HEALTHY LIVING End Your Illness
Steve Jobs’ doctor sparks controversy with an unconventional handbook for health and longevity. ::
BY NICK TATE W
hat if everything you thought you knew about health was wrong? Low-fat diets are bad for you. Vitamin supplements may raise your cancer
risk. Naps are unhealthy. Sitting still is as unhealthy as smoking. A provocative new best-selling book, The End of Illness (Free Press, $26) posits that very notion. The book’s author, Dr. David Agus, is one of the
world’s leading oncologists and researchers — best known for treating Steve Jobs, Lance Armstrong, and Sen. Edward Kennedy. He has spent two decades on the front lines of the war on cancer and chronic disease, and what he’s seen is sobering. In short, he says we’re not winning. One reason: Medicine treats cancer after the
fact — with chemo, radiation, surgery — instead of preventing it. Another reason: Many conventional health recommendations are, quite simply, wrong.
BOOK CONTROVERSY In an interview with Newsmax, Agus, a professor of
medicine at the University of Southern California, says he has been surprised by the strong reaction to his book, and not all of it good. Supplement advocates have blasted him for saying
that some pills containing vitamins, nutrients, and antioxidants may actually increase health risks. Dr. Mehmet Oz challenged his views on vitamins on his popular TV show. “The response has surprised me, yes,” Agus
acknowledges. “It’s been intimidating to hear from so many people on vitamins and supplements. But you see what I’ve done is taken away the crutch that a lot of people have, and they don’t like it.”
DR. AGUS’ TIPS FOR HEALTHY LIVING
N
o single piece of health advice applies to everyone, says Agus. But here are some of his general guidelines:
82 NEWSMAX MAXLIFE | AUGUST 2012
WELL-HEALED David Agus’ unconventional wisdom, imparted in his popular book, has been used to treat the likes of Steve Jobs and Lance Armstrong.
FUTURE OF HEALTHCARE Despite the criticism from some quarters, Agus’ book
has been endorsed by a surprising number of health experts of all stripes. Lance Armstrong, the seven-time Tour de France cycling winner, calls the book a “tour de force in its delivery and message.” Murray Gell-Mann, a Nobel laureate in physics, hails it as “unconventional and thought-provoking,” and says it “will very likely change at least some of your views on health and wellness.” Michael Dell, the founder of Dell computers, says Agus’ “unorthodox ideas backed with hard science” point the way to the future of healthcare. For all the controversy, many of Agus’
recommendations are tenets of mainstream medicine. He strongly endorses the fl u shot, daily aspirin, and
Eat a healthy diet: Get
your nutrition, including vitamins and minerals, from unprocessed food. Eat “good fat, not low-fat” foods (include olive oil and nuts), and cold-water fish three times a week.
Avoid supplements:
Unless you have a vitamin deficiency, supplementation is unnecessary, he says, citing a 2010 analysis by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
AGUS/SAUL BROMBERGER & SANDRA HOOVER
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