Category: Book Reviews

  • Infant Feeding History revised

    Chapter 14 of Breastfeeding and Breast Milk: from Biochemistry to Impact. What follows is the Content (but not the lovely formatting) of the entire chapter and references, pp. 219-239, as from my galley proofs of the above-titled book, published by Georg Thieme Verlag, Stuttgart in September 2018. Reproduced here with the consent of the publisher,…

  • Tuteur Push Back: Minchin Review

    Push Back. Guilt in the Age of Natural Parenting by Amy Tuteur. (HarperCollins NY 2016) INTRODUCTION I find it extraordinary for any medical doctor to have written a book containing such sweeping generalisations, allegations of vile motives by other health professionals, and minimally researched, provably untrue, and defamatory, assertions. Sadly, it is no longer rare…

  • Evidence streams in infant feeding: ex-debate

    Breastfeeding has become the centrepiece of public health programmes, endorsed by the health industry and the infant formula industry and philanthropic groups and national governments alike. How did the world arrive at that global consensus about the importance of breastfeeding? It developed from three related, but independent, streams of evidence. 1. The first stream flows…

  • The Bottle, the Breast and the State: Oakley review

     The Bottle the Breast and the State. The politics of infant feeding in the United States.  By Maureen Rand Oakley. (Lexington Books 2015) I like this book, which should be  read by those in mother support, breastfeeding advocacy and feminist academia with the time to do so. I  support Oakley’s approach, as I welcome any book…

  • MILK: THE BIOLOGY OF LACTATION

    MILK: THE BIOLOGY OF LACTATION by Michael L Power and Jay Schulkin (Johns Hopkins Press, 2016) This relatively small book aims to inform, stimulate and even challenge thought about milk and lactation, its evolution, and its importance to modern life. It achieves those aims. The structure is clear, the authors adhere to it, and summarise…

  • Milk Matters review by Joy Anderson, expert dietitian

    ” New Book! ‘Milk Matters’ by Maureen Minchin Maureen Minchin’s new book Milk Matters: Infant Feeding & Immune Disorder is now available. It is the culmination of many years of hard work and studying the scientific literature by Maureen. I highly recommend this book to parents, health professionals, really everyone! It focuses on the profound…

  • UNDOING THE MYTH THAT SUSTAINS FORMULA FEEDING

    Food in general has never been more extensively and intensively investigated, and recently three books have added to my knowledge of the reality of food processing. I commend them to anyone interested in the politics and science of food. And I hope the authors of all three books will in future address the topic of…

  • Amazon reviews of Milk Matters!

    An eye opening lightbulb moment read that should be essential reading for health professionals By Amy Brown   (Author Of Breastfeeding Uncovered) on 27 September 2017 We all know that ‘Breast is best’ right? Posters tell us, health professionals tell us, even the tin of formula says it (albeit in tiny writing). That message doesn’t work though,…

  • Intolerant Bodies: a history of immune research

    Intolerant bodies: a history of auto immunity. Anderson W, Mackay IR. (Johns Hopkins Press 2014) A focussed partial review and commentary.. This readable and illuminating text by an historian and an immunologist outlines the historical process of uncovering the workings of the immune system. Finding this book was for me finding a missing piece of…

  • Hard to swallow: a book review

    Swallow This: serving up the food industry’s darkest secrets by Joanna Blythman (Fourth Estate London 2015) There are many interesting books on food. There are few fascinating detailed readable ones on food processing. This one is a must read for those feeling brave or curious. It is not a reassuring one for those who believe that…

  • Overselling infant formula: Lactivism

    Definitely Overselling Infant Formula:                                                  Lactivism by Courtney Jung           An overdue  review Professor Courtney Jung’s Lactivism is sensationally subtitled: how feminists and fundamentalists, hippies and yuppies, and…

  • Breast intentions: a quick review

              Well, I’ve now read every page of Allison Dixley’s Breast Intentions: how women sabotage breastfeeding for themselves and others, highlighter and pen in hand. And then I read all the reviews I found online, both by people who understood what she was saying, and other people who clearly misrepresented what I…

  • MIDIRS Review of Milk Matters

    MIDIRS December 2015 Digest Review of Milk Matters: Infant feeding and immune disorder by Maureen Minchin

  • Milk Matters another review

    Another UK review of Milk Matters can be found at https://breastfeeding.support/milk-matters-infant-feeding-and-immune-disorder/ I don’t know the writer, but she has captured what the book says and the flavour of the language quite well. As in the past with my work, the UK still leads the way, with new infant feeding issues able to be discussed rationally. I…

  • A life-changing book you need to read! Some reader responses to date.

    Reader responses to Milk Matters: Professor Mary Renfrew FRSE, Director, Mother and Infant Research Unit; Deputy Dean: Research, University of Dundee; Director, Scottish Improvement Science Collaborating Centre It’s a work of huge vision, based in extensive knowledge and understanding, yet it is easy to read and understand without specialist technical knowledge… A book to change the…