The diet-heart hypothesis has prevailed for more than 50 years and has influenced the American public to purge the diet of fats, especially saturated fats, and to adopt a plant-based Mediterranean menu.  Teicholz, a journalist, has delved into the existing research leading to the current nutritional dogmas and reveals the flaws in the investigative studies relating diet to disease.  The story resembles a nutritional revolution in which the current paradigm of healthy eating shifts back to earlier, heartier, fatty menus.  The engrossing narrative exposes the determined personalities of the researchers, their fixation on the prevailing theory, the misreading of data, the disregard for relevant findings, and the effects of the saturated fat and cholesterol alarm on policy, industry, marketing, and medicine.  The latest culprit in the food menu is now assigned to carbohydrates.  While the book presents convincing arguments for including butter, meat, and cheese within the diet, there is no mention of the China Study, which would challenge this suggestion.  Overall, The Big Fat Surprise presents an engrossing study of how food myths originate and why the food pyramid may take on yet another kaleidoscopic form. Summing Up: Recommended. All levels/libraries.

--R. A. Hoots, Sacramento City College

Rita A. Hoots

Sacramento City College

http://dx.doi.org/10.5860/CHOICE.188825

Noting that even as we abandoned red meat and embraced the Mediterranean diet we became a less healthy nation, journalist Teicholz goes back to the original research to challenge the assumption that increased dietary fat makes us healthier. Here's a book, says its publisher, that Michael Pollan will hate.

For many years Americans have been told that low-fat diets are the best way to prevent heart disease and lose weight. While heart disease deaths have indeed dropped, the rate of heart disease has not and the obesity rate is increasing. Food writer Teicholz, who followed this advice until she began writing restaurant reviews that required eating whatever the chef served, was surprised when she actually lost weight once she began eating red meat and rich sauces. The author began looking at the scientific nutrition literature. Her research revealed that most of the studies were observational, rather than clinical trials. This meant that there was no real evidence to support the dietary guidelines issued by the American Heart Association and the National Institutes of Health. Yet the data is the accepted canon and scientists who present contradictory information are ostracized. This fascinating book raises important issues as Americans battle obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. The author provides an extensive bibliography of scientific literature, notes, and a glossary. VERDICT Thought provoking and well worth purchasing.—Barbara Bibel, Oakland P.L.

According to this journalist, everything we think we know about dietary fat is wrong. She suggests that eating more saturated fats is the key to health and wellness. (LJ 5/1/14)