Becoming Vegan: The Complete Guide to Adopting a Healthy Plant-Based Diet.  By Brenda Davis, R. D. and Vesanto Melina, M. S., R. D.  Summertown, Tennessee: Book Publishing Company, 2000.  $16.95.

We heard one of the co-authors of this book, Vesanto Melina, at our October Denver potluck meeting, and I'm pleased to be able to review this excellent book.  If you think you know everything about vegetarian or vegan nutrition, think again -- and take a look at this book, which is essentially a rundown of all the significant issues surrounding vegan nutrition.  It includes not only sections on all the major and minor nutrients, but also on the special nutritional needs of pregnant or lactating women, children, athletes, and seniors.  With a few exceptions, virtually all of the discussion is useful to lacto-ovo-vegetarians as well as vegans. 
The authors quickly dispense with the question of the relationship between chronic disease and diet, speaking of a "strong and consistent message, demonstrated by many years of solid scientific research for almost every major chronic disease that plagues affluent populations."  This evidence in some ways is even more extensive than we previously thought. 
While vegans are generally healthier, though, there are some specific problems to which vegans may be more susceptible.  One of the delightful features of this book is its persistence at exploring each and every "negative" associated with the vegan diet.  For example, one would think that vegans (with lower animal protein intake) would be at decreased risk for osteoporosis, but studies don't appear to support this view.  Why is this?  The authors endeavor to explore this and similar questions.   For most nutrients, it seems that vegans have no particular problem; but for some, planning is required, such as vitamin B-12, vitamin D, calcium, and zinc.
I found the discussion of essential fatty acids to be especially interesting.  Here is everything you wanted to know, and more, about omega-3 fatty acids, omega-6, and their derivatives.  It turns out, incidentally, that while fish are an excellent source of omega-3's, they get their omega-3 fatty acids from eating micro algae (a plant source), and thus all omega-3 fatty acids ultimately come from plants. 
One somewhat surprising feature of the book is the approach to fats.  They note that both very low-fat diets (McDougall, Ornish, etc.) and so-called "Mediterranean" diets higher in fat have produced good results, and conclude by recommending about 15-30% of calories as fat.  This is lower in fat than the current government recommendation of 30%, but a bit higher than the McDougall diet which suggests 10-15% of calories as fat.  However, the authors oppose most refined fats and the use of fat in frying foods.  The absolute worst fats are the hydrogenated fats and "trans" fats which are just the kind of fats we find in "junk foods" like potato chips and cookies.  Ideally, most fat should come from whole plant foods -- soybeans, nuts, seeds, avocados, and so forth -- with the exception of small amounts of flax seed oil and monounsaturated fats like olive oil. 
Becoming Vegan is a highly interesting, comprehensive, and intelligently written approach to a vegan diet, one that any vegetarian or vegan would do well to examine with care.