Title	A Balanced Diet? [electronic resource] / edited by John Dobbing
Imprint	London : Springer London, 1988
Connect to	http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-1652-3
Descript	XIV, 190 p. online resource

A Balanced Diet? is an attempt to answer the next question which consumers always ask when advised by their doctors or other health professionals, or the media, to eat one. What is it? Of course a balanced diet is a concept, and may be simply expressed as a diet which, over a period of time, provides all the dietary constituents which are required for healthy living, and which helps avoid disease states so far as these may be attributable to unhealthy eating. A group of leading nutritionists and doctors has attempted to describe in this book the guidelines for which such a diet may be devised. The authors have tried to face the many controversies and to resolve them, always with reference to evidence before mere belief. It is hoped that the reader will be better equipped after reading this book, whether he be doctor, paramedic, or plain, ordinary citizen, to confront the enormous body of material with which he is surrounded every day

1. Diet and Health: Striking a Balance -- Meeting Physiological Needs -- A Balanced Diet for Growth -- A Balanced Diet for Optimum Health -- Commentary -- 2. Diet and Obesity -- Distinguishing the Physical Factors Involved in Weight Gain -- The Energy Required to Lay Down โ{128}{156}Fatโ{128}{157} -- The Development of Obesity -- Variability in Energy Metabolism -- The Definition and Measurement of Obesity -- Classification of Obesity -- Fat Distribution in the Human Body -- The Relationship Between a Foodstuff (Sugar) and Obesity -- Commentary -- 3. Diabetes Mellitus: Consideration of Diet in Aetiology and Management -- Diet and the Aetiology of Diabetes -- Diet and the Treatment of Diabetes -- Conclusion -- Commentary -- 4. Dietary Carbohydrate and Dental Caries -- Evidence from Human Studies -- Evidence from Animal Studies -- Plaque pH Experiments -- Carbohydrate Type and its Effect on Cariogenicity -- Natural Versus Refined Carbohydrates -- Other Factors Affecting the Cariogenicity of Carbohydrate -- Assessment of the Cariogenic Potential of Foods -- Evaluation of the Cariogenicity of Dietary Carbohydrates -- Dietary Carbohydrate in a Balanced Diet -- Summary -- Commentary -- 5. Salt and Blood Pressure -- Importance of High Blood Pressure -- Importance of Sodium and Chloride -- Epidemiological Evidence -- Intervention Studies -- Evidence in Animals other than Man -- Possible Mechanisms for Salt-induced Hypertension -- Abnormalities of Sodium Metabolism in Human Hypertension -- Should the Whole Population Cut its Salt Intake -- Salt Restriction in Patients with High Blood Pressure -- How Practical is Moderate Salt Restriction -- Other Dietary Factors and Blood Pressure -- Summary -- Commentary -- 6. Dietary Fat and Coronary Heart Disease -- Epidemiology -- Risk Factors -- Pathology -- Epidemiological Associations of CHD with Fat Intake -- Plasma Lipoproteins: Metabolism and Dietary Intake -- Quantifying the Influence of Fat on Plasma Lipoprotein Concentrations -- Does Cholesterol Reduction Decrease the Risk of CHD -- Dietary Fat and Thrombotic Tendency -- Atherosclerosis in Animals -- Trials of Diet in the Prevention of CHD -- Conclusions -- Summary -- Commentary -- 7. Dietary Fibre and the Diseases of Affluence -- Mode of Action of Dietary Fibre -- Relation between the Physiological Effects of Dietary Fibre and Diseases of Affluence -- Desirable Levels of Dietary Fibre -- Summary -- Appendix. Towards a Formal Analysis of the Relation between Diet and Health/Disease -- Commentary -- 8. Changing Lifestyles: The Effects on a Balanced Diet -- Do Humans Possess the Innate Ability to Select a Diet to Achieve Optimal Health -- Taste as a Guide to the โ{128}{156}Balanced Dietโ{128}{157} -- Changes in the Food Habits of Migrants: Implications for the Balanced Diet -- Industrialisation and Urbanisation -- Conclusion -- Summary -- Commentary -- 9. Towards a National Food and Nutrition Policy -- Costs and Benefits in Framing Policy -- Costs and Benefits in Policy and Structure of Decision-making in Science -- Experts and Committees: Scientists and Pressure Groups -- Expert Committees: The Interface of Science and Government -- Food and Nutrition Policy and the Structure of Science -- Conclusion -- Commentary