Barry Sears

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Barry Sears
Born (1947-06-06) June 6, 1947 (age 76)
Long Beach, California, U.S.
Alma materPalisades Charter High School
Occidental College
Indiana University
OccupationMedical researcher
Known forZone diet
Notable workThe Zone: A Dietary Road Map (1995)
Websitedrsears.com

Barry Sears (born June 6, 1947)[1] is an American biochemist and author best known for creating and promoting the Zone diet, a low-carbohydrate fad diet that is not supported by good medical evidence.[2][3][4]

Biography

As stated in several of his books, the Zone diet was born of his desire to avoid an early death from a premature heart attack, a fate of which all other men in his family had been early victims. In more recent years, Sears has popularized the use of high-dose Omega-3 fatty acids and polyphenols to further reduce inflammation. He began studying lipids primarily because their difficulty to study made them an under-examined field of research.[5]

He released his first book in 1995, The Zone: A Dietary Road Map. It went on to sell over 2 million hardback copies and was a No. 1 New York Times best-seller. Since then he has frequently appeared in the US media, including CNN, Forbes and Good Morning America.

Career and Zone diet

Sears began his business career in 1976, as the founder and president of one of the first biotechnology startup companies in Massachusetts developing lipid-based delivery systems for cancer drugs.[1] Sears believed that the drug delivery principles could be applied to diet, in order to control the levels of eicosanoids to ultimately control inflammation.[6]

In 1995, Sears released his first book, The Zone: A Dietary Road Map.[7] The Zone, went on to become a No. 1 New York Times best-seller and sold over two million copies in the United States. In 1997, Sears released his second book, Mastering the Zone. The book again went on to become another New York Times best-seller and sold over 1 million copies in the United States.[6] He has also authored a low-carbohydrate cookbook.[8]

Sears continued to apply his dietary approach to other areas of health influenced by inflammation, and published his first book on anti-aging, The Anti-Aging Zone, in 1999.[6][9][10]

Over the next decade, Sears studied and released a number of books based on what he said was the linkage between diet and inflammation.[11]

In 2008, he released the book Toxic Fat: When Good Fat Turns Bad that described obesity as a form of cancer. Sears released his most recent book, The Mediterranean Zone, in 2014, focusing on the role of polyphenols in the inflammatory response.[7] Currently, Sears has published 15 books that have sold more than 6 million copies in the United States. Sears continues his research as the president of the non-profit Inflammation Research Foundation in Peabody, Massachusetts.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b "Barry Sears, Ph.D. Curriculum Vitae". Archived from the original on December 20, 2008. Retrieved November 18, 2007.
  2. ^ DeBruyne L, Pinna K, Whitney E (2011). "Chapter 7: Nutrition in practice — Fad Diets". Nutrition and Diet Therapy. Cengage Learning. p. 209. ISBN 978-1-133-71550-4. "a fad diet by any other name would still be a fad diet." And the names are legion: the Atkins Diet, the Cheater's Diet, the South Beach Diet, the Zone Diet. Year after year, "new and improved" diets appear ...
  3. ^ Cataldo, Corrine Balog; DeBruyne, Linda Kelly; Whitney, Eleanor Noss. (1999). Nutrition and Diet Therapy: Principles and Practice. West/Wadsworth. p. 214. ISBN 978-0534546014 "Most fad diets, including the currently popular Zone Diet, advocate essentially the same high-protein, low- carbohydrate diet... Long-term use of such diets may produce adverse side effects such as nausea, fatigue, constipation, and low blood pressure."
  4. ^ Mechanick, Jeffrey I; Brett, Elise M. (2006). Nutritional Strategies for the Diabetic/Prediabetic Patient. CRC Press. p. 96. ISBN 9781420014884 "No conclusive clinical studies have been conducted on the Zone Diet and, at present, it remains a fad diet without any scientific merit."
  5. ^ "Anti Aging Source Interview". Archived from the original on March 10, 2016. Retrieved March 6, 2011.
  6. ^ a b c d "Barry Sears Ph.D." Psychology Today.[dead link]
  7. ^ a b Fox, Kit (October 30, 2013). "The Inventor of the Zone Diet Goes Mediterranean". Men's Fitness.
  8. ^ "Zone Meals in Seconds: 150 Fast and Delicious Recipes for Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner". publishersweekly.com. Retrieved 8 December 2023.
  9. ^ "Good Morning America". TVGuide.com. May 8, 2002.
  10. ^ "Barry Sears: All the success he can eat". CNN. January 19, 2001.
  11. ^ DiSalvo, David (February 15, 2015). "What Our Diet Is Doing To Our Brains -- And Other Arguments From 'The Zone'". Forbes.

External links

Retrieved from "https://mdwiki.org/wiki/Barry_Sears"