NOW A WORD FROM OUR DOCTORS

By Frederic Golden

How does the medical establishment respond to Andrew Weil? Surprisingly mildly. Although many doctors resent his attacks and find some of his recommendations unscientific, most don't quarrel with the thrust of his teachings. Says Dr. James R. Allen, vice president of the American Medical Association: "There is a lot of very useful information in his books."

Indeed, Weil's advice to take vitamins, eat fruits and veggies, avoid fat-rich meat, exercise and reduce stress is now echoed by mainstream physicians. Even his catchphrase "spontaneous healing" has its analogue in medical canon. As an earlier Harvard grad, Dr. Lewis Thomas, once observed, "The great secret, known to internists...but still hidden from the general public, is that most things get better by themselves. Most things, in fact, are better by morning."

There is nothing particularly new or revolutionary about Weil's idea that the mind has the power to affect recovery. Doctors note that in trials of new drugs, as many as 30% to 40% of the participants improve even if they have got nothing more than sugar water. This "placebo effect," says Dr. John M. Weiler, an immunologist at the University of Iowa medical school, suggests a very real link between the immune system and the brain, even if scientists don't fully understand it.

But where the medical establishment parts company with Weil--at times angrily--is when he relies on folklore or anecdote to recommend particular nostrums. Dr. Graham Woolf, a gastroenterologist at UCLA-Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, takes issue with Weil's enthusiastic endorsement of garlic as an all-purpose cure-all. "There's no evidence," says Woolf, "that garlic does anything but make your breath smell."

Equally irritating to doctors is Weil's uncritical acceptance of testimonials from patients who report miracle cures from afflictions as serious as multiple sclerosis and AIDS. Did that aids patient who told Weil about his recovery, for instance, still have a high T-cell count a year later? Without such information, doctors say, these case histories are scientifically useless. "Where's his proof?" asks Iowa's Weiler. "If you have something novel, you have an obligation to show your studies."

Weil wins points from physicians for conceding that some alternative medicines (for example, electroacupuncture, intravenous vitamin infusions, magnet therapy) are humbug and that some of the products sold in health-food shops are worthless. They also appreciate that when patients show signs of cancer, he sends them straight to an oncologist.

But physicians detect a touch of gullibility about Weil, especially when he repeats unsubstantiated claims about the hazards of electromagnetic "pollution," the danger of pesticide-laced apples or the connection between toxins and degenerative ailments like Parkinson's disease. At best, scientists say, these are unproven suspicions. At worst, Weil is spreading scientific misinformation, as when he touts the herb milk thistle as a tonic for ailing livers or asserts that conventional medicine can't treat viral infections--ignoring the encouraging results of protease inhibitors in containing HIV.

But as many doctors acknowledge, there is a solid core of good sense in Weil's preaching. He's trying to integrate the best of Western medicine with respected older medical traditions, such as those of China and India. Perhaps his wisest counsel is that we take greater responsibility for our own well-being. That's good advice, no matter who's dispensing it.

--By Frederic Golden. Reported by Alice Park/New York

With reporting by Alice Park/New York