215 Virgin Olive Oil Benefits PRESENTATION In medicine and the nutrition sciences, as in other fields of knowledge, many concepts and terms are specific to the discipline and are either unfamiliar to, or difficult to understand for, those without expertise in these subjects. Furthermore, the significant advances made in these disciplines in recent decades have brought with them new knowledge and terminology, some of which are so recent that they do not yet appear in dictionaries. In addition, the convergence of disciplines and the rapid incorporation of new concepts, methods and techniques can give rise to terminological confusion. Glossaries enable the reader to understand those words or concepts encountered in a text which are highly specific to a field other than their own. This book, on the benefits of virgin olive oils in relation to health, is a scientific work, yet it also seeks to ensure that the knowledge it conveys is comprehensible to the general public. Accordingly, care has been taken to write its chapters in clear, popular science language, making them as accessible as possible to anyone, regardless of their general knowledge or academic background. All the authors have made a great effort to meet the challenge of reconciling both aims. Nevertheless, the use of technical terms in the chapters has been unavoidable, both by the nature of the descriptions themselves and because such terminology is standard in the field. As the publication took shape, it became necessary, indeed essential, to prepare a glossary defining, in the clearest way possible, the technical terms appearing in the book’s chapters. The aim of this glossary is to provide the reader with a means of acquiring an understanding of these technical terms, the concepts associated with them, and the context in which they are used. It also seeks to familiarise the reader with terminology commonly used by health and nutrition professionals. Even so, and despite the considerable efforts of the authors of both the chapters and the glossary, in some cases it has been extremely difficult to make the descriptions entirely self-explanatory. Moreover, in some definitions new technical terms appear in the explanation of the original entry; in such cases, further definitions, intended to be as clear as possible, have been added, either in parenthetical statements or immediately after the term. Currently, it is easy to find on the internet all kinds of definitions and opinions concerning the terms referred to here. There are numerous “web” pages dealing with them. However, the reliability of the information obtained in this way is not always trustworthy from the standpoint of scientific rigour. For those without expertise in the subject, it can be difficult to distinguish which sources are accurate. Moreover, in controversial matters, it is useful not only to present what may
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy Njg1MjYx