Nutrition Almanac (4th ed) (Paperback)

by Gayla J. Kirschmann (Author), John D. Kirschmann (Author), Inc Nutrition Search (Corporate Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
The first three editions of Nutrition Almanac sold more than 2.5 million copies. The 494-page fourth edition is expanded and updated, with new information to answer your questions and help you plan your personal nutritional program. "Nutrition is the relationship of foods to the health of the human body," explain the Kirschmanns (daughter and father), and they cover every aspect of how food relates to health. A detailed section on nutrients, for example, describes each vitamin and mineral, how it is absorbed and stored, dosage and toxicity, deficiency effects and symptoms, beneficial effect on ailments, and research findings. Another section offers 175 pages of common ailments and stressful conditions that may be related to nutrition, and which nutrients, exercise, herbs, and homeopathic remedies may be beneficial for each. A shorter chapter on herbs summarizes the medicinal uses of 70 herbs. The book also includes 73 pages of extensive nutritional information about common foods, showing how they help meet the RDA for each nutrient for both babies and adults. It is surprising in a book as up-to-date as this one that the authors choose to include height/desirable-weight charts, which are thought by experts to be outdated and irrelevant to health. Otherwise, this is a reference book you'll use often if you care about tracking and improving your nutrition. --Joan Price

Product Description
The three previous editions of this broadly popular reference have brought simple, sensible, and accurate nutrition information to an eager audience of health-conscious readers. This edition continues the high standards set by its forebears, offering sound, down-to-earth advice on health and nutrition in an easygoing style. As before, this book aims to empower readers to take charge of their own health. Illnesses can be prevented, say the authors, through knowledge and use of proper nutrition. They call on an increasing body of scientific evidence to back their arguments that vitamin and mineral supplements can also be effective tools in disease prevention and cure. Remedies such as herbal medicine and alternative treatments including homeopathy are also explored. Tables and charts give accurate nutrition data on most common foods.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 494 pages
• Publisher: Mcgraw-Hill; 4th edition (June 18, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0070349223
• ISBN-13: 978-0070349223
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #233,817 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Smaller Book with Less Info than 4th Edition, August 2, 2007

By	Elizabeth A. Keep (Ellsworth, ME United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Nutrition Almanac (Paperback)

When I ordered this book, I was anticipating giving away my old 4th edition for a new one with improved information. NOT SO!

The tables, the heart and soul of the book, have fewer foods and not more than the 4th edition. In a display of ignorant cost cutting, Carb counts for grains such as rice are given per cup of RAW not cooked product - same for macaroni whereas the 4th edition gives raw and cooked values. This alone makes it not worth the money but scattered throughout are foods that were there for 4th edition but are now gone.

The publisher probably saved money by eliminating pages but I can no longer recommend this book to friends; I advise them to not buy it but get a copy of the 4th edition instead.

46 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not very accurate, February 5, 2003

By	Joel M. Kauffman (Berwyn, PA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Seemingly authoritative, this 4th ed. is to be read at your own risk.

The benefits of aerobic exercise are confused with those from anerobic exercise (p9). Anerobic exercise utilizes 14 times as much glucose as aerobic does (Bernstein 1997, pp179-190). Heart disease patients are very little aided by hard exercise (Dorn 1999).

All carbohydrates are said to contain similar amounts of energy (p19). They do not, with fiber contributing none and other carbs various amounts up to 4 kcal/g (Livesey 2001). Complex carbohydrates are said to break down more slowly than simple sugars (p20). This does not explain why many complex carbs have a more serious effect on blood glucose levels than some simple sugars. The important notion of glycemic index (GI) is missing, even when recommending for Type 2 diabetics, thus the recommendation for 50-60% of their diet to be complex carbs (p207) has no basis in reality, and is quite destructive (Bernstein pp33-48, 121-140). Everyone is said to require a minimum of 100 g/day, and that 300 g/day is ideal for most people (p20). Actually there is NO carbohydrate requirement for humans. Glucose is made from amino acids when needed (Ottoboni pp25,85). Ask any Eskimo! (McGee 2001 pp82-86,109).

The GI is measured in humans by checking blood glucose levels after eating. The GI of a food shows the % glucose levels rise compared with the same weight of glucose (GI = 100). One of the things that creates high (bad) insulin levels is high blood glucose levels. Since all the common complex carbohydrates (starches) in foods are polymers of glucose, and some of them are metabolized very rapidly into glucose, and we eat more of them by weight, the contribution of wheat, corn, potato and other forms of high-GI starches to poor health is greater than that of many of the the simple sugars. The so-called low-carb diets must be low GI diets to be effective, and they really are for weight loss, and the prevention of type 2 diabetes.

Fats do not all contribute 9 kcal/g to human energy when eaten. To begin with, this book give 9 calories per gram (p21); this is incorrect by 1/1000; the correct unit is kcal/g or Cal/g. Fats actually run from 5.5 kcal/g for cocoa butter (Apfar 1987) to 5.9 for beef fat (Carlson 1968) to 8.5 for corn oil (Carlson 1968). Unsaturated fatty acids are said to have points in the chemical attachment that are missing (p21); this is a fairy tale. There is a typo that is very destructive in which linoleic acid is said to be an omega-3 fatty acid (p22); actually it is an omega-6. The authors warn against taking supplements of one type only (p22), and are unaware that there is far too much omega-6 in the American diet compared with the usual smaller amounts of omega-3 (Ottoboni 2002, pp45-54). And the authors are blank on the evils of trans fats, even in the tables! (Oomen 2001; Willett 1993; Wood 1993).

This entire book is permeated by the biggest fraud in the history of nutrition  that eating saturated fats and cholesterol will lead to atherosclerosis and heart failure. This nonsense originated with a campaign by the American Heart Association (AHA) begun in 1961, and its anti-cholesterol, pro-polyunsaturated fat campaign, which peaked in the 1980s. Nothing in the Framingham, MRFIT, or any other honest study actually supports this anti-fat stand, despite the politically correct summaries of many of the studies. (Moore 1989, Smith 1991, Fehily 1993, Fraser 1997, Tunstall-Pedoe 1997, Eades 2000, Enig 2000, Kauffman 2000, Kauffman 2001, McCully 2000, McGee 2001, Ottoboni 2002, Ravnskov 2000).
The unfounded advice of the authors of this book on diets for diabetics, and for all in avoiding staturated fat and cholesterol in favor of omega-6 and trans fats (Vos 2003), and their ignorance of of GI in recommending complex carbs severely limits the usefulness of this Alamanac, despite the presence of some accurate information on other topics.

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16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very helpful, except for counting fiber intake., September 30, 2000

By	Pat S. "House Elf 44" (USA) - See all my reviews

I own the 1979 version of Nutrition Almanac. It has been very helpful to me in information, and in tracking my nutrition intake. However, I recently started counting grams of fiber, and started questioning when I couldn't get anywhere near the RDA of 25 grams. Then I remembered that years ago, insoluable fiber was not included in nutrition information, as it's benefit was not yet known. So I decided to purchase the latest version, and to my surprise, it has the same low fiber numbers as my 1979 version. I looked up 3 different fruits in this book and another, and there was a huge difference in grams of fiber listed. Other than this, it's a great book - mine is falling apart from use. If you want to increase your natural sources of vitamins and minerals, this book will show you which foods they are in.