''What the Health'' is a 2017 documentary film which critiques the health impact of meat, fish, eggs and dairy products consumption, and questions the practices of leading health and pharmaceutical organizations. The film also advocates for a

plant-based diet A plant-based diet is a diet consisting mostly or entirely of plant-based foods. Plant-based diets encompass a wide range of dietary patterns that contain low amounts of animal products and high amounts of plant products such as vegetables, fru ...

. The documentary has been criticized by a number of medical doctors,

dietitian A dietitian, medical dietitian, or dietician is an expert in identifying and treating disease-related malnutrition and in conducting medical nutrition therapy, for example designing an enteral tube feeding regimen or mitigating the effects of ca ...

s, and

investigative journalists Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years rese ...

for what they describe as confusing causation with correlation,

cherry picking Cherry picking, suppressing evidence, or the fallacy of incomplete evidence is the act of pointing to individual cases or data that seem to confirm a particular position while ignoring a significant portion of related and similar cases or data th ...

science studies,

bias Bias is a disproportionate weight ''in favor of'' or ''against'' an idea or thing, usually in a way that is closed-minded, prejudicial, or unfair. Biases can be innate or learned. People may develop biases for or against an individual, a group, ...

ed sources, distortion of study findings, and using "weak-to-non-existent data".

Synopsis

Advertised as "The Health Film That Health Organizations Don't Want You To See", the film follows Kip Andersen as he interviews physicians and other individuals on diet and health topics. Andersen is also shown attempting to contact representatives of various health organizations, but comes away dissatisfied with their responses. Through other interviews he examines the alleged connection between the

meat Meat is animal flesh that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted, farmed, and scavenged animals for meat since prehistoric times. The establishment of settlements in the Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of animals such as chic ...

dairy A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting or processing (or both) of animal milk – mostly from cows or buffaloes, but also from goats, sheep, horses, or camels – for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on ...

, and

pharmaceutical A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and re ...

industries, as well as various health organizations. The synopsis is that serious health problems are a consequence of consuming meat and dairy products, and that a conspiracy exists to cover this up.

Production

''What the Health'' was written, produced, and directed by Kip Andersen and

Keegan Kuhn Keegan Kuhn is an American documentary filmmaker, director, producer, and professional musician. He is best known for co-directing the documentary films '' Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret'' and ''What the Health'', along with Kip Andersen. ...

, the same production team behind the documentary ''

Cowspiracy ''Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret'' is a 2014 American documentary film produced and directed by Kip Andersen and Keegan Kuhn. The film explores the impact of animal agriculture on the environment—examining such environmental concerns as ...

''. It was executive-produced by

Joaquin Phoenix Joaquin Rafael Phoenix (; né Bottom; born October 28, 1974) is an American actor. He is known for playing dark and unconventional characters in independent films. He has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academ ...

, a long-time

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan. Di ...

. ''What the Health'' was funded via an Indiegogo campaign in March 2016, raising more than $235,000. The film was released globally on

Vimeo Vimeo, Inc. () is an American video hosting, sharing, and services platform provider headquartered in New York City. Vimeo focuses on the delivery of high-definition video across a range of devices. Vimeo's business model is through software as ...

on March 16, 2017, and screenings licensed through Tugg Inc.

Featured individuals

The following doctors were featured in the film: * Milton Mills (physician, plant-based advocate, author) *

Garth Davis Garth Davis (born 1974) is an Australian television, advertising and film director, best known for directing the film ''Lion'' (2016), and the film ''Mary Magdalene'', written by Helen Edmundson. He earlier directed episodes of the series ''To ...

(bariatric surgeon, plant-based advocate, author) *

Michael Greger Michael Herschel Greger (born 25 October 1972) is an American physician, author, and professional speaker on public health issues, best known for his advocacy of a whole-food, plant-based diet, and his opposition to animal-derived food product ...

(physician, veganism advocate, author) *

Michael Klaper Michael A. Klaper (July 19, 1947) is an American physician, vegan health educator, conference and event speaker, and an author of articles and books of vegan medical advice. Graduating from medical school in 1972, Klaper became a vegan ten yea ...

(physician, veganism advocate, author) *

Neal Barnard Neal D. Barnard, born 10 July 1953 in Fargo, North Dakota, is an American author, clinical researcher, and founding president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM). Early life and education Barnard grew up in Fargo, North D ...

