An introduction to nutrition and metabolism

This edition of a well-established textbook had been rewritten to provide a still more accomplished introduction to the principles of nutrition and metabolism with increasing emphasis on the integration and control of metabolism. It explains and explores the science underlying our current understanding of the interactions between diet and health, and the basis for current dietary goals and recommendations. It provides a concise and authortiative description of the biochemistry that is essential to an understanding of the functions of nutrients and the importance of diet and nutrition for health and disease. Beginning with the question 'Why eat?' , Dr. Bender's text explores the physiological need for food and the role of diet in the development of the 'diseases of affluence', as well as more detailed discussions of the problems of obesity and undernutrition, The principles of chemistry necessary for an understanding of nutrition and metabolism are reviewed at a level appropriate for those with little or no previous knowledge, enlightening and underpinning the subsequent discussion of metabolic biochemistry. The discussion of metabolic pathways and their regulation is illustrated by clear and simple diagrams, and is linked throughout to nutritional and physiological aspects.