BOOKS PROFESSIONAL

& POPULAR BASIC NUTRITION

The Wonderful World Within You: Your inner nutritional environment, Williams, R. J., Bantam Books, Inc., 666 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10019,1977,239 pp., soft­cover, $1.95.

Vivid word pictures of the dynamic pro­cesses of life, plus a personal and informal style of writing, are the strong points of this book. When Williams strays into the area of recommendations on nutrition, however, he loses much of my admiration for him as a scientifIc writer.

"How can we obtain what we need to sustain life from the environment?" and "What kinds of troubles can be helped by good nutrition?" are the titles of two chapters. Unfortunately, Williams' an­swers to these important questions are un­satisfactory in several respects. First, un­documented case histories and anecdotal reports are offered as evidence for numer­ous claims. Second, although individuality is a major theme of the book, the author recommends a specifIC supplement con­taining rutin and inositol as "harmless to anyone" and a good form of "insurance." Third; opinions such as the statement that patients with "heart disease and the spreading of cancerous growth can proba­bly be benefited by vitamin Coo are poten­tially dangerous as well as obviously in­correct. Many other objections to this book can easily be identifIed by those knowledgeable in nutrition.

I can recommend the book only for those well-informed enough to evaluate its many shortcomings of content. For others, I suggest ignoring Williams' rejec­tion of what he calls "old>-Iine books on nutrition" which he states "fail to present the newer and highly illuminating insights." Certainly little that is either new or illumi­nating about nutrition is to be gleaned from this book.

Thora J. Runyan, D.Sc., Associate Pro­jessor, Food and Nutrition Department, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50010.

CONSUMER EDUCATION

The Complete Junk Food Book, Lasky, M., McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1221 Avenue

of the Americas, New York, NY 10020, 1977,286 pp., softcover, $6.95; hardcover, $9.95.

As I read this book, I wondered if The Complete Junk Food Book was a har­binger of things to come. Is the American public, tired of being shamed by the natural food constituency and as ignorant as ever of the facts about nutrition, about to come out of the closet and declare its love for and addiction to junk foods?

Certainly the author seems as confused as most people about the role of high­sugar, high-fat foods in the diet. Part one discusses the role of the environment in creating a desire for these foods and the possible health hazards, i.e., dental caries, obesity, etc., that may be associated with their consumption. Having paid lip service to nutritional concerns, however, the rest of the book discusses the history of the development of candy and cookies and gives a detailed rating of major brands ac­cording to sugar, fat, and caloric content as well as taste.

This book is mildly informative and fun in parts, but I can't imagine what audience it was intended for. High school or college students studying the psychology of food choice might find it provocative, but the information and philosophy it contains could be obtained more cheaply else­where. The author obviously went to a lot of trouble to research this book, but the result is an effort all dressed up with no­where to go. Considering the price and its doubtful usefulness, I would not recom­mend this book to the lay public.

Kathleen Carpenter, M.S., R.D., Editor, Environmental Nutrition Newsletter, 15 W. 84th St., Suite l-E, New York, NY 10024.

DENTAL HEALTH

Taste and Development, The genesis of sweet preference, Weiffenbach, J. M., Ed., National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20014, available from U.S. Govern­ment Printing OffIce, Washington, DC 20402, stock no. 017-047-00009-4, 1977, 435 pp., $9.00.

This is a fascinating collection of papers presented at a June 1974 conference sponsored by the John E. Fogarty Inter­national Center for Advanced Study in the Health Sciences and the National In­stitute of Dental Research. The book

covers every conceivable aspect of the genesis, development, and consequences of taste preference for sweet, and contains a wealth of information for psychophysi­cists, developmental psychologists, and health and nutrition scientists.

The 29 chapters, authored by one or more of the 45 contributors, are grouped into six sections. The flfSt three parts are concerned with electrophysiology and psychophysics of taste and fetal and neo­natal responses in experimental animals and humans. The last three sections which are of more immediate relevance to nutri­tionists, deal with the complexities and implications of dietary consumption of sugar.

In common with other published sym­posia, the chapters tend towards uneven­ness; but on the whole, the presentations are of high quality and well documented. The numerous fIgures, tables, and photo­graphs clearly reinforce the texts. The ex­cellent author and subject indices increase the book's value as a reference source.

Angela C. Little, Ph.D., Associate Food Scientist and Lecturer, Depart­ment oj Nutritional Sciences, University ojCalifornia, Berkeley, CA 94720.

FOOD HABITS

Tucker in Australia, Wood, B., Ed., Hill of Content Publishing Co., 86 Bourke St., Melbourne 3000, Australia, 1977,256 pp., softcover, $4.95.

Compiled for the Seventh International Congress of Dietetics in Sydney, Australia, this book provides interesting background about influences on Australian food habits, including aboriginal cultures; early colonists; and more recent immigrants from Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and the Americas. This multi-authored book suffers from considerable overlap and repetition of content. However, students and educators wanting information on "tucker" (food) and cultural foodways "Down Under" will fllld this a useful, low-cost resource. N. W.

FOOD PREPARATION

The Nutrition Cookbook: A guide to healthy family food with gourmet recipes computer analyzed for your specific daily requirements, Kreitzman, S., and S. Kreitzman, Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich,

8 o o K S

April-June 1978 Vol. 10 No.2 J oumal of Nutrition Education 83