Can anyone recommend a good encyclopedia on vitamins and minerals?

[AngelaR]

I'm looking for a reliable and up to date book on vitamins and minerals to learn more about the stuff I am taking. Can anyone recommend one? Or recommend one not to waste my money on?

I'm particularly interested in something that describes in depth:
- why take that particular supplement
- recommended daily doses
- upper limit, and description of risks in taking too much
- best time to take the supplement
- should supplement be taken in conjunction with another (for example, I know that selenium and vitamin E should be taken together
- descriptions on how the supplement should be processed (like flax seed oil should be cold pressed)

Basically I'm looking for an encyclopedia, but not something too technical like a medical encyclopedia which may be too difficult to understand. There are several listed at amazon.com and chapters.ca, but I have no idea whether they are worth the money.

Thanks in advance.

[rustpot]

You might try:
http://anrvitamins.com/glossary

[razzle]

great question, to which I don't have a great answer. My local big grocery store (a Fred Meyer--owned by Kroger) has a health food/supplement section with a CD-rom data base that I use, and it has scientific references in footnotes, but I still get the sense that it promotes the use of supplements rather uncritically. They also have an encyclopedia of the sort you describe sitting there--it's probably a 800-page book, but I don't know the title!

Let us know if you find something good, especially if it seems balanced in its approach. :)

[tamarian]

Try this one

http://www.supplementwatch.com/supatoz/

Wa'il

[AngelaR]

Rustpot: I tried the link you provided, but it didn't have quite the detail I was looking for.

Tamarian: Wow! That's one heck of a comprehensive site. I'll add that to my arsenal of bookmarks.

I treated myself to a little quiet time at Chapters and discoverd an 800 page paperback monster called "The New Encyclopedia of Vitamins, Minerals, Supplements & Herbs" by Nicola Reavley. It was $28 Canadian

Between the book and Tamarian's link I'm overwhelmed with info. And of course, the recommended daily allowances vary between the 2 sources, but there was a good explaination in the book about variances in allowances, so it eases my mind. I was mostly concerned with taking TOO MUCH of something that will cause problems. Both the book and Tamarian's link have lots of info on that.

Thanks for the help. Multiple references are always good. And an offline reference is useful, so I'm pleased with my bookstore find.