Jan. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Michael Pollan's ``In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto'' is two-thirds of a good book.

The best-selling author of ``The Omnivore's Dilemma'' is back, detailing the way politicians, scientists and lobbyists have created the modern Western diet. For those who enjoyed ``Omnivore,'' the first sections of this book are a must-read.

Scientists today are missing the broccoli for the vitamins, according to Pollan. What he calls ``nutritionism'' has shifted the emphasis from whole foods to individual vitamins, making it difficult for the average person to figure out what to eat.

Pollan also writes about the trends in ``good'' and ``bad'' foods, which have shifted so much in the last 50 years that everyone's confused, scientists and lawmakers included. Margarine, once thought to be healthier than butter because it didn't contain cholesterol, turned out to feature trans-fat. Of course, once trans-fat became a bugaboo, margarine was reformulated without it.

This approach to nutrition has benefited anyone who wants to manufacture food instead of growing it. One need only remember low-carb bread to see the point.

Which brings us to Pollan's other major complaint: The nutrition claims on food packages are just confusing. In the first half of the 20th century, anything that resembled a traditional food such as eggs, cheese or milk had to say ``imitation'' on its packaging. The Food and Drug Administration threw out this rule in 1973.

FDA Endorsements

Since then, endorsements approved by the FDA have ranged from puzzling to ridiculous. Frito-Lay is allowed to claim its chips are healthy because they're fried in polyunsaturated fats, and eating them might make a snacker too full to eat saturated fats.

This is not the only moment in the book when the government looks ham-handed. One passage, in particular, should chill any reader: Selling lots of calories very cheaply ``has been official U.S. government policy since the mid-'70s.'' Pollan goes on to note that since 1980, American farmers have produced 600 more calories per person per day -- and most of those are empty calories, supplying ``lots of energy but very little of anything else.''

The last third of the book is devoted to Pollan's suggestions for eating well, and they're reminiscent of the farmer who goes off the grid in ``Omnivore's Dilemma'': Following them would be perfectly fine for an individual, but they don't address the larger political problems. It's almost as though the end of the book were written by someone who hadn't read the beginning.

Eat Good Food

It isn't that Pollan's tips are bad, if you can afford them: Shop at the farmer's market, freeze fresh food in season, avoid eating anything with chemicals you can't pronounce. But it's disappointing that Pollan's suggestions don't include more public policy. Though he frequently ridicules the FDA's endorsement labels, for instance, he doesn't suggest that they be eliminated. Nor does he urge Congress to repeal the farm legislation that led to the increase in cheap calories.

The upshot of the book, in short, is that good food is expensive. This is fine for Pollan's New York Times demographic, but what of everyone else? The mother working two jobs, the broke grad student, the elderly: They are supposed to eat well by getting the money from where, exactly?

I suspect that after the success of ``Omnivore's Dilemma,'' Pollan's publisher was eager for a follow-up, leaving him too little time to think about broader ways to change Western food culture. This is a shame, because his history of nutritionism is a thoughtful examination of how little we really know about what we eat. The last section of the book, though, is a profound disappointment.

``In Defense of Food'' is published by Penguin Press (244 pages, $21.95). The author will be reading tonight at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan, and his tour continues in cities including Louisville, Kentucky; Cincinnati; Milwaukee; Santa Barbara and San Francisco, California; and Portland, Oregon.

(Elizabeth Lopatto is a reporter for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are her own.)

To contact the writer of this story: Elizabeth Lopatto in New York at elopatto@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: January 8, 2008 00:06 EST