Earl Mindell's Food as Medicine: What You Can Eat to Help Prevent Everything from Colds To...

Mindell ( Earl Mindell's Vitamin Bible ), a professor of nutrition at Pacific Western University, is well known for his health advisories. Here he concentrates on food as ``strong medicine''--a means of preventing, alleviating, and maybe even curing some maladies. Always systematic, the author outlines types of vitamins and chemical compounds found in food that can serve useful purposes (e.g., capsaicin, an anti-inflammatory that has aided treatment of headaches) before launching into a full-scale listing of the ``hot hundred'' foods, noted for their capacity to heal: salmon, low-cal and low-cholesterol, which ``may help retard the growth of cancerous tumors''; ginger, traditionally used to soothe upset stomachs, as well as the nausea induced by chemotherapy. Mindell goes on to survey illnesses and debilitating conditions, alphabetically, and provide appropriate dietary recommendations. For tooth decay, for instance, drinking green tea or chewing on cardamon seed after eating may be helpful. So is the book in general: clear, common-sensical, avoiding technical intimidation, Mindell is an agreeable authority. Author tour . (Jan.)