Michael Greger

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Michael Greger
MD
)
Medical career
ProfessionGeneral practitioner
FieldClinical nutrition
WebsiteDrGreger.org

Michael Herschel Greger (born October 25, 1972)

whole-food, plant-based diet
, and his opposition to animal-derived food products.

Career

Photograph of Michael Greger at the D.C. Vegfest in 2007, standing in a white shirt in front of a booth whose banner states "Michael Greger, M.D." with "Free Cholesterol Testing" below it and his website at the bottom
Greger in 2007

Greger went to college at

libel over statements she had made about the safety of meat in 1996.[2][6]

He enrolled at Tufts University School of Medicine, originally for its MD/PhD program, but then withdrew from the dual-degree program to pursue only the medical degree.[7] He graduated in 1999 as a general practitioner specializing in clinical nutrition.[2] In 2001, he joined the Organic Consumers Association to work on mad cow issues, on which he spoke widely as cases of the disease appeared in the US and Canada,[2][8][9][10] calling mad cow "The Plague of the 21st Century."[11][12][13]

In 2004, he launched a website and published a book critical of the

low carb diets.[2]

In 2004, the American College Of Lifestyle Medicine was formed in

Loma Linda,[14] and Greger was a founding member[2] as one of the first hundred people to join the organization.[15]

In 2005, he joined the farm animal welfare division of the

undercover video of the Westland Meat Packing Company, which showed downer animals entering the meat supply, and which led to the USDA forcing the recall of 143 million pounds of beef, some of which had been routed into the nation's school lunch program.[17]

In 2011, he founded the website NutritionFacts.org[18] with funding from the Jesse & Julie Rasch Foundation.[19]

Greger is a Research Advisory Committee member of The Vegan Society.[20]

Dietary recommendations

In his lectures, videos, and writings about nutrition, Greger tries to persuade people to change their eating habits from a

USDA, stating that "a conflict of interest right in their mission statement" protects the economic interests of food producers in lieu of clear dietary guidelines.[23]

Reception

Greger's third book, Bird Flu: A Virus of Our Own Hatching, received a favorable review which said it was "interesting and informative to both scientists and lay persons",[24] but public health expert David Sencer was critical of the book, writing that it "focuses heavily on doomsday scenarios and offers little in terms of practical advice to the public" and that "a professional audience would quickly put [the book] aside for more factually correct sources of information".[25]

His fourth book, How Not to Die, made The New York Times Best Seller list at least three times.[26][27][28] In 2024, Morgan Pfiffner of Red Pen Reviews gave How Not to Die a score of 50% for its scientific accuracy and a score of 75% for its healthfulness.[29] Pfiffner commented that "While much of the book is well supported by research, there are a significant number of fairly questionable claims, leading to a handful of dietary recommendations that seem unnecessary, too restrictive, or potentially counterproductive".[29] One of Greger's questionable claims is that a whole food plant-based diet can reverse heart disease. According to Pfiffner this has not been demonstrated as the randomized controlled trial that he cited from Dean Ornish did not show regression of atherosclerotic plaque.[29]

Harriet A. Hall has written that, while it is well-accepted that it is more healthy to eat a plant-based diet than a typical Western diet, Greger often overstates the known benefits of such a diet as well as the harm caused by eating animal products (for example, in a talk, he claimed that a single meal rich in animal products can "cripple" one's arteries), and he sometimes does not discuss evidence that contradicts his strong claims.[30]

Joe Schwarcz of McGill University has commented that although Greger takes his information from respected science journals and produces impressive videos, he has a vegan agenda and is known for cherry picking of data.[31]

Publications

See also

  • PlantPure Nation (2015), a documentary film that advocates for a whole food, plant-based diet
  • What the Health (2017), a documentary film which critiques the health impact of meat, fish, eggs and dairy products consumption
  • Seaspiracy (2021), a documentary film about the environmental impact of fishing
  • You Are What You Eat: A Twin Experiment (2024), a documentary that put identical twins on competing diets: omnivore and vegan

