Crash Course Metabolism and Nutrition

Citation

Dunn, K., Misra, R., Patel, R., Russell, L., & Shah, V. (2026). Crash Course Metabolism and Nutrition (6th ed.). Elsevier.

Chapter Summary

This volume of Elsevier's Crash Course series, subtitled "For the MLA and Medical Exams", runs to about 340 pages. In keeping with the series, it is written by senior students and junior doctors and checked by faculty advisers, here with Philip Xiu and Dipesh Patel as editors and an endocrinology consultant among the authors. The publisher states that each chapter covers the curriculum topics of the UK Medical Licensing Assessment (MLA), integrating clinical considerations with the basic science, and that text boxes highlight hints, tips and key points; checklists flag the MLA "conditions" and "presentations". Fourteen chapters are followed by a self-assessment section revised to match current exam formats and a glossary.

Chapters 1–2: Cellular biology; Introduction to metabolism

The book opens with the cell and with an introduction to metabolism, the groundwork on which the pathway chapters build.

Chapters 3–4: The tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle; Oxidative phosphorylation

The central energy-yielding machinery: the TCA cycle and the generation of ATP by oxidative phosphorylation.

Chapters 5–6: Carbohydrate metabolism; Glucose homeostasis and diabetes mellitus

Carbohydrate pathways, then the control of blood glucose and its failure in diabetes. The publisher's description says the edition runs from cellular biology to diabetes management and obesity therapies, with up-to-date guidelines.

Chapters 7–8: Lipid metabolism and lipid transport; Energy balance and obesity

Lipid pathways and the transport of lipids in the blood, followed by the regulation of energy balance and obesity.

Chapter 9: Protein metabolism and malnutrition

The metabolism of protein and amino acids, paired with malnutrition.

Chapter 10: One-carbon transfer, purines, pyrimidines and haem

The metabolism of one-carbon units and the synthesis and breakdown of nucleotides and haem.

Chapter 11: The thyroid gland

A chapter on the thyroid, reflecting the publisher's statement that this edition integrates biochemistry with clinical practice in endocrinology as well as metabolism and nutrition.

Chapters 12–13: Vitamins and their deficiencies; Minerals and their deficiencies

Micronutrients, each chapter pairing the nutrient with the clinical picture of its deficiency.

Chapter 14: Clinical assessment of metabolism and nutritional disorders

The final chapter turns to the assessment of patients with metabolic and nutritional disorders. The self-assessment section and glossary follow.

Key Concepts

Chapters 1–4: Foundations and Energy

• Introduction to metabolism: the overall organization of the body's chemical reactions, the framework for the pathway chapters.
• TCA cycle: the central pathway that oxidizes fuel molecules.
• Oxidative phosphorylation: the production of ATP coupled to the mitochondrial oxidation of reduced cofactors.

Chapters 5–9: Fuels and Their Disorders

• Glucose homeostasis: the maintenance of blood glucose, and its breakdown in diabetes mellitus.
• Lipid transport: how lipids are carried in the circulation.
• Energy balance: the relation between energy intake and expenditure, and obesity as its disorder.
• Malnutrition: the consequences of inadequate protein and energy intake.

Chapters 10–14: Special Pathways, Micronutrients and Assessment

• One-carbon transfer: the movement of single-carbon units used in nucleotide synthesis.
• Micronutrient deficiency: the clinical effects of lacking particular vitamins and minerals.
• Clinical assessment: evaluating a patient for metabolic and nutritional disorders.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• Clinically framed throughout. Chapter titles pair biochemistry with disease: diabetes with glucose homeostasis, obesity with energy balance, malnutrition with protein metabolism, deficiency states with vitamins and minerals. The publisher presents this integration of basic science and clinical practice as the book's aim.
• Built for revision. Hints-and-tips boxes, MLA checklists of conditions and presentations, a self-assessment section matched to current exam formats and a glossary make it a practical companion for medical examinations. A Doody's review of the previous edition (Linda Van Horn) described it as well written and rich in pertinent content.
• Nutrition and endocrinology included. Vitamins, minerals, obesity, malnutrition, the thyroid and the clinical assessment of nutritional disorders sit alongside the pathways, so the book covers the nutrition side of the course as well as the biochemistry.
• Recent revision. The sixth edition was published in 2026, and the publisher describes it as fully updated, with current guidelines on topics such as diabetes management and obesity therapies.

Limitations

• Revision depth by design. The series aims to avoid "unnecessary or confusing detail". This suits examination preparation, but students meeting metabolism for the first time may need a fuller textbook for mechanisms and regulation.
• Metabolism-focused coverage. The contents contain no chapters on protein structure, enzyme kinetics or molecular biology, so a general medical biochemistry course will need another book for those topics.
• UK orientation. The book is aligned to the UK Medical Licensing Assessment; students preparing for other examinations should map its checklists against their own syllabus.

Where It Fits in the Course

This is a gentle, clinically oriented entry point to the metabolism part of the course. J. G. Salway's Metabolism at a Glance is the visual counterpart: its full-page pathway charts show how the reactions connect, with chapters on regulation and on diabetes, but it has no chapters on vitamins, minerals or the thyroid. Reading the two together gives both the clinical framing and the pathway map.

For a full course text, Marks' Basic Medical Biochemistry teaches metabolism and molecular biology through patient cases, and Lippincott Illustrated Reviews: Biochemistry covers the whole subject in outline form with practice questions; either can supply the depth that a Crash Course leaves out. Keith Frayn and Rhys Evans's Human Metabolism: A Regulatory Perspective is the next step for the integration of metabolism across organs in feeding, fasting and exercise, and Clinical Biochemistry: Metabolic and Clinical Aspects extends Chapter 14's theme of assessment into the laboratory investigation of disease.

How to Use This Book

The publisher addresses the book to medical students and junior doctors, and to other health students who need the essentials of metabolism and nutrition quickly. School-level chemistry and biology are sufficient background.

A practical plan:

• Alongside a first course: read Chapters 1–4 early for the foundations, then each later chapter as the matching topic is taught. Use a fuller textbook for any mechanism the summary does not make clear.
• Core chapters: 2–9 cover the main pathways together with the disorders their titles name (diabetes, obesity, malnutrition). Chapters 10–13 complete the picture with one-carbon metabolism, the thyroid and micronutrients; Chapter 14 draws the material together for clinical practice.
• Revision: in the weeks before an examination, reread the hints-and-tips boxes and MLA checklists, then work through the self-assessment section under timed conditions and return to the chapters behind any wrong answers.

Keep a single sheet per chapter linking each pathway to the disorders the chapter attaches to it; this mirrors the book's own structure and makes it easier to answer clinical questions that start from a patient rather than from a pathway.