Superfoods: 300 Recipes for Foods That Heal Body and Mind

Coleslaw as preventive medicine? Pumpkin pie as a safeguard against lung cancer? In a collection of more than 300 recipes, Riccio presents alphabetically arranged ``superfoods,'' from apples to wheat, along with detailed descriptions of how they fight disease and deterioration. She takes full advantage of Americans' health obsessions, offering tips for preventing many ailments. Some of the information is helpful and intriguing, but Ricco draws a number of her conclusions from minor, dated studies and random statistics that may not carry full medical merit. ``A study of over a thousand elderly residents of New Jersey showed that people who consumed the most strawberries were least likely to die of cancer,'' Riccio says, and ``Apple lovers are less likely to be tense or illness prone.'' While the promotion of vegetables and fruit can do little harm and perhaps a lot of good, Riccio gets absurd and almost desperate in her quest for carcinostatic agents. There is useful information on selection and storage of produce, and recipes are quick and low in fat, salt and sugar. Some may find unappealing the marriages of meats and fruit, such as poached salmon steaks with grapefruit. But Riccio's rice-stuffed cabbage with pineapple-tomato sauce, like her sweet potato and bourbon souffle and her roasted eggplant and garlic soup with sweet red pepper, and her imaginative salads and desserts, are more savory. Better Homes and Gardens, Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club alternates. (Feb.)