Rating: 
Summary: Excellent resource....
Review: I use Ruth Winter's books on COSMETIC INGREDIENTS, MEDICINES, and FOOD ADDITIVES as reference books and find them quite helpful and informative. It is absolutely amazing how many ingredients can be listed on the back of a jar of cleansing cream, a tube of hand cream, or a can of soup. Simply identifying the salt and sugar isn't enough. We need to know about food substitutes, as well as other ingredients, many of them added to improve the appearance of the substance for sale, that can harm us and/or interfere with prescription drugs.
Now, you may be concerned about what is in your prescription medication, but if you are like most of us, you probably take over-the-counter drugs without a thought. After all, if they don't have to be licensed and disseminated by a pharmacy, they must be okay. Right? Wrong!! There is something called a synergistic effect. For example, consumers have been warned recently about the interaction between ibuprofen and statin drugs. Unfortunately, by the time the government steps in, many people may have been harmed. It pays to be informed and Winter's books are a good step in that direction.
I am a big fan of herbal remedies, but they need to be subjected to research and review in the same way synthetic drugs are studied. Heck, Parsley, can cause skin irritations.
If you want to acquire a little light on the subject of ingredients, consider buying all Winter's books. She has been published in Family Circle and Reader's Digest magazines as well as Homeopathic and Herbal publications.
Her books are so effective, I wonder how long it will be before the government kills the messenger, not by silencing Winter, but by withholding the identity of the contents of various products and reversing the `truth in labeling' and `organic measures enacted in the past. Of course, they can and do go to the other extreme and ban items that are only harmful if they are misused.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Starting Point
Review: As a quick read with a number of interesting facts, this is a good introduction to food additives as well as nutrients. It could be construed as a dictionary but not as a reference. To be a reference, it needs a standardized format to ensure the same kind of information is provided for each item. To be a quick reference, it needs a comprehensive index. As a potential source, it also seems to lack authority when it fails to consistently cite sources and makes statements which appear subjective. I'm still looking for something of the nature of Rodale's Encyclopedia of Herbs.
Rating: 
Summary: A Decent book, but by no means the food additive bible.
Review: I bought this book as a chiropractic student to learn more about food additives. As a nutritionist it is important to learn what goes in as well as what to avoid. While researching excitotoxins in food, I found that according to Ruth Winter in her book Aspartate was considered a safe additive. Most people are aware of the dangers of Aspartame (an excitotoxin that destroys brain hypothalamus tissue, as well as becoming formaldehyde in the liver) and glutamate - but Aspartate being a non-essential amino acid has not been associated with the other exitotoxins. Well Aspartate (Aspartic acid without the H+, and 1 methyl group away from being identicle to glutamate) according to Dr. Russell Blaylock, MD in the book, "Excitotoxins - the Taste That Kills" kills neurons in the brain as well as damage muscle tissue. This particular amino acid overexcites muscle and brain tissue to the point of destruction. As was taught at a basic biochemistry class in chiropractic college - anything substance that can serve as a neurotransmitter, can become an excitotoxin because it increases the amount of neurotransmitter in the brain and periphery. Histlogic samples show marked destruction in the hypothalamus of mice (illustrated in book). If you look on Pubmed for current studies, they are there in abundance. Based on the information I retrieved from Ruth Winter's book, it appears to be in conflict with many other nutrition sources that I respect. For me to accept this book as the authority, it would need to drop the dietitian flavor, and review the literature concerning excitotoxins. As for the rest of the book and other additives, I cannot comment. I understand that many hard hours went into this book so I won't totally bad mouth it, but the only one time I needed it as a reference it failed me.
Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Reference Book
Review: I bought this book to use as a reference when feeding my four year old son, who has many food allergies. It has come in very handy and I've even learned that a few foods that I thought were safe actually are not. I've also used it to look up some of those ingredients that are in my food that I can't pronounce (and what I find is sometimes scary!). Aside from the definitions, it has quite a bit of information on food storage and other food-related info. This is a great book to have on hand, especially if you or someone you're feeding has food allergies.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent reference book
Review: I bought this book to use as a reference when feeding my four year old son, who has many food allergies. It has come in very handy and I've even learned that a few foods that I thought were safe actually are not. I've also used it to look up some of those ingredients that are in my food that I can't pronounce (and what I find is sometimes scary!). Aside from the definitions, it has quite a bit of information on food storage and other food-related info. This is a great book to have on hand, especially if you or someone you're feeding has food allergies.
Rating:
Summary: An Very Eye-opening Book
Review: I have just added the Consumer's Dictionary of Food Additives to my library. I am saddened by the quick jump of some reviewers to post incorrect negative reviews on the book, such as the one commenting on the book entry of monosodium glutamate (MSG) and the other on aspartame. For instance, the reviewer writes, "according to Ruth Winter in her book [Aspartame] was considered a safe additive." This is absolutely NOT correct. Ms. Ruth does not PERSONALLY endorse, recommend, or reject any food additive she lists in her book, including aspartame. Simply, she presents the facts, findings (hers, the FDA's, or a reseach group's), and any controversies surrounding each additive, and leaves it to the reader to judge for him/herself the safety of accepting the additive in their diet, avoiding it all-together, or doing further research on it. This is the approach I am taking to the book, and thus find it an eye-opener when it comes to the characteristics of food additives I never knew about. My approach is, as soon as there is a health concern listed for an additive, confirmed or not by the FDA or else, I avoid it all-together. After all, MSG and aspartame are not necessary for my survival as mother nature intended, and the author does not fail to list the controversies surrounding these two and many others when applicable! In addition, the book is not intended to be an "extensive" study on each food additive as the reviewers wish it to be (one of them writing a 50-page thesis and the other a chiropractic student); rather it is merely a handbook/dictionary/quick-reference. Thus, it is serving its purpose well as it is presentd by Ms. Winter.I am glad that I was smart and decided to not be deterred by those negative reviews which I read before purchasing the book. Rather I decided to take a look at it myself first-hand, and hope future interested buyers do the same. I wish that reviewers will not jump to unfounded negative comments, because it is only taking an opportunity away from one consumer at a time to benefit from such an informative book if the latter weighs heavily on their reviews in his/her decision against acquiring the book.
