vitamania our obsessive quest for nutritional perfection catherine price

The more nuanced answer is that I’ve been interested in food and nutrition ever since I became a journalist, in large part due to my diagnosis with Type 1 diabetes when I was 22 years old. The literal answer is that my husband turned to me one day, while we were on a bus, and said, “What’s a vitamin?” – and I realized I didn’t have an answer. GIVEAWAY: Enter to win one of three copies of Vitamania! (We can only ship to an address in the USA due to laws around giveaways.) I spoke with Catherine to get the real deal on vitamins and diabetes. Her book offers a compelling new perspective on our quest for perfect diets, perfect bodies and perfect health.Should we be taking vitamins? How should we feel about all the vitamins added to our foods? Can vitamins make us sick? What exactly are vitamins?Īfter years of research, Catherine Price, who lives with type 1 diabetes, just published Vitamania: Our Obsessive Quest for Nutritional Perfection. Vitamania is carefully researched, and Price is a curious writer engaged with her subject. Another problem was the anxiety created by experts such as Elmer McCollum, who popularized the use of vitamins, but also employed scare tactics that we are still susceptible to today. Does it really matter that Pop Tarts have been laced with essential nutrients? They're still Pop Tarts.

Once those processed foods became enriched with vitamins, they took on a perception of healthiness they didn't actually deserve. As Price explains, people became more enamored of processed foods, which lack many of the healthy benefits of whole foods. The discovery of vitamins led to problems as well as solutions, however.

Once those nutrients were ingested, people usually recovered. Many diseases, such as scurvy or beriberi, resulted from a lack of specific nutrients. The discovery of the substances eventually called vitamins solved a lot of the problems that had plagued humankind for a long time.

What's stunning about her research is how little we actually know about our bodies and the way they employ these chemicals. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Catherine Price’s new book, Vitamania: Our Obsessive Quest for Nutritional Perfection, because it reveals where some of these ideas and habits originated. As a young mother, I remember obsessing over my daughters' eating habits, wondering if their growth would be stunted by the omission of a key nutrient. I don't remember asking why-it was just part of our morning ritual as we siblings sat down for breakfast. As a child, I remember eating chalky Flintstone vitamins.

Vitamania our obsessive quest for nutritional perfection catherine price