Handbook of Vitamins,

3rd ed, edited by Robert B Rucker, John W Suttie, Donald B McCormick, and Lawrence J Machlin, 2001, 616 pages, hardcover, $175. Marcel Dekker, Inc, New York.

San Diego State University 5500 Campanile Drive San Diego, CA 92182-7251 E-mail: beshgeto{at}mail.sdsu.edu

Handbook of Vitamins is a comprehensive, clinically focused text that reflects the marked growth in our knowledge of vitamins over the past 10 y. The presentation of the material and the inclusion of exciting advances in vitamin-related research make this an excellent resource for clinicians, dietitians, and advanced students in the nutritional sciences. Chapters are organized into discussions of vitamin history, chemistry, analytic procedures, biological assays, metabolism, biochemical functions, nutritional requirements, food sources, deficiency and toxicity symptoms, and factors influencing vitamin status. Discussions include new insights into vitamin functions (with a focus on their roles as catalysts, cellular regulators, and cosubstrates), recent pharmacologic uses of vitamins, and the role of vitamin-like accessory factors in health and disease. In addition, 3 new chapters have been added to the text: "Bioorganic Mechanisms Important to Coenzyme Functions," "Ascorbic Acid Regulation of Extracellular Matrix Expression," and "Nutrients and Oxidation: Actions, Transport, and Metabolism of Dietary Antioxidants."

The editors are to be commended for integrating the contributions of many learned scientists into an excellent nutritional reference.