Where do trans fatty acids fit into the American diet? How much calcium do you need and what are the best sources? Will vitamin C cure a common cold?
Most people don’t have the answers to such questions on the tips of their tongues.
Human nutrition is a complex and evolving science, but it’s also a fascinating subject for many Americans.
With the constant but not always consistent attention it gets from the media, nutrition often seems confusing. Short of having your own dietitian, a reliable reference book would help keep things straight.
That’s the impetus for The Nutrition Bible (William Morrow, $30), an easy-to-use encyclopedia of nutrition facts that serves that purpose fairly well.
Written by Barbara Deskins, a registered dietitian and associate professor of clinical dietetics and nutrition at the University of Pittsburgh, and Jean Anderson, a food writer, the book is thorough, up-to-date and comprehensible to most people with a high school education. In short, it’s a basic volume of food and nutrition facts that would make a valuable addition to any American home.
On the other hand, it is not a bible. Nor should it be followed religiously, any more than any book on a constantly changing subject. Rather, like other food-related references such as “Joy of Cooking” or “Larousse Gastronomique,” The Nutrition Bible can be an authoritative guide and, in some cases, a stimulus for further research.
“I think it was the publisher who came up with the title,” says Deskins, who adds that she and Anderson wanted to popularize the book and distinguish it from a professional reference.
The book is user-friendly: Alphabetically listed entries offer concise explanations in everyday language when possible.
“People have become very interested in nutrition and realize that to some degree they can take charge of their own health,” Deskins says.
“They want to know more, but if they just read newspaper headlines and listen to …60 Minutes,’ they don’t get the whole picture. They find contradictions and get confused.
“We wanted a book that would answer basic questions, not something you read cover to cover, but something that would tell you how much calcium is in a glass of milk, something that would tell you what that additive is you see on a food label.”
Most things are easy to find, but a few may take some sleuthing. For example, if you want to learn about HDL (high density lipoprotein) or LDL (low density lipoprotein), you won’t find them under “H” or “L.” They are types of cholesterol, and the book lists them under that heading.
Saturated fat, on the other hand, merits its own heading, even though it just refers you to the listing on “fat.”
Questionable health-food store remedies–such as chromium picolinate, shark cartilage, ginkgo bilboa and melatonin–get mentioned and put in scientific perspective, when necessary.
Not every subject or question receives a definitive answer: Nutrition, after all, is a science in flux.
Who knew the value of a low-fat diet 20 years ago, let alone the role of antioxidants, monounsaturated fats or phytoestrogens? Entries on such unresolved issues usually conclude with words along the lines of “stay tuned,” Deskins says.
“We tried to include the latest peer-reviewed scientific research,” she says. But the authors shied away from single-study theories and steered clear of food and nutrition faddists.
The book is not always consistent. The low-fat diet prescribed by heart disease researcher Dr. Dean Ornish–who now runs a string of health spas–is referred to twice. But the National Cancer Institute’s 5-a-day program to eat more fruits and vegetables is never mentioned, nor is the institute itself.
The American Heart Association and the American Dietetic Association, two other influential health groups, get passing notice as part of other entries but not under their own names.
And though the influential and oft-quoted Center for Science in the Public Interest, a Washington-based consumer nutrition group, gets no mention, Anderson and Deskins pick up CSPI’s research on the saturated fat in movie popcorn without giving that organization credit.
The Nutrition Bible does a credible job of explaining individual foods, especially some that may be unfamiliar, and of giving their complete nutrient breakdown. For example, carp, caviar, chard, cherimoya, chestnuts and chicle all were outlined within two pages in the “C” chapter.
Also, recipes appear every few pages, often for low-fat dishes or foods you might not find in other books: ginseng tea, sour lentils and papaya-lemon grass ice cream.
Anyone who buys The Nutrition Bible today will find it very current: The authors were making last-minute changes just before it went to press.
And even though new conclusions and theories will evolve in nutrition, much of the book should remain solid material for years.
As Deskins pointed out, “Here you can look it up and get a reliable answer: It’s a whole lot of information in one place.”
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Steven Pratt’s e-mail address is SMPratt@aol.com
