Vitamania

Starred review from February 9, 2015
This lively investigational work from journalist Price reveals how little we know about vitaminsâboth how much we need or how they workâand how our vitamin obsession is actually making us less healthy. âespected health organizations," she writes, âdo not recommend that healthy people with no nutritional deficiencies take multivitamin supplements." Instead, the best advice is the simplest: âif the healthiest doses of vitamins and other micronutrients appear to be those found in food... then we should stop taking pills and just eat food." Price's survey of the history of vitamin discoveryâprompted by deadly deficiencies in vitamins C, D, and Aâunveils troubling societal consequences: We've become âobsessed" with the idea of the vitamin, âone of the most brilliant marketing terms of all time." With the introduction of the first multivitamin in the mid-1930s, âprotection in a pill" has become the goal fueling a supplement industry that has escaped stringent regulation: âmany supplement ingredients that are allowed to be sold in the United States have been definitively proven to have both short- and long-term health risks." Price raises important questions about both supplements and vitamins, and if our government isn't asking them, at the very least, consumers must. Agent: Jay Mandel, William Morris Endeavor.

December 1, 2014
A catchy title that captures our obsession with vitamins and our belief that getting plenty of them will ensure our good health.However, freelance journalist Price has produced a book much broader in scope than the title indicates. The author provides a history of the discovery of vitamins (the word was not even coined until 1912) and of the finding that certain diseases-e.g., scurvy, pellagra and rickets-are caused by vitamin deficiencies. She also makes clear that there is still much uncertainty about what these chemical entities actually do and how much of them our bodies require. The larger story, however, is about the thousands of dietary supplements that are widely marketed even though very little is known about them. Public interest and confidence in vitamins has led to a similar relationship with supplements of all kinds; according to the author, there are some 85,000 different dietary supplements on the market. Price's research into the regulation of dietary supplements reveals the forces that created the present situation: Why there is no FDA approval process for supplements, and why they do not need to be tested for safety or efficacy. Consequently, it is nearly impossible for consumers to identify high-quality supplements. So, how does one stay healthy in the midst of all this uncertainty? Price's answer is simple: Eat fruits and vegetables and other nutrient-dense foods that are naturally high in vitamins. Avoid overprocessed foods from which natural vitamins have been removed and which are then artificially enriched with synthetic vitamins. If you do choose to take a nutritional supplement, try to learn what is in it, and let your doctor know, too. Appendices provide specific data about the nature and function of each of the vitamins, and tables list the recommended daily intake based on age and sex. Though Price doesn't provide much new information, the reading is easy and the message is clear and significant.

COPYRIGHT(2014) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

January 1, 2015

Americans are obsessed with nutrition, seeking out the latest trendy foods and taking vitamins and supplements in search of dietary perfection. How do they know whether they are actually eating right? What are vitamins anyway? Price, a journalist specializing in health, seeks to enlighten readers. It seems that even professionally trained nutritionists do not really know what vitamins are. People need them, and deficiencies cause disease, but the experts cannot agree on how much is needed and what the vitamins actually do. This entertaining and informative book traces the history of vitamins and nutritional diseases. It also examines the contemporary emphasis on diet and nutrition that leads people to spend millions of dollars on supplements and enriched foods even though the best way to obtain nutrients is from wholly unprocessed foods. Marketers tout the virtues of these enhanced provisions and encourage people to eat them instead of buying fresh fruits and vegetables. The author offers copious notes to support her research as well as appendixes with details about each vitamin, abbreviations, and definitions. Readers interested in health, and those who enjoy Marion Nestle's books will want to read this work. VERDICT An excellent addition to collections in public and consumer health libraries. [See Prepub Alert, 8/18/14.]--Barbara Bibel, Oakland P.L.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from December 1, 2014
Price thought she knew a fair amount about vitamins, given her carefully monitored diet to control her type 1 diabetes and her focus on nutrition and health as an award-winning science journalist. But once she began researching the facts about the 13 vitamins that keep us alive, she realized that there was a hidden, many-faceted, and urgent story to tell. The result is a commanding, meticulously documented, and riling expos' rich in dramatic and absurd science and advertising history, lively profiles, and intrepid, eyebrow-raising fieldwork. Multivitamins first appeared in the 1930s, followed by, as Price so strikingly discloses, boldly calculating proselytizing that launched our obsession with nutritional shortcuts and led to our dependency on the synthetic vitamins that fortify processed foods. There is still so much we don't understand about how we process vitamins that our recommended dietary allowances are merely improvisations. And forget about vitamin megadoses. Price also recounts, in teeth-gritting detail, the ferocious lobbying efforts and public complacency responsible for the FDA's inability to regulate the safety and efficacy of the multibillion-dollar vitamin and dietary supplement industry. Price's sharp wit, skillful and vivid translation of science into story, and valiant inquisitiveness (she insists on tasting synthetic vitamins and gets buzzed on the military's caffeinated meat sticks) make for an electrifying dissection of our vitamin habit in contrast to our irrevocable need for naturally nutrient-rich food.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)