TO YOUR HEALTH : BOOKS.

Byline: - Daily News Staff and Wire Services

``The Healing Power of Vitamins, Minerals and Herbs'' (Reader's Digest; $30).

Reader's Digest has published a reader-friendly guide that serves as a detailed source for nutritional supplements. Highlights include specific instructions on dosage, guidelines for use, possible side effects and precautions.

This information can be hard-to-find for dietary supplements, especially on product packaging. The volume includes the latest research findings, and Chicago physician David Edelberg served as chief medical consultant.

Freebies

Have trouble understanding what causes your arthritis pain and dealing with it? You might want to make a call to a special two-day American Physical Therapy Association toll-free hot line to get some answers or to ask for free brochures on topics that include arthritis; exercise for seniors; hip pain; osteoporosis; incontinence; knee injuries; back, neck and shoulder pain; foot and ankle injuries; and general fitness.

Physical therapists will be manning the hot line - [phone] - from noon to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

There's a ``calcium crisis'' among teen-agers, according to health and nutrition experts.

Nearly nine out of 10 girls and seven of 10 boys get too little calcium. The National Academy of Sciences recommends 1,300 mg of calcium daily for teens - the equivalent of four eight-ounce glasses of milk.

It's needed because 15 percent of adult height and half of all bone mass are added during the teen years. Blame soda for adolescents' calcium deficit: As teens have double or tripled their soda intake in the past two decades, their milk consumption has fallen by 40 percent.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest pegs boys' soda intake at 2-1/2 cans daily. For girls, it's two cans.

For ``Clueless About Calcium,'' a free booklet with information, comparisons, recipes and tips for including more calcium in a teen-age diet, call [phone].