Book Reviews
                Introduction to Clinical Nutrition, 2nd ed, revised and                   in a seminar course for advanced nutrition students at the under-
                expanded, by Vishwanath M Sardesai, 2003, 565 pages,                      graduate level.
                hardcover, $85. Marcel Dekker Inc, New York.
                   The second edition of Introduction to Clinical Nutrition                                                                Domingo J Pin˜ero
                bridges the gap between nutritional biochemistry and clinical
                nutrition. The text combines an introduction to nutrition funda-          NewYorkUniversitySchoolofEducation                                          Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/79/5/891/4690215 by guest on 05 January 2023
                mentals and nutrient metabolism with chapters on life cycle               Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health
                nutrition, principles of nutritional assessment, and diet therapy         35 West 4th Street, 10th Floor
                for a select group of disorders. The text also provides a basic           NewYork,NY10012
                overview of nutritional epidemiology and introduces the reader            E-mail: domingo.pinero@nyu.edu
                to current, relevant topics in nutrition.
                   Thebookincludes29chapters,whicharedividedinto4parts.
                Part I, “Biology and Biochemistry,” begins with an overview of
                the fundamentals of nutrition and briefly reviews nutritional             Flavonoids in Health and Disease, edited by Catherine A
                needs, enteral and parenteral nutrition, food allergies, and gene-        Rice-Evans and Lester Packer, 2003, 458 pages, hardcover,
                nutrient interactions. Part I also includes a review of digestion         $195. Marcel Dekker, Inc, New York.
                and malabsorption syndromes; macronutrient requirements, in-
                cluding chapters on essential fatty acids and eicosanoids; and a             FlavonoidsinHealthandDisease,secondedition,revisedand
                comprehensiveandwell-organizedreviewofvitamins,minerals,                  expanded, is a well-balanced and important summary of the
                and vitamin-like substances.                                              currentstateoftheartofflavonoidchemistryandbiology.Cathe-
                   Part II, “Special Nutritional Needs,” focuses on life cycle
                nutrition, with an emphasis on the nutritional aspects of preg-           rineARice-EvansandLesterPacker,aseditors,assembledchap-
                nancy,lactation,development,andaging.PartIII,“Nutritionand                ters from knowledgeable authors whose specialties range from
                Specific Disorders,” begins with a brief introduction to nutri-           plant biology to human medicine. Many of the authors are also
                tional assessment, which is followed by 6 chapters dealing with           leadersintheirprincipalareasoftraining.Thisbookispartofthe
                obesity and eating disorders, cholesterol and hyperlipidemia,             Oxidative Stress and Disease series that is published by Marcel
                osteoporosis,diabetes,geneticdiseases,andnutritionalandmet-               Dekker.
                abolic effects of alcohol. Part III ends with a chapter on nutri-            The book is divided into 4 parts: Occurrence and Analysis;
                tional epidemiology, which provides an in-depth discussion of             Characterization, Chemical, and Biological Properties; Cell In-
                thehistoryandprinciplesofepidemiologyanditssignificancein                 teractionsInVivoandInVitro;andAbsorption,Metabolism,and
                the nutritional sciences.                                                 Bioavailability.Eachchapterinagivensectioniscontemporary,
                   Thefourthandfinalpartofthebook,“SpecialTopics,”intro-                  scholarly, and written at an accessible level.
                duces the reader to current issues and research areas in the field           The reader will obtain insights into the biologic and health-
                of nutrition and health. The chapters in Part IV discuss dietary          related roles of phenolic compounds in fruit and vegetables and
                fiber, antioxidants, toxicants, popular nutrition practices, nutri-       into the distribution of phenolic compounds and the chemical
                tional aspects of biotransformation, nutraceuticals, and dietary          alterations they undergo as a result of storage and food process-
                supplements.                                                              ing. The chapters dealing with characterization and analysis are
                   One of the most valuable aspects of this book is its compre-           particularlynoteworthy.Thequalityofresearchonflavonoidsis
                hensive introduction to “hot topics” in the field of nutrition,           often defined by the sensitivity and precision of the analytic
                including nutritional aspects of genetic disorders, antioxidants,         procedures used. In this regard, a number of useful benchmarks
                dietarysupplements,organicfoods,faddiets,leptinandobesity,                andcriteria are defined. Descriptions of the application of mass
                and hair analysis. In addition, several chapters are followed by          spectrometry as a tool to define and characterize bioflavonoid
                clinical case studies, which are practical applications and illus-        derivatives are quite helpful. In particular, the chapter by GGC
                trations of nutrition principles. One of the major weaknesses of          Kuhnleisusefulindescribingapproachestomassspectralanal-
                thisintroductorytextonclinicalnutritionisthatitfailstoaddress             ysis and the care needed in interpreting complex flavonoid frag-
                certain widespread conditions (eg, renal disease) that should be          mentation patterns. Key literature is surveyed with respect to
                addressed. Also, the section on nutritional support is limited.           clinical and basic biology descriptions. Although all of the au-
                   Although Introduction to Clinical Nutrition should not serve           thors appear to be strong advocates of the health benefits of
                as a stand-alone text for a clinical nutrition course, it is a useful     flavonoids, the discussions and interpretation are balanced and
                up-to-date resource for practicing dietitians and a good supple-          not overly speculative. Considerable attention is given to the
                mentarytextfornutritionstudents.Itismostappropriateforuse                 observationthatflavonoidsarehighlymodifiedinvivobyphase
                AmJClinNutr2004;79:891–2. Printed in USA. © 2004 American Society for Clinical Nutrition                                                   891