Author Patricia L. Yoder notes that her book is written principally as a tool for “chiropractors, alternative medicine practitioners and nutrition response testers,” to help with the arduous task of diagnosing the possible source of patient toxins.

In this book, Yoder offers a textbook-style listing of toxins and their possible adverse effects. The toxins range from chemicals and metals to various foods; adverse effects are equally wide-ranging, from rashes and hair loss to chronic fatigue syndrome and birth defects.

The compilation is daunting with its laundry list of toxic dangers found in everyday items: child car seats (antimony); pools and drinking water (chlorine); sinks/stainless steel appliances (manganese). Cardiac-affecting high fructose corn syrup is found in most processed foods. And readers may be surprised to learn that bread and pizza dough includes L-cysteine, a safe food additive that is often derived from Chinese duck feathers and human hair.

Yoder occasionally proposes simple solutions to toxin protection, such as including vitamin C in the diet to block harmful effects of acrylamide-containing grains and potatoes from its possible cancer effects. She also includes helpful lists of the sugar levels in fruits and notes that plastics indicated with recycling symbol 2, 4, and 5 are generally considered safe to use.

However, readers will want to do their own research to verify the information. For example, the author rejects childhood vaccines because of her belief that their mercury content causes autism. In fact, thimerosal (mercury) was removed from most routine U.S. childhood vaccines by 2001, due to public concern rather than scientific evidence of harm. Measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccines have never contained thimerosal.

Although the author has been a successful healthcare practitioner for years, she shares few of her own experiences and insights, which would make for a more interesting narrative.

Ultimately, the book is a mixed bag. It could help practitioners looking to identify root causes of patient health issues—but only if they use this as a launching pad to begin their own research.

Also available in hardcover and ebook.