Vitamins, Herbs, Minerals & Supplements: The Complete Guide [Paperback]

H. Winter Griffith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1998

After 21 printings and 120,000 copies in print of the first edition, the stage was set for a complete and massive revision of this popular title.

Newly updated with all the information about the vitamins, herbs, minerals and supplements that are making news every day. Calcium, iron, potassium, echinacea, ginseng, St. John's Wort, vitamin C, vitamin E, amino acids, selenium, flax oil, green tea -- new uses are in the news and people want to know how they can benefit and prevent, cure or relieve their problems.

Dr. Griffith's Vitamins, Herbs, Minerals & Supplements: The Complete Guide gives people what they are looking for in unique, at-a-glance chart formats. Clearly written and up-to-date, no other book on the market covers this subject so completely.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Whether you want information about herbs, vitamins, minerals, or other supplements, Griffith's at-a-glance charts will have the answer. An easy system of icons allows readers to find what they want instantly. A glossary and bibliography complement this tool, although references are not correlated to entries.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

H. Winter Griffith, M.D., received his medical degree from Emory University in 1953 and spent more than 20 years in private practice. At Florida State University, he estabilshed a basic medical science program and also directed the family practice residency program at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital. After moving to the Southwest, he became associate professor of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. He devoted most of his time to writing medical-information books for general readers.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 504 pages
• Publisher: Perseus Books Group; Revised edition (December 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1555611656
• ISBN-13: 978-1555611651
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,602,977 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding, easy format, separates fact from fiction!, January 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Vitamins, Herbs, Minerals & Supplements: The Complete Guide (Paperback)

After browsing through several so called "Alternative Medicine" books that tout claims about this melon curing cancer, and this oat grass treating heart disease, I was pleasantly surprised to find that this book by Dr Griffith made it a point to separate POTENTIAL benefits from KNOWN benefits, so that I at least knew where I stood. Additionally, this book, unlike others, contains information about Vitamins, herbs, minerals and supplements, so that I only had to purchase one book instead of three to get the same amount of information.

36 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars seemingly good reference, but..., March 14, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Vitamins, Herbs, Minerals & Supplements: The Complete Guide (Paperback)

Lay-out of this book is good, but that's it. Most of descriptions are done by "copy & paste". It does not contain any "recommended daily dosage", and fails to include some popular nutrients such as quercetin, nettles, and so on. Not-recommended.

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Why was this book written?, July 4, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Vitamins, Herbs, Minerals & Supplements: The Complete Guide (Hardcover)

We (a class of about 20) used this book in a Nutrition Class. This was one of two books recommended for reference for in-class discussions. We would talk about something and then look it up in one of two or three books we had and someone would read the data. I would say that if we took an opinion poll of the 20 folks in the class, they all would say they were frustrated at the lack of "how to use", "when to use" information in this book. In fact the book goes a long way [or is it's main theme seems to be to Warn us of the dangers of the herb, mineral and supplements]. I can completely see that a Doctor wrote this and is protecting himself from lawsuit being excessively careful in the discussion. However, I don't understand the reason why this book was written in this fashion. It's marginally useful - low scale of usefulness. There are better books.

To me it apperared that the doctor that wrote this book never practiced dispensing the material for healing purposes - he just wrote this book as a "translation" of medical information. No indication was given if the author is an opponent or proponet of alternative medicines.

The bottom line is that the book was all but useless to us in our Nutrition Class...where we were working towards a "practitioner" level.

The sections are heavily weighed to show "Warnings and Precautions", "Overdose/Toxicity", "Adverse Reactions or Side Effects". In fact they could shrunk the book by 1/2 as most of the text was related to warnings and it droned on with the exact same warning text in pretty much every thing that was discussed. A symbol to reflect the dangers could have been posted to each item.

Who is this book good for? The book is [relatively] cheap so anyone wanting to start out in getting the "vocubalary" of this type of information = names of supplements, minerals, and herbs - their origin - alternate names and latin names and a very brief [one or two words] on when to use. If nutrition or healing is but a passing fad to you, you'll do ok with this book - it'll bore you sufficiently to pass on the subject.

If you are even the least bit serious about learning or understanding herbs and supplements and want to try and experiment with these, then DO NOT get this book - it will not help you - you won't learn dosages or how to make a tea or an infusion with this, what it looks like, when to use, how to get access or how it's taken [pill, liquid] look elsewhere, there are much much better texts for the "practical" people.

An alternate book could be "Prescription for Nutritional Healing" found as a customer-reference in lots of health food store. It's written for the same audience but conveys acutal and practical information. [This was our other in-class reference, by the way].

Also, don't hesitate in buying a book solely on Herbs, then one on Minerals and then one on Supplements - the data will be more useful that way. Some books come with pictures so you can identify Herbs or the sources of Supplements.