understand how nutrition research can be manipulated but how does that apply to everyday life? How can people protect themselves from the medical establishment?

The worst part of WHOLE is that it leaves the reader with nothing more than a couple pages at the end that say to eat a whole food plant based diet. After many chapters of "doom and gloom", a little more information regarding what/how to eat a plant based diet would have been helpful.

I think you would like this book if you're interested in nutrition research and science. For the average consumer who is looking for information on healthy eating, look elsewhere.

Truly profound.

For years now, it all really started in 2007, I have learned more and more on the topics of nutrition and health. I have studied them without hesitation, be it documentaries or non-fiction books. My views have changed so much over those years. My eyes opened way more than I expected, or knew possible. Every day that passes I feel anew because of the knowledge gained. More importantly, I feel empowered.

Nine years ago I was the lead physical training leader for my squadron in the U.S. Air Force and was interested in fitness and nutrition. Though when asked advice on diet I recommended some lean chicken with two sides of veggies. I'd recommend fat free cow's milk. I remember every day I had a salad for lunch, with oil laden dressing poured over it and for dinner, in my dorm room, I cooked a portion sized chicken breast and had a microwaved potato with very little butter and a side of green beans. I considered it very "healthy." I promoted it. I even got my then boyfriend (but now husband) eating the very same "Western" diet. I felt I was just so educated on the topic of nutrition and that I could bring that information, which, in reality, was information learned from biased cherry picking sources, to my co-workers and help them better their health that way. Today, I will tell you. I was dead wrong. Not only was I wrong but my view of "healthy," based on what I got (never really questioning where I got that information, how it was researched, funded, etc.) was harmful to those I was handing it out to. Though good intentioned, it was ignorant and dangerous.

And The China Study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted And the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss, And Long-term Health started a lot of that for me- the dive into learning nutrition but the dive of questioning what I was learning, etc. It woke me up, smacked me in the face. It changed my life. So I eagerly anticipated Dr. Campbell's new book when I first heard that he was writing another book.

"The China Study" was a life changer for me. I was "vegan" before it but The China Study doesn't advocate a vegan diet but instead a whole foods plant-based diet, which is much more specific. I was also under-educated on the topic of nutrition, though I didn't believe that I was. Even then, when I picked up "Whole" I expected not to learn as much as I did when I read "The China Study." That's the funny thing about expectations, even though we can't help but have them, is that they are often proven wrong. Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition exceeded my expectations. I would give it 10 stars.

I went in expecting that the word "Whole" in the title referred to a "whole" foods plant-based diet. It does but what the book truly focuses on is the problems with research out there. Dr. Campbell, and I think this was what made the book so profound, pointed out the difference between a "reductionist" approach to research and a "wholeistic" approach to research and how reductionism is what leads, as far as the type of research and information given out, in this country and why it's a problem.

Throughout the book Dr. Campbell explains what he means by reductionist via examples of other research, of how we label our foods, of supplements (and if you think supplements are the way to go, then I recommend this book- though you may stop taking supplements after reading it), of how the research comes out and how the media represents it. He also addresses the "but everything contradicts" phenomena. Many are confused by the mixed messages the media and represented research results give us. Where one is telling us coffee is bad for us and another saying it's good. He addresses why and often why it's not actually conflicting in many cases. Gosh he addresses so many things that I believe everyone should read. I recommend this book to all. Though I would recommend "The China Study" to read before it simply because it will give all much needed information but also will give reasoning as to why Dr. Campbell is a person to listen to. Why is information is different from others. It will give a nice amount of information but also a good background before reading this but to those who read "The China Study" I would say, please don't stop there. The information in this book is just as powerful and should be disseminated to the masses. People deserve to know

