The Science of Nutrition offers a rigorous, science-based approach to nutrition that capitalizes on readers' natural interest in nutrition by demonstrating how nutrition relates to their own health. The text uses an applied approach to vitamins and minerals, organizing them based on their functions and effects on the body. This applied approach is evident in the functional organization of the micronutrient (vitamin and mineral) chapters. Rather than requiring readers to memorize all the vitamins and minerals and their characteristics, the authors present them based on their functions so that readers can understand their effects on the body. This approach also allows for going into greater depth on processes like energy and metabolism, fluid and electrolyte balance, antioxidants, blood health, bone health, and how micronutrients work in each of these functions.