This book represents a conscientious approach to understanding and treating the psychological manifestations and medical complexities of individuals suffering from bulimia nervosa, anorexia nervosa, or obesity. The editor integrates the knowledge and experience of several respected members of the medical, clinical, and research communities to provide a comprehensive review of eating disorders and obesity. The main purpose is to provide clinical healthcare practitioners with practical information on the management of eating disorders and obesity. The editor aspires to provide practitioners with the comfort and expertise needed to intervene at early stages of the disorders before ensuing psychological or medical comorbidities make intervention more difficult. Although there is an emphasis on the biological and pharmacological aspects of eating disorders and obesity, the editor is careful to include relevant theory and research of possible benefit and interest to a diverse group of healthcare providers. These include mental health professionals, medical practitioners, nutrition specialists, and other clinical or primary care providers. The book consists of three parts to provide individual attention to bulimia nervosa, anorexia nervosa, and obesity. Part One is devoted to the study of bulimia nervosa and is divided into four chapters. The first chapter is a succinct review of general information such as history, diagnosis, prevalence, psychiatric comorbidity, and medical sequelae of the disorder. The next two chapters include possible treatment strategies from different clinical disciplines. In Chapter Four possible predictors for the development of both bulimia nervosa and anorexianervosa are discussed from a nutritional and dietary perspective. In Part Two a review of anorexia nervosa is presented analogous to the study of bulimia nervosa. The first chapter in this section provides general information of the disorder while the next two chapters include information on possible treatment strategies. Part Three is a focus on obesity. General information regarding obesity is divided into four chapters with reviews of the etiologies of the condition, the medical consequences, and the relationship between obesity and binge-eating disorder. The next twelve chapters include descriptions of different treatment strategies emanating from psychological, biological, and pharmacological disciplines. Part Three also includes dietary and nutritional information as well as barriers to the treatment and prevention of obesity in general. The prevalence of eating disorders and obesity appears to be increasing across the spectrums of age, gender, ethnicity, and culture. Such disorders can represent a serious threat to the emotional and physical well-being of those affected. The editor provides a much-needed reference in the assessment and management of bulimia nervosa, anorexia nervosa, and obesity. The contributors emphasize pharmacological and nutritional treatment of the disorders over psychological treatment strategies. Thus, although health providers in general should find the book interesting and informative, it seems likely that medical and nutritional professionals will find it most useful.
Goldstein, a medical doctor and PhD working at Lily Research Laboratories, and a consortium of clinicians and scientists briefly review the causes, consequences, and treatment of bulimia and anorexia, then provide more thorough coverage of obesity and its treatment. Topics include obese patients with binge-eating disorder; behavioral treatment of obesity; very-low-calorie diets; pharmacologic therapy of obesity; practical aspects of obesity treatments; genetics and potential treatment for obesity; surgery in the management of obesity; treating obesity in the physician's office; barriers to treatment; and prevention. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Reviewer: Breitung U. Jasmin, MD (Rush University Medical Center)
Description: In this second edition, the topics of bulimia, anorexia nervosa, and obesity are addressed with an emphasis on the available clinical and research data. As in the first edition of 1999, this edition is edited by David Goldstein and the 25 chapters are written by well known leaders in the field of obesity and eating disorder research with evidence-based updates.
Purpose: As elucidated by Dr. Goldstein in the preface, the primary purpose of the book is to summarize and update the reader on recent advances or setbacks, doing so by presenting the most recent clinical data together with the old, as well as to educate the reader in the fields of obesity and eating disorders. The goal is to provide assistance to practitioners. These are important objectives, especially because these disorders continue to pose such a challenge and are so prevalent. The book most definitely meets them.
Audience: The book is aimed at practitioners treating these disorders, according to the editor, and certainly the evidence-based approach which resembles the meta-analysis of extensive journal articles may be most easily understood by professionals who have been involved in diagnosis, treatment, and research in this field. This would include a wide array of health related professions, such as therapists, pharmacists, nutritionists, social workers, and physical therapists in addition to the various medical doctors such as psychiatrists, internists (including subspecialists such as gastroenterologists), and bariatric surgeons. The interested student of these professions would benefit from reading the book as well. The authors of the individual chapters are all accomplished and well-known in their fields as well as well-published.