This is an important book for anyone who reads scientific research or who has an interest in nutrition. Dr. Campbell explains the impossibility of trying to isolate individual nutrient effects and why a wholistic view is necessary to correctly apply what we've learned from nutritional studies. His chapters on genetics versus nutrition are empowering for anyone concerned about their genetic risks. Chapter 13, "Understanding the System" is enlightening. Instead of asking "significant questions" researchers are rewarded for asking "profitable questions." This book was more difficult for me to read than The China Study (which I've read 4 times) because the further I read, the more I understood how deeply our system is in trouble. Dr. Campbell points out that the problem is not individual health care providers or scientists, but it's a system that profits from reductionism rather than wholism. His solution is for us to eat whole, plant-based foods with little or no oil, salt, or refined carbohydrates. He points out that industry will change when it is "deprived of the income produced by ill health and our ignorance." Change will happen from the grassroots rather than top-down. As someone who's been eating a whole foods, plant-based diet for almost 3 years (since reading The China Study), my biggest surprise has been how easy this way of eating becomes over time. I highly recommend both of Dr. Campbell's books--but I would read them in the order written.

Futuristic nutrition that dates back to the dawn of man.
But it does show in great detail why our health care system is not fixing the healthcare problems that our nation faces.
There is no PROFIT in health ...PROFIT is only in pain, illness and surgery.
The answer is so simple; your grandma probably tried to tell it to you:
NUTRITION
and everything you have heard in the past 40 years about health is backasswards.
The people who will suffer the most are the ignorant and the slow to learn.
The people who will gain will continue to trample on other people to make a buck.
One day we will see that what we were taught about food is as bad as ...cigarrettes being good for your health!

I just finished reading Whole and would like to thank the authors for their efforts. I agree that nutrition is one of the most important sustainability issues we all face. Going vegan is a positive way to address global warming and the health care crisis. The bonus, of course, is that you improve your own health. A friend recommended that I read The China Study a couple of years ago. Shortly after adopting a vegan diet, weight, blood pressure and cholesterol levels went down to healthy levels. Words can't fully express my gratitude for publishing the truth regarding nutrition. As I scientist in my first career, the information provided was all the motivation I needed to make some healthy changes to the family menu. Whole is icing on the (animal fat-free) cake.

A perfect large view of the entire subject of Whole Foods Plant-Based lifestyle. It not only covers the specific world-changing effects on the human population, animals and the planet; but communicates the tremendous value stepping back to "see the forest for the trees".

This is the first book that struck me as "THE" book on health that should be read BEFORE any other book on health. Wow. This could really be used in high schools. What a different world we would live in.

I listened to this on Audible.com. I would strongly recommend that version.

T Colin Campbell doesn't hold back in this addition to the China Study. He explains the inner workings of the reductionist scientific establishments and the dark forces that influence what is published. Really great work showing the Wholistic nature of nutritional Biochemistry. Thank you Cambell!!!

What this book shares will take a lot of courage and integrity for most people to grasp and apply. It is by far the book of the decade when it comes to exposing and explaining what is REALLY going on in our health and food system. Dr. Colin Campbell lays it all out on the line, in an honest and transparent way with that "nothing to lose" sort of rawness. It was an incredibly stimulating read that I could not put down, even though I knew most of what the book covered.

The book will not be a hit with those who like the illusion that society presents, or those who do not want to face their personal habits, career choices or beliefs. It is not a book that is going to tell you a nice story and apply another band-aid approach. This is a book that invites us to finally step up to the plate and take action through personal choices and changes in diet and lifestyle habits. It is a book that goes into incredible explanations as to the mess that is currently known as our healthcare system and why no one is getting better, rather sicker. There are so many amazing facts that this book presents that one can write a whole book, not just review of the implications of the content within Whole. So the question now is are you ready and do you have what it takes to stop blaming externally and waiting for the government or your doctor to change, and take the steps to change yourself?

A highly recommended MUST READ for all those who are in the nutrition or medical industries, as well as any consumer who is open and willing, seeking and wanting to know how the food and medical system functions and why, in order to take their health into their own hands.

This book is absolutely amazing. It is so informative and extremely well-written. An excellent follow-up to The China Study. I have read it twice already and look forward to reading it again.

My only criticism is that, in light of all the discussion of the harms of nutrient supplements, there should have been some commentary on Vitamin B-12 for those on a 100% plant-based diet (though I realize this was covered in The China Study). Also perhaps there should have been some discussion of Vitamin D supplementation which is rather common these days. (Thankfully, that subject is well-covered in Dr John McDougall's The Starch Solution.)

