ARTHRITIS: DON'T LEARN TO LIVE WITH IT

by Carlton Fredericks ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 15, 1981

Here Fredericks concentrates more or less on arthritis, and ends up with a special diet that most other nutritionists won't agree with, as well as some dubious extras. He airs his well-known gripes against established medicine for ignoring nutrition, and against other nutritionists who offer conflicting advice (""low cholesterol faddists,"" among others). Recent recommendations for improving the American diet, he feels, are too sweeping--not everyone should eat whole grains, cut down on eggs, etc.; rather, what to eat should be worked out on an individual basis. The arthritis diet itself is not totally dismissed, now, in ""establishment"" circles: it calls for the elimination of plants in the nightshade family (tomatoes, eggplants, potatoes, peppers), and suggests that there may be some vitamin/mineral imbalances in arthritis sufferers. But Fredericks doesn't stop there. He brings in other problems that may cause arthritic symptoms, or disorders that people with arthritis may also have (food allergies, hypoglycemia); and this practice, along with his lumping together of the different types of arthritis (osteo-, rheumatoid), makes for confusion. The inferences are sometimes shaky too: since 14 nations have ""better birth statistics"" than the US, says Fredericks, and since one of the signs of a good diet is whether it allows efficient reproduction, then there must be something wrong with the national diet (no mention of other factors involved). This diet has possibilities; but Fredericks' explanation is too unfocused, and involves too many suspect sidelights, to be a sound guide.

Pub Date: May 15, 1981

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1981

Categories: NONFICTION