This book delivers what the author promises. It explains very well to ordinary readers the complicated and complex realities of what is known, not known—and unexpectedly can change—about how drugs work and interact in our bodies. The book can be repetitive at some point.

Interesting take on health hype

I found the book interesting and at times hard to put down. I enjoyed Dr. Nina Shapiro`s writing style which I found conversational and friendly. There is a broad theme for each chapter (e.g., putting risk into perspective and cause vs association) which made for interesting reading, but she gives so many examples that it is easy to lose the thread of any given chapter. The biographical parts of the book were not that interesting and there was too much on why a surgeon is appropriate to write a book like this. And like Nicola Temple in “Best before”, Dr. Shapiro will make a statement like there is no evidence that organic foods are better but then proceed to say that she selects organic food. She will also question the safety of GMO foods but not the safety of foods produced by mutagenesis. Overall, I enjoyed reading the book but enjoyed Mark Crislip’s “Flies in the ointment” and Paul Offit’s “Do you believe in magic” more.
Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book via Netgalley for review purposes.

Thank you St Martins Press and Netgalley for an ARC of this book in return for my honest review.

I have been reading this book slowly over a number of weeks, Simply because it is full of medical myths that make the reader sit up and take note of medical “hype”. Some of the hype we have all heard before but there are also many new sources that have woken me up amd made me question what is true.

The author is a surgeon and she opens the book encouraging the reader to become more questioning of the information they read and the sources it comes from. I had thought I was quite good at both of these aspects but my eyes were opened on a number of occasions.

One of my favourite quotes in th book was “there is no such thing as alternative medicine, it is either medicine or it is not”. I have always sat on the fence with alternative medicine, not having a particularly strong view either way. This quote has really had me thinking, particularly coupled with the newly emerging evidence (for me) that vitamins are not the great thing I had been lead to believe for many years. If anything I have saved lots of money on unnecceary products for our family in the quest of doing the right thing.

I highly recommend this book.

Still not quite finished, but thoroughly enjoying this. I love the terminology, and the casual style! It is helpful, affirming what most of us know, but still seems cutting edge. It reminds me of a documentary.

We are constantly being bombarded with information about our health. What's good for us in one study causes cancer in the next. What's the truth about gluten, vaccines, anti-aging products, sugar and fat? How many medical tests are too much or not enough? Should you have the same kind and duration of exercise in your twenties as you do in your forties? Not only does Dr. Shapriro peel off the layers and give us context for each issue, she gives us the tools to find out things for ourselves. I particularly appreciated her chapter on how to judge the value of a study/clinical trial/scientific abstract and how to do unbiased consumer research yourself.
If you're going to buy one health guide, make it this one.
Thank you Netgalley for the e-review edition of this book.

With daily doses of email, television, radio and the internet, we are all bombarded with information about medical studies, new medicines and supplements, herbal remedies, almost magical instant cures for everything from foot fungus to obesity, superfoods and dangerous carcinogens. How much of what pops up in our email inboxes, on television commercials and on websites is actually true? And how much is exaggerated, based on skewed data, and outright trickery? This morning alone I woke up to 10 emails about medical and health related subjects ranging from herbal supplements and weight loss to cancer prevention and hair loss. Most were trying to sell me something and others provided links to various websites. It's really hard to rake through all the muck and pick out the factual information, if any. And I get really concerned when I see television ads for new "breakthrough" medications that require almost a minute of disclaimers at the end about it may cause suicidal thoughts, seizures, cancer and a host of other horrible side effects. What is true....and what's BS or media hype?

Nina Shapiro is a surgeon. After working in the medical field for decades, Shapiro has concerns about medical misinformation that most people come across on a daily basis and the potentially dangerous consequences of self-diagnosing illnesses based on misleading, incomplete or exaggerated information. This book seeks to provide a common sense approach for the average person to learn to separate fact from fiction. Shapiro discusses what certain terms like clinical study and scientific study mean, how companies get survey information so they can say their products are "doctor recommended,'' the exaggerated benefits of supplements, how to tell bogus study data from scientific data, the dangers of self diagnosis using unreliable information, benefits and concerns about alternative medicine, and the origins of several myths largely touted as true (like vaccinations supposedly causing autism).

I enjoyed reading this book. Shapiro introduces herself and gives credibility to her opinions by talking about her experiences as a surgeon and her career. Then she gives common sense approaches to wading through all the information readily at our fingertips in today's modern, internet-centric society. She doesn't just point out fallacies believed by ordinary people, but also talks about myths and other beliefs that doctors held as true that had to be disproved by scientific evidence (like red haired people have more problems during and after surgery). We all have been duped by product advertisements, false or misleading information backed by skewed studies and read articles printed by bogus medical journals. I enjoyed reading a book that points out common sense ways to tell truth from fiction, and firm facts from weak correlations. The book is written in easy to understand language with a conversational tone. I found the information interesting and very informative.