Overall though I highly recommend this book!

Dr. Colin Campbell has presented us with much to think about in a very understandable and readable book. I thoroughly enjoyed reading his book and highly recommend it to everyone! Dr. Campbell is to be commended for his research and perseverance in the science of nutrition. Listen to him and follow his advice and live a healthy life!

Really enjoyed this. I just wish it would be required reading in college. I am fairly new at the WFPB diet and this book just makes me want to try harder to eat healthy. Thanks to the amazing T Colin Campbell for his life's work!

Once again Dr Campbell says it like it is. I commend him for being brave to speak out the truth. His research at the lab showed the dangers of eating too much (more than 10%) animal protein and he is not hiding it is spite of the pressure. While reading the China Study in 2008 I went cold turkey and followed a WFPB diet. I haven't been to a Dr since. No pills at all and I am above 60. Thanks Dr Campbell and keep speaking/writing.

There is not much doubt that Colin Campbell should receive the Nobel price for his work on animal protein and cancer. However in his newest book he is turning his findings into a flawed religion which will mislead millions of readers and cause more damage than good. Antioxidant supplements were found to be potentially detrimental to health, a major flaw in the free radical theory. But expanding this to a witch hunt against all supplements is inexcusable in the light of the overwhelming scientific evidence. Further no efforts were made to explain the relatively mild detrimental effects of animal protein in large studies. "Whole" will likely become yet another religion following in the foot steps of "Paleo", "Atkins", "Cholesterol" and the like. What is needed is a more basic understanding that explains these phenomena.

This book is absolutely amazing. It is so informative and extremely well-written. An excellent follow-up to The China Study. I have read it twice already and look forward to reading it again.

My only criticism is that, in light of all the discussion of the harms of nutrient supplements, there should have been some commentary on Vitamin B-12 for those on a 100% plant-based diet (though I realize this was covered in The China Study). Also perhaps there should have been some discussion of Vitamin D supplementation which is rather common these days. (Thankfully, that subject is well-covered in Dr John McDougall's The Starch Solution.)

Overall though I highly recommend this book!

Dr. Colin Campbell has presented us with much to think about in a very understandable and readable book. I thoroughly enjoyed reading his book and highly recommend it to everyone! Dr. Campbell is to be commended for his research and perseverance in the science of nutrition. Listen to him and follow his advice and live a healthy life!

Really enjoyed this. I just wish it would be required reading in college. I am fairly new at the WFPB diet and this book just makes me want to try harder to eat healthy. Thanks to the amazing T Colin Campbell for his life's work!

Once again Dr Campbell says it like it is. I commend him for being brave to speak out the truth. His research at the lab showed the dangers of eating too much (more than 10%) animal protein and he is not hiding it is spite of the pressure. While reading the China Study in 2008 I went cold turkey and followed a WFPB diet. I haven't been to a Dr since. No pills at all and I am above 60. Thanks Dr Campbell and keep speaking/writing.

There is not much doubt that Colin Campbell should receive the Nobel price for his work on animal protein and cancer. However in his newest book he is turning his findings into a flawed religion which will mislead millions of readers and cause more damage than good. Antioxidant supplements were found to be potentially detrimental to health, a major flaw in the free radical theory. But expanding this to a witch hunt against all supplements is inexcusable in the light of the overwhelming scientific evidence. Further no efforts were made to explain the relatively mild detrimental effects of animal protein in large studies. "Whole" will likely become yet another religion following in the foot steps of "Paleo", "Atkins", "Cholesterol" and the like. What is needed is a more basic understanding that explains these phenomena.

