Mayo Clinic Book of Alternative Medicine, 2nd Edition (Updated and Expanded): Integrating the Best of Natural Therapies with Conventional Medicine

I respect the Mayo Clinic and wanted a reliable book that reviews many of the natural products touted on the market for a variety of ailments. This was it. It wades through much of it, and rates the remedies that are out there. Also, for each product there is information on what the research has shown. It's easy to read, and a great reference.

This is a very nice book -- helpful information and beautifully illustrated. However, I wish I'd noticed the 2010 pub date when I purchased it last year. There's a lot of new alternative medicine info and supplements that are not included in this edition, and some of the info has changed, thanks to newer research. It's a good place to start, but no longer definitive. My doctor suggested it -- but I wish there were an updated/revised edition.

I found so many foods that act as alternative medication in lowering cholesterol and LDL. They also reviewed many foods that were false myths. I would highly recommend this book for people that are looking to use alternative medications along with the medications that their Doctor has ordered. My Cardiolgist even recommended two of the medications in this book. They also have the research to back-up their findings!!

I found this book to be informative - gave it 3 stars because I knew most of this but was disappointed there was a lot that the Mayo Clinic didn't know about - and still said to talk with your doctor. Most doctors when you talk to them about herbs or alternative medicine they do not know anything - so how is a person going to get the correct information when no one really knows enough about herbs and their interaction with food or medications you take. Am waiting for some day when all will be known so we can make an informed medical decision.

There are better books don't waste your money. It is obvious that little research was done to put this book together. Most of the alternatives state that they need more study. Why do research when we can say everything needs more study and still get paid for doing very little. I get the feeling from reading that they want to scare people away from alternatives so they can push more pills. My Dr. admitted that the meds I take for one condition has given me high blood pressure so now I have to take more meds. Now I am trying to figure out which med has made me gluten intolerant.

Great book written by respected people in the field. Each section has a scientifically based, unbiased, explanation of the techniques of traditional care. The Mayo Clinic is an authority in health care and this leadership is expressed wonderfully by their openness to health care that has been used by humans for thousands of years. Moving forward from a system with many flaws, this is a great guide!

I had hoped that I would learn a lot about how to integrate herbal and dietary treatments with Conventional Medicine from the horses's mouth, so to speak. At first glance most of what is in the book were no-brainers for me already, like that there is no wonder drug to lose weight and that some herbs are dangerous. Only about a quarter of the book is devoted to dietary approaches. About one quarter is devoted to physical therapy approaches, another one quarter is devoted to treating relatively few specific ailments, and the final one quarter is devoted to selling you on typical physicians' advice like to lose weight and stop smoking.Eventually I widened my focus and read some of the parts I wasn't really interested in, such as acupuncture as practiced at the Mayo Clinic. I did learn something from those sections after all, even if it was only that I will never, ever do those things except in great desperation, so I am giving the book 4 stars instead of 3.

This was very interesting, and I learned a lot about complementary medical techniques. It was so interesting that I am attending the Elderhostel Road Scholar program at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester on the subject.

A reliable source of alternative medicine.Easy to read, well organized , I have used as a resource in my medical practice

Would have liked more information on specificate alternatives.

Was really dissapointed with this book. I thought it would be more along the lines of all the different herbs etc that could be used for remedies of common ailments, turned out it is pretty vague in that area. There is a ton of straight forward almost useless information here.