Physician's Desk Reference for Herbal Medicines (Physicians' Desk Reference for Herbal Medicines)

"I'm a former practicing pharmacist, now a health promotion educator who must, for my lectures, keep up to date on the rapidly emerging information (peer reviewed research & commercial publications, internet, etc.) about medicinals, vitamins, minerals, supplements, herbs, natural remedies, etc. available to public with and without a prescription. My goal is to ferret out fact from fiction. I believe THE AMERICAN PHARMACEUTICAL ASSOCIATION PRACTICAL GUIDE TO NATURAL MEDICINES is a MUCH BETTER (a FIVE star) resource--especially since it's a 1999 publication that cites sources including German monographs that are basis of PDR. The description of APA Guide, on Amazon.com, does not do this book justice. Once I got PRACTICAL GUIDE TO NATURAL MEDICINES I no longer used PDR."
~ Written on 1999-05-02

"I'm not enthralled with it, but it is a decent materia medica with somewhat dated information. (The German Commission E was some time back.) It will doubtless be used by MDs as an authoritative source. Tends to be a bit conservative in application, warning against many good herbs which need to be used knowledgeably. The photos are all segregated from the text (like the drug pictures are in the normal PDR.) For general use, the illustrated Holistic Herbal by David Hoffman, Penelope Ody's Complete Medicinal Herbal and Andrew Chevallier's Encyclopedia of Medicinal Plants are better values. If you are a herbal practicioner who needs to interact with MDs, the Herbal PDR is useful."
~ Written on 1999-04-22

"This "PDR" may excite a few biochemists and hard-core pharmacists, but it has little real clinical value for practicing physicians other than bibliographies for each item. See Practical Guide to Natural Medicines by the American Pharmaceutial Information. It is about half the price and far more clinically helpful."
~ Written on 1999-04-04

"This book is a major disappointment.It's not that there isn't alot of information presented,but rather that the people at PDR took the simple way out and seem to have just literally translated the German version.The problem with that is seen when one tries to look at dosages and dosage forms.Instead of,for example,getting the most common preparations and practical doses for St.John's Wort or Kava Kava available in this country,you get a description of dosage forms not available in stores here.This is a major shortfall for physicians and patients actually trying to use herbals here.They missed a great oportunity."
~ Written on 1999-03-06

"An invaluable new resource for information on over 600 herbs, PDR for Herbal Medicines is one of the most comprehensive references of its kind. Drawing on the work conducted by Jöerg Grüenwald, a renowned botanist and expert on herbal medicines, as well as the German Federal Health Authority's Commission E, the government body which is widely recognized as having done the most authoritative evaluation of herbs in the world. PDR for Herbal Medicines also includes hundreds of herbs not reviewed by Commission E and provides detailed reference in support of its finding. Entries include: thorough description of the plant and derived compounds, summarized pharmacological effects of each plant; documented indications and a concise summary of other uses; any applicable precautions, warnings and contraindications; adverse reactions and overdose data; scientific and common English names; modes of administration and typical dosage; exhaustive literature citations and hundreds of color photographs for easy identification of herbs."
~ Written on 1998-12-29