Guest guest Posted May 14, 2004 Report Share Posted May 14, 2004 http://askbillsardi.com/sdm.asp?pg=health_guru : " askbillsardi.com " More pied pipers and health gurus Fri, 14 May 2004 11:49:04 -0700 Apricot pits, coral calcium, colloidal minerals, coconut oil, soil organisms, just what will the next health guru bring to America? Health reporter Bill Sardi investigates......at www.askbillsardi.com. More Health Gurus and Pied Pipers So many millions of Americans want to distance themselves from problematic and costly prescription medicines and invasive treatments that may produce life-long side effects. But in their search for more natural alternatives, the public is bedazzled with claims of instant cures and “fountains of youth” that they can hardly sort fact from fiction. The natural health arena is bereft with gurus and a culture of pseudoscience. These marginal health providers exist solely on the desperation and ignorance of the infirm. It’s easy to see how something that has a ring of truth to it soon becomes the next whirlwind money maker. In fact, a whole army of multi-level troops await the next elixir they can peddle to gullible consumers. One of the problems in deciphering health claims for various nostrums is poor logic. For example, let’s say that kids are known to come down with recurrent ear infections. In studying these kids we find out that most of them wear tennis shoes. Does that mean that tennis shoes cause ear infections? No, the tennis shoes are associated with, but are not a cause of, ear infections. The tennis shoes are just bystanders. It is this type of illogical thinking that permeates natural medicine today. People in far off lands may live long and healthy and may eat certain foods or drink water from a special spring. But these factors may in fact play no role at all in promoting health or longevity. Similar examples abound – see below. Pied pipers continue to lead the natural medicine movement astray. In recent times a number come to mind. The colloidal mineral guru One pied piper, a chiropractor, whose audio tape entitled “Dead Doctors Don’t Lie” sold millions of copies, maintained that a shortage of minerals is responsible for many maladies and colloidal minerals were the answer to all these ills. The problem is that many colloidal mineral products contain undesirable heavy metals. Furthermore, aging itself can be explained in part by the accumulation of minerals such as iron and copper in the liver, brain and blood and calcium in the arteries, kidneys and heart valves. It was later revealed that doctors don’t die at an earlier age than the public at large as alleged in the audio tape. While this tape was entertaining and informative, it led the public in the wrong direction. They weren’t any healthier for taking colloidal minerals. Furthermore, the consumption of colloidal minerals is a contradiction to the widespread idea among natural medicine practitioners that mineral chelation (removal) needs to be performed periodically. First load up on minerals, then remove them. Sounds silly, doesn’t it? It’s good business for alternative medicine practitioners, but again, the public is not healthier. The coral calcium guru No more infamous is Robert Barefoot among health gurus, who led millions of Americans on the wrong road to health and longevity. He had an army of believers behind him who never once examined the validity of his claims because they were fanatically involved in the selling of coral calcium. Barefoot claimed that coral calcium from Okinawa had magical powers, that it alone was responsible for the longevity observed among people on the Japanese island of Okinawa. But the super longevity observed among Okinawans emanates from their calorie restriction, not their consumption of coral calcium, which is obtained from drinking water and is only a trivial part of their diet. [J Nutrition Science Vitaminology (Tokyo) 42:241-8, 1996] The Federal Trade Commission pulled Dr. Barefoot’s commercials off of TV and radio. Still, hardliners continue to extol the benefits of coral calcium. The protein diet guru Another pied piper was Robert Atkins MD. Not to say that Dr. Atkins hasn’t made a significant positive contribution to countering the carbohydrate-craving American culture. The switch to a protein-based diet certainly removes the sugars, rids the body of yeast which feeds on sugar, reduces the risk of diabetes and trims the waistline. But long term the Atkins diet will promote gout, raise cholesterol and the consumption of meat will result in iron overload. Dieters get away with the Atkins diet for a time and look slimmer, but in the long run their liver and other tissues will pay a price. Meat provides iron that is absorbed whether the body needs it or not. Plant foods provide a form of iron that is absorbed only on an as-needed basis. The Atkins diet is safe for short-term dieters who need to slim down and get in shape. Beyond that, beware. The coconut oil guru The most recent pied piper, a naturopathic physician, has a widely-promoted book, The Maker’s Diet. With God’s authority behind it, who can argue with the book’s content. But what does it really say? Frankly, it’s a lot of mumbo jumbo. The author, Jordan S. Rubin, a naturopathic physician, says he is on a “mission from God to change the health of this nation.” His qualifications? -- his testimony of how he overcame debilitating Crohn’s disease with soil organisms. Nowhere in the Bible are soil organisms promoted, but somehow this practice got plugged into the book. Rubin