Since deficiencies in nutrients may disrupt the immune response and lead to increased frequency of infections and increased mortality - especially in children - it is important in clinical practice, as a therapeutic and preventive measure, to determine if the patient has poor nutrition.
In the Handbook of Nutrition and Immunity, an international team of physicians, pediatricians, immunologists, and public health nutritionists systematically reviews practical issues related to the assessment of nutrition and immunity in this field. It is aimed at both those providing frontline health care and researchers.
The busy physician and researcher will quickly understand, with clear and contemporary data, the immunological parameters related to the nutrition of adults and children. Based on the latest research findings, the authors analyze the role of nutrition in contemporary health issues such as HIV infection, malaria, food allergies, diarrhea, and acute respiratory infections, and review the impact of deficiencies in macro- and micronutrients, dietary fat, and antioxidants on the immune system.
They also discuss the assessment of immune function in patients at risk due to their nutritional status, the impact of severe malnutrition in children on their immune system, nutritional assessment with and without complex procedures, as well as the specific case of pregnant and lactating women.
Clear and comprehensive, the Handbook of Nutrition and Immunity highlights for scientists and those providing health care the interactions and links between nutrition and immunity, and provides contemporary knowledge of the practical issues related to the assessment of both nutritional and immunological status.
[Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]
