BOOK REVIEWS
                   It is likely that applications in nutrition and cancer research        Fundamentals of Clinical Nutrition, 2nd ed, by Sarah L
                will receive a fair hearing from this program, but nutrition           Morgan and Roland L Weinsier, 1998, 271 pages, softcover,
                research has clearly not been a priority area for the Army’s pro-      $24.95. Mosby, St Louis.
                gram so far, based on the descriptions in this report. I cannot rec-
                ommend this book as providing any unique information that can-            There is increasing recognition of the need to provide formal
                not be obtained from other sources.                                    nutrition education to physicians in training. At Albany Medical
                                                                     David Heber       College, nutrition education has been incorporated into the
                                                                                       school curriculum since the 1970s; hence, students are exposed
                UCLA Center for Human Nutrition                                        to nutrition from their first year of medical school through their
                900 Veteran Avenue, Room 1-2-217                                       residency.
                Los Angeles, CA 90095-1742                                                Fundamentals of Clinical Nutrition is the second edition of a
                                                                                       book written to meet this need, with its intended readers being
                   Nutritional Abnormalities in Infectious Diseases: Effects of        medical students and residents. The authors have written a con-
                Tuberculosis and AIDS, edited by Christopher E Taylor, 1997, 58        cise, easy-to-read monograph that covers the core of knowledge             Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/68/2/407/5299392 by guest on 03 January 2023
                pages, softcover. The Haworth Medical Press, Binghamton, NY.           necessary for physicians in training. It contains numerous clini-
                                                                                       cal correlates and is supplemented with many useful tables and
                   This slender volume, based on a round table discussion, con-        graphics.
                sists of 8 short presentations. The first reaffirms, on the basis of      The book is divided into 3 parts. The first part, “Lifestyle,
                trials with guinea pigs, that protein deficiency enhances morbid-      Diet, and Disease,” covers nutrition topics ranging from dietary
                ity and mortality of tuberculosis and describes the failure of zinc    guidelines and the food pyramid to a useful guide to interpreta-
                and vitamin D deficiencies to have a similar effect. The second        tion of food labels. The chapter “Nutrition Throughout the Life
                describes studies in mice suggesting that the mechanism of the         Cycle” reviews nutritional needs at different stages of life,
                protein effect may be the expression of nitric oxide synthase, an      including breast-feeding. A chapter entitled “Diseases of Mod-
                enzyme that mediates an antimycobacterial effect of macro-             ern Society with Nutritional Correlates” was especially infor-
                phages and the formulation of granulomas. The third chapter            mative. Current hot nutritional issues such as obesity, osteo-
                explores the relation between vitamin A and nutritional status. It     porosis, and nutrition and cardiovascular disease are covered in
                concludes that vitamin A does not have an effect on antibody for-      this chapter. However, the section on drug therapy of obesity is
                mation but that it does influence T lymphocyte response.               already outdated.
                   Subsequent chapters deal with relations among malnutrition,            The second part of the book, “Nutrients and the Metabolic
                tuberculosis, and HIV infection. Evidence is presented that HIV        Process,” covers macro- and micronutrients and their clinical
                infection, separately from that of opportunistic infections, may       deficiencies and excess states. The third part is titled “Nutrition
                have a direct effect on nutrient status and on growth in exposed       and the Hospitalized Patient” and is dedicated to clinical nutri-
                infants. The effect of both HIV and tuberculosis on nutritional        tion. It provides an overview of malnutrition, nutritional assess-
                status in the developing world is described as severe, but a ben-      ment, and nutrition support. Additionally, the book contains 6
                efit of nutritional therapy has been shown only for tuberculosis.      clinical case studies followed by true or false questions. Over-
                Unfortunately, the chapters are too short to treat any of these        all, I found this a worthwhile addition to available texts; it will
                issues in the depth that can be found in journal articles or reports   be a useful handbook for all medical professionals interested in
                of traditional workshops.                                              nutrition.
                                                              Nevin S Scrimshaw                                                           Shahab Aftahi
                United Nations University                                              Division of Clinical Nutrition
                Charles Street Station, PO Box 500                                     Albany Medical College
                Boston, MA 02114-0500                                                  Albany, NY 12208