Food for Life: The New Science of Eating Well, by the #1 bestselling author of SPOON-FED

I found this book to be incredibly well researched. Spector writes in-depth analysis of the corrupt nature of the food industry and gives advice on where to shop and what to buy.However, the book is clearly written for wealthy people, where budget is not an issue.The occurring theme throughout is to buy local food. Which is certainly not a new concept, and often exposes the dark side of how most "fresh" produce, even local, is grown using pesticides. Spector also covers the many incidences of fraud committed by large food corporations and how a lot of nasty chemicals find their way into most foods without needing to be on the label.The downside to this book is that Spector offers no real solution on the issues raised. Perhaps nothing that can be done by him, or his colleagues in these matters.Overall, the book left me feeling more depressed with the state of food production and society as a whole. And other than advising the reader to shop at expensive artisan, organic stores, Spector offers no real, accessible, solutions to improving one's diet, health and wellbeing; Especially at a time when most people are struggling to make ends meet.

UK government website of as recent as 2021 has published recommendations that everyone in the UK should be taking 400 international units of Vitamin D daily as we simply can't make enough of this vital substance (ie are Vitamin D deficient) between Oct and March in this part of the world. Unless, of course you can afford to sun yourself in warmer climates during Winter holidays, which most of us can't... Everyone I know who takes Vitamin D in the Winter has noticed a reduction in common infections. Anecdotal data, I know, but consistent nonetheless.Not sure why Tim is so against this vital supplement, in spite of his earlier disappointments. Seasonal Vitamin D supplementation is not an optional indulgence in the northern hemisphere and not everyone can afford the sunkissed mushrooms only sold in luxury supermarkets... Also not convinced in the reliability of the self-selected Zoe app participants data. Sounds inclusive and democratic on the surface, but lots of variables seem tricky to control for, such as the socioeconomic background, availability of time and technology. I tried filling it in during the first COVID months but simply didn't have the time to carry on. That's telling me that a busy clinician like me might be self-selected out...Otherwise, lots of useful info as expected, really worth a read. I particularly value the stance on ultra processed foods and not pushing any extreme diets.

This book is even better than I expected. I was intending to read it over the next couple of weeks. Instead I was reading most of the night and here I am reviewing it on day 2. I was expecting to know a lot of the content from a background in farming and in food and environment education and because I try to keep up with recent advances in human biology, but this is so well organised and information packed, and, it has to be said, entertainingly written, that I’m actually learning a lot. And the writing quality is helping the information stick I hope. I just wish in a country where I could join in all the citizen science that has gone into Tim Spector’s work.One tiny caveat. There is an annoying and missing error on page 251 that suggests that organic poultry is not free range. In fact all organic poultry and eggs are produced in free range systems, the main difference between the systems being that organic poultry has to be both free range and fed on organic, GMO free feed. Free range poultry may be, and usually is, fed on GMO grain and soya.

I would strongly recommend buying this book, although I felt a few things were questionable.We know people in the UK do not get enough vitamin D from sunshine in the winter, which is a serious problem. This book suggests on pages 232,233 getting your vit D supply from mushrooms that are fed on daylight but it does not state how much vitamin D/day is required. The only daylight fed mushrooms in my local Yorkshire supermarkets are Chestnut mushrooms which only have 200 IU per 100 grams which is not enough to meet even the UK Department of Health and Social Care standards of 400 IU/day.The USA standards I feel are a bit more realistic of 600 IU and over the age of 70 (which I am) of 800 IU. I like to keep my Vit D at high optimum levels (i.e. >75 nmol/L in the blood) so I supplement my food with vit D3 capsules, and vit K2 (100 micrograms) which are essential. In the winter my capsule intake is up to 4,000 IUs per day!!. As very high dosage of vit D can be toxic I have been monitoring my levels for the last 10 years.The book says “eating two portions of fish per week is not needed for health”. The body requires high amounts of EPA and DHA (omega 3 acids) which are saving nutrients. Foods that have high levels of EPA and DHA are mainly from fish, algae and some meat products. Being a pescatarian, I cannot get EPA, DHA or vitamin D from organic meat.Although some plant foods (e.g. walnuts) have high levels of ALA which can be converted by the body into EPA and DHA the converted amounts are very small indeed. Only about 5% of ALA is converted to EPA, and less than 0.5% is converted to DHA. ALA is also a form of omega-3 and is a life saving nutrient in its own right.The NHS recommends 500 milligrams of EPA and DHA per day. The American Heart Association recommends 6 ounces (i.e. 170 grams) of fatty fish/week e.g. mackerel has 9 grams of EPA and DHA i.e. 1,285 milligrams per day. More recently the paper “The influence of dietary and supplemental omega-3 fatty acids on the omega-3 index: A scoping review” suggests 1,000 to 1,500 milligrams of EPA plus DHA as triglycerides (e.g. fish, supplements) daily for at least 12 weeks to get to an optimal level for reduced risk of chronic disease, most notably cardiovascular disease.Getting high sugar spikes can be a very serious health problem. The book does not stress enough the importance of exercise which significantly reduces the intensity of these sugar spikes.The book notes section is fairly up to date i.e. 2022 references. So I was surprised it did not mention the 2020 paper “Associations of fat and carbohydrate intake with cardiovascular disease and mortality: prospective cohort study of UK Biobank participants” that shows the optimal amount of macronutrients of sugar, starch, fibre, different type of fats and protein. For example, too much polyunsaturated fat is not a good idea. Polyunsaturated fats include omega-3 and omega-6 fats. In my opinion most people have too much omega-6, which can increase inflammation and disease, and not enough omega-3. Also on the theme what is the optimal amount of macronutrients, I did not see a reference to the 2017 paper “Food groups and risk of all-cause mortality: A systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective studies”. This paper shows the optimal amount of whole grains, refined grains, vegetables, fruit, nuts, legumes, eggs, dairy and fish per day.Getting the right amount of these macronutrients is a serious issue. I would have found it useful if the book had given examples of what an optimal diet would look like per day for a week. Its needed over a week because each day there will be different amounts macronutrients. For example Day 1: 400 grams of vegetables (1 big tomato, 1 sweet pepper, mixed salad leaves, half avocado, small bowl of vegetable soup); 200 grams of legumes (big cup of beans, lentils, peas); fruits 300 grams (1 apple, banana, handful of berries); whole grains 120 grams (1 sourdough rye bread slice, bowl of whole oat grains); 1 handful of walnut and almonds (40 grams); 20 grams of seeds (flax seed, chia seed); 200 grams of Kefir; 100 grams of oily fish (e.g. sardines); 30 grams of plant oil (e.g..2 plus tablespoons of olive oil); organic milk for tea and coffee. Day 2: .....etc,.... Note that below the age of 65, protein intake should be low but higher after that age.A number of assertions made in the book are not backed up by any references. This means doing your own studying to check if the book is correct or not, or deciding it's not proven.

Chunky food bible. Easy to read.. plenty of information. It does boil down to some simple principles - eat fibrous natural products that are colourful. Eat fermented foods. Avoided anything ultra processed, or artificial (sweeteners). Fat is fine and when it's extra virgin olive oil great... Etc.. however it's helpful to understand why, some of.thw work that underpins it. It's not perfect - there are clearly more areas to be understood. And some of working out what is right for you only comes with specific foods (standardised muffins) and tracking - assuming you can get onto the Zoe study. Despite the gaps, a useful book if you are interested in nutrition based on some good studies from someone with great scientific background.