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Excerpt
Description: This book is focused heavily on diet and its role in health as it relates to immune status. It is a melding of basic information on nutrition with its effects on various aspects of the immune response and chapters are included on both basic science and clinical issues. Purpose: In the past, discussion of the role of nutrition in health took a chemical approach and was focused on defining the essential nutrients required to maintain growth and reproduction. In this book the optimal conditions for a healthy and functioning immune system are addressed and the consequences of failing to maintain this state are discussed. Within the immunological literature there is a lack of easily accessed information on this topic and it is a subject that is ignored in most textbooks. Thus this book serves a useful function. Audience: The book is written for physicians, nutritionists, and those whose research is a synthesis of the effects of immune status and diet, and the editors succeed in providing information for its target audience. The editors and contributors are authorities on the subjects about which they have written. Features: A wide range of topics are covered, beginning with chapters on nutritional assessment and nutrient requirements for a properly functioning immune system. The editors conclude with a series of discussions on nutrition and its role in a wide variety of clinical issues, ranging from a chapter on breast milk to the role of diet in various diseases. Chapters on alternative medicines and their effect on immunity are also included. This is a wealth of information that nutritionists, immunologists, and physicians may not always think about. Because of the many topics that are discussed, a large amount of information is provided in an accessible format with good references. Assessment: This volume contains a large amount of information on a subject that has received relatively little attention from mainstream immunologists. Issues that are generally not included in immunology courses are compiled here, and probably should be. Most of the chapters are easy to read and contain some thought provoking material for discussion. This book could easily form the basis for a graduate level course.
