Product Description

Now healthcare professionals can have the facts at their fingertips with The PDR for Nutritional Supplements, the first comprehensive, unbiased source of solid, evidence-based information covering a full range of nutritional and dietary supplements. And in addition, a clinical research summary synthesizes all the published findings on each supplement.

The PDR For Nutritional Supplements provides practitioners with the most current and reliable information to help them assist their patients in making more educated choices. This comprehensive volume will also help educate the consumer as to whether the many claims being made about hundreds of supplements are true, require more research, or are unsubstantiated.

The latest figures show that 75% of Americans are currently using nutritional supplements on a regular basis. These include:

· Vitamins
· Minerals
· Sports nutritional products
· Amino acids
· Probiotics
· Metabolites
· Hormones
· Enzymes
· Cartilage products

For the first time The PDR for Nutritional Supplements puts these facts at your fingertips, providing a comprehensive, unbiased source of solid, evidence-based information on a full range of nutritional supplements. And in addition, a clinical research summary synthesizes all the published findings on each supplement. This unique feature will become invaluable to you for day-to-day use. The PDR for Nutritional Supplements provides the most current, most reliable information to help you help your patients make more educated choices.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #518058 in Books
• Published on: 2001-03-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 700 pages

From Library Journal
The large numbers of Americans currently supplementing their regimen with various vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients need a reliable, research-based source of information on these supplements. The authors of this latest entry in the "Physician Desk Reference" series are well qualified to provide such a source: Hendler, a biochemist and physician, is author of The Doctor's Vitamin and Mineral Encyclopedia, while science and medicine journalist Rorvik has written several books on diet and nutrition. Augmented by various useful indexes, the text consists primarily of excellent, lengthy monographs giving information on trade names, supplement description and pharmacology, indications and usage, contraindications and precautions, possible adverse reactions, overdosage, dosage and administration, and how supplied (liquid, caplet, etc.). Claims proven, not proven, and disproven are summarized, with literature citations appended. Unlike other PDRR volumes, the descriptions are not based primarily on information supplied by the manufacturers but on analysis by the authors themselves. In addition, tables list the ingredients of multivitamins or vitamin/mineral tablets, as well as U.S. Food and Drug Administration phone numbers, a list of state Poison Control Centers, and common laboratory values. Recommended for drug reference and consumer health collections. Anne C. Tomlin, Auburn Memorial Hosp., New York
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
A growing number of people use nutritional supplements on a regular basis. Most common nutrients such as vitamin D and calcium have well-known, documented benefits, but others base their claims on highly speculative data. Those seeking objective, scientific information about nutritional supplements will find it in the newest addition to the PDR family. It offers a "concise yet, comprehensive overview of the entire spectrum of current nutritional products." Sheldon H. Handler, a physician with a Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology, and David Rornik, a science and medicine reporter for Time magazine, have written 200 monographs covering approximately 1,000 products.

Like the other PDR volumes, this one begins with a series of indexes: supplement name (common/generic name); brand name; category (e.g., probiotics, vitamins); indications (therapeutic or preventive purpose); side effects (potential adverse reactions); interactions (problems when used with other drugs, herbs, foods, or supplements); companion drugs (supplements that may be used in conjunction with prescription drugs to reverse adverse effects, relieve symptoms of the illness, or treat complications); and manufacturers. The "Companion Drug Index" is a unique and very useful feature. There is also a product identification guide with color pictures. This is quite limited. Many popular brands (such as Centrum and NatureMade) do not appear.

The descriptive monographs are arranged alphabetically by supplement name. These entries include trade or brand names and a description of the product with emphasis on its chemical and biochemical importance for humans. They also cover the actions and pharmacology of the supplements, explaining what they do, how they do it, and why they may be used. A summary of the research about the product with the most significant findings, both pro and con, as well as information about contraindications, adverse effects, interactions, information about dosage and administration, and overdosage, is included also. Available product information about forms and dosages and relevan and citations from the literature complete the entries. Although the authors assume that readers have a basic knowledge of biochemistry, the monographs are accessible to lay readers, who will encounter less medical jargon here than they do in the other PDR volumes.

The PDR for Nutritional Supplements has several helpful tables that compare various calcium, iron, multivitamin, multivitamin-mineral, and vitamin B complex products. It also has a brief list of common laboratory test values and directories of poison control centers, drug information centers, and U.S. Food and Drug Administration telephone services. This new source fills a gap in reference collections even though it does not cover all of the popular products that are currently available. It is useful for public, academic, and health sciences libraries. RBB
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

From the Inside Flap
"In a part of the health field not known for its devotion to rigorous science, Dr. Hendler brings to the practitioner and the curious patient a wealth of hard facts. Easy reading, well referenced. A welcome addition to the classic PDR."

