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Reviews
By Steven Eggleston, DC
Title: Handbook of Preventive and Therapeutic Nutrition
Author: James M. Gerber, MS, DC
Publication: Soft cover, 419 pages, $34
Publisher: Aspen
Category: Patient care
See #T-155 on the Preferred Reading and Viewing List, pages XX, for
ordering information.
When you see an interesting article on nutrition for a specific illness
or injury, do you keep it? Does most of your information about nutrition
come from the supplement sales people? Would you like a handbook of treatment
protocols that includes effective supplements, foods to avoid, and dietary
recommendations and the reason all these things are effective?
If the answer is yes to any of these questions, this book is an absolute
MUST. It is so simple to use. Just look up and condition like anemia,
arthritis, atherosclerosis, diabetes mellitus, food allergy, GI disease,
hypertension, migraines, PMS, or a host of others. Dr. Gerber has
outlined the clinical features, therapy and management, and not only the
proper foods and nutrients, but the reasons they are considered
helpful. The book is so complete and understandable that you could
photocopy a page and give it to the patient.
Another very useful section covers macro/micronutrients, filled with
charts and statistics about dietary fats, fiber, vitamins, minerals,
amino acids and much more. For example, here are some of the things you
can learn about tryptophan. The therapeutic claims include
effectiveness for: insomnia (1-3 grams taken with a
high-carbohydrate/low protein snack 45-60 minutes before bedtime); pain
sensitivity (3 grams/day with a high carbohydrate diet effective in
moderate but not severe pain); and emotional/personality disorders
(limited evidence, may be effective for depression, mania, and
aggressive behavior.) Research shows tryptophan uptake into the brain
is enhanced by ingestion with carbohydrates.
What about the contraindications? This book has them, too. A dose of
4-5 grams/day of tryptophan may cause liver damage, and it is
contraindicated in patients taking fluoxetine hydrochloride (Prozac).
There are also reports of fatigue and reduced vigor.
Dr. James Gerber (Western States Chiropractic College) has written an
excellent book. It is a reference book that is easy to use and the index
is thorough. I must say that since reading the book, I now give my
patients much more specific and detailed answers to their questions
about nutrition. When a question is asked, I just reach for the book
and in five seconds I have the answers.
Another profitable use for the book is in the reception room. It is so
easy to read, patients who pick it up often ask if they can buy some
supplements from us. It increases the patient's awareness of the
importance of vitamins and that helps the office too. This is one of
the two books I use on a regular basis (the other is Food As Medicine by
Dr. Earl Mindell). I wholeheartedly recommend Dr. Gerber's book and
thank him for writing it.
Eggleston Rating: 10
Judy Silvestrone, DC
Title: "The Biological Continuum"
Author: Joseph Dockery, DC
Publication: Poster, $25.00
Publisher: Self-published
Category: Patient education
The poster "The Biological Continuum" is a written and visual
representation of the health spectrum from optimal wellness to chronic
illness, with cycles of dysfunction demonstrated along the continuum.
Large colored cyclic phases are used with pertinent phrases and terms
appended in colored "balloons," embellished with butterflies and capped
overall with an abstract sun/sphere/horizon motif. It is of moderate
size (17" wide X 36" high), making it suitable for framing, but because
of its atypical size, framing may be at an immoderate price.
The first "safety-pin type loop" indicates causes for departure from
wellness. These causative factors are demonstrated by balloon captions
and include subluxation, stress, and injury, among others. The next
phase illustrated is that of "dis-ease and disharmony." Adaptations
required by the body (e.g., "strong defense/immune system needed"), and
dysfunctions contributing to dis-ease (e.g., "body parts functioning at
100%"), are again balloon-captioned. There is a problem with consistency
of intent, tense, and derivation of the phrases which are captioned.
The inclusion of two causes and one effect of bodily disharmony make for
a confusing mixture of metaphor.
The third loop illustrates the end stage on the spectrum of symptoms and
disease. Captions here are: "... itis, ... osis, ... oma and
syndromes." This final stage of chronic illness on the continuum is
extremely vague and grossly oversimplified. This phase is also not
loyal to its cited source, Dr. Virgil Strang's publication, Essential
Principles of Chiropractic, as the end of the continuum is "death" in
the text, rather than "chronic illness" as noted on the poster.
Additionally, Dr. Strang's book not only delineates the cycles along the
continuum, but emphasizes the importance of knowing the direction that
the patient is moving within that cycle and along the continuum.
Although all stages are portrayed as loops on the poster, there is no
information provided regarding the regression or reversal direction for
each cycle. Questions as to how stress or subluxation may be
counteracted, what happens when immune function is increased, or how the
chronic "... osis" or "... itis" may be reversed remain unaddressed. If
these are to be depicted as "loops," then vital information is absent.
In summary, Dr. Dockery's poster is an adequate jumping off point for
discussion of the health continuum, but misses the larger vision of the
"state of the organism" or "survival value" by oversimplification and
omission. Although the poster refers to the constant state of flux of
health status, it fails to show the route back toward optimal wellness
and the important recognition of subclinical dis-ease for promotion of
wellness care.
Silvestrone Rating: 5
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