Examining Alternative Medicine : An Inside Look at the Benefits and Risks

Herbal therapy. Homeopathy. Acupuncture. Energy healing. Yoga. Therapeutic

touch.

These are just a few of the many new health care alternatives that have recently

joined the more established practices of chiropractic care, massage, weight-loss

programs and vitamin therapy. Today alternative medicine is not only mainstream

but also very big business.

Some surveys show that there are as many patient visits to alternative health

care providers each year as to traditional providers. Two of the best-known

advocates of new perspectives on health, Andrew Weil and Deepak Chopra, each

sell millions of books and enjoy prime-time media attention.

How should you evaluate these new options? Is alternative health care simply a

fad--or is it here to stay? What are the benefits and risks of nontraditional

therapies? Do some health care alternatives have spiritual underpinnings at odds

with Christian faith and practice?

Medical doctor Paul Reisser, former alternative health care practitioner Dale Mabe

and writer Robert Velarde team up to answer these questions in Examining

Alternative Medicine. Sound, frank and even-handed, their book is essential

reading for anyone seeking new roads to health.

Reisser, M.D., has practiced family medicine in southern California for more

than twenty years. He recently served as chief of staff at Los Robles Regional

Medical Center, and he is primary author of The Focus on the Family Complete

Book of Baby and Child Care (Tyndale). Mabe, D.O., currently practices family medicine in North Carolina. Previously he

served on the faculty of the Oklahoma State University College of Osteopathic

Medicine. He has also served on the staff of one of the largest holistic health clinics

in the South. Velarde, a writer and editor based in Colorado Springs, Colorado, is primary

author of The Power of Family Prayer. He is pursuing graduate studies in

philosophy of religion at Denver Seminary.