It isn’t often that I read something that has me genuinely excited at the potential of what I’m learning. A new book by Dr. Jean Dodds and Diana Laverdure has left me thrilled at the potential. The book is written for dog owners, but I firmly believe all pets and people can benefit from the information provided in this book.
The book is titled Canine Nutrigenomics – The New Science of Feeding Your Dog for Optimum Health. I cannot encourage you enough – even cat owners (but please know the book is written specific for dogs) – to read this book. You will learn something significant – perhaps even life altering.
Dr. Dodds and Ms. Laverdure takes the latest science of feeding our genes – very complicated science – and breaks it down into very understandable science. The book is about feeding our cells – in the best way possible – to achieve optimal health. It is easy to understand and makes so much sense. The book includes information for healthy animals (maintaining good health) and how to feed your dog to treat common health conditions. They even include commercial pet food advice – how to choose – if you can’t prepare your pets meals.
Dr. Dodds is to me – a pet health guru. I am truly honored to know her, email with her and consider her a friend. My bias aside, her new book is amazing. If you want to understand the power of good food (for your pet and for yourself), read this book.
FYI: I was not asked to write this review – I wanted to write this review. The book is a fantastic learning tool. Highly encouraged read.
Here is the link to their listing on Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_20?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=canine+nutrigenomics&sprefix=Canine+Nutrigenomics%2Caps%2C1045
Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,
Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
TruthaboutPetFood.com
Association for Truth in Pet Food
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Woofielover
February 10, 2015 at 11:54 am
I just got my copy yesterday and am excited to read it as well. It’s just unfortunate a kindle or e-book version wasn’t available to have with me wherever I am! :/
Dori
February 10, 2015 at 12:23 pm
Thanks Susan. Just placed my order on Amazon through your link.
Robyn
February 10, 2015 at 2:28 pm
Wow! The paperback edition is already out of stock. There is a Kindle edition available.
Gitta
February 10, 2015 at 2:44 pm
I have been following the human side of nutrigenomics for quite some time now. And the more I read and learn the more I wonder how come on one hand science uses dogs as animal models for human disease and on the other (feeding them) acts as if dogs are from another planet. Talk about the right hand not wanting to know what the left hand knows. Other than a profit mindset – I see little reason to continue to peddle waste products as ever better and more complete “nutrition” for all life stages. It is such old wisdom that we are what we eat, let food be thy medicine. Since when is rotten diseased flesh and spoiled grains considered “medicine”? No scientist would be so foolish as to promote the typical Western diet as healthy. Well, not for humans. But apparently, scientists do promote the animal version (which is actually even worse) as healthy.
I do believe that at some point nutrigenomics will make into the mainstream media, into everyday conversations about pet food and then those junk peddlers will have a hard time explaining why they were ignoring science for so many years. They will also have to find other ways to peddle their junk.
And hopefully veterinarians will catch up. It boggles my mind to know that cancer thrives on carbs, yet the majority of vets ignore the fact the most dry foods are LOADED with carbs. So we pet parents pay for very expensive cancer treatments while we continue to feed the very same cancer with tons of carbs.
Can’t wait for the book to arrive!
Gitta
February 10, 2015 at 2:50 pm
The book is available in Kindle.
debbie
February 10, 2015 at 3:57 pm
I know that this may not be the focus of your valuable work, but do you identify those ‘pet’ food manufacturers that do invasive testing on animals, like Iams does? thank you
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Jenny Wildes
February 14, 2015 at 8:59 pm
Dogwise has this book in stock, just got mine and can’t stop reading ! Wow such great information and you do not have to be a rocket scientist to understand it. Thanks for recomending this book 😀
Gigi
February 16, 2015 at 10:25 am
This is old news. One pet food manufacturer has been using this technology for over 10 years working to improve the lives of pets.
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SkeptVet
July 9, 2015 at 2:51 pm
Here’s a different perspective on the book. It’s one most of you won’t like, but worth considering.
Dr. Dodds’ new book is a seamless blending of legitimate and mainstream science, plausible but unproven hypotheses, unlikely or “long-shot” hypotheses, and outright factual error and nonsense. She uses the language and trappings of science, but often the words she uses don’t mean what they are usually used to mean, and the appearance of scientific validity is only superficial.One of the key problems with Canine Nutrigenomics is that legitimate scientific ideas are either extrapolated far beyond what the research evidence supports in order to promote dubious claims. Another weakness is that complex phenomena are simplified to make good and bad outcomes easy to predict and control. There is accurate information in the book, but it is frequently misused. There is also theory, opinion, and guesswork presented as fact and straightforward nonsense in the book, and the purpose of this article is to help readers separate these out and develop a more accurate and realistic assessment of the subject matter than that presented by the authors.
The most glaring problem with this book is that it really has almost nothing to do with the actual science of nutrigenomics. The word “nutrigenomics” is used here a bit like the word “quantum” is used by homeopaths and other proponents of pseudoscientific practices. Labeling pseudoscience with the name of a legitimate scientific field that most people know little about and don’t really understand allows you to claim a legitimate scientific foundation for your ideas without having to actually explain how they work in detail or adhere to the details of the new or obscure branch of science you are borrowing your legitimacy from.
While Dr. Dodds’ book is a mixture of fact and fiction, science and pseudoscience, plausible ideas and outright nonsense, overall the work is deeply misleading. It has little at all to do with nutrigenomics or epigenetics, despite the title and claims to the contrary, and it uses real science primarily to give an aura of legitimacy or authority to claims which are unproven or outright false. References are employed in a manner that suggests an academic research summary with conclusions based on scientific evidence. The reality is that the book is a collection of opinions, some plausible and some not, supported in most cases by very little evidence and in some cases clearly contradicted by this evidence. The references employed are often simply other people’s opinions or, in some cases, Dr. Dodds’ own opinions reprinted elsewhere.
The recommendations made for and against specific feeding practices and dietary supplements are mostly typical for proponents of alternative medicine, and they stem from ideology and philosophical beliefs rather than scientific evidence. Occasionally, such claims turn out to be true, in the manner of a broken clock which happens to be right twice a day but this has little to do with the underlying principles. And while there are a few evidence-based claims here and there in the book, and some recommendations I would agree with, overall Canine Nutrigenomics is misleading, misguided, and in conflict with the best evidence and expert consensus in veterinary nutrition.
You can find a detailed discussion of the book, and evidence-based investigation of specific claims Dr. Dodds makes in it, here:
http://skeptvet.com/Blog/2015/06/canine-nutrigenomics-by-dr-jean-dodds-science-as-windowdressing/
Susan Thixton
July 9, 2015 at 3:34 pm
I’m curious as to why you don’t post your name…if you believe so adamantly that Dr. Dodds book is inferior, why don’t you stand behind those words with your real name (instead of “SkeptVet”). Why are you hiding?
beverley rutland-manners
May 26, 2020 at 2:36 am
Exactly my question too, Susan Thixton. I find an anonymous attempt to disparage the validity of the work of an icon in the field such as Dr Jean Dodds to be simply shameful.