says in personal desperation he consulted the pages of the Bible. He says he found that the “longest lived cultures in the world had a few things in common—they consumed ‘living foods’ that abounded with nutrients, enzymes, and beneficial microorganisms. And they consumed healthy animal foods that were rich in nutrients.” Actually, the people who live the longest on the planet cannot be described by what they eat. They can be described by what they do not eat. They are mostly calorie restrictors, or they drink red wine which contains a molecule that mimics the healthy effects of calorie restriction. [J Applied Physiology 95:1706-16, 2003] Rubin appears to be oblivious to this now widely known fact. To be fair, Rubin talks about fasting, but this doesn’t jive with the above quotation from his book. Megavitamins a myth? Another misleading claim made by Rubin is that the benefits of taking megavitamins are a myth and synthetic vitamins are to be avoided. Rubin promotes food-based vitamin pills which he claims are superior to other synthetic brands. But under examination, his claim doesn’t hold up. For example, folic acid from foods cannot be adequately absorbed by about 35 percent of the population. Synthetic folic acid works better than the form found in foods. The bioavailability of folic acid from supplements is at least double that of dietary folic acid. [J Gender Specific Medicine 2: 24-28, 1999] Meat to eat? Another startling mistake in Rubin’s book is the claim that there is “nothing in nutritional science that supports the claim that eating meat causes cardiovascular problems.” (Maker’s Diet, page 102) A quick search of the National Library of Medicine can locate many repots on the health hazards posed by meat consumption. For example, researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina found that meat eating can lead to iron overload which increases mortality rate by three times! [Annals Family Medicine 2:139-44, 2004] Researchers at Loma Linda University recently reported that very low meat consumption lowers mortality rates and increases the human lifespan by about 3.6 years. [Am J Clinical Nutrition 78:526S-532S, 2003] In 1994 researchers reported that non meat eaters experience about 30 percent less heart disease. [british Medical Journal 308: 1667-70, 1994] In fact, Rubin’s living multivitamin provides 9 milligrams of iron per serving which is inappropriate for full-grown males and non-menstruating females. Supplemental iron often leads to iron overload, fatty liver, elevated cholesterol and blood sugar, and brain disease. Coconut trees in Palestine Coconut trees must have been growing in Palestine in Bible days. Inexplicably, coconut oil made it into the Maker’s Diet. Rubin claims that coconut oil, not olive oil as described in the Bible, is the most nutritious oil in the world. Somehow, with a widespread deficiency of omega-3 oils in the American diet, Rubin chose to emphasize coconut oil as a dietary staple instead. Actually, the most stable cooking oil is rice bran oil that is loaded with twice the antioxidants (vitamin e, tocotrienols, oryzanol) compared to the most virgin olive oil and has a very high cooking temperature (it does not brown foods). [Phytotherapy Research 15: 277-89, 2001] The healthiest oil, though not suitable for cooking, is flaxseed oil that is loaded with lignans and omega-3 fatty acids. It’s not that coconut oil is so bad, it’s just that one wonders why it is being hyped. There is no question that coconut oil may lower certain circulating fats (lipoprotein A) which are considered risk factors for cardiovascular disease. [J Nutrition 133:3422-7, 2003; Eur J Clin Nutr 52:650-4, 1998] But at $66 a gallon, one wonders what magic is touted to be inside this oil to pay such a steep price. Whatever you do, don’t forget to pay the pied piper. Be reminded the legendary 13th-century Pied Piper, who led away the rats from the town of Hamelin and when refused payment for his services, lured away 130 children and disappeared with them into the mountains.Led astray again? Is the public being led astray again? It always will. The public knows that medical doctors have little training in nutritional medicine. The public is also quick to believe non-MDs who claim hidden secrets of health because they know the medical industry is self serving. Bogus health claims persist because the public believes the medical profession is hiding cheaper nonprescription cures. But the public is too eager to accept the next cure-all that comes along. A few years ago another guru claimed that the Hunza people in Northern Pakistan are virtually immune from cancer because they eat apricot pits. Armed mostly with hear-say evidence, apricot pits are still being sold as a cancer remedy on the internet. Oh well, it’s good for business. Now that all the unsubstantiated health regimens these pseudoscientists recommend have been discredited and pushed aside, you need to know about a Himalayan mountain cure that a Tibetan monk has found. What he says is that this remedy is sure to cure ……………..” Copyright 2004 Bill Sardi, Knowledge of Health, Inc. SBC - Internet access at a great low price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 15, 2004 Report Share Posted May 15, 2004 A large populace of baby boomers, who received B minuses in Biology 101, and who have seen their parents get old and decrepit, with physicians largely unable to help them, are prime targets for pied pipers and health gurus. How about " Oxy-Up, " water supposed to have