**I voluntarily read an advance readers copy of this book from St Martin's Press via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**

The author, a pediatric ENT surgeon, addresses some of the controversial issues in contemporary health and medicine: exercise, weight, longevity, and aging. My favorite parts of the book were her caveats on medical studies and the proliferation of journals which require an article author to pay for publication.

The state of medicine is at best uncertain. We are warned that red wine contains sulfites (on every label), but two ounces of dried apricots contain six times as much. Coconut oil used to be heart-healthy, but no more. Doctors used to recommend no nuts until the age of two. Now they say the earlier the better. Except that they choke infants. Foods become superfoods – for a while. Fatty bran muffins used to be superfoods, for example. Doctors used to recommend smoking, and even appeared in ads. All kinds of useless products claim to be clinically tested and proven. UCLA surgeon and professor Dr. Nina Shapiro is here to straighten it out for you in an encyclopedic tour of her world that she calls Hype.

The book divides easily into lifestyle segments, from foods to fads to surgery to exercise. The chapters list their main points up front, and their takeaways at the end. Very user-friendly.

Medicine is still very much in flux, but Shapiro can say with certainty what we should look out for, avoid, or do moderately. It’s one of those books where it’s pointless to use a highlighter, because the whole thing would be stained yellow and you’d never find anything.

Here are some of the things I want to remember:
-One in 1477 women’s lives is saved by mammograms. False positives put more through expensive and pointless torture.
-A baby aspirin a day for a minimum of five years may save one life in 2000. But can cause excessive bleeding in many others.
-.0000004% of vaccinations result in claims against the vaccination compensation fund.
-Vaccinations only work if the “herd” is protected. Depending on the disease, 80-90% need vaccinations or the disease will spread. Those who opt out put the whole community at risk – for nothing.
-Vitamins are a racket. We get more vitamins daily from our food than we require. Additional supplements do nothing, but possible harm. On the other hand, Shapiro says, the placebo effect is extremely powerful, even on her. So if you think taking vitamins helps, then they do. So keep taking them.
-Vitamin E doesn’t so much prevent cancer as cause it.
-Drinking eight glasses of water day on top of all the water you get from food can kill you.
-Homeopathy is ”an elaborate placebo system”. It has no way to cure anything – unless you believe and expect.
-Homeopathy for cancer is basically suicide. You want real surgery and heavy-duty meds to fight cancer.
-Sitting is the new smoking. It reduces calorie burn, increases bad cholesterol …. And standing all day is no better, just different. We need to move.
-Sugar is the new fat. We need fats. Sugar is killer.
-“Sweat does not contain BPA, pesticides, asbestos, pollutants or other ills we wish to flush out of our system.” Or burn calories.
-Don’t worry so much about toxic chemicals in everything. They are everywhere and not in sufficient quantity to cause damage. Until proven otherwise. (Which is the whole problem.)
-Be wary of bragging: Farm Fresh! No added sugar! Organic! Gluten-free! All Natural! What these actually mean is little or nothing. Fruit juice is just sugar water. With all the valuable fiber removed.
-Published studies are not to be believed. Headlines taken from them are often totally wrong when not just misleading. Every study has its weaknesses. There is no certainty.
-In western consumer societies, buying food is astonishingly complicated. Fraud permeates everything. Fake food abounds. Tune out the marketing and buy basics: raw, fresh and unprocessed. Then make it into whatever you want. (Shapiro however, still hits the vending machines.)
-Western doctors no longer look at patients. They are too busy keying in notes. Nor do they listen any more. They simply order tests. One of Shapiro’s mentors (wisely) says: if you would just listen to the patient, they will eventually tell you exactly what the issue is. (And you don’t have to go to the lab and wait a week.)

There is a lot of common sense and humanity in Hype. Shapiro has a swift and easy style, and likes to sneak the odd sarcastic comment in there too. She gives lots of examples from her own family and friends, as well as memorable cases. Unlike so many in the God business, she is accessible, clearheaded, and forthcoming. She doesn’t always follow her own advice, and owns up to it. If there is an overarching takeaway, it is moderation, as in: processed foods are no good for you, but they won’t kill you.

And eat more fish.

David Wineberg

This book is well-researched, well documented and well written. Of course not everyone will agree with everything in the book, which is often the case with books these types of books, but this book is truly informative and worth the read. In many ways this book is empowering, assisting the Average Joe in distinguishing between evidence-base claims and fallacy. I particularly like the fact that this book is useful to everybody, from day-to-day decisions to larger, more meaningful health decisions. Author Dr. Nina Shapiro has compiled a worthy reference that should be on everyone’s shelf.

Granted there were a few things in this book that I personally disagreed with, based on personal experiences, but the author presents all of the research in an unbiased way, backs it up with documented (and well-performed) research, and acknowledges that there is bias, no matter how hard you try not have it. She addresses the history of healthcare, as well as many of its hot spots today, and does it all through a professional lens. Potentially _not_ for the layman, the book does carry a reading level that is more tended toward the educated reader. All in all, a good look at modern healthcare, with all its pros and cons.