Some 30 years ago I had the opportunity to attend a medical conference and heard a presentation by Dr. Alan Gaby. Truthfully, this event marked a turning point in my career destiny for reasons that we will touch upon in this interview. But suffice it to say that I have a great deal of gratitude in my heart for the dedication to the art of medicine that so characterizes Dr. Gaby’s efforts over so many productive years.
Dr. Alan Gaby received his undergraduate degree from Yale University, his M.S. in biochemistry from Emory University, and his M.D. from the University of Maryland. He was in private practice for 19 years, specializing in nutritional medicine. During that time he developed a wide spectrum of innovations that remain in widespread use today.
He is past-president of the American Holistic Medical Association and has given expert testimony to the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine on the cost-effectiveness of nutritional supplements. He is the author of Preventing and Reversing Osteoporosis (Prima, 1994) and The Doctor’s Guide to Vitamin B6 (Rodale Press, 1984), and the co-author of The Patient’s Book of Natural Healing (Prima, 1999). Dr. Gaby has written numerous scientific papers in the field of nutritional medicine. He has been the contributing medical editor for theTownsend Letter for Doctors since 1985, and served as contributing editor for Alternative Medicine Review from 1996 to 2010.
Over the past 36 years, Dr. Gaby has developed a computerized database of more than 28,000 individually chosen medical journal articles related to the field of natural medicine. He was professor of nutrition and a member of the clinical faculty at Bastyr University in Kenmore, WA from 1995 to 2002. He has appeared on the CBS Evening News.
In 2010, Dr. Gaby completed a 30-year project: the textbook Nutritional Medicine. Dr. Gaby has culled more than 40,000 research studies and evidence from his clinical practice to create Nutritional Medicine, which discusses more than 400 different health conditions and disorders. It also contains 60 chapters on individual therapeutic agents (vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and other natural substances) including biochemical effects, clinical indications, signs and symptoms of deficiency, adverse effects, drug interactions, nutrient interactions, and dosage and administration. Chapters on fundamentals of nutritional medicine (including dietary fundamentals, food additives, reactive hypoglycemia, food allergy, “sublaboratory” hypothyroidism, and candidiasis) are also included.
Nutritional Medicine is a foundational cornerstone and should be on the desk of every healthcare practitioner, in my opinion. Importantly, we now have the second edition of Nutritional Medicine, which includes all of the information from the first edition with additions and modifications based on new research.
I encourage all of you to visit Dr. Gaby’s website where you’ll find sample chapters from this newly revised text.
