Subject: Summary of nutrition books

From: [email-masked] (Samu Mielonen)
Date: 6 Sep 1993 15:44:24 +0300

Thanks for all the people who responded to my query about good books on
nutrition. Here is a summary of the recommendations I received:

From: Jim Volin <[email-masked]>

        TITLE:  Jean Carper's Total Nutrition Guide
       AUTHOR:  Jean Carper
         PUBL:  Bantam Books (1987)
         ISBN:  0-553-34350-5
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From: [email-masked] (Rich Young)

	Here's a whole list compiled by one poster; I, personally, prefer
	the Tufts Guide over Jane Brody's books, if only because of the
	credentials of the authors.  Stanley Gershoff is the dean of the
	College of Human Nutrition at Tufts, Jane Brody is a writer for
	the New York Times, adn the Tufts book is newer, but the choice 
	is yours, of course.

From: [email-masked] (Michelle Dick)
So, you want to know more about the field of nutrition.  You want to
be able to wade through the sound bites and news reports at least
semi-intelligently. Maybe you want to verify that your own diet is at
least generally sound without spending money on a visit to a
nutritionist.  Or perhaps you just want to appear to be a pompous ass,
er, impressively informed individual at your next cocktail party.

Here's a short guide from lay manual to heavy duty science to get you
started. 

BASIC NUTRITIONAL GUIDES

There are a number of good books on the market, but they are
overwhelmed by amount of shlock out there.  Here are three excellent
guides.  Go to the bookstore, browse all three and choose one or more
that you like.  Then read them.

Jane Brody's Nutrition Book. By Jane Brody. Published by Bantam Books,
1981, 1987. ISBN 0-553-34721.  $15.
	Over 500 pages of solid accessible information on the basic
	components of food and what makes a good diet.  Highly
	recommended.

The Tufts University Guide to Total Nutrition.  By Stanley Gershoff.
Published by HarperPerennial, 1990.  $13.
	The information here is not quite as solid as Jane Brody's
	book, but this is a good one and there is more emphasis on
	actually implementing a good diet.  Also a few pages on
	exercise.  This is also not quite as "wordy" and has little
	quizzes and such.  It's a matter of personal style which you
	prefer. 

The Wellness Encyclopedia.  From the Editors of the University of
California, Berkeley Wellness Letter.  Published by Houghton Mifflin
Company, 1991. $16.
	This is more a general health book rather than specifically
	a nutrition book.  It's a pretty book and an easy read (which
	might mean you actually read it rather than just sit it on
	your shelf).  Information on nutrition, exercise, and hygiene.

Oh, and one more thing.  If you get serious about lowering the fat in
your diet you might want to buy a food count book.  There are tons of
them out there, what you want to look for are listings of calories,
total fat, saturated fat, and possibly fiber.  If you want to get the
Mercedes of food count books, that position is currently held by:

The Corinne T. Netzer Encyclopedia of Food Values.  By Corinne T.
Netzer.  Published by Dell Publishing, 1992. ISBN: 0-440-50367-1. $25.
	This is a monster hardcover of some 900 pages.  Includes
	dietary fiber measurements rather than crude fiber, when
	available.  Almost any food you can imagine is in this book, 
	except palm hearts (at least I couldn't find them).

BASIC NUTRITION SCIENCE

The following books cover the rudiments of nutritional science and the
scientific method.  They can help in separating fad from fact.

Popular Nutritional Practices: Sense and Nonsense. By Jack Z Yetiv.
Published by Dell Publishing, 1986, 1988. ISBN: 0-440-20046-6. $5
	Covers homeopathy, herb treatment, food additives, fad diets,
	cholesterol cures, megavitamins, vegetarianism, and much more.
	This is a must for anyone who wishes to be an intelligent
	consumer of the latest nutritional news.

Science, Physiology, and Nutrition: A Primer for the Non-Scientist.
Fall 1992 Edition. By Judi S. Morrill.  Dept. of Nutrition and Food
Science. San Jose State University. 1992.  $20.
	I don't know whether this has made it outside of the the Bay
	Area (California), but this is a *fantastic* course text in
	progress that can be obtained directly from Judi Morrill if
	your bookstore doesn't carry it (email me for details).
	Covers the scientific method, the basics of chemistry,
	digestion, the circulatory system, cell metabolism, protein
	synthesis, the musculatory system, and the nervous system.
	There is also information on cancer and atherosclerosis and
	how nutrition fits in with all of this.  If you don't
	understand the information in this text, you're blathering
	like an idiot if you go on about what food can and can't do
	for you.

