Endurance Exercise and Adipose Tissue,

edited by Barbara Nicklas, 2002, 176 pages, hardcover, $89.95. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.

Department of Human Nutrition, Food, and Animal Sciences, Agricultural Science 216, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1955 East-West Road, Honolulu, HI 96822, E-mail: titch{at}hawaii.edu

If you think of adipose tissue as simply a cellular storage site for excess energy, this book will definitely expand your thinking. As stated in its preface, the book is intended to provide ". . . exercise physiologists, nutritionists, medical professionals, and basic scientists with concise and current information regarding the effects of endurance exercise on adipose tissue metabolism, mass, and distribution." This is accomplished in 8 chapters written by 12 contributors who conduct research on various aspects of exercise and adipose tissue interactions. The first 5 chapters review the effects of endurance exercise on multiple aspects of adipose tissue metabolism. The last 3 chapters review the effects of endurance exercise on total body adiposity and adipose tissue distribution in adults and children.

Both in vitro and in vivo approaches to the study of adipose tissue are reviewed. Three separate chapters are devoted to the acute and chronic effects of endurance exercise on 1) adipose tissue lipoprotein lipase, 2) glucose metabolism in white adipose tissue, and 3) the adipose tissue production of cytokines.

All of the chapters provide good concise reviews that give the reader some historical and foundational understanding of the effects of endurance exercise on adipose tissue and proceed to provide a perspective on the current state of research. Each chapter also emphasizes the significant limitations and ambiguities that exist and that require additional research for clarification. Effective black and white illustrations are used in 5 chapters to clarify mechanisms and concepts or to present data. Although tables are not used in most of the chapters, the chapter on the effects of endurance exercise on adipose tissue distribution includes extensive tables that provide a concise overview of the methods and the results of more than 50 studies.

Overall, the editor, Barbara Nicklas, has assembled a concise and well-organized review of the effects of endurance exercise on adipose tissue metabolism and adaptation. Both scientists and practitioners will find this work to be a convenient resource for information that is difficult, if not impossible, to find in any other single publication.