Discovery

I have a number of college textbooks on my shelf that I use as references: basic biology, physics, chemistry. I don’t consult them often, but when I do they’re very helpful, usually putting things in a clearer context than more fundamental references might.

Nutritional Sciences cover

I’ve just added another to the shelf, and I’ll probably be consulting it more than all the others combined.

Frustrated with the existing nutrition textbooks, WSU nutrition scientists Michelle (Shelley) McGuire and Kathy Beerman decided to write their own.
“We had used the other three big books on the market,” says McGuire. “They seemed too preachy and didn’t seem based on science.” Most of the texts was not even written by nutrition professions, she says. “It was kind of shocking.”

So McGuire and Beerman approached the publisher who publishes the top-selling text, which at the time was in its 36th year and 12th edition.

“We said we think we can write a better book,” says McGuire. “And they took us on.”

Little did they know what they were getting into.

They started writing that better nutrition text in 2004 and have been working on it ever since. The result, Nutritional Sciences: From Fundamentals to Food (Thomson Wadsworth), was recently released in its second edition.

Writing the book was “an amazing experience,” says Beerman. “I went into it feeling we could bring a lot to it because of our experience teaching. What I got out of it is I’m now a much better teacher.

“It was like studying for prelims again,” she says. “It forced me to go back and re-learn everything.”

Indeed, the book is exhaustive in its information. It is also beautifully, and purposefully, illustrated. And a good read.

I admit that I have not read it straight through. And probably never will. But I have read the sections on carbohydrates, the pH scale, and other subjects—and filled in a lot of gaps in my knowledge. I will go back to it often.

The book covers “nutrition” from every angle, including, for example, a brief but excellent explanation of how photosynthesis captures energy from sunlight and transfers it to chemical bonds of glucose.

So how does one carve out the time to produce such an information-dense and exhaustive work? Not only do the authors have heavy teaching loads, they both have research programs. Beerman specializes in dietary practices of college students and the effects of isoflavones on health parameters—immune response, thyroid function, memory, and metabolic profile—in postmenopausal women. McGuire’s research involves breastfeeding and linoleic acid, an essential omega-6 fatty acid, which is of course covered thoroughly in Nutritional Sciences.

“We had this full-time job all day,” says Beerman, “and then would go home to another full-time job evenings and weekends.”

Longer shelf life, better flavor, more nutritional value than canning or other forms of preserving food? It happens with a new technology developed by Dr. Juming Tang and his team at WSU. The process could revolutionize food preservation and lead the way to gourmet backpacker food, deluxe meals for astronauts, tasty MREs for soldiers, and longer-lasting food for humanitarian missions.

 The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the process after more than a decade of research and testing by Tang’s team. As Howard Grimes, WSU vice president for research, says, the technology “promises significant advances in food safety and quality to benefit everyone.”

Read more at WSU Today and watch a video explaining the process: 

Washington State Magazine ran an article about early stages of Dr. Tang’s work in 2002.

“Is shedding all these books synonymous with retirement?” I asked Alex Hammond. I was talking about the rows he had heaped in the Avery Hall Bundy Reading Room kitchen one day last spring. I walked by and saw the hundreds of paperback books stacked on the cafeteria-like tables. Everything from Philip Roth novels to Norton Anthologies to dated collections of feminist criticism. Attached to the door was a sign saying, simply, “FREE BOOKS.” Anyone walking by was welcome, even encouraged, to take them.

These were Alex Hammond’s books, mingled with those from the office of Dick Law, another retiring colleague. Alex was in the midst of cleaning out his office upon his retirement from 34 years in the WSU English Department where he has been a teacher and scholar of American Literature, editor (along with Jana Argersinger) of the scholarly journal Poe Studies/Dark Romanticism, Undergraduate Studies Director, Vice Chair and Scheduler, Interim Chair, frequent commentator in the Faculty Senate, and a role model for how to be one of those people whom no one wants to see retire.

One day last spring, I sat down with Alex and asked him about his books. As usual, Alex answered my question by taking me on a journey.

One of the things the US Government hated about Northwest tribal groups was the potlatch, he told me, a ceremony in which members would give up all their worldly possessions. When the US was trying to get post-Civil War control of the country, one thing they tried to do is outlaw the potlatch, which they saw as very anti-capitalist. Alex likened his book purging to the potlatch. “But I’m not giving away anything that’s worth much on the used book market. It feels great, if people will take them,” he said.

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Aerial view of apple and pear orchards near Yakima, Washington. Photo by Brian Prechtel. Courtesy USDA/ERS

The USDA’s Economic Research Service released the latest series of state fact sheets today, based on the 2007 Census of Agriculture. As the son and grandson of  farmers, I’m always curious about the state of ag in our state, particularly for small farms. A few items caught my attention as I browsed Washington State’s stats.

The first surprise was the shrinking size of farms. Conventional wisdom tells me that farms are consolidating and growing larger, but the average farm size went from 426 acres in 2002 to 381 acres in 2007. The percent of very small farms (1-99 acres) grew, while the percentage of farms with 500 or more acres decreased.

The average age of farmers continues to climb. In 2007, farmers averaged 57 years old, up from 55 in 2002 and 53 in 1997.

Another fact jumped out: only 45.9 percent list farming as their primary occupation, down from 58.5 percent in 2002. 

A significant change was the number of women listed as principal farm operators. That number jumped from 5,632 in 2002 to 8,090 in 2007.

There are a lot of other stats to look at on the fact sheet. What do the numbers mean? Do they accurately reflect the state of agriculture in Washington? Are there longer term trends that are shifting, from farm size to ownership to gender to ongoing rural poverty?

Links

Washington State Fact Sheet (USDA/Economic Research Service)

USDA/Economic Research Service home page