THE NUTRITION DEBATE: Sorting Out Some Answers

By selecting from a variety of sources--testimony, letters, speeches, nutrition newsletters, journals and books--the authors have forced a lively debate among nutrition professionals who hold very different points of view. And the result of their efforts is laudable. Each of the seven main issues covered--Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs); Food Guides; Dietary Guidelines; Animals and/or Vegetables; Health, Natural and Organic Foods; Nutritional Supplements; and Food Safety--is introduced and concluded by well-written essays by the authors, both of whom teach at Columbia University. Their goal is to help ""ordinary people make really wise food choices out there in the marketplace jungle"" and to help them find their way ""through the minefields of food-related misinformation out there."" Throughout, they encourage the reader, be he or she a nutrition student or interested layperson, to form his or her own conclusions from the arguments presented. Anyone expecting to learn THE definitive answers to today's pressing nutrition-related questions (e.g., Are vitamin supplements necessary? Can food additives be trusted? Is organic food better for you? How helpful are the RDAs?) will be disappointed in this book. But anyone interested in investigating the issues and broadening his or her perspective won't be.