Rating:
Summary: Very useful, to a point
Review: I have severe food allergies, and must take great care to avoid the foods/ingredients that can trigger a severe allergic reaction. While I find this book to be of some use, it would help me more if it gave more indication what the various additives are derived from. I found one glaring error in the book, that could have been a disaster for me, if I didn't already know about it. The entry for citric acid said it is derived from citrus, or other fruit, but in this country, it is usually derived from corn. Since I have very severe reactions from ingesting corn, this error could have been very serious for me. There are many entries that don't give a clue as to what the additive is derived from. So it is of limited value to the food allergic. However, I give this book high marks for alerting people to the toxic nature of many of the additives that are put in our foods. Most people don't have a clue to what these toxins can do to their health. And this book tells what might harm them. I highly recommend this book to everyone! Even the food allergic can benefit from the advice about hazardous additives.
Rating:
Summary: Helpful, but incomplete.
Review: I was very excited to discover and buy this book, but once I received it I was rather dissapointed. It does have quite a bit of information, but I find that it really is missing a lot. For example, there are absolutely no references given for all the supposed results of studies, and those "results" are mostly very brief summaries or interpretations by the author. In addition, some of the entries list a brief or confusing definition which leaves you knowing no more than you did before you read it. I would find this book much more helpful if it really was written more like a dictionary - with pronunciation keys, simple, clear definitions, and most of all, a significant increase in the amount of information on studies.
Rating:
Summary: An Very Eye-opening Book
Review: This book is a wonderfull reasource, not only will it alert the person with sensitivitys to many food additives about the danjors of them, but it may also help prevent varyouse diseases and conditions. This book will scare you if you thought the FDA would keep you safe. This is a good thing a skeptic is almost always the right approch to any thing, espectally with something most important as your helth. But be where because as other reviewers have noted as well as myself there are severe and serouse gaps, as the chyropratic student noted it is missing vital informaiton of the effect of MSG and aspertame sold under the brand name of netura-sweet with out all of the techinal language assocated with this person's review (-which was excelent) I am wrighting a 50 page thesis on MSG (monosodium glutamate) and I have noted that Ms. Winter has left out information not disclosed by the FDA such as which substances contain ohter substances with out the mention of it, for example MSG can be labled: Glutamate, Hydrolozed protein, Gelatin, Autolized plant protein, Autolized yeast, Calcium caseinate, an others it may also be FOUND IN not just labled as Barly malt, skim milk, Pectin, "flavor" both natural and artifical, most corn syrup, and amost anything containin soy this includes Soy protein, and soy sauce, anything enriched, and most low and no fat items! all of thise where missed, including the toxicisity of them it is true that MSG has been labled GRAS generally reconized as safe but, if she is going to rely soly on their evidence who cares about a book why not just eat everything the FDA permits! Dr. Blaylock in his book "Excitotoxins, The Taste That Kills" has this to say about MSG "there are quite possibly thousands of poeple walkin garound in a perfectly normal state of health, who have a weakness for one of these inhearted neurodegenrative diseases [such as Altzhimer's, parkinsons and others]. High levels of MSG [found in the american diet], or one of the other excitotoxins [including aspertame], could tip the scales and precipitate the full blown disease -which is an excelet reason to avoid all excitotoxic food additives." page 124 Dr. Blaylock can be very clear and his book is a definite buy if you want to unerstand why, but it can get a little coplicated. IN CONCLUSION - buy the book but be very sceptical of some things she says are safe because they are not, for more info on MSG and it's toxic effect I would recomend www.truthinlabeling.org this may help you be comprehencive and lead a helthy life but remember it is a tool, use it as far as it goes and when it stops get another tool, reaserch it to death, this is your life, your helth, your body, take care of it! This book may help so I would recomend buying it, but do not rely on it as a an only resource cross check what she says! I would also like to thank her for wrighting this informative book!
Rating: 
Summary: Not so useful
Review: This book is aimed at ppl who're on the brink of understanding what toxins and allergic substances are contained within foods. After reading the reviews, I realised that you when you're severely allergic to foodstuffs, then it's not an axe to grind - it's pertinent facts you need. And sadly, this is what the book lacks. It's more a P.R. book of why the government legally poisons our food with enhancers and food colorings - to make them more appealing... This book is a good read for beginning information - but if you need real sources of allergies, there is abundant data freely available on the internet. Don't listen to publicity - listen to allergy sufferers. thanks for the information about citrus - I'm cutting that one out of my diet now. :os
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