Boost your child's immune system. (Book Reviews).

Niec-Oszywa A, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2001, 239 pages, $22.95, ISBN 1-865508-510-3

Boost your child's immune system the natural way begins with a general introduction to immunity and then details each of six nutrients/food factors that work to raise a child's immunity--kilojoules and protein, vitamin A, iron, zinc, antioxidants and probiotics.

For each nutrient, the book includes background on how and why it works (citing a number of recent studies), followed by discussion of how much Australian children are consuming, rich sources of the nutrient, and whether a supplement is beneficial or not. The information is generally accurate and detailed and the author endeavours to make readers aware of all the confounding issues for parents such as the risk of vitamin A overdose if they choose to supplement, variations in toddlers' appetites, the greater chance of iron deficiency in vegetarian children, the benefits of vitamin C in shortening the duration of colds, and the difficulties facing parents of fussy eaters.

This is followed by a number of 'child-friendly' recipes that are rich sources of each particular nutrient. For example, in the chapter on zinc, the author offers recipes such as wholewheat blueberry muffins, stir-fried beef and pork hotpot, each with an analysis for zinc ranked against the RDI for children aged one to three years, four to seven years and eight to 11 years.

The author, an Australian dietitian with a private practice, has an engaging writing style and makes the complex scientific material readable and easy to grasp. Some of the detail may be too technical for lay people, but overall it will satisfy most parents' need for more knowledge. It could have benefitted from more consumer-friendly food serving suggestions such as describing what 20g of fish or cooked meat would look like (page 19).

Apart from a few minor points of disagreement, she gives sensible advice with which dietitians would agree. She offers advice on everyday nutrition problems such as what to feed a child who is ill or has diarrhoea, not allowing children to fill up on fatty and sugary foods, how to keep children fit and active, and why chocolate is not a food to offer as a means of providing your children with antioxidants! (page 110).

Although the book addresses the role of supplements, it is clear that the author does not favour them and prefers to recommend rich food sources. She calls supplements 'a stand-by source of nutrition, mainly in synthetic form ... handy when your child's diet is compromised by poor eating associated with illness, fussy eating or unusual circumstances where the food is unfamiliar and your child takes a while to get used to new food choices.' (page 179). Vitamin E, iron and zinc are the only supplements suggested if a child 'suffers frequent opportunistic infections' (page 186).

The book concludes with 14 menus based around the recipes to encourage nutrient-rich eating, although no exact quantities are given for the different ages which may have helped first-time parents who wonder if their children are consuming enough.

Overall, the book offers sound information on many aspects of paediatric nutrition, particularly for informed readers. It is clear that many parents are seeking the detailed information as is presented here (and find that their GPs do not have the time or knowledge to help them in this area), so there is a ready market. If you counsel parents, it would be a good book to recommend.