True Nutrition, True Fitness PDF
Preview True Nutrition, True Fitness
True Nufrition, True Fitness True Nutrition, True Fitness by Jerrold Winter, PhD ~.I.r .......... ---....-:- ~'" Springer Science+Business Media, LLC To Barbara, Jessica, Kurt, Jerry, and Anne © 1991 The Springer Seienee+Business Media New York Originally published by Humana Press Ine. in 1991 Softcover reprint ofthe hardcover lst edition 1991 AlI rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording, or otherwise without written permission from the Publisher. 98765432 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Main entry under title: True nutrition, true fitness / by Jerrold Winter. 416 p. 15.24 x 22.86 cm Inc1udes bibliographical references (6 pages) and index. ISBN 978-1-4612-6780-5 ISBN 978-1-4612-0479-4 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-4612-0479-4 1. Nutrition. 2. Health. 1. Title. RA784.w67 1991 613.2-dc20 90-5214 CIP Preface This book is an attempt to bring order and genuine understanding to the thousands of bits of information on nutrition, exercise, and their relationships to human health that seem to swirl so unceasingly about us. To accomplish this end, dear reader, we must, as Will Durant suggested many years ago, "put aside our fear of inevitable error" and strive to attain "total perspective." Several factors render the task of achieving that total perspective more difficult to realize than we might first imagine. In our free society, every citizen enjoys the inalien able right to preach to every other citizen on such matters as sex and religion and gun control. And sometimes it seems that they all do-perhaps especially in the areas of nutrition and health-so that the noise level we shall need to over come is high. Their, and my, personal freedom to expound on these topics stops only just short of trying to sell you ar thritis cures or taking up hammer and chisel to open your skull-licenses are required for these latter activities. And when our near absolute right of free speech is further com pounded with the abundant energies of our capitalism, mat ters often grow more exciting still. Were I to go to the busiest corner in town and tell passers by that a macrobiotic diet will cure lung cancer, few would hear me. But take the same message to a publisher and it may be distributed to millions. (Lest you think my example a bit extreme, Chapter 21 discusses a book assuring us that just such a macrobiotic diet will cure lung cancer.) A man who makes his living as a publisher stated the simple truth a few years ago: it is "economically rewarding ... to bring out v vi Preface yet another hyperbolic, monomaniacal fad book from the ranks of fearmongers and zealots." Oddly enough, the very success of modern science can also work against us. Science informs us and science confuses us. A lack of understanding of science leads to the belief that science is magic and scientists magicians. But if science is magic, then could not magic be science? If electrons and viruses, though never seen, are real and influence my life, then why should I not believe that coffee enemas cure can cer, that alien beings regularly visit the earth, and that I can lose fifty pounds while eating all I want? The answer lies in an understanding of the ways of science. Science demands evidence; it is not enough to say that something is true. Faith is a wonderful thing, but it is not science. That is not to say that science is always correct. Error is inevitable, even in science, though we may act rationally de spite it. The lack of absolute certainty of science, especially medical science, is all too often obscured by rote learning methods of our schools and by the finality implicit in a thir ty-second science feature on the evening news. The present book was written for all those who share with me the desire to bring order to our knowledge of nutri tion and fitness, and to lift that knowledge to the level of wisdom. If this strikes you as a bit pretentious, the book itself nonetheless falls into that most humble class of writ ings, the "self-help" text. Yes, the reader will learn about cholesterol levels and aerobic conditioning and vitamin B12 injections. But these and the host of other practical topics discussed will always be placed in an historical context. And what we believe today will be presented not as dogma, but as the best current approximation of truth based upon