Let's Have Healthy Children [Paperback]

Adelle Davis (Author), Marshall Mandell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1981

LET'S HAVE HEALTHY CHILDREN by Adelle Davis, revised by Marshall Mandell, M.D. 1981 8th Printing, Mass Market Paperback 396 pages. Signet Publishing

Product Details

• Paperback: 386 pages
• Publisher: Signet (1981)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451111281
• ISBN-13: 978-0451111289
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #89,090 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is a must-read for pregnant women, August 23, 2005

By 

K. Martell "kjm" (Florida, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Let's Have Healthy Children (Paperback)

Adelle Davis knows what she is talking about - every remedy in this book for the aches and pains and many discomforts of pregnancy works when you apply it. A friend who had just had a baby gave me this book when I was about 6 months pregnant. I went from being nauseaus every day for 6 months, with swollen feet, aching back and limbs, unable to sleep, to feeling comfortable and sleeping well by applying the nutritional principles in this book. There is so much great information in here that so many people are completely unaware of - I'm ordering a third copy now for another pregnant friend. I have also given this book to a friend who had been trying to conceive for 2 years. Highly recommended!!!

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Be Careful: Research the Author, January 11, 2006

By 

JW (Illinois) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Let's Have Healthy Children (Paperback)

From quackwatch.com

"At the 1969 White House Conference on Food and Nutrition, the panel on deception and misinformation agreed that Davis was probably the most damaging source of false nutrition information in the nation. Most of her ideas were harmless unless carried to extremes, but some were very dangerous. For example, she recommended magnesium as a treatment for epilepsy, potassium chloride for certain patients with kidney disease, and megadoses of vitamins A and D for other conditions.
...
In 1971, a four-year-old victim of Davis's advice was hospitalized at the University of California Medical Center in San Francisco. The child appeared pale and chronically ill. She was having diarrhea, vomiting, fever, and loss of hair. Her liver and spleen were enlarged, and other signs suggested she had a brain tumor. Her mother, "a food faddist who read Adelle Davis religiously," had been giving her large doses of vitamins A and D plus calcium lactate. Fortunately, when these supplements were stopped, the little girl's condition improved.

Little Eliza Young was not so fortunate. During her first year of life she was given "generous amounts" of vitamin A as recommended in Let's Have Healthy Children. As a result, according to the suit filed in 1971 against Davis and her publisher, Eliza's growth was permanently stunted. The estate of Adelle Davis settled in 1976 for $150,000.

Two-month-old Ryan Pitzer was even less fortunate [4]. According to the suit filed by his parents, Ryan was killed in 1978 by the administration of potassium chloride for colic as suggested in the same book. The suit was settled out of court for a total of $160,000-$25,000 from the publisher, $75,000 from Davis's estate, and $60,000 from the potassium product's manufacturer. After the suit was filed, the book was recalled from bookstores, but it was reissued after changes were made by a physician allied with the health-food industry.
...
In 1972, a group of distinguished nutritionists had an opportunity to ask Davis to indicate what scientific evidence backed up many of her speculations. Like most food faddists, she did not base her ideas on such evidence. To question after question, she answered, "I will accept your criticism," "I could be wrong" or "I'm not saying it does." [8] But she never told her followers that many of her claims had no factual basis or could be harmful.

Adelle Davis used to say that she never saw anyone get cancer who drank a quart of milk daily, as she did. She stopped saying that when she died of cancer in 1974, leaving behind her a trail of ten million books and a following that was large, devoted, and misinformed. Her influence has faded, but not to zero. In 2005, an 11-month-old boy who was raised on barley water and goats milk as recommended in Let's Have Healthy Children wound up with severe anemia due to vitamin deficiency [9]. The treating physicians said he was lucky to escape brain damage."

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars With precaution... this book is really good!, November 22, 2009

By 

C. McNutt - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Let's Have Healthy Children (Paperback)

I have used this book for all five of my pregnancies.I have 5 beautiful children. This book was written when there was very little knowledge of nutrients, and thus with what she had to work with is the best of what they had at that time. It is better than saying nutrition is all for nothing like the majority had back then. She like the mother of nutritional studies today. Yes, as time passed, new and improved information can help update that information. So with common sense- this book has been instrumental to me, as my nutrition before was very poor, until I found this book. It encourages me so that I east better, and have a better idea about how to feed my family. This book is really that good. I have been searching for a new copy of this book for the last four years as I lost my old one.It helps me get back on track.