The Tufts University Guide to Total Nutrition

From the editors of the monthly Tufts University Diet & Nutrition Letter comes this compendium of the latest in nutrition. While the approach of Tufts University School of Nutrition dean Gershoff and collaborator Whitney is eminently accessible, their information will be familiar to most. The authors are self-effacing, presenting current consensus rather than any individual point of view, and they try to speak to every imaginable reader, so the practical advice is rather fragmented. The first two thirds of the volume recount standard views on food groups and vitamins and offer tips for shopping, home cooking and eating out. Remaining chapters touch briefly on diet-related health issues (e.g., weight loss) and on the differing needs of children, women and the elderly. A 21-day low-cholesterol menu is featured with a few basic recipes; notes on eating and exercise are sketchy at best. Q & A sections, mostly in the form of ``quizzes,'' are scattered throughout, as are tables that range from helpful to redundant. This is a book for consumers in search of simple background information or willing to fish out tidbits from a store of general counsel. BOMC alternate. (June)