dissolved oxygen in it to resuscitate humans living " in an age in which there is far less available oxygen than in former times " ? " http://www.nutritionadvisor.com/oxyup.htm , Frank <califpacific> wrote: > > http://askbillsardi.com/sdm.asp?pg=health_guru > : " askbillsardi.com " > > More pied pipers and health gurus > Fri, 14 May 2004 11:49:04 -0700 > > Apricot pits, coral calcium, colloidal minerals, coconut oil, soil organisms, just what will the next health guru bring to America? Health reporter Bill Sardi investigates......at www.askbillsardi.com. > > > > More Health Gurus and Pied Pipers > So many millions of Americans want to distance themselves from problematic and costly prescription medicines and invasive treatments that may produce life-long side effects. But in their search for more natural alternatives, the public is bedazzled with claims of instant cures and " fountains of youth " that they can hardly sort fact from fiction. > > The natural health arena is bereft with gurus and a culture of pseudoscience. These marginal health providers exist solely on the desperation and ignorance of the infirm. > > It's easy to see how something that has a ring of truth to it soon becomes the next whirlwind money maker. In fact, a whole army of multi-level troops await the next elixir they can peddle to gullible consumers. > One of the problems in deciphering health claims for various nostrums is poor logic. For example, let's say that kids are known to come down with recurrent ear infections. In studying these kids we find out that most of them wear tennis shoes. Does that mean that tennis shoes cause ear infections? No, the tennis shoes are associated with, but are not a cause of, ear infections. The tennis shoes are just bystanders. It is this type of illogical thinking that permeates natural medicine today. People in far off lands may live long and healthy and may eat certain foods or drink water from a special spring. But these factors may in fact play no role at all in promoting health or longevity. Similar examples abound – see below. > Pied pipers continue to lead the natural medicine movement astray. In recent times a number come to mind. > The colloidal mineral guru > One pied piper, a chiropractor, whose audio tape entitled " Dead Doctors Don't Lie " sold millions of copies, maintained that a shortage of minerals is responsible for many maladies and colloidal minerals were the answer to all these ills. The problem is that many colloidal mineral products contain undesirable heavy metals. Furthermore, aging itself can be explained in part by the accumulation of minerals such as iron and copper in the liver, brain and blood and calcium in the arteries, kidneys and heart valves. It was later revealed that doctors don't die at an earlier age than the public at large as alleged in the audio tape. While this tape was entertaining and informative, it led the public in the wrong direction. They weren't any healthier for taking colloidal minerals. Furthermore, the consumption of colloidal minerals is a contradiction to the widespread idea among natural medicine practitioners that mineral chelation (removal) needs to be performed periodically. First load up > on minerals, then remove them. Sounds silly, doesn't it? It's good business for alternative medicine practitioners, but again, the public is not healthier. > The coral calcium guru > No more infamous is Robert Barefoot among health gurus, who led millions of Americans on the wrong road to health and longevity. He had an army of believers behind him who never once examined the validity of his claims because they were fanatically involved in the selling of coral calcium. Barefoot claimed that coral calcium from Okinawa had magical powers, that it alone was responsible for the longevity observed among people on the Japanese island of Okinawa. But the super longevity observed among Okinawans emanates from their calorie restriction, not their consumption of coral calcium, which is obtained from drinking water and is only a trivial part of their diet. [J Nutrition Science Vitaminology (Tokyo) 42:241-8, 1996] The Federal Trade Commission pulled Dr. Barefoot's commercials off of TV and radio. Still, hardliners continue to extol the benefits of coral calcium. > The protein diet guru > Another pied piper was Robert Atkins MD. Not to say that Dr. Atkins hasn't made a significant positive contribution to countering the carbohydrate-craving American culture. The switch to a protein-based diet certainly removes the sugars, rids the body of yeast which feeds on sugar, reduces the risk of diabetes and trims the waistline. But long term the Atkins diet will promote gout, raise cholesterol and the consumption of meat will result in iron overload. Dieters get away with the Atkins diet for a time and look slimmer, but in the long run their liver and other tissues will pay a price. Meat provides iron that is absorbed whether the body needs it or not. Plant foods provide a form of iron that is absorbed only on an as- needed basis. The Atkins diet is safe for short-term dieters who need to slim down and get in shape. Beyond that, beware. > The coconut oil guru > The most recent pied piper, a naturopathic physician, has a widely- promoted book, The Maker's Diet. With God's authority behind it, who can argue with the book's content. But what does it really say? Frankly, it's a lot of mumbo jumbo. The author, Jordan S. Rubin, a naturopathic physician, says he is on a " mission from God to change the health of this nation. " His