点击显示 收起
Department of Nutrition Sciences, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1675 University Boulevard, Webb 222, Birmingham, AL 35294-3360, E-mail:doug.heimburger{at}uab.edu
In this small volume, Michael Zimmermann of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology does an admirable job of condensing a vast amount of information on the health effects of micronutrients into a very readable and useful summary. He makes extensive use of tables and graphs and organizes the chapters and sections very logically.
The book begins with short chapters on the basic principles of micronutrition and the distribution of micronutrients in foods. Chapter 3 provides an extensive review of micronutrients, including vitamins, minerals and trace elements, fats, amino acids, and free radicals and dietary antioxidants. Each compound is treated systematically under the same headings: functions, situations that increase the risk of deficiency, signs and symptoms of deficiency, good dietary sources, preferred supplementary forms and dosage schedules, uses in prevention and therapy, toxicity, and supporting references. Recommended daily intakes are listed for both the United States (dietary reference intakes) and the United Kingdom (recommended nutrient intakes). Each chapter’s listing of "preferred form and dosage schedule" for the nutrient, however, creates the facile impression that supplementation is to be assumed, and that assumption is questionably based on scientific evidence.
Chapter 4 discusses micronutrient needs through the life cycle, beginning before pregnancy and continuing through pregnancy, infancy, childhood and adolescence, and aging. Chapter 5 provides a lengthy and detailed discussion of uses for micronutrients in the prevention and therapy of numerous clinical conditions. These include both common and uncommon conditions involving virtually all body organs. In addition, stress and fatigue and certain lifestyle habits such as smoking, alcohol consumption, and exercise are addressed. Three appendixes provide information on interactions of micronutrients with drugs and with other nutrients and brief comments on laboratory assessments of micronutrient status.
The book’s topic is challenging to review because of the insufficient but rapidly changing numbers of well-designed scientific studies in many areas of interest, the lack of consensus on appropriate uses of supplements, skepticism among many health professionals about complementary and alternative medicine, and the unregulated nature and quality of dietary supplements. Also challenging are frequently conflicting reports in the scientific literature, the rapid development and marketing of new supplements, and different practices, ideas, and products in various cultures.
The book has 2 significant drawbacks. First, although each chapter cites numerous reports in well-respected medical journals such as The New England Journal of Medicine and The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition to support its claims, very few of the citations are as recent as 1999, and a substantial number are 15–20 y old. Although this is no doubt partly owing to the book’s initial publication in German in 2000, the lack of more recent reports means that the book already is somewhat dated. More damaging, in many instances the advice given apparently ignores negative reports and evidence that would mitigate the recommendations. This omission of recent reports and negative results unduly inflates the capacity of micronutrients to prevent and treat disease and does not serve nutrition science as well as it could be served. Nevertheless, the book is well written and very useful as a quick reference for both health professionals and the general public.