cover image Super Fitness Beyond

Super Fitness Beyond

Michael E. Rosenbaum. Dutton Books, $17.95 (274pp) ISBN 978-0-453-00545-6

It's hard to take this glib book seriously, let alone attribute to it the authoritativeness suggested by the subtitle. The authors, a San Francisco physician and a medical writer, venture beyond vitamin-mineral supplements because `the nutrients generating the most exciting and promising news are amino acids, enzymes, bioflavonoids, essential oils, and glandulars.'' The numerous food supplements are ballyhooed as immune-system, mental-performance and sex-drive boosters, cancer preventives and youth extenders. A workbook helps readers to build a customized program. Those under stress, for example, can choose from 16 vitamins, six minerals and ten amino acids, as well as other supplements, and use the recommended ranges to assess suitable dosage. But the merits of the program are shrouded by the authors' harangues against the medical establishment and others who maintain that a well-balanced diet can supply nutrients. They compare their opponents to ""people who believe the earth is flat.'' (August 25)