One parent may load a child up with Vitamin B6 and fish oil, while another eliminates all food coloring and “unnatural” food additives to help with attention deficits in their son or daughter. Still others swear by an all-protein diet, while others stress vigorous exercise morning and night.

Do these sorts of things help? How can physicians help parents sort through information and recommendations from so many sources?

Hurley pediatric adolescent medicine specialist Anju Sawni MD has a few answers on that. Sawni recently co-authored a chapter on attention deficit disorder for a major medical school textbook publisher.

“Attention Deficit Disorder” appears in Integrative Medicine, Fourth Edition, edited by David Rakel MD, published by Elsevier, Philadelphia, Pa., April 13, 2017. It also is part of the ExpertConsult.com series, which appears online.

Sawni, director of adolescent medicine at Hurley Children’s Hospital at Hurley Medical Center, is assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics and Human Medicine, Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, on the Flint Campus.

In Integrative Medicine, All of the chapter authors are experts in both traditional and integrative medicine. The evidence-based reference book uses a clinical, disease-oriented approach, with practical advice to reduce costs and improve patient care. The comprehensive resource includes therapies such as botanicals, supplements, mind-body, lifestyle choices, nutrition, exercise, spirituality, and more, according to the publisher’s website.

For clinicians, important features are the following:

• Focuses on prevention, wellness, quality of life
• Guides practitioners in incorporating complementary and alternative therapies, safely and effectively, into everyday practice
• Uses the Strength-of-Recommendation Taxonomy (SORT), familiar to those who read and use evidence-based information, which is known to be a reliable way to find “grades” on available evidence and relative potential harm
• Explains the best way to integrate therapeutic modalities into medical practice and explains the mechanisms behind them
• Each purchase includes Expert Consult™ eBook, so readers can have videos, tables, and references at their fingertips