Book Review by G. Douglas Andersen, DC, DACBSP, CCN

First, I will tell you what Clinical Nutrition: For Pain, Inflammation, and Tissue Healing is not - a rehash of the vitamin alphabet, a nutrition book for the layperson, or a cookbook that describes "give supplement A for condition B."

This work is a synopsis of the well-known chiropractic nutritionist/neurologist David Seaman's life's work so far. It contains in-depth scientific discussions of Dr. Seaman's biological models and theories of how foods can affect the chemistry of pain, inflammation, and tissue repair. Dr. Seaman makes an interesting association of how so-called anti-arthritis, anti-candida, anti-heart disease, and anti-cancer diets have many more similarities than differences, including the common theme that they all tend to be anti-inflammatory in nature.

The book opens with the author's complete discussion of nociception and the subluxation complex, bits and pieces of which have appeared in popular chiropractic press publications over the past few years. In the second half of the book, Dr. Seaman includes his'"nutrition education for patients" lecture/slide show. It is a 40-page, step-by-step nutrition talk for the chiropractor who performs public speaking. Finally, Dr. Seaman includes reprints of his three JMPT articles on the science of proprioception, joint complex dysfunction, and pain generation.

As we all know, nutrition can be controversial, and Dr. Seaman does not shy away from any controversies. For example, he attacks popular liver detoxification programs with a very powerful and well-referenced argument. He also makes an excellent case that many people who are diagnosed with candida overgrowth problems do not suffer from candida disorders, but in fact have symptoms generated by excessive pro-inflammatory food choices. In a book that includes 866 references in the 167 pages of text, I did find it curious that Dr. Seaman advocates food combining based on only one reference, which is cited as a "personal communication."

I recommend this book to those practitioners who are interested in nutrition and want a biochemical foundation for commonly encountered conditions. Doctors who are not experts in nutrition will also benefit from this book, especially the lay lecture in part two.

Dr. Andersen's Rating:

9 out of 10