Positive Health Online

This is a hugely informative book, well designed, clearly written, superbly illustrated and authoritatively referenced (28 pages of references, 100 to each page!). Dr Clayton, Ph.D., is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine and a former Senior Scientific Advisor to the UK government's Committee on the Safety of Medicines.

This book is divided into 4 parts: Part I – Why Disease Strikes, discusses factors underlying living a long and healthy life, malnutrition, the immune system and the battle against free radicals. Part II – The Defence Boosters, discusses antioxidants, flavonoids and isoflavones, fibre, essential fatty acids, coenzyme Q10, amino sugars, betaine and lifestyle factors of body weight, exercise, sex and cigarettes. Part III – Diets which Fight Disease, discusses nutrients which lower the risk of cancer, a comprehensive plan to prevent and combat heart disease, how to avoid and treat osteoporosis, diabetes, the role of nutritional supplements in maintaining healthy brain chemistry, and how to keep your skin young from within. Part IV – Diets which Promote Health provides you with an action plan for achieving maximum health using superfoods, nutritional responses to help counter the ageing process, a guide to selecting the optimum supplements and their dosages. Appendices detail the best nutrient forms and possible drug/nutrient interactions. In addition to the massive references, there is also a glossary.

This is a big book, almost 400 pages in extent, extremely eclectic in approach. One of its outstanding features is the visual presentation, with numerous tables, shaded boxes and clear cartoons, depicting fairly complex material in innovative ways to enable understanding, previewing highlights of controversies and suggesting ways to reduce the risk of prostate and breast cancer, for example. Summaries at the end of each chapter recapitulate the varied information contained.

As an information-packed book, Health Defence is superb; the one element sadly lacking in such a title is the personal view, describing individual therapeutic stories. This book deserves to be on every health professional's and general reader's bookshelf.