qualifications? -- his testimony of how he overcame debilitating Crohn's disease with soil organisms. Nowhere in the Bible are soil organisms promoted, but somehow this practice got plugged into the book. > > Rubin says in personal desperation he consulted the pages of the Bible. He says he found that the " longest lived cultures in the world had a few things in common—they consumed `living foods' that abounded with nutrients, enzymes, and beneficial microorganisms. And they consumed healthy animal foods that were rich in nutrients. " Actually, the people who live the longest on the planet cannot be described by what they eat. They can be described by what they do not eat. They are mostly calorie restrictors, or they drink red wine which contains a molecule that mimics the healthy effects of calorie restriction. [J Applied Physiology 95:1706-16, 2003] Rubin appears to be oblivious to this now widely known fact. To be fair, Rubin talks about fasting, but this doesn't jive with the above quotation from his book. > Megavitamins a myth? > Another misleading claim made by Rubin is that the benefits of taking megavitamins are a myth and synthetic vitamins are to be avoided. Rubin promotes food-based vitamin pills which he claims are superior to other synthetic brands. But under examination, his claim doesn't hold up. For example, folic acid from foods cannot be adequately absorbed by about 35 percent of the population. Synthetic folic acid works better than the form found in foods. The bioavailability of folic acid from supplements is at least double that of dietary folic acid. [J Gender Specific Medicine 2: 24-28, 1999] > Meat to eat? > Another startling mistake in Rubin's book is the claim that there is " nothing in nutritional science that supports the claim that eating meat causes cardiovascular problems. " (Maker's Diet, page 102) A quick search of the National Library of Medicine can locate many repots on the health hazards posed by meat consumption. For example, researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina found that meat eating can lead to iron overload which increases mortality rate by three times! [Annals Family Medicine 2:139-44, 2004] Researchers at Loma Linda University recently reported that very low meat consumption lowers mortality rates and increases the human lifespan by about 3.6 years. [Am J Clinical Nutrition 78:526S-532S, 2003] In 1994 researchers reported that non meat eaters experience about 30 percent less heart disease. [british Medical Journal 308: 1667-70, 1994] > > In fact, Rubin's living multivitamin provides 9 milligrams of iron per serving which is inappropriate for full-grown males and non- menstruating females. Supplemental iron often leads to iron overload, fatty liver, elevated cholesterol and blood sugar, and brain disease. > Coconut trees in Palestine > Coconut trees must have been growing in Palestine in Bible days. Inexplicably, coconut oil made it into the Maker's Diet. Rubin claims that coconut oil, not olive oil as described in the Bible, is the most nutritious oil in the world. Somehow, with a widespread deficiency of omega-3 oils in the American diet, Rubin chose to emphasize coconut oil as a dietary staple instead. Actually, the most stable cooking oil is rice bran oil that is loaded with twice the antioxidants (vitamin e, tocotrienols, oryzanol) compared to the most virgin olive oil and has a very high cooking temperature (it does not brown foods). [Phytotherapy Research 15: 277-89, 2001] The healthiest oil, though not suitable for cooking, is flaxseed oil that is loaded with lignans and omega-3 fatty acids. > > It's not that coconut oil is so bad, it's just that one wonders why it is being hyped. There is no question that coconut oil may lower certain circulating fats (lipoprotein A) which are considered risk factors for cardiovascular disease. [J Nutrition 133:3422-7, 2003; Eur J Clin Nutr 52:650-4, 1998] But at $66 a gallon, one wonders what magic is touted to be inside this oil to pay such a steep price. > Whatever you do, don't forget to pay the pied piper. Be reminded the legendary 13th-century Pied Piper, who led away the rats from the town of Hamelin and when refused payment for his services, lured away 130 children and disappeared with them into the mountains.Led astray again? > Is the public being led astray again? It always will. The public knows that medical doctors have little training in nutritional medicine. The public is also quick to believe non-MDs who claim hidden secrets of health because they know the medical industry is self serving. Bogus health claims persist because the public believes the medical profession is hiding cheaper nonprescription cures. But the public is too eager to accept the next cure-all that comes along. A few years ago another guru claimed that the Hunza people in Northern Pakistan are virtually immune from cancer because they eat apricot pits. Armed mostly with hear-say evidence, apricot pits are still being sold as a cancer remedy on the internet. Oh well, it's good for business. > > Now that all the unsubstantiated health regimens these pseudoscientists recommend have been discredited and pushed aside, you need to know about a Himalayan mountain cure that a Tibetan monk has found. What he says is that this remedy is sure to cure …………….. " > > Copyright 2004 Bill Sardi, Knowledge of Health, Inc. > > > > > > > > SBC - Internet access at a great low price. > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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