Includes entries for maps and atlases.

Diet and Health examines the many complex issues concerning diet and its role in increasing or decreasing the risk of chronic disease. It proposes dietary recommendations for reducing the risk of the major diseases and causes of death today: atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases (including heart attack and stroke), cancer, high blood pressure, obesity, osteoporosis, diabetes mellitus, liver disease, and dental caries.

Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information on it Samuel Johnson, 18 April, 1775* Sterols are among the most studied groups of natural products with interest commencing in the 19th century and running to the present. Investigations have embraced the refinement of separation procedures, the development of new analytical techniques and instrumentation for structure elucidation, the unravelling of biosynthetic mechanisms, the determination of the physiological functions of sterols, and the role they play in health and disease. In the past 20-30 years interest in the medical implications of sterol biochemistry, studies on the sterols of plants, algae and fungi, and the identification of the many unusual sterols from marine organisms have proceeded in parallel and somewhat independently. Although the motiva tion and goals for the various lines of investigation have differed widely the researchers working in each of these areas have contributed a wealth of knowledge to the literature relating to the analysis of sterols and many diverse new sterols have been discovered. We conceived this book as a modest attempt to bring together some of this literature in the hope that it may be helpful to newcomers to sterol research. We had originally intended to produce a 'handbook' outlining in detail the protocols to be followed for sterol extraction, chromatography, NMR analysis, etc. in order to identify the components of a sterol mixture.

The Biology of Cholesterol and Related Steroids focuses on the study of sterols in relation to living organisms. The publication first takes a look at the analysis of sterols and related steroids and the distribution of sterols and related steroids in nature, as well as the processes of extraction and separation and presence of sterols in plants, fungi, vertebrates, and invertebrates. The text then ponders on biosynthesis of sterols and metabolism of cholesterol. Topics include formation of fatty acid esters of cholesterol, steroid hormones, biosynthetic pathway to sterols, reaction mechanisms, and comparative aspects of sterol synthesis. The manuscript examines the developmental aspects of cholesterol metabolism and sterols in biological membranes. The book also reviews cholesterol synthesis in animal tissues, sterol metabolism in isolated cells, and epidemiology of the plasma cholesterol. Discussions focus on selection of statistical populations, genetic influences, regulation of sterol synthesis, general aspects of sterol metabolism, and removal of cell cholesterol in vivo. The publication is a dependable source of data for biochemists and readers interested in the biology of cholesterol and steroids.