Understanding Nutrition

Understanding Nutrition by Eleanor Noss Whitney and Sharon Rady Rolfes is an approachable textbook praised for its easy-to-understand concepts and appealing imagery. In this 12th edition, Whitney together with her co-author Rolfes presents the subject of diet, food, and sustenance in an interactive manner that emphasizes involvement in the learning process with the use of educational resources and conveyable ideas. The research is based on a strong foundation of nutritional science but is made more attractive with enticing images, providing instructors a contemporary material for teaching the subject. Understanding Nutrition (ISBN 9780538734653) is a far cry from the often dull encyclopedias written about this field; it provides a fresher perspective on nutrition and integrates supplementary materials to make students, teachers, and readers develop a real interest in the subject and actually apply the things they learn. The book consists of 20 chapters that gradually build up from the basics of nutrition to more advanced topics. Coverage includes sections on macronutrients, diet planning, and vitamins and minerals. The book opens with the standard overview on what nutrition is and eventually progresses to more engaging chapters about health and fitness, food safety, and diet, as well as broader concerns like world hunger. The appendix section of Understanding Nutrition summarizes resources, measurements, basic concepts in chemistry and biology, plus a table on food composition. The package includes a nutrition recommendation guide by the World Health Organization along with aids on determining a person's body mass index and the dietary values of common food labels. All these make Understanding Nutrition a comprehensive reference book not only on diet, but on overall health.