Catherine Warren

Some interesting information about some genes' function BUT overall poor. Overly simplistic and dumbed down too much - dirty and clean genes! Genes "talking" to your body! If you think you have mould get an environmental inspector - even for your car!! Dry brushing, saunas and massage for detoxing! Tick some boxes and you'll know what your genes are doing! Then when things change - tick them again! He pays lip service to the fact that thousands of gene interactions take place - but still returns to the idea that everything is a result of the ones he happens to be studying. Some basic diet/ exercise/ sleep advice (with little acknowledgement of sleep difficulties!) The human race has increased its numbers and average lifespan without needing filtered bathwater. And how is Joe Public supposed to manage putting themselves on pancreatic enzymes? The purpose of a potted personal biography (never expected in a science book) became clear when he subtly slipped in his ownership of a supplement company, with a clearer disclosure later in the book of a gene testing business. He constantly recommends supplements and also gene tests - but not until after a fortnight of trying other things. I assume this fortnight is to make him feel professional and not just about getting people's money. The worried well and their money are easily parted and they may as well give their money to Ben Lynch as anyone else. However some dubious medical advice is more concerning. He mentions hundreds of doctors' appreciation of his methods. He mentions healthcare workers at the same time which appears to be an attempt to suggest these are medical doctors - but are they? Anyone with any doctorate calls themselves a doctor. Are overworked medical doctors happy to do blood tests and digestive stool analyses on people who are not ill? Do they agree with concerns that Metformin and HRT disrupt gene function? That people should stay away from statins? That you should routinely add electrolytes to your drinking water? A leaky gut is mentioned along with Ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, which could certainly encourage the idea these are equally serious conditions. And maybe most scary of all his ideas - that pregnant women should not take folic acid. I have worked for over 40 years as a nurse and have not met even one medical doctor or nurse who agrees with these concepts. Ben Lynch cites no other credible research to support these ideas and I haven't had to look far to find research refuting his ideas, indicating finding information that everyone can absorb folic acid, whatever their gene expression, and the huge benefits of drugs including Metformin and HRT. In fact although he lists some papers at the back of his book, he doesn't use page references and it would take a lot of reading of these papers to find where his ideas have come from. Even as a book directed at lay people it appears worryingly unscientific and poorly explained. It may be he is on to something in some of his ideas but overall it reads as an evasion of any real facts. It is unconvincing and potentially could persuade some people to go against medical advice with no clear evidence of any benefit in doing this