Prescription for Nutritional Healing, Fifth Edition: A Practical A-to-Z Reference to Drug-Free Remedies Using Vitamins, Minerals, Herbs & Food Supplements

there is a ton of information in this book about remedies for various ailments, which is why i was tempted to keep it. however, every time i turned a page, i stumbled on more outdated, cringe-inducing, food-pyramid-era misinformation, such as, saturated fats like coconut oil increase your risk of heart attack, and you should have corn oil or canola oil instead. (seriously?!) it doesn't recommend sucralose (splenda), but says it's "metabolically inert" and would work well for diabetics. no mention of the fact that this stuff was originally meant to be a pesticide. oh, and go ahead and eat that plastic "food" -- margarine in a tub -- because we wouldn't want to get fat on butter...and while you're at it, stock up on low-fat dairy products (made by those nice food manufacturers), which have had all the nutrients sucked out of them. if the author had taken the time to look into the latest nutritional research, she would realize all of this "common knowledge" was basically propaganda that is now being debunked. coconut oil, for example, is one of the best foods you can give your body, but the corn oil industry was responsible for vilifying it to beef up their own profits. all the research is out there, but despite the fact that this is the "updated" 2010 edition, you're not going to get anything cutting-edge here. expect more of the same old regurgitated B.S. we've been fed for the past several decades, information that has served to make us a nation of fat, sick, misinformed people. a book that presents itself as the gold standard of nutritional healing can't get up to speed with information i can find in a simple google search? that's either laziness, or more propaganda. either way, i rate that a fail.

I looked up a condition called "interstitial cystitis" in the version of this book that I found today at the local health food store. I was horrified to see that the recommendations given for treating this condition were exactly the same as for cystitis caused by a bacterial infection. This could not be more wrong, or dangerous. As an R.N. and sufferer of interstitial cystitis, I can tell you that it is a well known fact that cranberry, Vitamin C, and certain B vitamins are absolutely contraindicated as they will greatly intensify the bladder pain in an already damaged bladder due to high acidity. On the contrary, the goal is to de-acidify the urine so that it is not harmed more than it already is. I can't help but wonder if there are more grave errors in this book.

I have used these desk-reference manuals for many years. It was a doctor who recommended that I get one and she was right. My current copy is '93, so it was time for a new one. Every recommendation I've ever used from this manual has worked perfectly. When I got the new one, however, I noticed some issues and a significant error.

I bought it specifically to get the most current information on thyroid issues. I noticed that under the disorder Hypothyroidism in the Considerations section, it says "see Wilson's Disease in Rare Disorders in Part Two." Hmmm. There are some issues with that.

There is no mention of a Rare Disorders section in the index at the front of the book, not on its own, nor as a section within Part Two. No mention of it at all.

First of all, the layout of the page headings in this version is horrible. In prior versions each separate disorder was in obvious bold print with dividing lines above and beneath that made the heading clearly distinguishable from the rest of the text, which makes it much easier and quicker to find. But in this new version, it is very difficult to read and takes significantly more time to actually find what you're looking for. Each disorder is just in small print that seems to be bold type but it is so slight you can't even tell at first. As if that's not enough, it is almost impossible to find Rare Disorders (with poor layout and no clear headings) which is just a small section within The Disorders section in Part Two, and is only noted by just a small print area at the top of the page with no distinction on the page itself to determine where the Rare Disorders start and end as separated from The Disorders general section.

In addition to that, when I finally found Wilson's Disease, it was not in the Rare Disorders section at all, but just within The Disorders general section.

Furthermore, the direction as listed above at the end of the Hypothyroidism/Considerations section that says to see "Wilson's Disease" is itself an error. It should say "see Wilson's Syndrome" which is a completely different disorder. Wilson's Disease (hepatolenticular degeneration or inherited copper toxicosis) is when the body is unable to metabolize the element copper. Wilson's Syndrome has to do with thyroid symptoms. Wilson's Disease also has opposite instructions to instructions you would have from Hypothyroidism and Wilson's Syndrome which could really confuse someone. Got that part?

