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Reviews of Books

Overweight-Causes, Cost, and Control, Mayer, J., Prentice-Hall, Inc., Engle­wood Cliffs, N.J., 208 pp., 1968, $5.95, (paperback, $2.45).

In this book, Dr. Mayer has thoroughly examined obesity as to causes and modes of development, casualties in terms of health and social acceptance, and con­trol measures for weight loss and for prevention. The book is intended for educated laymen and for physicians, dietitians, and other health professionals. For those professionals who have kept abreast of Dr. Mayer's research articles and reviews, much of the information reported will not be new. For the layman, a knowledge of physiological chemistry would make for greater understanding.

The value of the book lies in the com­prehensive explanation of the many gen­etic, physiological, psychological, and social-cultural factors that contribute to obesity. No one is more eminently quali­fied to speak on the subject of control of appetite and obesity than Dr. Mayer. He has spent 20 years in concentrated re­search on the problem of obesity in ex­perimental animals and in men, women, and children.

It is evident that the author has con­tinuously built on his own research and that of others (amply quoted). Their findings emphasize the extreme com­plexity and the multicausal etiology of obesity. Because of this and, also, the hostile attitude of a large segment of our society toward the obese person, Dr. Mayer makes an eloquent plea for sym­pathetic understanding of those afflicted with excess fat. In hts own words, "Obe­sity is not a sin."

Admitting that there is as yet no "cure" for obesity, the author outlines a therapy program which, if followed, will yield success. It involves medical supervision, diet and exercise. Dr. Mayer is convinced that inactivity is the major factor responsible for an increasing pre­valence of "creeping overweight" in modern societies.

Grace K. Finnegan

SUMMER, 1969

Malnutrition, Learning, and Behavior, Scrimshaw, N. S., Gordon, J. E., The M.lT. Press, Cambridge. Mass .• 566 pp., 1968, $12.50.

What are the consequences of early childhood malnutrition on later mental function?

For the past half a century, the effects of malnutrition on physical growth, re­production, lactation, and work perfor­mance in experimental animals and man have been studied extensively. But it has been only recently that serious attention and interest has been drawn to the re­lationship between poor nutrition in early childhood and impaired mental functioning.

Malnutrition, Learning, and Behavior explores and discusses the most recent information derived from animal studies and from observations in man that does imply a relationship between malnutri­tion and learning.

This book presents the proceedings of an international Conference on Malnu­trition, Learning, and Behavior held at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in March, 1967. Participants in the Con­ference included leaders in a range of disciplines from nutrition, medicine, and psychology to anthropology, sociology, and education. It consists of the actual formal presentations by the participants plus short comments from persons par­ticipating in informal discussions.

The editors have provided running comments after each article or each group of articles plus a critical evalua­tion and summary after each of the eight parts comprising the book. These edi­torial comments are a decisive factor in integrating the many articles within the book into a whole.

Although much of the information in the book bears upon the state of malnu­trition and the relationship of malnutri­tion to learning and behavior, attention is also focused upon opposing view­points; and emphasis is given to a variety of other factors, besides malnutrition, that could conceivably contribute to mental function.

After reading the book, the reader is drawn to a better understanding of the multi-disciplinary nature of studying the interaction between malnutrition and mental capacity. Certainly , Malnutrition , Learning, and Behavior, provides much information to the reader and also ex­presses the intricacies involved in at­tempting to determine whether early malnutrition is responsible for later men­tal function.

Emphasis is given in the book to the

Importance of epidemological and clini­cal studies in man. In fact, the last part of the book is devoted wholly to discuss­ing the requirements for field studies and their design in an attempt to define the kinds of field study most likely to pro­vide valid convincing facts about mal­nutrition and its relation to learning and behavior.

The proceedings from this conference will provide timely information not only to those involved in improving the nutri­tional intake of preschool children but to anyone concerned with raising the quality of human life throughout the world. And although the reader is never provided a strong, clearcut statement of a definite causal relationship between malnutrition and learning, enough evi­dence is provided within the papers of this book to give the reader added incen­tives for overcoming nutritional ignor­ance, or for that matter, overcoming any situation which might result in malnutri­tion.

Marianne Burrows

Nutrition and Diet Therapy, Williams, S. R., C. V. Mosby Co., St. Louis, Mo., 686 pp., 1969, $8.95.

Written primarily as a text for student nurses, this book fills a long felt need for an up-to-date text following the philoso­phy of contemporary nursing education.

Current scientific information forms the principles from which the student can proceed by problem solving to prac­tical application for patient care. The team concept is made use of, not only by indicating that the student nurse is a member of a team, but also by showing interaction between members of the health team.

The material is presented to encourage learning which will be demonstrated by a change in behavior. Also additional information titled "To Probe Further" is spotted throughout the book to stimu­late the student to develop intellectual curiosity and enrich her learning.

Although the book is long (581 pages plus excellent appendices), it is not wordy and its presentation is clear. Also, all 581 pages are current, useable mate­rial and do not include recipes which are of little use in nursing education today.

The chapters in the unit Foundations of Nutrition introduce the nutrients and the physiological role, requirements and food sources of same. These chapters are enhanced by glossaries at the end of chapters 2 through 10. The second unit -Applied Nutrition in Public Health-­includes chapters on Food Misinforma-

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