In The Cure for Everything! health-law expert Timothy Caulfield exposes the special interests that twist good science about health and fitness to sell us services and products that mostly don’t work.

Want great abs? You won’t get them by using the latest Ab-Flex-Spinner-Thingy. Are you trying to lose ten pounds? Diet books are a waste of trees. Do you rely on healthcare practitioners — either mainstream or alternative — to provide the cure for what ails you? Then beware! Both Big Pharma and naturopathy are powerful twisting forces with products and services to sell.

Caulfield doesn’t just talk the talk. He signs up for circuit training with a Hollywood trainer who cultivates the abs of the stars. With his own Food Advisory Team (FAT) made up of specialists in nutrition and diet, he makes a lifestyle change that really works. (Mainly it involves eating less than he is used to eating. Much less.) And when he embarks on a holiday cruise, dreading motion sickness, he takes along both a homeopathic and pharmaceutical remedy—with surprising results. This is a light-hearted book with a serious theme. Caulfield demonstrates that the truth about being healthy is easy to find (but often hard to do).

TIMOTHY CAULFIELD is a professor in the Faculty of Law and the School of Public Health as well as research director of the Health Law and Science Policy Group at the University of Alberta. In recent years he has led and collaborated on a number of research projects having to do with the social challenges associated with genomic technologies, stem cell research, and the application of ethics in health sciences. He is a member of the Royal Society of Canada and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. He has also been involved with a number of national and international policy and research ethics committees, including Canadian Biotechnology Advisory Committee, Genome Canada’s Science Advisory Committee, and the Federal Panel on Research Ethics.Caulfield is a frequent speaker at academic and public gatherings. He contributes often to popular media. He lives and works out vigorously and often in Edmonton.  

Timothy Caulfield's profile page

“Caulfield … is no scaremongering skeptic: His cure for the mess we’re in is this lucid and well-researched compendium of the best-available science …. Insightful and entertaining…. The author is waging a noble battle against a mountain of misinformation. Gently and with humour, Caulfield guides readers through the funhouse world of health sciences with an openness and spirit of inquiry” - National Post

“Though [Caulfield] may write with the cheerful self-deprecation of the slacker dude, he thinks with an academic’s rigor and precision and knows the health maintenance territory inside out.” - The New York Times

“An entertaining and thought-provoking exposé of many of the beliefs that some of us hold dear…. [Caulfield’s] writing is clear and often amusing…. A good read that may change the way you view your daily latte or stroll around the track at the gym.” - Winnipeg Free Press

“A humorous love letter to science … Caulfield’s writing makes science fun. His cure for just about everything that ails us is insightful and … it’s entertaining. He offers simple, evidence-based information that’s far, far away from the magical thinking that goes with bogus health claims…. For a healthy dose of skepticism concerning the twisted messages, read this book.” - The Gazette (Montreal)

“Insightful.” - Maclean’s

“Entertaining and thought-provoking slam at Big Food, Big Pharma, and our own delusions…. Caulfield’s often hilarious, always fascinating journey unearths a few simple truths.” - Publishers Weekly