It seems as a society we are sleepwalking towards a myriad of preventable diseases. I say this because after reading another of Dr. Richard Béliveau’s masterful books on how our lifestyle, eating habits, and food choices are intricately linked with our physical, emotional and spiritual health, the evidence is compelling.

In his new book, Eating Well, Living Well, Dr. Béliveau begins with a straightforward review of the health problems we face, the variances around the world, and the direction that we are heading. The picture is not pretty but is completely within our power to change.

The complexities of medicine, biochemistry, physiology and research are explained in a way that is completely comprehensible to everyone. We begin to understand the interwoven relationship between our bodies, our environment, and the food we eat.

According to Dr. Béliveau, our bodies have evolved over millions of years of slow adaptation to environmental change. However, our environment has changed so severely in the past 100 years it has been impossible for our biology to adapt. Our current Western diets seem to have weakened our body’s ability to fend off certain types of cancer among other diseases. In short, our society’s food choices have become divorced from reality and from our biology and physiology.

• Dr. Richard Béliveau, Professor of Biochemistry and holds the chair in the prevention and treatment of cancer at the University of Québec at Montréal. He is a member of the Neurosurgery-Oncology division at Notre-Dame Hospital and holds the Claude-Bertrand Chair in Neurosurgery, Professor, Department of Surgery and Physiology at the University of Montréal. He is a member of the Center for Cancer Prevention at McGill University and a member of the Montréal Center for Experimental Therapeutics in Cancer at the Jewish General Hospital.Dr. Béliveau is author of Foods That Fight Cancer and Cooking with Foods That Fight Cancer.

Related articles:

1. Foods That Fight Cancer: Preventing Cancer Through Diet
2. Cooking with Foods that Fight Cancer
3. Sunday House Call #289, November 8, 2009

Original broadcast date: July 12, 2009

We like to believe that we are a rational species. If, the assumption goes, we are presented with information that is cogent, specific and valid, we will respond by incorporating these ideas for the betterment of our lives. What we decide to eat and drink is a world onto itself. Bombarded daily with dos and don’ts, benefits and health risks, exploding obesity rates and a myriad of eating and body image disorders, we are witness to the 24-hour health and nutrition treadmill that does not allow one to stop and digest the wheat from the chaff.

It comes as no surprise that even the very people who do well constructed and rigorous food psychology and food science research suffer the same travails as the rest of the public. Indeed, we are witness and succumb to the power of the succulent, gooey, warm, soft chocolate chip cookie that we believe we can resist but for a few minutes. Our brains have other ideas.

In his new best-selling book, The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite, Dr. David Kessler investigates how a combination of salt, fat, sugar and umami or food texture are designed to exert tremendous influence on our decision to consume them despite the rational part of our brain that screams “NO!” Why do we behave this way, what is it in our evolutionary biology that makes us ripe for the taking? Can you say no to the chocolate chip cookie or that plate of steaming French Fries?

• Dr. David Kessler, MD, JD, Professor of Pediatrics and Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). He was Dean of the School of Medicine and the Vice Chancellor for Medical Affairs at UCSF from 2003 through 2007 and Dean of the Yale University School of Medicine from 1997 until 2003. He served as Commissioner of the United States Food and Drug Administration from November 1990 until March 1997, was appointed by President George H. Bush and reappointed by President Bill Clinton.

  He is author of A Question of Intent: A Great American Battle With a Deadly Industry about tobacco regulations, The Needs of the Dying , and now The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite

Related articles:

1. Bad Science
2. Eating Well, Living Well by Dr. Richard Beliveau
3. Mindless Eating

Original broadcast date: March 29, 2009

If there is one quote that epitomizes the plethora of ideas expressed in physician and Guardian columnist Dr. Ben Goldacre’s book bad science, it is this from paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science, Steven Jay Gould: “ When people learn no tools of judgment and merely follow their hopes, the seeds of political manipulation are sown”.

I have talked at length about this book and how well it encapsulates the problems we face today with respect to science reporting, how clinical studies are conducted, the vested interests and machinations that promote treatments, cures, and modes of teaching and thinking. No industry, university or political party is immune to the lack of critical appraisal of claims and research that have sown the seeds of manipulation.

• Dr. Ben Goldacre, physician, award-winning writer, and broadcaster, who has written the weekly Bad Science column in the Guardian since 2003 and is author of the book of the same name.

