Field of medicine: Women's health.

Format: Softcover book.

Audience: Primary care physicians, nurse practitioners, health science students, and dietitians.

Purpose: To bring together, in one publication, information on dietary interventions that can be used by health care practitioners treating or counseling women.

Content: This is a good resource manual for health care practitioners who give dietary advice to women. It contains information on the role of nutrition in the prevention of chronic conditions and the treatment of acute conditions, and it includes advice for women before and during pregnancy. Among the conditions covered are obesity, heart disease, the irritable bowel syndrome, premenstrual syndrome, osteoporosis, and breast cancer. The book also offers guidance on helping low-income families choose a healthy diet and covers the special needs of ethnic minority groups.

Highlights: The book is organized in a systematic, easy-to-understand manner and contains two-color tables and a limited number of illustrations. References and tables of key points are given at the end of each chapter.

Limitations: The tables of key points are heavily shaded and do not seem to fit in with the text. Sample 7-day menus are given at the end of most chapters, but many of the items listed are specialty foods for which no recipes are provided.

Related reading: This may well be the first book of its kind. However, the information and data given are research based. Key references are presented alongside the text, and full details are given at the end of each chapter.

Reviewer: Neva L. Crogan, MN, RN, CS, Washington State University, Mead, Washington.