May 2023 MBR The Health/Medicine Shelf

The Health/Medicine Shelf

Understanding Osteoporosis
Naheed Ali
Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group
4501 Forbes Blvd., Suite 200, Lanham, MD 20706
www.rowman.com
9781538168141, $35.00, HC, 202pp

https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Osteoporosis-Introduction-Patients-Caregivers/dp/1538168146

Synopsis: With the publication of "Understanding Osteoporosis: An Introduction for Patients and Caregivers", Dr. Naheed Ali offers cutting-edge tips for anyone suffering from Osteoporosis and those who help them and informative overview of the essentials of treatment, symptoms, risk factors, and outcomes.

Osteoporosis is prevalent among aging women especially, but it can affect anyone as they age. Dr. Ali provides an useful overview of the disorder and its warning signs and risk factors. He also walks his readers through prevention strategies, common symptoms, treatment options, and potential outcomes for sufferers. Keeping caregivers in mind, too, Dr. Ali offers advice for both sufferers and those who love and care for them, to keep them safe.

Critique: Exceptionally well written, organized and presented, "Understanding Osteoporosis: An Introduction for Patients and Caregivers" is an ideal and unreservedly recommended DIY instructional guide that will prove to be an invaluable and appreciated addition to personal, professional, community, and academic library Health/Medicine collections in general, and as a primary textbook for Osteoporosis curriculum studies lists. Informatively enhanced for the reader with the inclusion of a two page 'For Further Reading' bibliography, twenty-six pages of Notes, and a six page Index, "Understanding Osteoporosis: An Introduction for Patients and Caregivers" is also available for students, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject in a digital book format (Kindle, $33.00).

Editorial Note: Naheed Ali, MD, PhD, (https://rowman.com/Action/Search/_/naheed%20ali) has more than 15 years of health-related publications to his credit. Dr. Ali taught at colleges in the US where he lectured on various biomedical topics and delivered over 2000 hours of live presentations. He is the author of numerous health titles from major publishers and his books have sold more than 20,000 hardcover copies. His writing has garnered glowing reviews from renowned physicians, nationally recognized review outlets such as Booklist, Publishers Weekly, Midwest Book Review, and from household name celebrities such as Dr. Andrew P. Ordon and boxing legend Evander Holyfield. Now a digital nomad, he currently freelances full-time as a health and wellness writer by way of www.HealthcarePropulsion.com

Fatal Jump: Tracking the Origins of Pandemics
Leslie Reperant
The Johns Hopkins University Press
www.press.jhu.edu
9781421446363, $32.95, HC, 520pp

https://www.amazon.com/Fatal-Jump-Tracking-Origins-Pandemics/dp/1421446367

Synopsis: Why do global pandemics happen? To address this question, we must delve into the world of pathogens that transcend their original host species and jump into new ones. Most pathogens fail to initiate infection or spread in the population when they jump. Only a few sustain onward chains of transmission, and even fewer sustain these indefinitely. Yet the rare pathogens that do make the leap have caused many of humanity's most dangerous infectious diseases.

With the publication of "Fatal Jump: Tracking the Origins of Pandemics ", veterinary disease ecologist Dr. Leslie Reperant investigates mysteries such as how African-originated monkeypox left its home continent, why COVID-19 could threaten measles control, and how pigs' fondness for mangoes enabled the deadly Nipah virus to spread.

She also shares behind-the-scenes insights into hugely destructive pathogens carried by rats, bats, ticks, and mosquitoes, as well as lesser-known vectors such as prairie dogs and camels. Drawing from the latest research, she then discusses whether we can predict these deadly jumps before they happen and what factors (including environmental change, population dynamics, and molecular evolution) enable a zoonotic disease to reach full pandemic status.

Rich with recent scientific discoveries and emerging theories, "Fatal Jump" spans a diverse range of disciplines, weaving their insights into a holistic view of infectious disease.

With new pathogens emerging at an alarming pace, "Fatal Jump" reorients our perspective on pandemics from a human-centered standpoint to the bigger picture. The reader will understand what actions are necessary to control emergence only by recognizing the increasingly global nature of human society and the connections between the planet's environmental health and our own health.

Critique: Deftly organized into three mains sections (The Origin of Plague; The Ghost of Plagues Past; Emergence), and an Epilogue (One Health and the Mad Hatter), "Fatal Jump: Tracking the Origins of Pandemics" is informatively enhanced for the reader with the inclusion of a two page listing of Acknowledgments, fifty-eight pages of Notes, and a twenty-page Index. Exceptionally well written, organized and presented, "Fatal Jump: Tracking the Origins of Pandemics" will have a very special value for readers with an interest in infectious diseases, the impact of ecology on viral and bacterial diseases, and environmental studies with respect to disease. While unreservedly recommended as an essential and core edition to personal, professional, community, and academic library Health/Medicine collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists, it should be noted that "Fatal Jump: Tracking the Origins of Pandemics" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $31.30) for medical students, academia, health care workers, governmental policy makers, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject.

