The ABC Clinical Guide to Herbs

Rating:
Summary: Best of its kind!
Review: I saw this book prior to publication and was quite impressed. It is an authoratative resource for both healthcare professionals and individuals wanting to utilize botanical medicines as part of their self care. I find especially of value their review of clinical studies.

Rating:
Summary: A potentially useful book if
Review: In fairness to the authors, this is a potentially useful book if you do not have any other books by Mark Blumenthal and you do not subscribe to periodicals by the American Botanical Council. It is far from the best of in its field, because it is given to restating the vocabulary rather than giving meaning, as in this description of milk thistle:

Hepaptoprotective; reduces serum gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) and transaminases (ALT, AST), reduces triglyceride in serum; reduces malondialdehyde...

This is simply the ploy used by herbalists with a more limited grasp of technical terminology. One herbalist might say, "flushes the liver," which is meaningless, while these herbalists say, "reduces serum gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase," which is meaningless to most readers and of very limited clinical value to practitioners. Reduces GGT how? Through action on hepatocytes? By maintaining plasticity? By introducing variation in laboratory measurements without beneficials changes to tissue? Can we assume our patients are better if their GGT titers are reduced?

Dr. Blumenthal obviously reads and writes. He sees a scientific fact, rephrases it, and adds a citation. This may be impressive, but it isn't useful. And the focus is exclusively herbal. Physicians would be much better served to read Murray & Pizzorno's textbooks on naturopathy than this long vocabulary exercise.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Resource
Review: The ABC Clinical Guide to Herbs is an excellent resource for healthcare professionals and consumers alike. The information contained was compiled by a team of professionals including an MD and is the result of an exhaustive research of the available literature. The consumer section (called patient information sheet) contains a short and easy to read description of 29 most commonly used herbal products. The Clinical Overviews are written for physicians and other healthcare professionals and the Monograph is reserved for those who demand most detailed information about the respective herbal remedy. The book contains a wealth of information and is scientifically based.
I recommend it for anyone demanding straightforward and qualitative information about herbs.

Rating:
Summary: Valuable Pharmacy Resource
Review: This book should be on every pharmacy reference shelf whether it is in the corner drugstore or the hospital pharmacy. Herbal questions arise continuously in practice and very often the pharmacist does not have the information at hand. The sections in this book on pharmacological actions, clinical review, and clinical studies are especially valuable as these often do not exist in other herbal references. The information on clinical studies is displayed in a series of tables that are quick to scan yet are detailed. For Ginkgo there are six pages of clinical studies tables. Contraindications, adverse effects, and drug interactions are there also for each herb and there is just enough botany and chemistry to keep an academic interested. This book is thorough and yet concise. It covers the 29 best-selling herbs in the United States and the information on each plant is extensively referenced. I have recommended this book to my students and I am currently using it in my courses.

Rating:
Summary: Valuable Pharmacy Resource
Review: This book should be on every pharmacy reference shelf whether it is in the corner drugstore or the hospital pharmacy. Herbal questions arise continuously in practice and very often the pharmacist does not have the information at hand. The sections in this book on pharmacological actions, clinical review, and clinical studies are especially valuable as these often do not exist in other herbal references. The information on clinical studies is displayed in a series of tables that are quick to scan yet are detailed. For Ginkgo there are six pages of clinical studies tables. Contraindications, adverse effects, and drug interactions are there also for each herb and there is just enough botany and chemistry to keep an academic interested. This book is thorough and yet concise. It covers the 29 best-selling herbs in the United States and the information on each plant is extensively referenced. I have recommended this book to my students and I am currently using it in my courses.