(clinical researcher, author, founder of vegan-advocacy group

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) is a non-profit research and advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C., which promotes a plant-based diet, preventive medicine, and alternatives to animal research, and encourages ...

) *

Caldwell Esselstyn Caldwell may refer to: People * Caldwell (surname) * Caldwell (given name) * Caldwell First Nation, a federally recognized Indian band in southern Ontario, Canada Places Great Britain * Caldwell, Derbyshire, a hamlet * Caldwell, East ...

(physician, veganism advocate, author) * Kim A. Williams (cardiologist, President of the

American College of Cardiology The American College of Cardiology (ACC), based in Washington, D.C., is a nonprofit medical association established in 1949. It bestows credentials upon cardiovascular specialists who meet its qualifications. Education is a core component of the ...

) * John McDougall (physician, vegetarian food company owner, author) A number of non-physicians were also interviewed: *

Michele Simon Michele Simon (born 1965) is a public health lawyer who has been researching and writing about food policy since 1996. Her work has been featured on CNBC, CBS News, ''The New York Times'', ''San Francisco Chronicle'', ''Chicago Tribune'', Reuters, ...

(public health lawyer, author) *

Steve-O Stephen Gilchrist Glover (born June 13, 1974), known professionally as Steve-O, is an American entertainer, television personality, stunt performer and YouTuber. His career is mostly centered on his performance stunts in the reality comedy tel ...

(comedian, actor in Jackass) *

Ryan Shapiro Ryan Noah Shapiro (born 1976) is a doctoral student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Doctoral Program in History, Anthropology, Science, Technology, and Society (HASTS), a U.S. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) researcher, and an ad ...

(historian of national security,

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the mo ...

) * David Carter (former

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

defensive lineman) *

Timothy Shieff Timothy Shieff is an English freerunner. He won the ''Barclaycard World Freerun Championship'' in 2009 and participated on the television programme MTV's ''Ultimate Parkour Challenge''. He has also competed on ''American Ninja Warrior'' and ''N ...

(world champion freerunner,

Ninja Warrior ''Sasuke'' (サスケ; stylized in Japan as ''SASUKE'', also known as ''Shin-Sasuke'' (stylized as ''新SASUKE'' from Seasons 18 to 21, ''Sasuke Rising'' from Seasons 28 to 30 and ''Sasuke Ninja Warrior'' since Season 35) is a Japanese sports ...

) *

Tia Blanco Tiarah Lue Blanco (born May 5, 1997) is an American professional surfer from San Clemente, California who won the first place gold medal at the International Surfing Association (ISA) Open Women's World Surfing Championship 2015 in Popoyo, Nicar ...

(professional surfer, double ISA World Surfing champion) * Susan M. Levin (dietitian, Director of Nutrition Education for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine)

Criticism

The documentary has drawn criticism from many, including medical doctors and

scientific skeptics Scientific skepticism or rational skepticism (also spelled scepticism), sometimes referred to as skeptical inquiry, is a position in which one questions the veracity of claims lacking empirical evidence. In practice, the term most commonly refe ...

, who contend that it misrepresents facts: * On July 3, 2017,

Zubin Damania Zubin Damania (born April 23, 1973) is an American physician, assistant professor, comedian, internet personality, and musician. He also has been writing and performing comedic raps as ZDoggMD, an internet celebrity known for his music videos, pa ...

, a

medical doctor A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

and founder of

Turntable Health Turntable Health was a direct primary care clinic in Downtown Las Vegas, Nevada. It began as part of Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh’s $350 million economic revitalization project in Downtown Las Vegas. The clinic was founded by Zubin Damania, known by his ...

, used his ZDoggMD persona to review ''What the Health'' on his YouTube channel. Damania agreed with the documentary's assertion that a diet heavy in

processed food Convenience food, also called tertiary processed food, is food that is commercially prepared (often through processing) to optimise ease of consumption. Such food is usually ready to eat without further preparation. It may also be easily por ...

was associated with negative health effects and that the

Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respon ...

sometimes offered "stupid nutrition recommendations" that recommends a uniform solution for everyone. However, he also commented in detail on what he characterized as frequent

confirmation bias Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one's prior beliefs or values. People display this bias when they select information that supports their views, ignoring ...

and cherry-picking of selected data, as well as the

oversimplification The fallacy of the single cause, also known as complex cause, causal oversimplification, causal reductionism, and reduction fallacy, is an informal fallacy of questionable cause that occurs when it is assumed that there is a single, simple cause of ...

of complex health issues and rampant misinformation which he observed in the documentary. He also highlighted what he saw as the ridiculous claim made of "

institutionalized racism Institutional racism, also known as systemic racism, is a form of racism that is embedded in the laws and regulations of a society or an organization. It manifests as discrimination in areas such as criminal justice, employment, housing, health ...

