Terrors of the Table: The curious history of nutrition

by Walter Gratzer

Overview

Terrors of the Table is an absorbing account of the struggle to find the necessary ingredients of a healthy diet, and the fads and quackery that have always waylaid the unwary and the foolish when it comes to the matter of food and health. Walter Gratzer tells the tale of nutrition's heroes, heroines and charlatans with characteristic crispness and verve. We find an array of colourful personalities, from the distinguished but quarrelsome Liebig, to the enterprising Lydia Pinkham. But we also find the slow recognition that the lack of vital ingredients can cause terrible illnesses - scurvy, rickets, beriberi. These diseases stalked the poor in the West even into the 20th century, and scandalously remain in poorer parts of the world today. The narrative stretches from classical times to the modern day and gives a valuable historical perspective to our current understanding. It also highlights some of the problems faced by the developed world regarding health today - in particular diabetes and obesity. And despite our far greater understanding of what our body needs, there are still many who would fall for fads and fancy diets - some dangerous, others just daft. Of course, the story of nutrition does not end there. We have discovered the key vitamins and minerals our body needs, but research continues on the connections between diet, health and disease. The body's biochemistry is complex, and there are no easy answers, no magic formula, that applies to all individuals. The safest and most rational course would seem to be a sensible, moderate, and varied diet, not forgetting that 'a little of what you fancy does you good'.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780191578625
Publisher:	OUP Oxford
Publication date:	11/22/2006
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Walter Gratzer is a biophysicist. He spent most of his career at King's College London, with spells at Harvard and Columbia Universities. He is now Emeritus Professor at King's. Professor Gratzer has published numerous scientific papers, and many articles and reviews. He is the author of Eurekas and Euphorias and The Undergrowth of Science: Delusion, Self-Deception and Human Frailty.

Table of Contents

Picture acknowledgements     vi
Introduction     vii
The Ravages of War     1
The Scurvy Wars     16
In the Beginning     36
Dawn of the Scientific Age: the Road to the Scaffold     48
The Savants' Disputes     69
The Poor, the Rich, the Healthy, and the Sick     100
Cheats and Poisoners     118
Paradigm Postponed: the Tardy Arrival of Vitamins     135
The Quarry Run to Earth     162
Fads and Quacks     188
The New Millennium: Profits and the Higher Quackery     211
The Hard Science     248
Further Reading and References     260
Index     270

Editorial Reviews

"Reels out a historical pageant of science and pseudoscience teeming with remarkable characters who have advanced (and retarded) knowledge about what makes humans thrive."—Jane and Michael Stern, New York Times Book Review

"A history of nutrition, a tale that 'encompasses every virtue, defect and foible of human nature.' As mankind tries to figure out what it should eat, 'reason contends with superstition, mountebanks prosper and savants quarrel among themselves.'"—Wall Street Journal

"Gratzer writes with the assurance of a scientist and the ease and eloquence of a talented and practiced author. He's got a precise vocabulary and pulls many sweet turns of phrase. And he writes about Petri dishes and chicken dissections with equal readability. But his best trait may be his simple common sense, as when he advises readers to follow the Second-World-War mantra, now seldom heard, that 'a little of what you fancy does you good.'"—Hannah Myers, New York Press

"Plenty of pages anyone can sink his teeth into. There are wonderfully harrowing chapters about beriberi and rickets, and how cures for them were discovered by dedicated researchers. Gratzer chronicles the illogical and often downright bizarre misinterpretations of diet and nutrition through the centuries."—San Diego Union-Tribune

"Its breadth and liveliness make it an excellent introduction to the one science that touches all of us daily and intimately."—Time Out New York

From the Publisher

Gratzer, a biophysicist at King's College, London, who previously put a human face on science in Eurekas and Euphorias: The Oxford Book of Scientific Anecdotes, reels out a historical pageant of science and pseudoscience teeming with remarkable characters who have advanced (and retarded) knowledge about what makes humans thrive.
— The New York Times

Jane and Michael Stern