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1. Risk: The Science and Politics of Fear
2. In Bad Taste? The Adventures and Science Behind Food Delicacies
3. The Doctor Will Sue You Now

Food science is a major topic for discussion on Sunday House Call. To me, there was one seminal interview that beautifully encapsulated the exciting science and discovery of the biochemistry of foods and the role they play in fighting cancer.

The interview in June 2006 featured Dr. Richard Beliveau, author of Foods That Fight Cancer: Preventing Cancer through Diet. To date, 200,000 copies of the book have sold in Canada, an incredible number given that 5,000 is considered a best-seller.

As we discussed in our last interview of June 25, 2006, phytochemicals in the foods we eat can play a significant role in cancer prevention and overall health; literally a non-toxic version of chemotherapy. Our current Western diets seem to have weakened our body’s ability to fend off certain types of cancer among other diseases. In short, our society’s food choices have become divorced from reality and from our biology and physiology.

It seems the next logical step was to expand on the science and, at the same time, produce a book on how to incorporate these foods into our diet. With that in mind sprung his next book, Cooking with Foods that Fight Cancer.

• Dr. Richard Beliveau, author of Foods That Fight Cancer: Preventing Cancer Through Diet and Cooking with Foods that Fight Cancer, Biochemistry professor and Chair in the Prevention and Treatment of Cancer at the University of Quebec at Montreal and director of the Molecular Medicine Laboratory at Sainte Justine Hospital.  He is also professor of Surgery at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Montreal.

Related articles:

1. Foods That Fight Cancer: Preventing Cancer Through Diet
2. Eating Well, Living Well by Dr. Richard Beliveau
3. What foods and dietary patterns reduce the risk of heart disease?

Stories of trekking through jungles, deserts and mountainous terrain, avoiding poisonous snakes, armed militias, crocodiles, lions, snakes, swarms of bats and zebra stampedes, is the stuff we associate with the adventures of Indiana Jones. What one person defines as a treasure quest may not seem like any quest anyone else would want to take.

The unlikely protagonist in our story is a professor of food science. His quest was to answer and sate his curiosity about the history and science behind some interesting foods. Be warned this is not for people with weak stomachs!

• Dr. Massimo Marcone, assistant professor of food science at the University of Guelph and author of his new book In Bad Taste? The Adventures and Science Behind Food Delicacies

Related articles:

1. Bad Science
2. Why the H1N1 vaccine program continues despite the decline in infection rates
3. Cooking with Foods that Fight Cancer

Why do we choose certain foods over others? Why do we overeat when most of the time it is not due to hunger? How does food advertising influence us and does it shape our lifestyle? How many decisions do we make each day with respect to food selection? The actual number may be much greater than what you assume it to be.

In his book Mindless Eating, Dr Brian Wansink discusses and reviews the food science and psychology that lies behind our actions. He discusses the science behind comfort foods, how food companies, restaurants and grocery chains have used his research to influence our behaviour.

Wansink emphasizes that “Most people believe they are Master and Commander of their food choices. I want them to see that they aren’t. But I also want them to see that they can make small changes that can put them back in the driver’s seat. I want people to see that making small changes in their kitchens and routines will make all the difference with no real sacrifice.”

• Dr. Brian Wansink, Director of the Cornell University Food and Brand Lab and Fulbright Senior Specialist in food marketing and nutrition, as well as author of Mindless Eating.

Related articles:

1. Eating Well, Living Well by Dr. Richard Beliveau
2. The perceived healthiness of food: If it’s healthy you can eat more!
3. The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite

There are many claims being made about the positive health benefits of vitamins, minerals and other supplements. However, current research is showing that less publicly-recognized phytochemnicals in the foods we eat can play a significant role in cancer prevention and overall health; literally a non-toxic version of chemotherapy. Our current Western diets seem to have weakened our body’s ability to fend off certain types of cancer among other diseases. Our society’s food choices have become divorced from reality and from our biology and physiology.

• Dr. Richard Beliveau, author of Foods That Fight Cancer: Preventing Cancer Through Diet. Biochemistry professor and Chair in the Prevention and Treatment of Cancer at the University of Quebec at Montreal and director of the Molecular Medicine Laboratory at Sainte Justine Hospital. He is also professor of Surgery at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Montreal.

Related articles:

1. Cooking with Foods that Fight Cancer
2. Eating Well, Living Well by Dr. Richard Beliveau
3. What foods and dietary patterns reduce the risk of heart disease?