Viviane de la Guéronnière is a physician specialising in public health. She is an adviser to a French agency that assesses research and higher education (AERES). She has co-authored numerous scientific publications on human nutrition evaluating the health impact of various foods.

The health benefits of good nutrition are increasingly well documented: the latest scientific studies show that the right diet can lead to a 50% drop in the number of serious cardiovascular diseases. Regular exercise and no smoking could prevent more than 80% of all heart attacks, 70% of strokes and cancers, and 90% of cases of diabetes.
Yet it is clear that most of us do not take advantage of these findings. In part, because it is not easy to glean the necessary information among the quantities of available facts and figures and contradictory expert opinions. But also because nutrition is a whole: what matters is maintaining the right equilibrium.
We need to become aware of the powerful and precise benefits of each food. For example, citrus fruits are active in combatting cancers of the digestive tract; walnuts and chocolate combat cardiovascular diseases; coffee reduces the risk of diabetes.
Every effort has been made in this book to enable readers to put into practice the evidence revealed by these studies. Each item explaining the beneficial effects of a specific protective food is accompanied by advice on the best way to consume it and to prepare it. Also included are vitamin charts and suggested weekly recipes (in function of the reader’s profile). The purpose throughout is the prevention of cardiovascular diseases and cancer.

• Preserving wellness and health is vital, and nutrition can help us meet this goal.
• More than 40 foods or food categories are reviewed here, as are the various diseases that nutrition can help prevent.
• A book for anyone who wishes to (or needs to) pay attention to what they eat.