Terrors of the Table: The Curious History of Nutrition

Gratzer (Eurekas and Euphorias), a biophysicist, has a viewpoint on nutrition's history that is more informed than most popular accounts and distinct from those given by doctors or dieticians, but his book is marred by a muddled structure and its focus on just a few centuries and areas of the world, as well as an excess of extraneous biographical material. It begins, inexplicably, with a chapter devoted to rickets, followed by one on scurvy; the cases are unquestionably relevant, but many readers may wonder how nutrition in prehistory set the stage for these problems. Gratzer does address earlier theories about food, beginning with Galen's teachings on the four humours, but he says little about actual practice, instead dedicating pages to a quarrel between nineteenth century chemists Justus von Liebig and Jean-Baptiste Dumas, and the personal life of physiologist Claude Bernard. Still, the descriptions of bizarre, often frightening experiments such as Joseph Goldberger's ""filth parties,"" in which participants ate feces and scabs and rubbed infected mucus into their noses and mouths, are fascinating, and Gratzer writes clearly and conversationally, making segments like his tale about the discovery of vitamins, which answered many of nutrition's nagging questions, surprisingly engaging. He winds up by discussing a long succession of diets and fads, an oft-told story made all the more depressing for the way it highlights how, even after the breakthroughs Gratzer details, humans still seem ignorant about such a basic aspect of life. 16 pages of illustrations not seen by PW.