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Rating: 
Summary: Engaging presentation of important nutritional subject.
Review: "Essential Fatty Acids in Health & Disease" by Edward N. Siguel, I was lucky to find this book before it was listed here at Amazon.com. It is not promoted by a major publisher so I would not have seen it in bookstores. I was searching the Web and found the Web site of the author describing this book and the research it is based on. Since then I have given away several copies as gifts. Although the author is M.D. and Ph.D., and did original research on essential fatty acids, he has a sense of humor and the book is very readable and entertaining. It has some sections where you will find more medical terminology, but those sections are clearly marked "For health professionals" and you may skip them. Dr. Siguel developed a test for measuring amounts of fatty acids in the blood. He used that test to analyze the blood of healthy people and people with wide variety of diseases. He noticed that people with a disease had fatty acids in different proportions than healthy people. It appears that one necessary condition for restoring health is restoring the healthy balance of fatty acids. The book starts by comparing types of fats: saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated. It explains the term essential fatty acids. I must confess my ignorance. I did not know that anything in fats was essential for life. I new about essential amino acids but not about essential fatty acids. In both cases the name essential identifies those acids that our body can't make from other ingredients. To sustain life we must get them from food. Further, the book divides essential fatty acids into two groups, known as omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. It describes functions of fatty acids in both groups. It describes effects of both groups on many serious diseases with more emphasis on heart disease. I find the part that describes nutritional requirements for disease prevention even more important than the discussion of specific diseases. This describes the healthy balance of fatty acids and how to achieve it. It compares the fatty acid composition of oils available on the market: vegetable oils and fish oils. It gives hints on how to find quality oil and what to avoid. It deals with misconceptions about fats and cholesterol. It describes other nutrients required for proper utilization of fats and healthy nutrition in general. It warns about unnaturally modified fats in processed foods. This is where I first found the explanation of the terms trans-fatty acids and hydrogenated oils, why I should not eat anything that contains them, and how the ingredients list on the package will not always tell me about them. Based on the results of his research, Dr. Siguel criticizes USDA Food Pyramid which places fats at the top and suggests that all fats should be used sparingly. He also gives some unique insights on medical research and the practice of medicine. This book had made me curious to learn more about the role of fats in supporting human life, the subject I was so ignorant about. I have found more books that debunk the notion, until recently so fashionable, that all fat is bad. I found that different authors promote different types of fat. Many recommend mainly monosaturated oils like olive and canola. However they do not support that recommendation by the analysis of those oils or by the explanation of their role in human metabolism. This book recommends polyunsaturated oils because only they contain the essential fatty acids that our body can't make from other types of oils. It also provides detailed analysis of those oils to help you choose the one that is right for you. I hope that further research may find some essential nutrients in bacon, but for the summary of the current research results on fats in human nutrition I still come back to this book.
Rating:
Summary: good nutrition
Review: I am a young mother who wants to eat well for her baby. This book explained the essence of eating polyunsaturated fats to grow a good brain. The scientific reasoning is solid, the explanations are easy to follow, and the book is easy to read because of its humorous approach. This should be required reading!
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