Features: The book is divided into three sections, with the first devoted to bulimia nervosa, the second to anorexia nervosa, and the largest section, 17 of the book's 25 chapters, to the field of obesity. Each topic is approached in the same organized fashion with general information about the disorder, such as epidemiological data, etiology, diagnostic criteria, and some pathophysiology in the first chapters, followed by chapters elucidating the various treatments, and, finally, preventative approaches. The medical consequences are given particular weight in the discussion of obesity. Treatment discussion is quite extensive, especially with the topic of obesity and comprises not only pharmacological treatment and updates, but also nonpharmacological treatments with chapters devoted to physical activity and exercise and discussions of nutrition and very low-calorie diets. Bariatric surgery and potential genetic and other future pharmacological treatments are discussed, such as the role of growth factors, hormones, gene promoters and nuclear receptors. Uniquely, parts II and III each provide a chapter covering the Internet and highlighting important Internet resources. This certainly constitutes a unique resource, one that is not usually readily available. Other unique features include the summarizing key points at the beginning of each chapter as well as a table with the chapter's outline and the abundant use of references and accompanying bibliography at the end of each chapter.
Assessment: Since the very aspects of the book that are commendable, namely the evidence-based, factual, organized format, lend themselves to a somewhat dry treatment of the topics, my main criticism of this book is the lack of visual aids such as tables, graphs, and diagrams. Although chapters 16 and 20 contain many such tables and graphs, the majority of chapters do not. This book is a very useful, easy to understand resource for the practitioner managing patients with eating disorders and obesity. It can be used as a reference and as an aid in providing treatment strategies to the health professional. I have no hesitation in recommending this updated edition.
"This is a comprehensive manual. It provides a wide spread of information and could be a valuable reference book for the dietetic library." - Journal of Human Nutrition and Diabetics
"This book is a very useful, easy to understand resource for the practitioner managing patients with eating disorders and obesity. It can be used as a reference and as an aid in providing treatment strategies to health professional. I have no hesitation in recommending this updated edtion. - Weighted Numerical Score: 90 - 4 Stars!" - Doody's Health Sciences Book Review Journal
Reviews of the First edition:
"This book represents a conscientious approach to understanding and treating the psychological manifestations and medical complexities of individuals suffering from bulimia nervosa, anorexia nervosa, or obesity. The editor integrates the knowledge and experience of several respected members of the medical, clinical, and research communities to provide a comprehensive review of eating disorders and obesity...The editor provides a much-needed reference in the assessment and management of bulimia nervosa, anorexia nervosa, and obesity. The contributors emphasize pharmacological and nutritional treatment of the disorders over psychological treatment strategies. Weighted Numerical Score: 95 - ****"-Doody's Health Sciences Book Review Journal
"For both obesity and eating disorders, The Management of Eating Disorders and Obesity should achieve its goal of providing guidance to the general practitioner to improve success and end the cycle of recurrent attempts and failures. I commend it to you."-From the foreword by Albert J. Stunkard, MD, University of Pennsylvania Medical School
"Obesity is a complex and ubiquitous problem, with no easy solution or algorithm that works for everyone. That's one reason I found The Management of Eating Disorders and Obesity to be helpful text for any family physician...Part II, the majority of the book, covers all aspects of obesity in detail...The text's chapters are short and well organized and presented in an outline fashion with numerous helpful figures and graphs to support the text...Two chapters were outstanding. First, a thorough chapter on drug therapy was "Pharmacologic Treatment of Obesity." Case based and patient centered, "Treating Obesity in the Physician's Office" was superb...The authors also offered an obesity treatment program that makes sense."- Family Medicine
"This is an easily readable text, which presents its information in a fashion that is readily accessible to both clinicians and students. The contents are set out in four parts: Basic Concepts, Consumption, Deficiency, and Toxicity; Trace Element and Mineral Nutrition in Disease, and an index and guide to relevant literature. This format particularly suits the nutrition practitioner in patient care. However, an extensive index also enables the researcher or student to find basic information relating to individual trace elements or minerals. Each chapter provides a review of relevant recent research and an extensive reference list, which could further assist the researcher or student. For each of the nine trace elements currently considered essential ... and three major essential minerals...information regarding the recommended dietary intake, possible toxicity, estimated dietary intake, laboratory measurement, and role in health and disease is provided...The dangers in recommending dietary supplementation with trace elements and minerals is emphasized by description of the complex interactions between the dietary elements...Parts Two and Three discuss, within each chapter, all of the essential elements relevant to a particular condition or group of diseases. The particular needs of human pregnancy, human location, adolescence, and old age are provided in Part Two...In summary, this text deserves a place in the clinical nutritionist's library. The text provides an excellentmixture of current research and practical clinical nutrition, which can be used as a reference for patient care and for general trace element research, in an easily readable format." - Clinical Chemistry
