Natural Ways to Digestive Health: Interfaces Between Conventional and Alternative Medicine

This book takes the reader on a fascinating journey through the digestive system with stopping points along the way from the esophagus to the lower intestines.

The gastrointestinal tract from mouth to anus is sometimes called a second brain, and though Holt prefers the term gut, that conception emphasizes the close relationship between body and mind. Holt wrote this informative book for the lay public and physicians because he feels that complementary medicine and natural remedies can play major roles in digestive health. He calls his approach "pluralistic medicine" and augments it with a humane attitude toward patients, doctors, and their problems. He deals clearly and sometimes wittily with disorders that aren't due to readily identifiable diseases or abnormalities of structure, and with what to look out for and how to treat and even avoid problems. He pinpoints problems that medicine as a social establishment and government create, such as denying the benefits of alternative medicine and making prescription drugs available over-the-counter, and he stresses that if you treat the gut well, it will generally cooperate. Tables and chapter summaries help make a wealth of information digestible. William Beatty
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Board-certified gastroenterologist Holt (The Natural Way to a Healthy Heart) sets the bar high in his foreword, stating that the "value of the book is to enlighten both the layperson and practicing physicians about emerging concepts in alternative medicine as applied to gastrointestinal disease." He presents his own holistic philosophy, "pluralistic medicine," or using what works from conventional and alternative medicine for functional gastrointestinal disorders. Holt focuses on digestive disorders attributed predominantly to an unbalanced lifestyle, with detailed, complicated explanations (without illustrations) of digestive disorders having their origin from the mouth to the anus. The format includes a description of the system, the disorder, and the conventional medical treatment, followed by alternative therapies. Holt often presents the alternative therapy superficially, along with an evaluation of its effectiveness. His book suffers from its attempt to reach both the general reader, for whom it is too technical, and the physician, who will find it too repetitive. Holt also tries too hard to be the broker between alternative and conventional medicine. His book concludes with a short list of recommended readings and resources. Consumer health collections would do better with Optimal Digestion: New Strategies for Achieving Digestive Health (Wholecare, 1999), edited by Trent W. Nichols, M.D., and Nancy Faass. Not an essential purchase. Lisa McCormick, Jewish Hosp. Lib., Cincinnati
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.