Dr. Steven Gundry - Purveyor of Junk Science

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Dr. Steven Gundry - Purveyor of Junk Science

If you read anything online, on Social Media, like Twitter, Facebook or other websites, you've probably seen Dr. Steven Gundry pushing his diet (and books and products) telling you NOT to eat many normal, healthy foods, like nuts, tomatoes, beans, etc. because they contain lectins! OOOOooohh! Not LECTINS!!! Sounds scary? They're not.

Gundry sure isn't full of lectins, but he is full of crap.

Note: links are provided to reviews on Amazon, but that does NOT mean we recommend his books or products. Quite the opposite!

Gundry's books and videos claim you should not eat:

• Nightshades: tomatoes, eggplant, potatoes and peppers
• Beans and legumes: Including soy and peanuts
• Grains: especially quinoa and brown rice

Why does Gundry claim you shouldn't eat these foods?

In his book, The Plant Paradox, on pages 68-70,Dr. Gundry claims, that avoiding eating lectin-containing foods helped patients with autoimmune diseases, cancer, heart disease and some of its risk factors, weight problems, slow infant growth, mental health problems, and some neurological conditions like Parkinson's, dementia, and even "cramps, tingling, and numbness."

The issues with Gundry's claims, in a nutshell:

Gundry:

• cherry-picks and misrepresents studies that he references
• Uses flawed studies
• pushes expensive junk supplements, like "Lectin Shield" and "Total Restore" with unproven benefits
• His supplements includes something he invented called vitamin G6 and a "lectin shield" that's "designed to neutralize the effects of lectins." Priced on his website at $79.99 (last checked). And six jars of Vital Reds cost $254.70.
• He pushes for-profit books; like "The Longevity Paradox", filled with junk science
• Dr. Gundry's book, "Diet Evolution", published in 2008, doesn't even mention lectins... which is the basis of his claims.
• Gundry targets less people who are vulnerable to scams such as those who are not educated in science and want to lose weight and are interested in dieting, keto, intermittent fasting and health supplements in general.
• His theories ignores a hundred years of credible scientific research and studies conducted and peer-reviewed by credible researchers and universities.

Our advice

Ignore his quack advice! At least, read the following excerpts and follow the links below for the detailed information before you spend one cent on his junk science.

:

Reviews from credible sources

• Dr. Gundry's The Plant Paradox Debunked: 7 Science-Based Reasons It's a Scam -
  "The Plant Paradox" is rife with inaccuracies, misrepresentations, and outright misinformation, and the diet espoused in it is unnecessarily restrictive and blatantly designed to sell people overpriced and ineffective supplements"
  "he's a shameless shill who foists low-quality junk on people who don't know any better using slimy sales tactics perfected by other pill and powder pushers."
  
  
• Dr Steven Gundry - Quack Selling Harmful Supplements -
  "Gundry is flagged as a high risk scammer!"
  "He has branded himself as a "cardiologist" but this is a lie, he is actually a cardiothoracic surgeon, which is totally different. In 2019, Gundry published a book named Diet Evolution where he made the statement that he mainly flexed his "survival muscles" being a heart surgeon/ researcher in order to keep his heart cells healthy & alive even under stress. Until 2004, Dr. Gundry had some respect in the community as a cardiac surgeon, but it's been a downward spiral for him ever since. That's when he started selling bizarre books on dieting and wasteful supplements online. We can say, that's when he became an absolute quack."
  
  
• Why You Should Ignore "The Plant Paradox" by Steven Gundry -
  The Skeptical Cardiologist, Dr. Anthony Pearson, July 14, 2018.
  
  
• Dr. Gundry's The Plant Paradox Is Wrong -
  By Michael Greger M.D. FACLM on March 4, 2021
  "doesn't even pass the whiff test."
  "If lectins are bad, then beans would be the worst, so bean counters would presumably find that bean eaters cut their lives short. But, the exact opposite may be true"
  "If lectins are bad, then whole-grain consumers should be riddled with disease when in fact "whole grain intake is associated with a reduced risk of coronary heart disease," the number one killer of men and women, "cardiovascular disease, and total cancer, and mortality from all causes" put together. This means that people who eat whole grains tend to live longer and suffer from fewer "respiratory diseases, infectious diseases, diabetes, and all non-cardiovascular, non-cancer causes" to boot."
  