Now, when you do find Wilson's Syndrome, which is related to Hypothyroidism, and remember it says under Hypothyroidism to see the section on Wilson's Disease...when you finally realize the error and find Wilson's Syndrome, it says nothing but "See under Hypothyroidism". Extremely frustrating.

By the way, Wilson's Syndrome isn't under Rare Disorders either, just in case you were wondering.

I have to say, the layout of the page in this book really stinks. In a desk-reference, you need things to be very well organized and easily distinguishable, so that you can find things quickly and easily. On that score this book really falls short.

I can't judge the other information yet, but that was my initial journey into the new version. This fifth edition is significantly larger with more information than the older editions. These reference books have a great reputation and are highly regarded by physicians. But, this latest fifth edition is not as good as the others. I hope this error is not indicative of the rest of the book!

I bought this book expecting to see a quick summary of natural remedies per condition. Like a bullet point outline of how each of them would help patients to control their condition. Something like a `materia medica' of natural remedies. So if you have, say sore throat or suffer from gout you can quickly find a link to remedies. After all, the authors managed to pack 400 conditions into a 700 page book, it looks promising, right?

Wrong. This books fails miserably. Let me have a close look at its structure and content.

STRUCTURE

Each of about 400 sections consists of roughly equal three parts.

Part 1: General description of the condition.

Most of what I scanned through is too general to get anything useful of this. Opening a Wikipedia page will give you a better idea if you do not know what e.g. uterine fibroids are. So taking into account that this ½ pager is dedicated to describing a condition, how does it make you feel when the authors waste it with a generic copy and paste like:

"It is estimated that 20 to 50 percent of women of reproductive age have fibroids, although not all diagnosed. In more than 99 percent of fibroid cases, the tumors are benign; they are not associated with cancer and do not increase a woman's risk for uterine cancer. For reasons not yet understood, they tend to form during a woman's late thirties and early forties, and then shrink after menopause. This would seem to suggest that estrogen is involved in the process. However, while all women produce estrogen, only some develop fibroid tumors." (p.433)

Remember the space is golden here. And this empty discussion of irrelevant epidemiology and other irrelevant to this volume points just carries on like a page filler. There's no clear list of common etiologies that are currently proposed, there's no relevance to what follows in the next two half pagers. It feels to me that the authors just copied and pasted sections of textbooks or internet without considerations of relevance, priorities, and objectives.

Part 2: List of Nutrients.

Let's open a section on arthritis (p. 217) and find a 3 page list of 44 [sic] nutrients from Vitamin C to Cell Guard from Biotec Foods [sic]. Seriously?! If the authors thought that the purpose of their work is to pack every vitamin, mineral and other bio-active supplement - they probably succeeded, but in every other aspect you failed.

Another unacceptable and highly unethical feature of this book I have seen only in laymen product-pushing "medical" literature is direct advertising. So with no shame we are recommended "EPA from Carison Labs", "Cell Guard from Biotec Foods", or "Amino Balance from Anabol Naturals". I felt like popping up in a virtual health store and being pushed a few thousand dollars worth of stuff without any clear reason or even idea of their efficacy.

Part 3: Herbs/Recommendations/Considerations (in free text form).

Here you will see pointless regurgitation of generic claims you can find online, like in the same RA section: "eat more sulphur-containing foods, such as asparagus, eggs, garlic and onions." (p. 221).

Really? That's a natural remedy for a debilitating condition that RA is?

What is so infuriating about this particular example with RA is that it's been well documented in the scientific literature that RA has proven exogenous etiologies. You can see this advice on even non-clinical, common laymen web pages as recommendations to avoid certain proteins such as gluten or casein. Now, this volume is absolutely mute about this. Nothing. Not a hint. Dangerous and careless.

ALTERNATIVES.

To get a sense what a good encyclopaedic source on natural remedies might look like, let me turn to "Textbook of Natural Medicine by Pizzorno, 4th ed" written by a group of researchers. If I open a section on RA, I can immediately see that "the elimination of reactive foods has been shown to offer significant benefit to some individuals with RA" (p.1774). It also lists the foods which are most common triggers of RA, including wheat (54%), dairy (37%), rye (3%) and malt (27%). The references to scientific literature is given which for RA lists 236 original peer reviewed articles.

