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World review of nutrition and dietetics. Vol. 28: Some aspects of human and veterinary nutrition
236
BOOK REVIEWS
Each chapter has a useful list of references and there is a bibliography of about 50 items preceding the index. Despite its wide range, the book spends little time discussing food between the farm and consumer. Possible improvements in distribution and processing are rarely touched on, and international trade treated in only a limited fashion--for example, when considering the disadvantageous effects of price reductions on indigenous farming communities and the UNCTAD IV proposals. Mr Allaby succeeds in producing a general book with more statistical information than many written on the world food situation. He appears aware, also, of some of the limitations of his material and what can be drawn from it. J. A. BURNS
World Review of Nutrition and Dietetics. Vol. 28: Some Aspects of Human and Veterinary Nutrition. Edited by G. Bourne, Atlanta, Ga. xii + 258 pp.. 21 Figs., 37 Tables. Bound, 1978. Price: SFr./DM 161.-/approx. US$71.75. This is Volume 28 of a well established and valuable reviewing journal in the field of nutrition at present published twice yearly. The last three volumes have been subtitled; this one is headed Some Aspects oJ Human and Veterinary Nutrition. These volume titles do little to define narrow subject fields within the main topic. The Editorial Board and the contributors are truly international. Volume 28 contains five review articles (which is a smaller number than usual) :'Parenteral nutrition' (110 page.s, 409 references), 'Biochemistry and physiology of magnesium (31 pages, 141 references), 'Bone growth and development in protein--calorie malnutrition' (44 pages, 296 references), 'Hepatocarcinogens in Nigerian foodstuffs' (21 pages, 110 references) and 'Carcass evaluation of cattle, sheep and pigs" (25 pages, 49 references). All the articles are carefully subdivided and their contents printed at the beginning of each review, as well as at the beginning of the volume. Each article is well documented with an extensive and up-to-date reference list. They are not all edited to a uniform format. The titles are not always indicative of the contents and it is a surprise that the review entitled 'Biochemistry and physiology of magnesium' in a periodical of this title is largely devoted to human aspects and almost completely ignores magnesium deficiency in ruminant animals, an ever present and economically significant phenomenon of developed agriculture which has stimulated the production of an appreciable amount of original scientific research data. There is a subject index. As with the immediately preceding volumes, there is a cumulated contents list and author index (in this case for Volumes 5 to 27). It is unfortunate that this information is not given on the spine. There is no subject index for the 23 volumes.
BOOK REVIEWS
237
The series has two disadvantages, first, because of the very wide range of coverage, the specialist reader is likely to find a rather small proportion of reviews of interest in his precise field, however significant the) may be, and, secondly, the cost, at about $71.75, is high by the standards of many other journals in this subject area and is not completely offset by the fact that each volume is bound in high quality hard covers ready for shelving. NIGEL JENKINS
BOOK REVIEWS
Each chapter has a useful list of references and there is a bibliography of about 50 items preceding the index. Despite its wide range, the book spends little time discussing food between the farm and consumer. Possible improvements in distribution and processing are rarely touched on, and international trade treated in only a limited fashion--for example, when considering the disadvantageous effects of price reductions on indigenous farming communities and the UNCTAD IV proposals. Mr Allaby succeeds in producing a general book with more statistical information than many written on the world food situation. He appears aware, also, of some of the limitations of his material and what can be drawn from it. J. A. BURNS
World Review of Nutrition and Dietetics. Vol. 28: Some Aspects of Human and Veterinary Nutrition. Edited by G. Bourne, Atlanta, Ga. xii + 258 pp.. 21 Figs., 37 Tables. Bound, 1978. Price: SFr./DM 161.-/approx. US$71.75. This is Volume 28 of a well established and valuable reviewing journal in the field of nutrition at present published twice yearly. The last three volumes have been subtitled; this one is headed Some Aspects oJ Human and Veterinary Nutrition. These volume titles do little to define narrow subject fields within the main topic. The Editorial Board and the contributors are truly international. Volume 28 contains five review articles (which is a smaller number than usual) :'Parenteral nutrition' (110 page.s, 409 references), 'Biochemistry and physiology of magnesium (31 pages, 141 references), 'Bone growth and development in protein--calorie malnutrition' (44 pages, 296 references), 'Hepatocarcinogens in Nigerian foodstuffs' (21 pages, 110 references) and 'Carcass evaluation of cattle, sheep and pigs" (25 pages, 49 references). All the articles are carefully subdivided and their contents printed at the beginning of each review, as well as at the beginning of the volume. Each article is well documented with an extensive and up-to-date reference list. They are not all edited to a uniform format. The titles are not always indicative of the contents and it is a surprise that the review entitled 'Biochemistry and physiology of magnesium' in a periodical of this title is largely devoted to human aspects and almost completely ignores magnesium deficiency in ruminant animals, an ever present and economically significant phenomenon of developed agriculture which has stimulated the production of an appreciable amount of original scientific research data. There is a subject index. As with the immediately preceding volumes, there is a cumulated contents list and author index (in this case for Volumes 5 to 27). It is unfortunate that this information is not given on the spine. There is no subject index for the 23 volumes.
BOOK REVIEWS
237
The series has two disadvantages, first, because of the very wide range of coverage, the specialist reader is likely to find a rather small proportion of reviews of interest in his precise field, however significant the) may be, and, secondly, the cost, at about $71.75, is high by the standards of many other journals in this subject area and is not completely offset by the fact that each volume is bound in high quality hard covers ready for shelving. NIGEL JENKINS