Kansas State University Human Nutrition Flexbook

Reviewed by Lisa Salinas, Clinical Assistant Professor, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley on 12/14/22

Comprehensiveness rating: 4

This book is comprehensive in its coverage of topics related mainly to macro- and micro-nutrients. The table of contents is appropriately detailed. Though it provided interesting information, I found Chapter 5: Common Digestive Problems, to be randomly included in this text. This entered a space of medical nutrition therapy which I did not think belonged in this book given that the main focus was the biochemistry of nutrients and not the study of nutrition-related disease. An additional issue I had was the use of Wikipedia as main references in the text.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

The content in this book, for the most part, appears to be accurate, error-free and unbiased. That being said, rather than using references from Wikipedia, I do wish the author had used the original citations listed within the Wikipedia entries.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

The content is in PDF form so is only as up-to-date as the publication date (2018) and the revision date (January 2020). I would hope that the author might migrate the text to an online format so that updates can be made more readily.

Clarity rating: 4

This textbook was written relatively clearly for a college-aged audience with a basic science background. One issue I had was with the levels of organization in the book. There were the chapter numbers (for example 12). Then, there were subsections (for example 12.1 – 12.9). However, then there were subsections of subsections (for example, within 12.1, there was 12.11 – 12.16). I think it could be less confusing if you used something like: 12.1a – 12.1f.

Consistency rating: 4

The book was very consistent in terms of formatting. Each unit started with indicating the general topic and then specified individual sections/topics that would be covered.

Modularity rating: 5

There are 13 units, which easily could be arranged as 1 unit per week of class in a semester.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The topics in this textbook are presented in a way that makes sense as you move through important basic topics of nutritional science. It flowed from Macronutrients to Micronutrients.

Interface rating: 4

Navigation was relatively smooth. I do believe it would be easier if it was a true online resource as opposed to a PDF.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I did not come across any grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

The text does not seem to have any culturally insensitive or offensive material. That being said, nothing stood out in terms of the promotion of cultural sensitivity.

This textbook contained a lot of really great information, links and fun graphics. My main complaints are the author's numbering system and the use of Wikipedia links as main references.