I was only able to get part way through this. While the information and science seems sound the apparent insistence that only this way of eating and lifestyle will have similar results without considering vastly different food ways in other cultures and lands actually sets the author in the same mold he tried to fight.
There are cultures that eat nearly carnivorous diets that have much the same disease rates as cultures that eat nearly vegan diets. The intense focus on wanting everyone to eat only this way is much like the system that focuses on profits for science. Instead taking the results that suggested that animal protein is a major factor in our disease rates and finding how it differs from animal proteins as eaten by pastoral or hunting societies (eg. Masai or Inuit) with little need for plant food would have been a better tact to take. Especially since epidemiology of the Standard American Diet, the "Whole" diet, and various other cultural diets can kill the idea that animal protein in and of itself is the issue.
The author however doesn't seem to have considered other variables having once found a working hypothesis.

This book is about much more than nutrition. It is a manifesto on how to think differently about the invisible assumptions we all make about the scientific process, about how we learn what is true and what isn't, and about how wrong we can easily be while being highly thoughtful, intelligent and sincere. A tour de force no matter what your nutritional beliefs, this book is worth reading twice.

This book was a fantastic follow-up to the China study ... I enjoyed it - I'm not sure about anyone else, but I got great information out of it and it sits right in my bookcase next to My Beef With Meat, The Engine 2 Diet, The China Study, the cookbook from the China Study, Forks Over Knives & the Forks Over Knives cookbook, Dr Neal Barnard's Program For Reversing Diabetes and his Get Healthy Go Vegan cookbook...among MANY other vegan/plant-based cookbooks. I highly recommend this informative and FACTUAL book.

Horrible. Ranting and raving over and over by a disgruntled PhD. Yes a vegan diet may be the right diet. Let's hear about that instead of trying to convince us over and over again. The drug companies and the doctors are all against prevention through diet hey I get it. I probably should have ordered the China study. I thought this would build on it and have a first etc. NOT. don't buy it

Excellent review of the current status of our medical system. We all know conflicts of interest exist in the medical and research fields but this is a great eye opener of the extent of this conflict of interest and what it means for us, the public.

Dr Campbell keeps it interesting, thoughtful, easy to read. The science is easy to understand and makes sense. Encouraging to anyone wanting to know more about nutrition science and nutrition politics.

Doctor Campbell has been there, since the beginnings of nutritional science; how it has come to be that today's decision makers have the audacity to marginalize this man's work - in the midst of a society of sick and overweight people - is at once enraging and enlightening. It makes me feel like I should go back to school and become a nutritional expert, or a biochemist...and join the ranks of those who fight for the truth in diet and lifestyle.

The majority of people think they have no choice about whether or not they achieve optimum health - and to think the government remains complacent with that. This book illuminates the prevalent ego-based "i am right and you are wrong" theme infecting so many experts in the scientific world. Reading and understanding what Dr. Campbell shares in his book clarifies the fact that nutritional science is in its infancy still; at the same time, the knowledge he imparts ends the protein confusion, and puts to rest the protein myths that seem to hang around, despite the insidious meat and dairy advertising to the contrary.

Struggles with weight and health have been personal to me. I wish i had known about Dr. Campbell's work when i was a twenty-something! Nevertheless, it is possible to reverse poor health and aging: This book will arm each of us with more understanding than ever about how our country's health crisis can be ended via nutrition. It simply starts with individual knowledge and understanding.

"Be the change you wish to see in the world" -- M. Ghandi

This book is all about flaws in experimental design and nothing about nutrition!
All he says is eat whole foods, don't eat protein... After skipping a few chapters, getting frustrated about his rants over the US nutrition research I turned to the TOC to find the bit about nutrition only there wasn't one! Seriously I don't care about double blind studies or being told 7 times that casein causes cancer... Yawn! Or that he's a renegade... Sigh! Anyone know any good nutrition books?

I thought it was Obama writing this book.
"burned at the stake" seriously? So much drama, way over the top !

Author spent 90% of his time talking/bragging about himself
Most of the book is like that
Very little detail, lots of defensive posturing.