" on the part of the dairy industry. Damania concluded in exasperation: "that was the stupidest xpletivething I've ever seen... I feel like I've lost xpletivebrain cells". Joel Kahn, a

cardiologist Cardiology () is a branch of medicine that deals with disorders of the heart and the cardiovascular system. The field includes medical diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects, coronary artery disease, heart failure, valvular hear ...

featured in the film, responded to ZDoggMD's video via a Medium article proposing some of Damania's criticism seemed unaware of research cited in the film. * On July 11, 2017,

Harriet Hall Harriet A. Hall (born July 2, 1945) is a U.S. retired family physician, former U.S. Air Force flight surgeon and skeptic who writes about alternative medicine and quackery for ''Skeptic'' and ''Skeptical Inquirer''. She writes under the name The ...

, a medical doctor and

scientific skeptic Scientific skepticism or rational skepticism (also spelled scepticism), sometimes referred to as skeptical inquiry, is a position in which one questions the veracity of claims lacking empirical evidence. In practice, the term most commonly refe ...

known as the SkepDoc, reviewed the documentary on ''

Science-Based Medicine ''Science-Based Medicine'' is a website and blog with articles covering issues in science and medicine, especially medical scams and practices. Founded in 2008, it is owned and operated by the New England Skeptical Society and run by Steven N ...

''. Hall wrote that "''What the Health'' espouses the fairy tale that all major diseases... can be prevented and cured by eliminating meat and dairy from the diet. It is a blatant

polemic Polemic () is contentious rhetoric intended to support a specific position by forthright claims and to undermine the opposing position. The practice of such argumentation is called ''polemics'', which are seen in arguments on controversial topics ...

for

veganism Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan. ...

, biased and misleading, and is not a reliable source of scientific information." At the end of her article, she agrees there are health benefits associated with increased plant consumption, but also notes "the evidence is insufficient to recommend that everyone adopt a vegan diet" and "we needn't entirely reject all animal foods". Finally, she recommends moderation in all things. * On July 20, 2017,

Martijn Katan Martijn Bernard Katan (born 1946) is a Dutch nutritionist, an emeritus professor at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and author of two popular science books on nutrition. Career Katan was born in Arnhem in 1946. He studied chemistry and biochemist ...

, emeritus professor in nutrition from

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam The Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (abbreviated as ''VU Amsterdam'' or simply ''VU'' when in context) is a public research university in Amsterdam, Netherlands, being founded in 1880. The VU Amsterdam is one of two large, publicly funded research ...

, called the film "propaganda". Katan says ''What the Health?'' exaggerates the health risks of meat, eggs and dairy, and dangerously claims veganism prevents or cures many diseases, like cancer or diabetes. However, he stressed lowered average meat consumption would offer health benefits, and also noted veganism can be a healthy lifestyle for all but young children if care is taken to obtain nutrients. Katan also agreed veganism is in many ways good for the environment. * Sarah Berry, Lifestyle Health Editor for ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'', commented: "''What the Health'' does make some valid points including concerns about the influence of Big Food on dietary recommendations and about poor farming practices, which can be both inhumane and bad for the planet". However, Berry also wrote: "The makers cherry-pick science, use biased sources, distort study findings and use 'weak-to-non-existent data ...'" Berry quoted Dr. Joanna McMillan as saying that "To me it's the usual product of those who are filmmakers and not nutrition scientists or trained in any aspect of medicine or science, therefore not trained or qualified to make sense of scientific research." * On August 8, 2017, Chase Purdy in ''

Quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical form ...

'' declared: "By cherry-picking nutrition studies to make rickety claims, the makers of ''What the Health'' risk ratcheting up fear of certain foods based on weak science. It's not a responsible way to try and change people's behavior, and it does a disservice to nutritional scientists in the field."

Awards

* 2018 Cinema for Peace Award Nominee, Most Valuable Documentary of the Year

Book

A companion book of the same name was released in February 2017, authored by Eunice Wong.

References

External links

* * * {{Portal bar, Food, Film, United States 2017 documentary films 2017 films American documentary films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films Documentary films about plant-food diets