This unique and easy-to-use layman`s reference takes the mystery out of the bewildering array of health and labeling information that faces us every time we go to a grocery or health food store. Using this simple guide to the most important food elements and additives, readers can find out everything the average person needs to know to make healthy choices in eating and diet supplementation. Eileen Renders has pulled together a practical reference that boils down essential information from research studies, her own ongoing work in the field, and standard dietary and chemical references. Each topic is covered in a separate alphabetized chapter. In one chapter the author lists and describes all the additives that you will commonly see on labels or that may be used without labeling -- including additives used to preserve, condition, or beautify , those that are proved or suspected to be harmful, as well as those that are benign or even beneficial. She devotes a chapter to processed foods that have been largely stripped of nutritional value and suggests tasty, nutritious substitutes. Several chapters provide information on nutrients -- their functions, typical deficiencies, and generally accepted therapeutic qualities. Chapters on amino acids, vitamins and minerals with trace minerals), oils and essential fatty acids, enzymes, and antioxidents are included. Food sources of these various nutrients are considered in a separate chapter, as are dietary supplements. Offering quick authoritative answers in plain language and an easy-to-use format, Renders` book is he only up-to-date reference that covers all these important topics under one cover. It will simplify life for anyone concernedwith planning tasty nutritious meals and insuring a healthy diet.