Roger Guillemin, M.D., Ph.D.
Nobel Laureate in Physiology and Medicine

"An important compendium of information, well referenced and properly conservative in its recommendations."
Richard S. Rivlin, M.D.
Vice President of Medical Affairs, Naylor-Dana Chair in Nutrition, American Health Foundation
Professor of Medicine, Weill Medical College, Cornell University

"Dr. Hendler has created an indispensable guide to the possible health benefits and risks of nutritional supplements. He sounds sorely needed warnings on potential side effects, interactions, and toxicity. Unprecedented in depth and authority, this book offers an unparalleled resource on a subject of crucial importance."
Brian S. Frid, R.Ph.
President and CEO, Retired Persons Services, Inc.

"The athletes of today need more information than ever about the supplements they're taking as they go for victory. As a physician in the forefront of those who truly understand the benefits of nutritional supplementation, Dr. Hendler provides us with the vital facts we need to make choices on a scientific basis, rather than an emotional one. America has been starving for this kind of reference…. Long overdue."
Bill Toomey
1968 Olympic Decathlon Champion and Member of the Olympic Hall of Fame
Vice-President, World Olympian Association

"Assaulted from every angle by strident nutritional claims, today's wary consumer is in greater need of reliable information than ever before. This important new volume supplies the unbiased facts quickly, concisely, with authority…. A beacon in the shadowy world of nutritional quackery and hype and an invaluable guide to the supplements that really work."
Susan Calvert Finn, Ph.D., R.D., F.A.D.A.
Clinical Professor, Ohio State University
Past President, American Dietetic Association

"This book is a timely and superbly written exploration of the dynamic field of supplements…. A brilliant presentation of complex information in a logical and appropriately critical manner."
Walter H. Glinsmann, M.D.
Fellow & Adjunct Professor, Center for Food and Nutrition Policy, Georgetown University
Past Associate Director for Clinical Nutrition, FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition

Customer Reviews

The Highest Quality Information
As a medical technician who helps advise patients with nutritional problems, I have read nearly every major dietary supplement guide that has been published in the last decade. This PDR is, by far, the best such guide I have found. The doctors I work with are equally enthusiastic about its in-depth analysis, full citations to the supporting literature and its refreshing objectivity. This is the first time, to my knowledge, that nutritional supplements have been accorded the same in-depth treatment given, in other guides, to prescription drugs. This book should be "must" reading for every doctor, dietician, pharmacist and for every lay person who wishes to intelligently share in the management of his/her own health. There has never been a resource like this before.

For those interested in herbal medicine, there is a separate PDR dealing with herbs; although I do not find the herbal PDR as useful as The PDR for Nutritional Supplements, which covers all the other nutritional/dietary supplements, as well as some of the active constituents of popular herbs, the herbal book is also better than most. Initially I wondered why Medical Economics, the highly respected publisher of the PDR series of books, did not combine the herbs with the other dietary supplements and cover all of them in one reference book. An editor at Medical Economics told me that had they done so they would have had to sacrifice much of the in-depth treatment they have provided--far in excess, as I have previously noted, of anything available in any of the other books--in order to squeeze all of the supplements discussed into one marketable tome. We can all be thankful that they did not do this. Both books are indispensable, as is every word in them.

What We've Been Waiting For!
With all the claims and hype about one supplement or another, it's very hard to know what is legit. This book answers the need perfectly. In one or two pages (occasionally more) it condenses the chemical nature of the supplement, claims made for it, laboratory and animal and human research, risks and precautions and doses. If there is no credible basis for the claims, it says so; if there is support, it says that, too! There are indexes by supplement name, brand name, categories, needs ("indications"), side effects, etc. This is a truly handy, useful, and solid reference guide. You'll be glad to have it!

Brim Full of Information
Tired of getting your supplement information from the vitamin shop clerk? This is state of the art stuff. Finally here is a book that both the lay person and the physician can safely turn to. The author has no axe to grind. He neither overstates nor understates, but is carefully objective in his presentation and allows the evidence to speak for itself. Dr. Hendler brings to his subject an open mind, wide ranging intelligence, and a rigorous training in all of the relevant disciplines. He refuses to be a shill either for entrenched medical orthodoxy or starry eyed alternative approaches. The result is a cornucopia of information.