The Optimal Health Revolution: How Inflammation Is the Root Cause of the Biggest Killers and How the Cutting-Edge Science of Nutrigenomics Can Transf

Dr Johnson makes big claims on the cover of this book that unfortunately aren't really established in the text. The theory he promotes is that inflammation is "the root cause" of the major killers of the modern world, heart disease and cancer. The problem I have is that the book itself never really supports this premise as he states it. He successfully links inflammation as a major risk factor and contributor to disease, but despite promises to do so, he never clearly establishes it's causality. Furthermore, in my opinion if eating a crap diet leads to inflammation, and inflammation contributes to heart disease, then the "root cause" isn't the inflammation - it's the crap diet! Dr Johnson pretty much says this in his book, so the hyperbolic marketing is unfortunate. A further criticism is that in at least once area he let's his personal beliefs influence his presentation of the science. For example he highlights the researching showing the positive effect of "faith" and attendance at religious services on health. That's fine as there's quite a lot of research to support that, and to his credit he goes out of his way not to promote any particular faith. However he fails to mention that other research seems to indicate it's not the faith or religious connections per se that seem to matter - it's the social connections and support networks that are an integral part of observing religious faith that matter. Even more disappointing he cites some controversial and poorly designed studies on "intecessory pray" - the idea that other people praying for you is good for your health. The fact he cites them without any mention (or apparent knowledge) that their methodology and analysis have been well discredited by statisticians and other researchers is concerning. Indeed it made me feel as if I now have to go through every claim in the book to see whether the science he cites in support is actually any good. Still, I recommend the book for a good overview of the modern field of achieving optimal health, particularly for those unfamiliar with many of the findings of the past decade on the effect of nutrition on health.

Duke Johnson's research in this book is comprehensive and well documented. I appreciate the fact he explains all aspects of inflamation in lay man's terms. Enjoyed reading it. Looking forward to implementing the suggestions. Highly recommend the book to everyone. Kris Murthy Health and Wellness Consultant

More and more researchers cite inflammation as the common denominator of chronic diseases. Dr. Johnson's book was the first time I have seen a good explanation of why. But he doesn't stop there. He takes an optimistic view that there are many things you can do to reduce inflammation and doing any of them helps. He sites many things that help including a Mediterranean diet, exercise, sleep, and filtered water. I especially like his description of stress as being about aligning our values and sense of purpose with how we actually spend our time. His approach is balanced, research oriented, and very fair. After reading his book, I had the pleasure of interviewing him on www.webtalkradio.net (also archived on www.AgelessLifestyles.com --Anti-Aging Psychologist Dr. Michael Brickey