Although nutrition textbooks provide scientific and unbiased information on nutrition, they can be challenging to understand by students and professionals who do not have a strong foundation in chemistry, biology, and human physiology. With so much misinformation and gurus in nutrition in the media today, it is hard for many people to find reliable and applicable sources of information―even for fitness and nutrition professionals.
Textbooks are one of the few reliable sources that can help you understand the topic. With the right approach, however, you use the information from those sources to apply in your career and your life.
Step 1
Nutrition textbooks contain the latest information and updates (depending on the publishing date) in the application of nutrition in various topics, such as sports nutrition, clinical nutrition, and nutrition for special populations. You can identify these sources as both applicable and legitimate because they are often written by registered dietitians and nutrition scientists and are non-biased―meaning that the authors offer facts, not opinions. Also, the dietary recommendations for healthy eating follows those of the American Dietetic Association's (ADA).
Step 2
The first few chapters in textbooks start with general concepts in human nutrition, such as metabolism, basic food groups the history of nutrition science, and basic human physiology. Once those topics are covered, the core sections of the textbook explains the functions and applications of macronutrients (carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins), micronutrients (vitamins, minerals), and water. The final chapters are putting the raw information you have learned together and apply them to different scenarios, such as sports nutrition, weight management, pediatrics, older adults, and pregnant women. Also, some textbooks offer nutrition in a macroscopic view, addressing problems such as food production, famine, obesity, and food safety.
Step 3
At the end of each chapter, there usually is a section (by the same authors or a guest author) that explains a specific topic in depth relating to the same chapter. For example, if a chapter is about lipids, then there would be a section how a diet high in saturated fat and cholesterol causes heart disease. If a chapter is about weight management, the last section would be about how to identify fad diets and why they are not a long-term solution to a healthy lifestyle.
Step 4
At the end of each chapter, there are questions and problems that test you on what you have learned and how you would use this information if you were given a situation. For example, a question from a chapter in carbohydrates would ask you to provide a 2,000-calorie diet for a person who is lactose intolerant and needs 1,000 mg of calcium a day.
Step 5
Understand that nutrition textbooks are written for students who want to pursue in a field in nutrition or as an elective for most healthcare professionals, like physicians and chiropractors. These sources are also beneficial for the people who have a great interest in nutrition and should invest some time to reading them rather than supermarket tabloids and "health" magazines.
References
- Self-reference
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