  
• "Lectins Could Become the Next Gluten" -
  James Hamblin, MD.
  
  
• 'The Plant Paradox' by Steven Gundry MD - A Commentary -
  by T. Colin Campbell, PhD and Thomas Campbell, MD.
  August 23, 2017 - Updated January 3rd, 2019
  They go into great detail regarding Gundry's bogus claims and lack of scientific support in The Plant Paradox. such as: his claim
  " that his findings are published in peer-reviewed medical journals. His "peer-reviewed" medical publication cited is an abstract published in the journal supplement for a poster presentation. Making a poster to display at a conference is nice, but this is a world apart from publishing actual clinical trial results in a peer reviewed journal. In other words, there is no detailed publication of his methods, his subjects, his results, or his intervention as would be commonly expected in a normal publication. "
  
• Gundry MD Lectin Shield Reviews 2022: Legit or A Scam? -
  Fact Checked, Updated on November 9, 2021 - Written by NCVC Staff, Medically reviewed by Kathy Shattler, MS, RDN
  This review provides a noncommittal review of his products, but they DO profit from selling them, so that may affect their lack of stating a clear position. They do say:
  "Lectin Shield side effects include:
  Mild Diarrhea
  Nausea
  Rashes
  Hives
  Cramps
  Loss of appetite"
  
• Eat Your Beans but Skip Reading Dr. Steven Gundry's "The Longevity Paradox": Flaws and Fruits -
  by Joel Kahn, April 24, 2019. Mr. Kahn debated Gundry on TV .
  "Michael Greger, MD evaluated the book in a video titled "Dr. Gundry's The Plant Paradox is Wrong". Recently, Stephan Guyanet Ph.D. published a detailed review of the book and gave it a grade of scientific accuracy of only 26% on a scale of 1-100, suggesting it is more fiction than fact."

 References

1. Michael Greger M.D. FACLM on March 4, 2021:
   Videos: How to Avoid Lectin Poisoning and Are Lectins in Food Good or Bad for You?.
2. Zhai FY, Du SF, Wang ZH, Zhang JG, Du WW, Popkin BM. Dynamics of the Chinese diet and the role of urbanicity, 1991-2011. Obes Rev 2014;15 Suppl 1:16-26.
3. https://bluezones.com/2016/06/10-things-about-beans/
4. Jenkins DJ, Kendall CW, Augustin LS, et al. Effect of legumes as part of a low glycemic index diet on glycemic control and cardiovascular risk factors in type 2 diabetes mellitus: a randomized controlled trial. Arch Intern Med 2012;172:1653-60.
5. Kim SJ, de Souza RJ, Choo VL, et al. Effects of dietary pulse consumption on body weight: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Am J Clin Nutr 2016;103:1213-23.
6. Kristensen MD, Bendsen NT, Christensen SM, Astrup A, Raben A. Meals based on vegetable protein sources (beans and peas) are more satiating than meals based on animal protein sources (veal and pork) - a randomized cross-over meal test study. Food Nutr Res 2016;60:32634.
7. Navarrete S, Alarcon M, Palomo I. Aqueous Extract of Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) and Ferulic Acid Reduce the Expression of TNF-alpha and IL-1beta in LPS-Activated Macrophages. Molecules 2015;20:15319-29.
8. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17003019
9. http://www.bbc.com/news/education-29723384
10. De Mejia EG, Prisecaru VI. Lectins as bioactive plant proteins: a potential in cancer treatment. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr 2005;45:425-45.

Comments

Keep in mind, these are comments from the general public on open online forums.  There can be both gems of truth and conmen on them:

• See this forum on the Mayo Clinic .
• Quora comments about Dr. Gundry
• Eightify: Debunking Dr. Gundry's Plant Paradox: 7 Science-Based Reasons It's a Scam