11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
What a phemonenal resource, February 16, 2006
This review is from: Colloidal Minerals and Trace Elements: How to Restore the Body's Natural Vitality (Paperback)
I did a search on Amazon a few months ago looking for material on colloidal minerals. What I came across was this excellent book by Dr. Marie-France Muller. Translated from French, this resource has an enormous amount of detail, information, and credibility. I was impressed immediately when I saw a listing of colloidal minerals, their properties and benefits, and in many cases, applications for their use.
This book is unique in that it provides a great amount of information without being overwhelming. Additionally, Dr. Muller provides a clear background on how we got to where we are today--from our poor soil, to the poor nutrition many of us face without even realizing it.
Specifically, I was fascinated by the section on Himalayan sea salt, its properties and amazing health benefits. I truly believe this is a "must read" for anyone interested in a healthy lifestyle devoid of drugs and gimmicks.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Informative - Convincing, July 4, 2007
This review is from: Colloidal Minerals and Trace Elements: How to Restore the Body's Natural Vitality (Paperback)
Read the book and developed a better understanding of the role minerals play in the human body, how to take them, what to take and some sources for mineral products. The only recorded deaths from Dietary Supplements in the USA are from mineral supplements (0,0001% of deaths) so taking them correctly is VERY important considering minerals are NECESSARY for health. Since much of the natural mineral content in the soil of the USA and elsewhere in the world has been leeched out, food grown in these soils are not as nutritious as they need to be for optimum health. Highly recommended. Am giving it for Christmas this year. (One product listed in the book `Ocean Plasma Isotonic Living Water and Ocean Plasma Hypertonic Living Water' - Health Canada advises consumers not to take as it contains unacceptable amounts of aerobic bacteria.)
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18 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Only a basic introduction of minerals in biomedical processes, August 22, 2007
This review is from: Colloidal Minerals and Trace Elements: How to Restore the Body's Natural Vitality (Paperback)
First, it is dubious when a Naturopath (ND) writes on a nutritional and biomedical topic, its big-time applied biochemistry. The author needs a detailed understanding of enzymatic pathways, immunology, metabolism, pharmacology and now genomics. Muller's book is an introduction to inorganic colloidal (minerals in micron particle size) chemistry and jumps to its role in chronic disease prevention, magically skipping over the details in a giant leap-of-faith. It may be adequate for the lay reader but not for the medical professional as recommended in the Forward by a teaching physician.
The meat on topic is in Chap 12 Colloidal Minerals: Sparks of Life and Chap 13 The Role of Trace Minerals, 5 and 14 pgs respectively (p105-125). The first half of the book is a generalized discussion on poor health due to poor diets, poor agricultural soils, over-refined processed foods, contaminated water, polluted air, agricultural pesticide residues and suicidal lifestyles (p37). The book's 3-page reference Note section has only 4 and 6 citations to substantiate the discussion. For Chap 12, there is only one small pamphlet by Tonita d'Raye on the same topic and three cites written in 1936 and excerpted in 3-page Appendix 1. For Chap 13, only one book by Victor Bott on Spirituality Healing (1996) by Muller's publisher and 5 cites in French and German. Not much meat.
A red flag is raised because the 3-page Forward written in 2005 by Joseph V Pergolizzi, Jr, MD is a part-time professor at the prestigious Johns Hopkins Medical School, Baltimore, Maryland and Editor-in-Chief of "Clinical Researcher," a clinical trial process journal. Pergolizzi is a partner of a small chronic pain / anesthesiology clinic in Florida. Dr Pergolizzi discusses NIH's Center of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) clinical trials in CAM. He cites seminal work done by David M Eisenberg and colleagues at Harvard Med School on usage trends by 2000 adults in a national CAM survey during 1990-97. Eisenberg's survey shows that 50-80% of Americans are using CAM with traditional allopathic medicine. And CAM is much cheaper.
While Pergolizzi recommends Muller's book because CAM is often self-directed, the lay reader and medical practitioner needs a book that specializes in trace minerals. Pergolizzi's intentions is well meaning, however this book has neither been updated nor is it comprehensive. The NIH on-line PubMed index is highly recommended to study the latest and most seminal articles, many with free-access in PDF format, otherwise major medical school library journal stacks.
There are many journal articles, with extensive references to prior work, on clinical trials using CAM modalities. Using scientific methods of the double-blind, placebo-controlled, multi-site studies complete with statistical analysis and epidemiological implications, CAM is establishing broad credibility with the health care system, replacing a few anecdotal patient's testimonials. Only with Federal NIH / NCCAM funding is it practical to undertake a clinical trial, as low-cost CAM at health food stores and clinics can not support a random controlled trial which costs millions and takes years. Important trials include Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Indian Ayurvedic Medicine (IAM), Native American and Herbal Medicine (NAM). NCCAM is charged with efficacy research in identifying diets and culture that have low chronic disease, phytonutritional mechanisms of ethnobotanicals, chiropractic and massage, biofeedback and body-mind energy healing modalities.
Using PubMed, the phytonutritional approach has much recent work reported on elucidating the fundamental mechanisms in a chronic disease course, some include small clinical trials. NCCAM sponsored research and large-scale randomized controlled clinical trials has taken this knowledge and experience to the next level.
NIH/CDC survey on Naturopathic ND practioners in Washington and Connecticut, CAM J (2004) 15496231. Telephone survey covered 1800 patient visits with 170 ND practitioners.
Secondly, last Chap 15 is a comprehensive listing (15-pgs) of chemical elements and brief role in human health and disease. Only 1 page in the book is devoted to vegetable sources of minerals (p74) mentioning sulfur in garlic. However Appendix 2 has nine pages covering Himalayan pink salt and treating disease. Himalayan salt uniquely has a high sulfur content (not mentioned by Muller). Vegetables also have high sulfur content in "thiol" phytonutrients, including onions (allium), broccoli (brassica or cruciferous) and mushrooms (fungi) families. By not mentioning phytominerals, the author is disingenuously presenting that inorganic, ionic minerals is the best form. This is blatantly is not true, else why are minerals complexed (chelated) with amino acids to enhance its bioavailability, to which Muller also only devotes 1 page (p48).
Thirdly, in Chap 14 Sources (13-pgs) and Appendix 3 Zeolites (6-pgs), one finally gets to apply colloidal minerals. Its dubious when only Utah salts and East European Slovakian clay are the best therapeutic colloids.
Lastly, Muller's book has no journal cites of her work. Biography: MD and PhD appears as psychiatry and psychology, switching to Naturopathic for the last 25 years.
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