Search found
312 instances of "my"
107 matches of "me"
53 occurrences of "The China Study"
17 instances of "Heretics"
17 instances of "myself"
20 instances of "my research"
13 matches of "my career"
5 matches of "my work"
35 matches for "I have"
10 of "I believe"
4 of "I and Others"
19 of "I know"

This 'work' is mainly a defensive piece to defend whole food plant based theory and the author's efforts

Here's more searches
'biome' - yield NO results
'bacteria' - 2 results, but none are referencing bacteria in the body, eg the gut
'deficiency' 13 matches, but mostly protein deficiency; nothing on B12, calcium, iron, or zinc deficiencies when eating plant based
'starches' - ZERO matches; no mention of starches? potatoes, rice, banana, etc??!! you kidding me?

'magnesium' only 6 mentions; nothing about depletion of magnesium in our soils. that is farmers not replenishing magnesium; which leads to food that has less magnesium contained within.

Some research says that the WFPB by itself is not directly linked to longer life, but that people that generally eat mostly fresh, whole foods dont drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes; plus they tend to exercise more.
"actual casual relationship between becoming vegetarian and living longer is not clear"

More

"healthy animals" - zero results
'grass fed" - zero
'range free' - zero

A huge problem for those eating animal based products is that they are eating products from unhealthy animals
Western countries have harmed animals by GMOs, using unnatural foods, keeping them in dark rooms
They are not grass fed or range free. IT MAKES A HUGE difference.

Chickens should be cage free, range free, free to eat insects. Their eggs are more than twice as healthy
Cows should be grass fed; their meat fat is actually much healthier and contains Vitamin K2;
The milk products are vastly better too.

If you had a choice of Halal or Kosher, pick kosher. Halal killed animals are stressed and the meat becomes toxic.
Halal is idiotic.

Fish should not be farm raised, they should be wild caught in waters that have no pollution.
Same with shellfish.
Sadly, our pollution free waters are running out.

Of course, writers of this kind of BIAS will not consider the the health of the animals !

I love the first 3/4 of The China Study and had hoped this would be a continuation with updated material on nutrition. It is not. Dr. Campbell is a man ahead of the times and suffered for his insights. Whole is written for his critics. It's a book on reductionist thinking versus whole-listic, ie The China Study. My interest is nutrition, not this philosophical debate. I think The China Study was terrific...it was practically a survey of all the inhabitants! You can get a better study than that!

If I were Dr. Campbell, I would focus on the material at hand. We are catching up with you and your colleagues. Screw the powers that be!

In fact I dropped a note to one of the cancer groups, Komen, and said that if they put as much energy into spreading the word on healthy nutrition as researched by Dr. Campbell et. al breast cancer would be a rarity by now! Instead we have Races for the Cure all over the place! The Cure is on your plate.

Thank you Dr. Campbell. Preach to your choir. We are increasing in numbers. Our improved health is what pulls others into the fold! for the record I am a 4 month old Nutritarian, following Dr. Fuhrman's plan. My lipids and sugar normalized in three weeks!

Dawn

T. Colin Campbell provides so much insight into the recent history and world of nutrition and politics that the book is often amazing. He certainly provides a strong case for the use of whole, plant based foods as a cornerstone for lifetime health. I didn't give the book 5 stars only because my background is 'wellness' and I value exercise/activity, mental/psychological & spiritual health as well as nutrition, which he tends to avoid, at least in this book.

This book offers a few possibly good suggestions about eating and diet. But the topic of "nutrition" as bonafide science today is equal to about where surgery was in the 18th Century. The great bulk of data is anecdotal, with no statistical or genuine scientific studies from which testable results are available. Nothing is mentioned about the possible effects of the placebo impact for some people and no correlation, let alone causal effect, is presented vis-a-vis the role that genetic factors play in a person's metabolic or hormonal or other bodily absorption of the aspects of the foods one eats. There is value in obtaining nutrients (vitamins, minerals, etc.) from eating the whole food versus taking just factory-made supplements. Your body appears to be much more efficient at managing the productive use of nutrients when elements of the whole food product enable, or assist, absorption by the body. And certainly, a diet composed of mostly all of one type of foodstuff is counterproductive. Correlations made by the author from almost entirely anecdotal and/or cherry-picked data from a few studies are not, ipso-facto, causal. The lesson should be the old, but trite, saw that one should eat their foodstuff choices in moderation and from an array of animal and vegetable sources. Two stars for some valid points.

well written commentary on the science of nutrition.challenges the way we have been taught to study the science of nutrition.will open your eyes and make you demand govermental change on nutrition policies.