References

  1. ^ a b Greger, Michael [@nutrition_facts] (October 25, 2014). "It's my birthday today! To express your appreciation for my work, please consider making a tax-deductible donation" (Tweet). Archived from the original on September 5, 2018. Retrieved September 5, 2018 – via Twitter.
  2. ^ .
  3. ^ "AWESOME! Story of Michael Greger, MD and Hall of Fame". YouTube. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved January 31, 2020.
  4. ^ Greger, Michael (1994). "Mad Cow Disease – Much More Serious Than AIDS". Envirolink. Archived from the original on December 24, 1996.
  5. ^ "1996 Interview with Michael Greger". www.mad-cow.org.
  6. ^ Usborne, David (February 26, 1998). "Oprah triumphs over the Texas cattle ranchers". The Independent. Archived from the original on May 12, 2022.
  7. ^ Greger, M (1999). "About the Author". United Progressive Alumni. Archived from the original on March 2, 2000.
  8. ^ "The odds against finding mad cow disease: North America's meat inspection rules leave a lot to be desired, a U.S. expert says". The Vancouver Sun via Lexis-Nexus. June 7, 2003.
  9. ^ Parker-Pope, Tara (May 27, 2003). "Beef Industry's Dirty Secret:U.S. Lags on Safety Standards". Wall Street Journal.
  10. ^ "Mad cow disease; USDA misleads public on beef safety." Washington Times [Washington, DC] 2 Jan. 2004: A17. Infotrac Newsstand. Web. 1 Sept. 2016.
  11. ^ Davidson, S. (2004, Jan 29). MIT to hold forum on mad cow disease; local physician to give keynote address. Jewish Advocate. Retrieved from Proquest. Quote: "Consumers concerned about mad cow disease and other issues about safeguarding the food supply may want to attend the Jan. 29 lecture at MIT by Michael Greger, M.D., entitled "Mad Cow Disease: Plague of the 21st Century?" ... Greger was raised in a small Arizona town, "the only Jewish family within 30 miles." His parents were New York natives; his mother taught Biblical Hebrew at the community college. Following his parents' divorce, he moved with his mother and brother to Binghamton, N.Y., where she taught Hebrew school at the orthodox Beth Israel synagogue."
  12. ^ "Confused About Mad Cow? New Ad Exposes Scaremongers and Dispels Myths." PR Newswire 5 Jan. 2004. Academic OneFile. Web. 1 Sept. 2016.
  13. ^ Greger, Michael (Winter 2004). "The killer among us: Could mad cow disease already be killing thousands of Americans every year?" (PDF). EarthSave News Vol 15 No. 1. p. 5.
  14. ^ "American College Of Lifestyle Medicine". California Explore. Retrieved September 1, 2016.
  15. ^ "Joining the American Academy of Lifestyle Medicine (AALM)". American Academy of Lifestyle Medicine. Archived from the original on December 19, 2003. Retrieved December 19, 2003.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  16. ^ Schmit, Julie (March 5, 2008). "Meat plant concerns raised for years". USA Today.
  17. ^ Kesmodel, David (February 25, 2008). "Meatpacker in Cow-Abuse Scandal May Shut as Congress Turns Up Heat – The Wall Street Journal". Online.wsj.com. Retrieved March 30, 2011.
  18. ^ Greger, Michael (April 15, 2011). "Welcome to NutritionFacts.org!". NutritionFacts.org.
  19. ^ "Featured Projects". The Jesse and Julie Rasch Foundation. Archived from the original on September 9, 2016. Retrieved September 1, 2016.
  20. ^ " Dr Michael Greger". vegansociety.com. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  21. ^ "Vegan, Plant-Based Diet or… What Label Works?". T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies. October 16, 2015.
  22. ^ .
  23. .
  24. .
  25. .
  26. ^ The New York Times Best Seller List – Advice, How-to, and Miscellaneous for December 27, 2015
  27. ^ "Advice, How-To & Miscellaneous Books – Best Sellers – January 3, 2016 – The New York Times". The New York Times. Retrieved June 26, 2016.
  28. ^ "Advice, How-To & Miscellaneous Books – Best Sellers – January 10, 2016 – The New York Times". The New York Times. Retrieved June 26, 2016.
  29. ^ a b c Pfiffner, Morgan (2024). "How Not to Diet: The Groundbreaking Science of Healthy, Permanent Weight Loss". Red Pen Reviews. Archived from the original on February 19, 2024.
  30. ^ Hall HA (February 12, 2013). "Death as a Foodborne Illness Curable by Veganism". Science-based Medicine. Retrieved December 13, 2015.
  31. ^ Schwarcz, Joe. (2017). "Dr. Michael Greger--What do we make of him?". mcgill.ca. Retrieved 20 July 2022.

External links