Understanding Nutrition (with Dietary Reference Intakes Supplement and InfoTrac) [Paperback]

Eleanor Noss Whitney (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 19, 2003

Used by more than one million students, this text's clear writing, dynamic visuals, and integrated study aids engage and teach students the basic concepts and applications of nutrition. This comprehensive text includes up-to-date coverage of the newest research and emerging issues in nutrition. The pedagogical features of the text, as well as the authors' approachable style, help to make complex topics easily understandable for students.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Eleanor Noss Whitney received her B.A. in biology from Radcliffe College and her Ph.D. in biology from Washington University, St. Louis. Formerly on the faculty at Florida State University, and a registered dietitian, she now devotes full time to research, writing, and consulting. Her earlier publications include articles in "Science," "Genetics," and other journals. Her textbooks include UNDERSTANDING NURITION, UNDERSTANDING NORMAL AND CLINICAL NUTRITION, NUTRITION CONCEPTS AND CONTROVERSIES, LIFE SPAN NUTRITION: CONCEPTION THROUGH LIFE, NUTRITION AND DIET THERAPY, AND NUTRITION FOR HEALTH AND HEALTH CARE (Thomson/Wadsworth Publishing). Her most intense interests include energy conservation, solar energy uses, alternatively fueled vehicles, and ecosystem restoration.

Product Details

• Paperback: 697 pages
• Publisher: Brooks Cole; 9 edition (May 19, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0534091423
• ISBN-13: 978-0534091422
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.6 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,150,713 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Required for a semester, but keeps for a lifetime, June 29, 2004

By 

Stephanie "crazygrrl1369" (Colorado, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Understanding Nutrition, Ninth Edition (Hardcover)

Overall, I found this text to be chocked full of helpful knowledge. I was required to purchase this book for a course I took in beginning nutrition, but I will keep it forever because of the wealth of knowledge. The concepts are suburbly explained and illustrations make understanding the information easier. Even though most people buy this for a class, I believe it is easy to read and assimilate the information. The Appendices are chocked full of useful facts about the current diet and exchange lists, including food pyramids and such.

The only information I disagree with is the section on vegetarianism. Surely they could have done a better job and included more than four pages! However, there are plenty of books dedicated solely to vegetarians/vegans that would be more important and informative.

It would also have been nice to see more updated information on fad diets such as Atkins or South Beach with respect to health issues. Or even more recent scientific studies throughout the book would contribute significantly to the reading.

Since the 2004 edition is just coming out, if you can pick up a cheap copy of this edition it is well worth the investment.

34 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Book Meant to Be Spit Out, August 14, 2005

By 

Wizkid (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Understanding Nutrition, Ninth Edition (Hardcover)

Francis Bacon said that some books are meant to be chewed, some swallowed, and some digested. This book is meant to be spit out.

I recently returned to the college classroom as a student of Human Anatomy and of Nutrition (preparing for entrance into a nursing program). For those classes I read, respectively, Marieb's "Human Anatomy and Physiology" and Whitney's "Understanding Nutrition." The contrast between these two widely-used textbooks could not be greater. The one is clearly written, lucidly organized, and filled with revealing graphics; the other is horribly opaque, repetitive and senseless in organization, and replete with distracting charts and photos.

Comparisons are odious, so I will just amplify my main points and have done. This book reads as though written by someone who is more anxious to prove the scientific merit of her field or her own expertise in the latest research than by someone interested in helping the reader understand major concepts for further study. Virtually every paragraph has the main point--if there is one--obscured somewhere in the fourth sentence, with irrelevant detail draped around it, so that the reader is forced to do the work the writer should have done. You can learn about nutrition by reading this book in spite of the style, not because of it.

The last three or four chapters on nutrition in the life cycle and diet and health repeat what was presented in various places in earlier chapters on digestion and on nutrients. After reading a popular book on nutrition by a professor at Cambridge(Brown's "Energy of Life") that was clear, concise, and not condescending, I inferred that Whitney has succumbed to the disease afflicting many textbook writers: the structure and content are dictated by the editors' anxiety to keep up with the competition rather than by the author's own insight.

On virtually every page, there is a photo, chart, or graphic that distracts or insults the reader's efforts to learn about nutrition. A stray "factoid" about calories crams the margin or a photo of a vegetable pulls the eye away from the discussion. Evidently the editors feel the subject itself is not interesting enough to keep my attention. They're right, when it's presented in such a haphazard and condescending way.

If this book were not used regularly around the nation as a textbook in many courses, it would long ago have disappeared from the market, since no ordinary intelligent person would voluntarily wade through its turgid, repetitive, and insulting bulk. I'm outraged that this book is so expensive and so lousy. I sold my copy on Amazon the instant the course was over (whereas I cherish my copy of Marieb's book and can't wait to read it again). It's a shame, because now I must look for another book on nutrition, one that I can read and gain insight from with pleasure on an important subject.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars NO CD ROM IN 9TH EDITION, January 3, 2005

By 

dedion "dedion" (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Understanding Nutrition (with Dietary Reference Intakes Supplement and InfoTrac) (Paperback)

I just received this book today. I got the ninth edition which is what I ordered. Unfortunately, Amazon has a review for the 10th edition on the 9th edition page. I didn't read carefully enough and therefore received no CD ROM. The book seems to be very nice, but I do feel ripped off because I expected the CD ROM. Just wanted to warn others!