It would have been a great book if the author stuck to his research findings. But in 75-80% of the book, he arrogantly and often ignorantly attacks other scientists and fields. It is very sickening to hear those ignorant and arrogant attacks with absurd sarcasms and his extremely narrow point of view. This book almost has nothing to do with living healthy or choosing nutritious foods. I very much liked his research findings though. However, Pubmed shows only 7 publications when I search for the name 'T Colin Campbell'. He claims to have over 300 publications in the book. It is weird to not see them in Pubmed.

I don't think much of the book. I'm not totally dismissing the premise of eating whole foods, but I don't see much of a strong evidentiary case being made in this book. To me it seems more like a wrap up of a career and a chance to take some shots at those individuals and organizations that have done the author wrong as well as screwing the people with bad food, meds and advice. I don't disagree with much of that either, it is just not an enjoyable read nor a scientific book. I've read many health related books including ones dedicated to debunking the Cholesterol myths and Paleo/Primal books and the majority of them provided more support for the theories they were talking about.

I am a 100% believer in food being the major cornerstone of our health and avoiding as many chemicals and carcinogens as you can to stay free of diseases. I can only relate on a personal level that 7 years of vegetarian/vegan lifestyle was not good for my body vs. a Paleo/Primal diet. The consumption of grains and simple carbs clearly impacted our family to the negative side of the ledger.

I haven't read this/yet, but I simply wanted to make the [paradoxical] observation of a society apparently ruled by the powers-that-be [the industrial food system/pharmaceutical companies, in this case] but where said entities have zero power in preventing books like these from surfacing. Quite liberating.

Just got Campbell's new book "Whole" yesterday. His last book "China Study" is on the side of my bookshelf where I've placed my top 10 books of all time, of the 10s of thousands I've read over the last >40yrs. It's a tough act to follow, so, I guess I had my expectations set too high. (Come to think of it, McDougall's best one was his 1st, forgot the name of it - the one with the yellow cover, published 25yrs ago?)

Picked it up and immediately read both covers and inside flaps, then the first few pages of "praise". The usual praisers were there (though Fuhrman was conspicuously absent) including my favorites Esselstyn, Ornish, McDougall, Barnard, Popper, Pulde, Novick, & Lisle. This just set my expectations even higher.

Next went to the index. Vitamin B12. Vitamin D. Sunlight. Two pages on each but nothing significant.

Then to vegan diets: "As far as whether one should strive to eat 100 percent plant-based instead of something less--say, 95-98 percent--my answer is that I am not aware of reliable scientific evidence showing that such purity is absolutely necessary... however... the closer we get to a Whole Foods Plant Based diet, the healthier we will be. I say this not because we have foolproof scientific evidence of this, but because of the effect on our taste buds... go the whole way... You wouldn't advise a heavy smoker who wants to quit to continue smoking one cigarette per day. It's much easier to go 100 percent than 99 percent..."

You were getting warm there T. But no cigar. Why not just come out of the closet and say it? Don't be vegan, don't get your vitamin/bacteria B12 from a supplement which has just been extracted from an animal product. Because that would be REDUCTIONISM which your whole WHOLE book criticizes.

"China Study" makes it clear that the healthiest ethnicity in China is NOT vegan, that they do indeed ingest ~1oz of animal per day. Just enough to get the required and essential vitamin/bacteria B12 and whatever else, measurable or not, is attached to it. The Chinese do not separate that vitamin/bacteria from its source, as do Western vegans, Western REDUCTIONIST NON-WHOLE vegans.

So, is it that the Chinese can handle a teasing taste of flesh and be content, while Westerners will succumb to the temptation and eat the entire 1/4 pounder? Sounds plausible, but just SAY IT!

