CHAPTER<br >THE NUTRITION<br > REVOLUTION<br >AN<br >RODUCTION<br > No doubt about it， it s an exciting<br >time in nutrition. Okay， "exciting" and "nutrition" may not be two words<br >you ve ever linked together before--unless you count diving into Aunt<br >Anne s Delectable Double Fudge Cake at the annual family reunion. But if<br >there was ever a time to call nutrition exciting， it s now.<br > We all have at least a vague idea that good nutrition is important for<br >good health. And we definitely know what happens when we eat too much:<br >that uncomfortable stuffed feeling， which， if repeated too often， leads to the<br >search through the recesses of our closets for roomier clothing.<br > So we ve always recognized--to a certain extent--that there is a correla-<br >tion between what we put in our mouths and how we look and feel<br >(although we don t always let that influence what we put in our mouths).<br >But never before has there been so much compelling evidence that what we<br >eat has a direct relation to the occurrence of serious diseases ranging from<br >cataracts to cardiovascular disease to cancer.<br > Food to prevent disease? Once most people would have hooted at the<br >concept. "Just another crazy gimmick，" they would have sniffed. But with<br >the publication of numerous carefully controlled studies by respected<br >researchers， the idea that nutrients can not only treat but prevent disease has<br >moved steadfastly forward into the realm of acceptable science. And it s not<br >just that good nutrition can let us live longer. It can also let us live better.<br ><br >