An Introduction to Nutritional Medicine: Where Darwin Meets Hippocrates

John Nichols

Aug 2020 · Cambridge Scholars Publishing

About this ebook

This book imagines a meeting between Charles Darwin and Hippocrates, the ancient Greek father of medicine, supposing that any dialogue between these two great thinkers should be quite sensational. It presents a short dialogue at the start of each chapter to act as an introduction to the topic discussed. With the help of Darwin and Hippocrates, it covers some of the main areas of the large topic of nutritional medicine, and especially some of the more controversial topics such as the use of nutritional supplements, the efficacy of probiotics and when to categorise a food as “junk food.” Any reader who wants to know what constitutes nutritional medicine (as opposed to homeopathy and herbalism) will find this book a useful introduction to the subject. For those wanting to read up on the subject in greater detail, the appendix of the text includes a comprehensive reading list.

About the author

John Nichols graduated with an MB ChB from Liverpool Medical School in 1967, before spending a year with Dr Ian Watson at Shere Surgery near Guildford in Surrey. They published a joint paper on measles immunity in 1975. Since then, Nichols has conducted research into public awareness of health hazards, trace elements and fertility, exercise on prescription, folic acid, smoking cessation and probiotics. In 1999, he embarked on a Master’s degree in Nutritional Medicine at the University of Surrey, UK. He spent 42 years as a Guildford GP, before retiring in 2015. He is the author of Nutrition and Science: A Darwinian Perspective on Nutritional Medicine (2019). He is still involved in academia as a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Surrey, and is active as a Fellow of the Royal College of General Practitioners.