cover image The Food Factor: 2why We Are What We Eat

The Food Factor: 2why We Are What We Eat

Barbara Griggs, Barbara Van Der Zee. Viking Books, $19.95 (408pp) ISBN 978-0-670-80201-2

British medical journalist Griggs offers a satiating, if long-winded, history of the modern science of nutrition, and the uphill battle fought by pioneering ""cranks''e.g., Sylvester Graham, the American naturopath whose name is immortalized in a cracker and in the whole-wheat flour he passionately advocated; Max Bircher-Benner, a Swiss physician who suggested the curative powers of raw fruits and vegetablesto legitimate the relationship between health and diet. The enthusiastic prose is tempered by well-documented substance and fine anecdotes (for example, to dramatically prove that pellagra was caused by a dietary deficiency and was not an infectious disease, American researcher Joseph Goldberger injected himself, his wife and a colleague with blood from pellagrins' veins). But the practice of calling gblacks ``coloured'' is unfortunate, as is the author's penchant for generalizations (``Research has established that the hyperactive baby of today is highly likely to grow up into tomorrow's problem child, delinquent, drop-out, junkieor even criminal''). (February)