What about "Prescription for Nutritional Healing"? Nothing. Only generic, inaccurate, incomplete, superficial snippets.

The list of bad advice goes on, just to list a few I flicked through where the problems are as bad: neuropathies, diabetes, CVD, sleep disturbance, thyroid diseases, metal toxicities. I scratched only the surface here, but that was enough for me to make a conclusion about this book.

VERDICT:

This is a very dangerous book for laymen in medical research. It contains very poor scholarship, superficial or factually incorrect claims, large grave omissions, plain inaccuracies and outdated information. This books gives a bad reputation to natural remedies which can and do help in many cases of chronic and acute human conditions.

Avoid it. This will not make you feel better, and in the worst case scenario will make you more ill. If you are sick there's no point of wasting your precious time on a useless book which apparently sold copies to 3 million duped readers.

This is the 3rd edition of this book that I have had. It is an EXCELLENT resource for information about many medical conditions, as well as nutritional advice for healing and/or alleviating symptoms. Very thorough explanations of each condition including cause(s), symptoms and what you can expect as the condition progresses and prognosis. Even explains conventional medical treatment(s) and whether or not these treatments are successful and any side effects or detrimental results of them. It also gives information about the benefits of all vitamins, symptoms of deficiency and information about many many herbs and supplements. The only book that is superior to this one is the Holy Bible! I will NEVER be without this superior resource, as evidenced by my purchases of each new edition. I refer to it constantly. And the best health food store in Denver has a copy of it on a podium for use by customers and staff. I HIGHLY recommend this book to everyone, and have recommended it to family members and friends for years. And this new edition is even better than the previous ones.

This series of books has been my mainstay for years--since I was diagnosed with what they then termed as terminal, with no known treatment. I used it to look up every element of my illness, then began a regimen of supplements geared to each. My diagnosis? 12 years ago. Diagnosis: A wasting disease; no help; no hope; future is rapid degeneration. Yes, 12 years ago. One of the combined three diagnosed problems has totally disappeared--which I was told doesn't happen (a drug-resistant bacterium gone). The main problem has stabilized for many years--once I was told it was somewhat improved and "that has never happened before."

I buy this book for my children and grandchildren, and all the friends who don't look askance at me for adhering to non-doctor-approved healthcare. My D.O. physicians cheer me on. Hooray for "Prescription for Nutritional Healing." (Ariel I.)

This is an essential for every household!! I followed this book and healed my mother's five deep bleeding peptic ulcers in a mere five weeks. Her gastroenterologist could not believe his eyes when the scope revealed only scar tissue at her six-week follow-up. I followed the suggested nutritional supplements and cleaned up her diet -- bang done!

I just started reading this and already on the first page of the first chapter Phyllis states that saturated fat is (bad).
Not a good start. Saturated fat is not bad and this clearly demonstrates she is following the AMA and the USDA food pyramid recommendations which we know are not very accurate or entirely correct and in many cases, dangerous. We will see as I keep reading but so far, not very encouraged. UPDATE: reducing to 1 star. Garbage and outdated info. Recommends polyunsaturated fat over saturated and even monounsaturated fat- manmade seed oils are NOT good for us at all. Canola and sunflower oils are GMO and very bad for the liver. RETURNING. Bad bad bad advice in this.

Most people who have an interest in this would not want it filled with propaganda which this new revised version is. They list harmful things like man made chemical sugars etc saying it’s good for cooking. I was so shocked at this revised version. Most people wanting herbal solutions don’t want chemical solutions in this book. So crazy they would revise this.

Most people who have an interest in this would not want it filled with propaganda which this new revised version is. They list harmful things like man made chemical sugars etc saying it’s good for cooking. I was so shocked at this revised version. Most people wanting herbal solutions don’t want chemical solutions in this book. So crazy they would revise this.