Homœopathic Links 2014; 27(1): 59
DOI: 10.1055/s-0033-1351008
BOOK REVIEWS
Sonntag Verlag in MVS Medizinverlage Stuttgart GmbH & Co. KG Stuttgart · New York

Jane Higdon, Victoria J. Drake: “An Evidence-based Approach to Vitamins and Minerals”

Contributor(s):
Joseph Rozencwajg , New Zealand
Further Information

Publication History

Publication Date:
20 March 2015 (online)

Why would homeopaths need a book on vitamins and minerals?

Because many complaints, symptoms and signs, especially in the “modern” polluted western world, originate from either a lack, or an imbalance, or an overdosing of vitamins and minerals. I have witnessed many times that once the nutritional status of a patient is assessed and corrected, many rubrics that were used to find a remedy suddenly can be discarded; the case becomes a lot clearer and finding a remedy that works becomes a lot easier, and not surprisingly, often that remedy has nothing in common with the one/ones that was/were unsuccessfully prescribed.

This is where this book comes in.

It is written by two members of the Linus Pauling Institute, an organisation that has for a long time fought the establishment and tried to promote nutritional therapies. It covers all the vitamins from A to K and most of the minerals, but unfortunately some important ones like boron and vanadium have been neglected. For each one, their actions, indications, contraindications, presence in foods, possible toxicity and interactions with other supplements and conventional drugs are explained, based on the research and experiments made in laboratories and hospitals, using peer-reviewed official publications. This ensures that no one in the conventional allopathic field will have any claim to contradict any treatment based on the contents of this book, but at the same time it leads to what I see as a serious problem. Quite a number of those “research papers” have been written using what real nutritionists consider as invalid substances. For example, vitamin C is often equated to ascorbic acid, without the bioflavonoids: we know this is not the real vitamin; the vitamin E used in many publications is often the artificial dl vitamin E that not only has a lesser activity than the natural d form, but the l form is in fact toxic, which is never mentioned in the book. The dosages are also pretty conservative, but that is another subject of discussion.

That being said, this book is still an excellent and safe reference. Following its guidelines will never get any practitioner in trouble, as long as there is awareness that a lack of response might be simply corrected by a change in dosage or in manufacturer.

There are two excellent and important appendices: nutrient-nutrient interactions and drug-nutrient interaction.

There are indeed other nutritional books easier to read, as this one is very densely packed with biochemistry and physiology that might not appeal to everyone. Nevertheless, I would recommend this one as a reference that would be acceptable by all types of practitioners as a baseline at least. It is solid, safe, interesting, can be used on its own as the sole nutritional instrument in your practice or as the starting block for gathering more information.

Well worth having.