Krause's Food, Nutrition & Diet Therapy.  8th Edition. By L. Kathleen
Mahan and Marian Arlin.  Published by W.B. Saunders Company, 1992.
ISBN: 0-7216-5508-4. $51.
	Just your basic intro to nutrition college text.  Better than
	most. 

MORE ADVANCED MATERIALS

Just to round out the list I'm including two more advanced resources
on general nutrition.  The first is the 10th edition of the RDA.  It
summarizes what the RDAs are and how they are determined.  Then for
each nutrient, the literature upon which the RDA is based is
discussed.  The second is a selection of scholarly survey articles on
basic nutritional requirements.  For those in the academic nutrition
field it is light reading.  For everyone else, it should serve to
instill a bit of humility (though if you've read all the preceding
materials and had some experience with academic writing, you should be
able to follow it).

Recommended Dietary Allowances. 10th Edition. National Research
Council.  Published by National Academy Press, 1989.  ISBN:
0-309-04633-5. $15.

Present Knowledge in Nutrition. 6th Edition.  International Life
Sciences Institute Nutrition Foundation, 1990. ISBN: 0-944398-05-7.
$34. 
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From: [email-masked] (Arthur Flatau)

I think Jane Brody's nutrition book is good book for layman.  It is a
little dated.  I got the following information from the library of
congress gopher system.

Brody, Jane E.
  Nutrition book
  Jane Brody's nutrition book : a lifetime guide to good eating for better
health and weight control / by the personal health columnist of the New York
times.  Rev. and updated.  Toronto ; New York: Bantam Books, 1987.
xx, 552 p.
: ill. ; 23 cm.

LC CALL NUMBER: TX353 .B76 1987

DEWEY DEC:  613.2 dc19
NOTES:
  Includes bibliographies and index.

ISBN:  0553343327 (pbk.) : $12.95 ($15.95 Can.)
LCCN:  86-26599
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From: [email-masked] (Karen Sebastian)

"The Peoples' Guide to Vitamins and Minerals from A to Zinc"
written by (D--) Bosco" is a balanced book and written in
English, not jargonese.

Of course, Marty B. has more up-to-date information, as Bosco's
book was last revised in 1990.     
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From: [email-masked] (Marty B.)

Get "Introduction to Nutrition, Exercise and Health" by Katch, Ph.D. and 
McArdle, Ph.D. Lea and Febiger Publisher. 4th edition, 1993
Lea and Febiger, Box 3024, 200 Chester Field Parkway, Malvern, PA 19355-
9725. (215) 251-2230.  Cost is $39.95.  I've recommended this book in Misc. 
Fitness and several netters have bought it and said that it was just what 
they were looking for.  Unlike most nutrition textbooks, it's geared for 
the freshman (introductory) level and it assumes that you have had very 
little or no chemistry and biology.  It also does a very good job of 
covering exercise for health, something that most nutrition textbooks 
don't cover or if they do, the coverage isn't that good.  This book has 
separate chapters on cardiovascular fitness and strength training.
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On a similar note this one's from misc.fitness:

From: [email-masked] (Daniel Ansari)
Subject: Re: Optimum Sports Nutrition by Dr Colgan

[ The title of the book is : Optimum Sports Nutrition 
the author is:             Dr. Michael Colgan ]

It has good chapters on anabolic steroids and growth hormone, as well as
the most up to date scientific information about the stuff that supplement
manufacturers claim to have anabolic effects.  Things like chromium (which
many people are deficient in), boron, dibencoside ("don't do diddley"),
ferulic acid and gamma oryzanol (both pretty damn useless), inosine (crap as
well), and LOADS of other things.

Besides this, it has everything you can possibly conceive about nutrition
(protein, quality, how much, etc., carb loading, pollution in common meats,
water, minerals and vitamins, etc).  Thoroughly recommended!
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Now I only have to decide which one of them to order :)

Cheers,
Samu Mielonen

PS This is not strictly sci.med.nutrition stuff, but can anybody give me a
fax number for a good book store that carries health titles such as above
and does mail order overseas? Ordering via my local store is awfully expensive.

the same
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