Anna's Reviews > Spoon-Fed: Why Almost Everything We’ve Been Told About Food is Wrong

I'm ambivalent about books on the subject of food, given the difficulties I have with it. However I felt obliged to read Spoon-Fed: Why Almost Everything We’ve Been Told About Food is Wrong in order to decide whether it's appropriate to give as a present. I never gift books without reading them first. In this case I think it will be a suitable present, just not for Christmas. Tim Spector, who you may know from the ZOE covid symptom app, is a professor of genetic epidemiology. Spoon-Fed: Why Almost Everything We’ve Been Told About Food is Wrong is structured around a series of myths, each tackled in a chapter. The first is: 'Nutritional guidelines and diet plans apply to everyone'. This structure is punchy and the style highly readable. I think Spector strikes a good balance between discussing complexity and providing information accessibly. I particularly appreciated his repeated acknowledgements that the current food system is a nightmare both for human health and the environment, as well as the limitations of academic research into nutrition.

There is a great deal of emphasis throughout on the microbiome, a concept I've come across before in various recent self-help books (notably The Anatomy of Anxiety: Understanding and Overcoming the Body's Fear Response and You Can Have A Better Period). I liked the emphasis on how useless it is to base nutritional guidelines on averages and historic assumptions; it's much more complex than that. Spector argues firmly against arbitrary exclusion diets, for moderation, and against ultra-processed foods. His demolition of calorie counting, bottled water, and gluten free diets are particular highlights. Although a lot of the material was broadly familiar to me, I found two chapters notably eye-opening. The first was on supplements. It convinced me that my taking vitamin D during autumn and winter as NHS Scotland advises is likely pointless and not worth bothering with. The chapter on pesticides made me concerned about buying non-organic oats, as I didn't realise they contained the highest levels of residues in independent government tests.

The final chapter demolishes the myth that GPs can provide competent nutritional advice. That certainly concurs with my unfortunate personal experiences. However, one notable omission from the book, perhaps for reasons of space, is critique of body mass index (BMI). This measure was invented and intended to be used at a population level, not to sort individuals into Acceptable and Unacceptable weight. Yet it is utterly ubiquitous now, presumably because it's simple to calculate. Spector's main point applies here as well: reality is far more complex and BMI is not a good proxy for health. Spoon-Fed: Why Almost Everything We’ve Been Told About Food is Wrong is also written with the assumption that everyone is trying to lose and/or not gain weight. I'm well aware that this is very common, but it's still depressing to find the book predicated upon it. Possibly this isn't noteworthy unless, like me, you've instead spent your life struggling to gain and retain weight. The potential for obsessive 'healthy' eating to become disordered is mentioned, though.

Overall I'd recommend Spoon-Fed: Why Almost Everything We’ve Been Told About Food is Wrong as it usefully rejects simplistic eating advice and critiques the food industry. It would read well with Regenesis: Feeding the World Without Devouring the Planet (for more on the environmental impact of food) and You Can Have A Better Period (for those unlucky enough to menstruate).