Editorial Note: Leslie Reperant (https://press.jhu.edu/books/authors/leslie-reperant) is a doctor of veterinary medicine and earned a PhD in ecology and evolutionary biology from Princeton University. She has published her research on emerging infectious diseases in leading scientific journals, including The Lancet and Science.

Forbidden Knowledge
Terrance H. Young
The Dundurn Group
www.dundurn.com
9781459750685, $22.99, PB, 376pp

https://www.amazon.com/Forbidden-Knowledge-Pharma-Never-Prescription/dp/1459750683

Synopsis: Tens of millions of patients in North America take prescription drugs, but the safety of these drugs is often based on medical myths. We are led to believe that if a medication isn't safe, the government would never allow it on the market and that doctors would never prescribe a drug that isn't proven effective. Who controls these narratives? And do they always have the best interests of patients in mind?

"Forbidden Knowledge: A Self-Advocate's Guide to Managing Your Prescription Drugs" is an in-depth study of the enormous influence the pharmaceutical industry has over our health, as drug safety advocate Terence Young explores how those with the most to gain financially are also those who wield all the power in health care -- and withhold the knowledge that is critical to the safety of patients.

"Forbidden Knowledge" reveals the truth the non-specialist general reader needs to know about prescription drugs and what they can do about it. This comprehensive study will empower readers to partner with their doctor and talk openly and plainly about medications to help avoid serious adverse drug reactions.

Critique: Simply stated, "Forbidden Knowledge: A Self-Advocate's Guide to Managing Your Prescription Drugs" is a survival guide when having to deal with Big Pharma. Exceptionally well written, organized and presented, "Forbidden Knowledge" should have as wide a readership as possible and therefor is an especially and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, professional, community, and academic library Health/Medicine collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists. It should be noted that "Forbidden Knowledge" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $12.99).

Editorial Note: Terence H. Young (https://www.gravitas.ca/terence-young) is chair of Drug Safety Canada and a former member of Parliament. He currently resides in Ancaster, Ontario.

Eat Everything
Dawn Harris Sherling
BenBella Books
www.benbellabooks.com
9781637742594, $21.95, PB, 312pp

https://www.amazon.com/Eat-Everything-Additives-Emulsifiers-Reclaim/dp/1637742592

Synopsis: Carbs aren't causing your weight gain. Dairy may not be the reason for your upset stomach. And your liver isn't fatty because of the occasional hamburger. It's time to enjoy eating everything again -- and to reclaim our health along the way.

With the publication of "Eat Everything: How to Ditch Additives and Emulsifiers, Heal Your Body, and Reclaim the Joy of Food" offers a better alternative to complicated, minimally effective, and highly restrictive diets as physician Dawn Harris Sherling lays out compelling new evidence implicating food additives as the real culprits behind diet-related diseases and shares simple, actionable advice to heal.

We're constantly told to fear carbs, gluten, and dairy, and we turn to strict diets to solve our health problems. Yet Americans still have one of the highest rates of obesity and diabetes in the world, and millions suffer from digestive ailments like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

Digging into emerging research, Dr. Sherling realized it's not the foods but the food additives, especially emulsifiers, that are at the root of our problems. Our bodies can't digest them, but they feed our microbiomes and they're everywhere in the ultra-processed foods that make up about half of our daily diets.

In this refreshing and accessible guide, readers will learn: How to lose weight without a restrictive diet; Why so many popular ultra-processed foods are actively harmful to our bodies; How to navigate eating at restaurants -- for any meal or occasion; Tips for filling our grocery bags with real food; Why avoiding food additives is beneficial for our bodies and minds; How to embrace healthful cooking at home, with 25 delicious recipes

Dr. Sherling lays out the research on food additives and offers a straightforward guide to eating just about everything (yes, even bread, pasta, and ice cream!) without pain, worry, or guilt. This isn't just another restrictive diet in disguise; it's a call to rediscover our love of real food.

Critique: Highly recommended to the attention of any reader that has tried and failed to improve their health through trying out various dieting fads, "Eat Everything: How to Ditch Additives and Emulsifiers, Heal Your Body, and Reclaim the Joy of Food" is impressively informative, especially well written, accessibly organized, and thoroughly 'user friendly' in presentation. While readily available for personal reading lists in a digital book format (Kindle, $11.99), "Eat Everything: How to Ditch Additives and Emulsifiers, Heal Your Body, and Reclaim the Joy of Food" is an essential and unreservedly recommended addition to community and academic library Health/Medicine collections.

Editorial Note: After struggling with IBS herself, Dr. Dawn Harris Sherling's symptoms seemingly disappeared while in Italy. In an effort to help her patients and herself, Dawn began learning more about how food additives such as emulsifiers, thickeners, and stabilizers are wreaking havoc on our microbiomes and how eliminating them can reverse several diet-related diseases. Dawn currently sees patients at a clinic for the underserved in South Florida and teaches at the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University where she is a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine. (https://dawnsherlingmd.com)

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