Metabolical

Took me a while to get through it all, but felt well worth it. I feel convinced for now that this is an important issue. The fact that the author has such a strong/respected medical background in the same domain as his argument lends a lot to his opposition to commonly-held beliefs in the wider medical (and general) population.

Lustig explains things I never thought about when it comes to what the actual effect of sugar is on the body. I also appreciated him going into more detail about how important fiber is as well. It helped clear up a lot of the confusion I felt concerning the advice I have received from doctors/others about what foods and activities are healthy.

The criticism I read about his work online seemed to focus mainly on his neglect of the dose-dependent nature of the problem with sugar, and while that wasn't directly addressed in this book, it seemed like, especially in the second half of the book, the focus on sugar-sweetened beverages and heavily processed foods helped.

I appreciated the effort to address some steps to change policy in the last chapter, though it did feel like the weakest part of the book. The book did occasionally feel repetitive, but it came in handy more times than not, reminding me of parts that I hadn't absorbed fully, and helping with anyone jumping around the book.

I'm sure there's a lot if good information in this book and most certainly insights. However, I was turned off immediately by the author's tone and cutesy subheadings every page or two. So, back to the library it went.

Interesting Concept. Remarkable Honesty. Questionable Science. First, I gotta mention that the author intentionally left out the Bibliography, claiming it would run to 70 pages and add $5 to the cost of the book, so he instead put it on the website of the book. Which is an interesting idea, but part of his reasoning was also that this would allow users to click the links and see the sources directly... which eReader users can already do in an appropriately linked (re: fully publication-ready) bibliography. But he discusses this in the very introduction of the book, which sets the tone for how frankly he expresses his views throughout. Still, to this reader this was an attempt to obfuscate the sources at best, and was thus an automatic star reduction.

The other lost star comes from the at times questionable science. Rather than actually discussing various claims made by those with competing ideas, he simply claims massive conspiracies from Big Pharma, Big Food, Big Government, and whoever else he can try to conveniently scapegoat. And then he completely ignores the economic and social sciences in his recommendations for measures that would make Josef Stalin blanch at just how extreme this author wants to dictate to the masses.

Still, the ideas - while ultimately not truly novel and ultimately self serving as he just happens to run a nonprofit advocating these very positions - are interesting and explained in quite a bit of detail, from the chemical and cellular all the way up to the global. Making this a worthy text to read and consider... just don't buy the farm based on just this one book, and make sure you seek out competing narratives to fill in the author's inconsistencies. Recommended.