Reviewed By Susan Schenck

Author of The Live Food Factor

This book is destined to become a classic among those that shift the paradigm from toxic drug use to natural healing! It is very reader friendly for the layman. In the first chapter, Murray illustrates how the drug companies only care about money, not health. (When I first discovered this years ago, it was like finding out your mother had Munchausen's syndrome by proxy---a mental disorder in which moms poison their kids!)

Dr. Murray packs the chapter with shocking facts: Though the USA buys 40% of the world's drugs, we rank 42 in life expectancy. $57 billion is spent on marketing to MDs, and twice as much is spent on marketing as on drug research. Their research is suspect, since they hire for-profit research companies and are also able to suppress the research that doesn't show the drug as effective. In the last 20 years, 2 million have died from adverse drug reactions!

In chapter 2, Dr. Murray explains that the knowledge of the body as self-healing has been forgotten by doctors. He points out that many drugs are really little more than a placebo effect, harnessing the power of the patient's mind to heal the body. Murray teaches us how drugs merely relieve symptoms but absolutely do not cure. One can never heal without getting to the root of the illness. As an example, he had a patient with high blood pressure. Instead of giving him drugs, Murray learned the guy was jogging near the freeway, which made him breathe in lead. Once he switched to the beach, the patient's blood pressure normalized!

In several chapters, Dr. Murray takes us on a detailed journey of common health disorders (such as headaches, osteoarthritis, asthma and more) and points out the pitfalls and side effects of drug treatment and the simplicity and effectiveness of natural remedies. After that, he exposes the cholesterol myth and shows the more sinister side of drug companies, explaining that "six of the nine expert members of the government panel that drafted the new cholesterol guidelines had either received grants from or were paid consulting or speakers' fees by the companies that make some of the most popular statin drugs." He says that the levels of "normal" cholesterol were lowered just so more people would go on drugs! (There is a great deal of other shocking material like this in this book.)

Murray shows us many other gems, such as how we were scammed into taking SSRIs and obesity is a common side effect though it is STILL not listed as one. (Decades ago, I took Prozac and gained 40 pounds within MONTHS!) Dr. Murray points out that many drugs actually CAUSE the symptoms they are supposed to be treating, so you get addicted to them! Examples include headache medicine and NSAIDS used for joint pain (which destroy the cartilage!)  He also shows us how to critically analyze media stories that belittle natural remedies like fish oil or Saint John's Wart. He tops the book off with a detailed chapter on how to get well and stay well.

Though I have read hundreds of nutrition books (have even written one myself!) I was pleased to learn many new facts, such as that Vitamin D is anti-aging! I was criticized as being "negative" when I put exposed the drug companies in an appendix of my book, The Live Food Factor, but people need to be deprogrammed! I applaud Dr. Murray's courage to take on the medical establishment, and I hope this book gets into the hands of all doctors and patients, as well as health seekers everywhere!

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 (Atria Books/ 2009) by Michael T. Murray N.D.

Book Review: The Live Food Factor by Susan Schenck

Book Review: Detox 4 Women by Natalia Rose

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