Pediatric Nutrition: Theory and Practice

The editors of this book set the goal of providing "both the theoretical and practical guidelines by which appropriate nutritional care can be provided." Eighty-seven authors contributed to this volume; the editors have successfully integrated these multiple viewpoints into a valuable text.

The first two sections comprise 13 chapters that review nutritional biochemistry and normal digestion and nutrient absorption. These chapters provide up-to-date details down to the molecular level. Quite wisely, discussion of abnormalities and disease states is left largely to later chapters.

The book's next three sections are its major strength. Section 3 concerns perinatal nutrition. The chapters about fetal nutrition and growth and placental function compile information that is not generally available to the reader of pediatric and gastroenterology texts or journals, but this information is important in understanding the postnatal nutrition of premature infants. The chapter on breast milk and breast-feeding contains not only background information about