Book Review

Nutritional Biochemistry of the Vitamins

N Engl J Med 1993; 328:1649-1650June 3, 1993

Article

Nutritional Biochemistry of the Vitamins
By D.A. Bender. 431 pp. New York, Cambridge University Press, 1992. $89.95. ISBN: 0-521-38144-4

As a reviewer, my first question is, Does the title accurately reflect the contents? If “nutritional” is taken in its broadest sense -- that is, including the biochemistry of foodstuffs -- then the answer must be, not really; a more precise title would have been Biochemistry and Metabolism of the Vitamins. To my second question, Does this book fill a need? the answer is an unqualified affirmative. There are already multivolume treatises on vitaminology and excellent monographs on individual vitamins, but this work fills the need for an up-to-date review of the biochemistry of the vitamins in a single book. As such, it will admirably complement standard textbooks of nutritional biochemistry such as Linder's Nutritional Biochemistry and Metabolism (2nd ed. New York: Elsevier, 1991). In view of the lamentable absence of coverage of nutrition in general and the biochemistry of the vitamins in particular in undergraduate biochemistry courses, this work will also complement the several otherwise excellent biochemistry textbooks in current use.

The contents are arranged conventionally, with the lipid-soluble vitamins listed alphabetically, then the B vitamins, and finally folate, vitamin B₁₂, and ascorbate. There is a useful section on substances thought to possess vitamin-like activity. The arrangement of material within the individual chapters follows a logical sequence, and each includes valuable references to further reading.

There is a wealth of information, presented of necessity in a somewhat condensed form, with no illustrations, since the book comprises text, figures, and chemical formulas only. This could make heavy going for the uninitiated, and although I shall find much use for the book as a source of information, it is not one through which I would browse at random. I hope that a second edition would contain diagrams to facilitate the understanding of complex interactions such as those among vitamin A, calcium, phosphate, and hormones.

I could find no major deficiencies, but a more-than-fleeting reference to the interaction between vitamin A and zinc would be appropriate in the context of both metabolism and deficiency, since in the real world it is often a moot point whether vitamin A deficiency is “pure” or due to zinc deficiency. For selfish reasons I would have preferred a detailed discussion of oxygen free-radical reactions involving not only vitamin E and selenium but also the antioxidant enzymes and glutathione.

I must criticize the didactic presentation of biochemical data on nutritional assessment. The biochemical assessment of nutritional status is arguably the most hotly debated topic in nutrition today; the wide variety of techniques used, together with the lack of reference materials, necessitates a discussion in depth, best left to a detailed review such as Gibson's Principles of Nutritional Assessment (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990).

In summary, this book will be of great value as a reference for nutritionists and for clinicians interested in this field, and as a reference rather than a textbook for students of nutrition and biochemistry.

Dennis Shapcott, Ph.D.
University of Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC J1H 5N4, Canada