Terrors of the Table is an absorbing account of the struggle to find the necessary ingredients of a healthy diet, and the fads and quackery that have always waylaid the unwary and the foolish when it comes to the matter of food and health. Walter Gratzer tells the tale of nutrition's heroes, heroines and charlatans with characteristic crispness and verve. We find an array of colourful personalities, as well as the slow recognition that the lack of vital ingredients can cause terrible illnesses like scurvy, rickets and beriberi, diseases which still remain in poorer parts of the world today. Highlighting health problems such as diabetes and obesity and covering the dangers of fads and fancy diets, this is a book for those interested in science, and nutrition, social history, and the history of medicine.

1. The Ravages of War 2. The Scurvy Wars 3. In the Beginning 4. Dawn of the Scientific Age 5. The Savants' Disputes 6. The Poor, the Rich, the Healthy and the Sick 7. Cheats and Poisoners 8. Paradigm Postponed: The Tardy Arrival of Vitamins 9. The Quarry Run to Earth 10. Fads and Quacks 11. The New Millennium: Profits and the higher quackery 12. Appendix: The hard science

Walter Gratzer , Emeritus Professor, King's College London

`The stories are replete with sex, religion, suicide, an occasional murder and a riveting cast of characters.' Marion Nestle, Nature |d 24/11/05