Reviewer: Marilyn Cornelis, PhD (Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine)
Description: This comprehensive overview of major methods employed in human nutrition research includes sections devoted to study design, sampling, and data collection strategies, with corresponding statistical methodology. Theoretical chapters are followed by application chapters highlighting recent nutrition research. The logical organization of material, summary tables and figures, and sufficient repetition enable the book to function as a step-by-step learning guide for readers new to the field as well as a reference for more experienced researchers.
Purpose: The purpose is to 1) describe the methodologies of the quantitative analysis of data originating from nutrition studies and 2) provide an overview of the recent challenges and debates in the field of nutrition research that will define major hypotheses for research in the next 10 years. An obvious oversight of the preface and introductory material is the fact that the book focuses entirely on human research. Assuming the author's objectives were within the human research context, the first objective is, for the most part, met. Missing are sections relevant to big data, such as that produced using omic technology. The second objective is not met, since the book discusses few challenges/debates, just key findings of research applying methods resulting from the first objective. It is not clear how this book defines major hypotheses for future research.
Audience: The intended audience is nutrition scientists and researchers, as well as undergraduate and postgraduate students, but it could be extended to include senior investigators seeking a refresher on basic nutrition methods. The book includes work from several contributing authors based predominantly in Europe with a few from North America. Most are members of departments focused on epidemiology and nutrition but I (a U.S. researcher) do not recognize any as established experts in the field.
Features: The first of the book's two parts focuses on human nutrition research methods and is well organized. While most chapters are common to a standard introductory book on epidemiology, each chapter is presented within a clear nutrition context and often with recent examples from the literature. Moreover, chapter 4 is particularly unique in that it details the theory and analysis of dietary patterns, a complex nutritional exposure. Given its increasing applications to nutrition epidemiology, the meta-analysis chapter is also timely and well written. Chapter 8, which focuses on research publications, has limited utility, especially in light of increasingly flexible formats for publication and open access. Chapter 5 focuses on the statistical analysis of observational studies, but a corresponding chapter for clinical trials is missing. This is unfortunate given several published clinical trials have been incorrectly analyzed. Finally, an important topic entirely missing is big data analysis in nutrition; a recent transition in the field that presents with a unique set of challenges. In the second part of the book, a series of applied chapters address "Challenges in Nutrition Research" although none of these would be considered challenges, rather just applied examples of methods described in part one. This is where a chapter on big data would indeed have addressed the objective, since analysis and interpretation of such high throughput data is a challenge but "will define major hypotheses for research in the next 10 years."
Assessment: This is an overview of the traditional fundamental methods employed in human nutrition research. Titles that I am most familiar with that cover similar topics include Nutritional Epidemiology, 3rd edition, Willett (Oxford University Press, 2013), and Nutrition Research: Concepts and Applications, Drummond and Murphy-Reyes (Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2018). In comparison, this book is more comprehensive and reader-friendly, weighted more on methods and applications than others that are theory heavy. In addition, the weaknesses of this book also apply to the other titles as well, perhaps more so.