And the vitamin D... how could you NOT bash the supplements left and right? You should have slammed them! Long before this book on reductionism came out we had McDougall telling us that it's not a vitamin/hormone D deficiency it's a SUNSHINE deficiency. Then we had Hollick and Pulde go so far as to even publish CHARTS on how many minutes of DIRECT SOLAR NOON SUNSHINE we should allow to reach our skin, depending on our racial background and geographical location... because it's not just vitamin/hormone D that we derive from the sun, it's much more, it's a WHOLE package.

Come on T. The three of them had the flaws of vitamin/hormone D reductionism in their sights and they weren't even writing any books on reductionism.

Just another in the long line of books whose claim to fame is that "the establishment" is against them. Next year there will be another one with the subtitle: "They don't want you to know about." Enough with the conspiracy theories!

I haven't read this/yet, but I simply wanted to make the [paradoxical] observation of a society apparently ruled by the powers-that-be [the industrial food system/pharmaceutical companies, in this case] but where said entities have zero power in preventing books like these from surfacing. Quite liberating.

Just got Campbell's new book "Whole" yesterday. His last book "China Study" is on the side of my bookshelf where I've placed my top 10 books of all time, of the 10s of thousands I've read over the last >40yrs. It's a tough act to follow, so, I guess I had my expectations set too high. (Come to think of it, McDougall's best one was his 1st, forgot the name of it - the one with the yellow cover, published 25yrs ago?)

Picked it up and immediately read both covers and inside flaps, then the first few pages of "praise". The usual praisers were there (though Fuhrman was conspicuously absent) including my favorites Esselstyn, Ornish, McDougall, Barnard, Popper, Pulde, Novick, & Lisle. This just set my expectations even higher.

Next went to the index. Vitamin B12. Vitamin D. Sunlight. Two pages on each but nothing significant.

Then to vegan diets: "As far as whether one should strive to eat 100 percent plant-based instead of something less--say, 95-98 percent--my answer is that I am not aware of reliable scientific evidence showing that such purity is absolutely necessary... however... the closer we get to a Whole Foods Plant Based diet, the healthier we will be. I say this not because we have foolproof scientific evidence of this, but because of the effect on our taste buds... go the whole way... You wouldn't advise a heavy smoker who wants to quit to continue smoking one cigarette per day. It's much easier to go 100 percent than 99 percent..."

You were getting warm there T. But no cigar. Why not just come out of the closet and say it? Don't be vegan, don't get your vitamin/bacteria B12 from a supplement which has just been extracted from an animal product. Because that would be REDUCTIONISM which your whole WHOLE book criticizes.

"China Study" makes it clear that the healthiest ethnicity in China is NOT vegan, that they do indeed ingest ~1oz of animal per day. Just enough to get the required and essential vitamin/bacteria B12 and whatever else, measurable or not, is attached to it. The Chinese do not separate that vitamin/bacteria from its source, as do Western vegans, Western REDUCTIONIST NON-WHOLE vegans.

So, is it that the Chinese can handle a teasing taste of flesh and be content, while Westerners will succumb to the temptation and eat the entire 1/4 pounder? Sounds plausible, but just SAY IT!

And the vitamin D... how could you NOT bash the supplements left and right? You should have slammed them! Long before this book on reductionism came out we had McDougall telling us that it's not a vitamin/hormone D deficiency it's a SUNSHINE deficiency. Then we had Hollick and Pulde go so far as to even publish CHARTS on how many minutes of DIRECT SOLAR NOON SUNSHINE we should allow to reach our skin, depending on our racial background and geographical location... because it's not just vitamin/hormone D that we derive from the sun, it's much more, it's a WHOLE package.

Come on T. The three of them had the flaws of vitamin/hormone D reductionism in their sights and they weren't even writing any books on reductionism.

Just another in the long line of books whose claim to fame is that "the establishment" is against them. Next year there will be another one with the subtitle: "They don't want you to know about." Enough with the conspiracy theories!

This book was neither scientific or interesting. Elaborating on the historical evidence for the plant based diet or even anecdotal stuff or evolutionary development of the problem may have helped. The elaboration of our incorrect thinking as a cause for our errors was duller than dirt and unconvincing. This book is about correcting the paradigms of thought process that has led to our modern incorrect concept of what is healthy.