what has come before. The chapters of the book are arranged in three parts. The first and longest is concerned with nutrition, the second with exercise, and the third brings these elements together as they relate to cancer, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, and Preface vu weight loss. There is a reasonable sequence to each of these parts, but I have with intent made each chapter nearly inde pendent of the others. It is my hope that intelligible, infor mative, and even pleasurable reading can be found wherev er the book is opened. And so I would not object if someone with a particular interest in weight loss were to begin at the very last chapter. I have heard it said that Giacomo Narroni began a musi cal composition in 1868 and that 50 years later, on his death bed, he was still revising it. Lest this book suffer the same fate as Narroni's piece, I have settled for less than the com pleteness and perfection of treatment my subjects deserve. On the other hand, I am buoyed by the hope that what fol lows will provide a rational framework for the many things about nutrition left still unwritten and for those yet to be discovered. Jerrold Winter, PhD Acknowledgments There are many to whom lowe thanks. Among those who will remain nameless are the staff of the Health Sciences Library of the State University at Buffalo. The superb hold ings of the HSL have provided me many pleasureable hours and form the backbone of this book. The medical literature, induding those thousands of reprints in my personal collec tion, is of course entirely the work of countless scientists, physicians, and scholars; some have been named in this book, many more have not; to each I am indebted. My colleagues in the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics of the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sci ences helped me in many ways. In particular I thank Edward A. Carr, Jr., MD, my chairman during most of the time that this book was in progress, for providing an envi ronment conducive to scholarship. My introduction to electronic word and data processing was provided by Alan M. Reynard, PhD; without the tools he first provided me, this work would have been an impossible burden. Although I must retain responsibility for any and all possible errors of fact or interpretation, I wish to thank all those who, in passing through my laboratory, kindly read and commented upon parts of the manuscript. Among those persons are Ms. Susan Regan, Dr. Patrice Ferriola Bruckenstein, Ms. Sistine Chen, Dr. Patricia Noker, Ms. Karen McCann, Dr. David McCann, Ms. Katherine Bonson, and Ms. Deborah Petti. Finally, I must express my deep gratitude to Thomas Lanigan of the Humana Press. Contents Preface v Part I: Nutrition Introduction 3 MACRONUTRIENTS CHAPI'ER 1: Protein: Too Much of a Good Thing? 5 CHAPI'ER 2: Fat and Essential Fatty Acids: 15 Lessons from Sheep Sex CHAPI'ER 3: Carbohydrates: 37 From Glucose to Oat Bran to Sawdust CHAPI'ER 4: Is Sugar a Poison? 53 VITAMINS CHAPI'ER 5: Vitamin A and Beta-Carotene: 75 Of Carrots and Toxins CHAPI'ER 6: Thiamine (Vitamin Bt): Polished Rice and Beriberi 89 CHAPI'ER 7: Niacin: Pellagra and Madness 97 CHAPI'ER 8: Riboflavin: A Vitamin for Depression? 107 CHAPI'ER 9: Vitamin B,: Morning Sickness 115 and the Premenstrual Syndrome CHAPI'ER 10: Pantothenic Acid: The Anti-Gray Hair Vitamin 129 CHAPI'ER 11: Biotin: Did Rocky Know About Avidin? 137 CHAPI'ER 12: Vitamin B12: Dr. Castle's Predigested Hamburger 143 CHAPI'ER 13: Folic Acid: Lucy Wills in the Slums of Bombay 155 CHAPI'ER 14: Vitamin C: Scurvy, Dr. Pauling, Cancer, 163 and Colds CHAPI'ER 15: Vitamin D: Hormone or Vitamin? 187 CHAPI'ER 16: Vitamin E: A Vitamin in Search of a Disease 199 ix x Contents MINERAIS CHAPI'ER 17: Calcium: Dietary Factor of the Year 215 CHAPI'ER 18: Iron: Tonic or Toxin? 225 Part II: Exercise Introduction 243 CHAPI'ER 19: The Training Effect 245 CHAPI'ER 20: A Program of Exercise 251 Part III: Interactions Introduction 261 CHAPI'ER 21: Cancer: Can 90% Be Prevented? 263 CHAPI'ER 22: Heart Attack and Stroke: The Basics 287 CHAPI'ER 23: Heart Attack and Stroke: 303 The Role of Diet and Exercise CHAPI'ER 24: The Prevention of Osteoporosis 339 CHAPTER 25: The Beverly Hills Diet and Other Tales of the Supernatural 357 Guide to Vitamins, Nutrients, Minerals, and Trace Elements 389 References 403 ~a ~ I PART NUTRITION
The list of books you might like
