3 out of 4 stars
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Health Myths, Tips and Tricks by Morton E. Tavel is a book for anyone looking for good, credible, general advice on how to improve their health. Dr. Morton Tavel is a retired physician specialised in cardiovascular and internal medicine. He was also a teacher at Indiana University School of Medicine. His book provides the reader several tips on how to improve overall health and quality of life, clarifies some health myths that are very common in our society and teaches people how to detect and avoid falling prey to health tricks and scams. Each of the book’s three sections (myths, tips and tricks) is organized in numerous small chapters and each chapter ends with a conclusion and a recommendation.
The book is an authentic general health guide. It covers a multitude of health-related topics such as weight loss, good foods and some we should avoid, the benefits of exercise, good and bad fats and their effects on health, sodium consumption, dietary supplements, artificial sweeteners, cigarette smoke inhalation, pain-killers, allergies, premature skin aging, energy drinks, GM foods, gluten, probiotics and health scams.
I enjoyed reading this book. I read a lot about health and most of the information was not new to me, but I love science and the tone of the book is very light and conversational which made this book very easy and fun to read.
This is a very good and interesting book, but I see a major flaw in it. The author demonizes all forms of non-traditional medicine in an exaggerated way and completely fails to inform people about the flaws and dangers of traditional medicine. First, the author considers practises such as acupuncture, yoga and meditation as dangerous scams. There’s still a lot to be studied about these practises but considering them dangerous scams is quite a stretch. Then when it comes to herbal remedies and supplements the author claims that they are ineffective and pose a very serious health threat. That’s not true. Studies show that St. John’s wort extracts containing hypericin are more effective than Xanax in fighting depression. I agree on the fact that supplements and herbal remedies aren’t harmless and that we should be cautious when using them, specially if we are taking any prescription drugs, as bioactive compounds can interact with conventional drugs and cause serious harmful effects. But when used responsibly and if they come from a trusted source they are way safer than conventional drugs. The fact is that out of 100 million people who take natural supplements only about 10000 experience serious harmful effects. So, if we use an herbal remedy there’s a 0,01% chance that we will get hurt. On the other hand, 170 million Americans take prescription drugs. Of those, 2.7 million experience severe reactions. That’s a 1.5 % chance that a prescription drug will cause harm. For new drugs (drugs that are on the market for less than five years) there’s a 20% chance they will cause serious harm. About 128000 people die from drugs prescribed to them every year against 100 from dietary supplements. Prescription drugs pose a major health risk. They are the 4th leading cause of death according to Harvard. Why is this not in the book? Why are the flaws and dangers of conventional medicine not mentioned at all in book? Doctor Tavel fails to tell people about the fact that many conventional drugs and medical treatments are much more likely to kill than to help a patient. Statins, common drugs used to lower cholesterol, are five times more likely to cause us harm than to treat us. I would have loved to see a chapter informing people about these facts and another one explaining important concepts such as the number needed to treat so that patients can make informed medical decisions regarding their treatments. Other than this, the only defects I see are formatting errors on page 48 and 123 and resveratrol is misspelled on pages 71 and 72.
I give this book a 3 out of 4. Although there are some flaws, the advice in the book is good and scientifically correct. The language used is very accessible and the book is very easy and even fun to read. Anyone who cares about their health will benefit from reading this book.
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Health Tips, Myths, and Tricks
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