The Supermarket Trap

The Supermarket Trap

versity of California, Berkeley, very much for writing this review. Such a book is always difficult to review in a few words. The book cannot be recom...

207KB Sizes 2 Downloads 67 Views

versity of California, Berkeley, very much for writing this review. Such a book is always difficult to review in a few words. The book cannot be recommended for lay reading, yet undoubtedly it will be read by many hundreds of thousands of persons. Hence, it will have much influence. Unfortunately, it is not possible to write reliable publications on nutrition for lay readers of equal emotional impact. Professional nutrition educators will get many questions about this. book. Perhaps this is a case where, when one expects such questions, it is one's duty to be familiar with the book by first-hand knowledge, A professional nutrition educator should be able to evaluate it based on his or her own nutritional knowledge, or that of nutritional scientists in the area. Poisoning Misadventures (Narrative Excerpts on Food-Borne Diseases and Poisoning for the Physician, Microbiologist, Attorney and Nutritionist), Jensen, L. B., C. C. Thomas, 301-327 E. Lawrence Ave., Springfield, Ill. 62705, 1970, 202 p., $10.50. Dr. Jensen is a distinguished food microbiologist and author of two previous books: Man's Foods: Nutrition Environments In Food Gathering Times and Food Processing Times (1953) and Microbiology of Meats (1954). In his introduction to "Part I: Bacterial Poisons" of this book, he outlines a brief history of food poisonings and food-borne diseases and notes that "The object of the present writer-now in retirement after nearly a half-century of buffeting in these turbulent fields-is to record readings from the literature of antiquity and the more recent past, some laboratory researches and examinations, instances of army and civilian field work as an epidemiologist, and odd courtroom incidents selected from over four hundred trials of cases-in which we served as a science witness." It is a fun book, interesting and provocative. It is not complete, it is not a compendium, the references are not upto-date. The scientific background is available in detail elsewhere, but for a fun evening with interesting people and events - from Cleopatra, Socrates, and the Hebraic sacrificial laws to modern outbreaks of salmonellosis and court trials-it can be highly recommended. Part I covers Bacterial Poisons; Part II, Vegetal and Mineral Poisons. HAROLD S. OLCOn Professional Food Preparation, Terrell, M. E., John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 1971, 547 p., $10.95. SPRING, 1971

green revolution give an excellent understanding of the world food problems. This book would be useful in science and social studies classes.

Planned as a student text, this book is also an excellent, readable reference for those who demonstrate preparation techniques or use and care of standard food service equipment. Instructions and illustrations are extensive. Contents are uniquely arranged. Use and care of equipment to be used in a particular section of the kitchen is discussed; then preparation considerations (aesthetic, nutritional, and economic) and expanded effects of alternate methods are elaborated on. Sections include: 1) fruits, vegetables, sauces, and soups; 2) pantry-salads and sandwiches; 3) meats; and 4) bakery Items. Basic information is frequently summarized in tabular form, for example: fruit and vegetable preparation loss, vegetable cooking times using alternate methods and equipment, complementary salad ingredient combmations, spicing suggestions, classes and weIghts of poultry, ingredient proportions, portion size and quantities to purchase per one hundred servings. Also, a number of recipes are included. ELEANOR ECKSTEIN The Supermarket Trap, Cross, J., Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Ind., 47401, 1970, 258 p., $5.95. Mrs. Cross, a journalist who lives in Santa Rosa, Calif., became personally interested in the food industry as a result of article she prepared for The Nation magazine. She is not trained in the fields of marketing or economics but is an interested consumer. She has collected a large bibliography of resource materials. Much of the information in the book comes from trade journals and the author's own opinion of conditions concerning food price and merchandising. While the book makes interestmg reading, it cannot be considered as a text for consumer courses in the schools. This Hungry World, Helfman, E. S., Lathrop Lee and Shepard Co., New York, 10016, 1970, 160 p., $4.50. This is a book for upper elementary and junior high school level children. Mrs. Helfman, a former elementary school teacher, very effectively portrays the problems of hungry people, giving some of the facts used in Hunger, USA. She discusses the problems of overpopulation and land, water, and air use and abuse. There is a good section on cultural differences in the food we eat. The chapters on new land for food, better plants and animals, food from the sea and elsewhere, new foods and the

Control of Gastrointestinal Function, Brooks, F. P., 1970, The Macmillan Co., 866 - 3rd Ave., New York 10022, 222 p., $5.95 paperbound, $7.95 clothbound. Control of Energy Exchange, Carlson, L. D. and A. C. L. Hsieh, 1971, The Macmillan Co., 866 - 3rd Ave., New York 10022, 151 p., $4.95 paperbound, $6.95 clothbound. These two concise, authoritative reference books are volumes in the Macmillan senes Modern Concepts in Medical Physiology. Both are designed as a summary of physiologic principles for medical students, graduate students in the bio-medical field and physicians. In the first volume, Dr. Brooks discusses cellular processes of the gastrointestinal tract and relates structure, as determined by bght and electron microspocy, to function. Seotions are included on digestion and absorption, but the major emphasis is on secretion and motility. After describing the activity of each component of the gastrointestinal system and the rate at which each process occurs, the author descnbes the controls mediated by the endocrin glands, autonomic nervous system and release of humoral agents during nervous stimulation. Due to the complexity of these regulatory mechanisms, the author suggests that the most promising approach for better under,standing gastrointestinal function is systems analysis, using computers. The second volume is a well organized manual which presents a comprehensive analysis of the most recent knowledge regarding the many factors involved in energy exchange. Initially, the authors review general concepts of energy balance as well as regulation of metabolism and of energy utilization. This is followed by a discussion of the expenditure of energy and of thermophysiology, or the heat exchange between the organism and its environment. Finally, the authors Identification by phenotyping parents explain the mechanisms which control body temperature and adaptation. Appendices 'give more detailed information regarding symbols and units of thermal physiology, measurement of temperature, calorimetry, and models of energy exchange. These two volumes consolidate a vast amount of information from recent journals and textbooks and present the ma-

JOURNAL OF NUTRITION EDUCATION

I

165