What the Drug Companies Won't Tell You and Your Doctor Doesn't Know: The Alternative Treatments That May Change Your Life--and the Prescriptions That Could Harm You »

Michael T. Murray, N.D., is widely regarded as one of the worldÕs leading authorities on natural medicine. He has been featured on numerous television programs, including 20/20 and Dateline. He lives in Washington.

From one of today's leading authorities on natural medicine comes a provocative look into how the pharmaceutical and medical industries have created our current health crisis and a practical guide to the holistic treatments that may help you and your loved ones.

Modern medicine offers many wonders, but an ever-present reliance on medications to cure what ails us is at the core of America's health crisis. Drawing on more than thirty years' worth of scientific research, Dr. Michael T. Murray has assembled irrefutable evidence that the pharmaceutical treatments for the most common diseases that plague our society are often ineffective and result in serious, widespread side effects -- the existence of which is frequently hidden from the public.

What the Drug Companies Won't Tell You and Your Doctor Doesn't Know offers a close look at the way that the American healthcare system has evolved in the last fifty years and examines the roles of the FDA, the pharmaceutical monopolies, and the medical community in producing what has become a failing healthcare system with little accountability. Dr. Murray illustrates how a nationwide dependence on pills has hobbled health in America and resulted in a national wellness epidemic as lifestyle, ignorance, and politics collide in our medicine cabinets.

At a time when adverse reactions to over-the-counter and prescription drugs are currently estimated to kill more than 100,000 Americans a year (making this the fourth leading cause of death in the United States behind cancer, heart disease, and stroke) and when Americans use more than 40 percent of all of the prescription drugs produced in the world each year (according to the World Health Organization) yet are forty-second in terms of life expectancy, we must radically reevaluate the way that we take care of ourselves.

Both a call to arms and a practical guide to the natural treatments that could revolutionize both your health and the well-being of the entire nation, What the Drug Companies Won't Tell You and Your Doctor Doesn't Know provides clear guidance on the steps needed to help you lead a fitter, happier, and healthier life.

Prologue 1

1 A Matter of Trust—Making Medicine or Making Money? 7

2 The Number One Thing That They Don't Want You to Know 25

3 An Overlooked Goal of Healing— Removing Obstacles to a Cure 39

4 Functional Medicine Versus The Treatment Of Disease 57

5 Is Symptom Relief A Path to Bad Medicine? 77

6 Creating a Market Versus Providing A Cure 101

7 Exploiting the Cholesterol Myth 127

8 Drugs Are Less Powerful Than Our Attitude 155

9 Drugs Cannot Overcome a Poor Diet Or An Unhealthy Lifestyle 179

10 Looking Behind the Headlines and Through the Bias 213

11 How to Get Well 229

Appendixes

Appendix A Are You An Optimist? 263

Appendix B Osteoporosis: Risk Assessment and Recommendations 275

Appendix C Hunger Free Forever Program 279

Appendix D Dietary Supplements for Diabetes and High Blood Pressure 285

Appendix E Glycemic Index, Carbohydrate Content, And Glycemic Load of Selected Foods 289

Appendix F What to Look for in a Multiple Vitamin and Mineral Supplement 299

Notes 303

Index 327