User's Guide to Glucosamine and Chondroitin

by Victoria Dolby Toews

Book Overview

Explains how these supplements can help you overcome the pain of arthritis. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1591200059
• ISBN13: 9781591200055
• Release Date: January 2003
• Publisher: Basic Health Publications
• Length: 90 Pages
• Weight: 0.18 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 4.3" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

DON'T LET THIS BOOKLET BE YOUR ONLY SOURCE OF INFORMATION ABOUT GLUCOSAMINE & CHONDROITIN

If you are researching information about Glucosamine & Chondroitin & MSM for any reason I recommend that you read the booklet titled " User's Guide to Glucosamine & Chondroitin " by Victoria Dolby Toews, M.P.H. which is one of the few books on the subject. It comprises concise, clear, easily readable and understandable information for people who are not specialized in medicine. However, I highly recommend that you don't limit your research to this booklet and additionally find information on the internet from websites such as www.medicinenet.com, the websites of the University of Maryland Medical Center, Mayo Clinic, Wikipedia, Web MD etc. If you search under the names of Glucosamine & Chondroitin & MSM in those websites you will find many short and clearly written reports about the topic by various doctors who mention not only the benefits but also some likely side effects of Glucosamine & Chondroitin that have been too lightly mentioned in this booklet. It is vital that we non - doctors have complete and unbiased information about these supplements covering not only their benefits but also their side effects before we decide with our doctor in what doses to take them or whether to take them at all. This book falls short of meeting this need because although it provides very good information about the benefits of these supplements it seems to exaggarate the scope of these benefits and the safety of Glucosamine & Chondroitin. In her book Victoria Dolby Toews very clearly explains the structure, functions and diseases of joints in the human skeleton. She also gives important information about Glucosamine & Chondroitin and how they help cure osteoarthritis and build cartilage. She strongly supports the use of these supplements claiming that they are very safe. Moreover, she points out that pain relieving drugs such as non- steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs ( NSAIDs ) and aspirin are ineffective in curing osteoarthritis and may even further decay damaged cartilage in the joints. She also asserts that Glucosamine & Chondroitin are also effective in lowering cholesterol, curing kidney stones, eliminating snoring, alleviating migraine, dry eyes, curing ulsers, healing wounds etc. She claims that there are very mild and rare side effects experienced by people taking these supplements ( less than one percent ) such as constipation,drowsiness, edema, headache, skin reactions and in the case of Chondroitin a low risk of internal bleeding and 3 percent of users report nausea or stomach upset. She also states that people allergic to shellfish should not take glucosamine pills because that's what they are made of. If you analyze other reports by other doctors on the same topic from the web sites I mentined above you will see that there is somewhat agreement with this author's assertions. However, you will also notice some major differences with this author about the scope of benefits and severity and type of side effects. Firstly, I c