American Loon #2016: Matt Monarch

Matt Monarch is a raw food vegan activist who thinks that cooking food kills it and poisons you (cooked foods are “dead,” having had their “vital force” and nutrients sucked out of them), while eating only raw vegetables, fruit, grain, and plant matter is the secret to health. He...

Read the full lunacy: #2016: Matt Monarch Encyclopedia of American Loons

Emunctorology? No, it’s not a spelling mistake; it’s an alternative therapy!

It is not often that I come across an alternative therapy that I have never before heard of. And when I do, I am naturally interested. Emunctorology is such a term – even my spell-check flags it up as a misprint, but trust me, it isn’t.

The term, my dictionary tells me, comes from the […] Read the rest here: Emunctorology? No, it’s not a spelling mistake; it’s an alternative therapy!

Detox is bunk; save your money for something useful, fun or enjoyable!

We should not have to repeat this! But as it is currently topical and certainly true, let me repeat:

DETOX IS BUNK! 

After the season of gluttony, it seems that half the population has fallen victim to the legion of alternative practitioners and entrepreneurs who claim that their particular form of quackery is ideally suited […]

Read the rest here: Detox is bunk; save your money for something useful, fun or enjoyable!

Gwyneth Paltrow and GOOP are empowering women with psychic vampire repellent | Dr. Jen Gunter

Gwyneth Paltrow and the team at GOOP launched their artisanal, coffee table paywall today.  In the magazine we are treated to GP’s view on health, meaning nasty old doctors with board certifications should stop asking questions and women should just empower themselves with cleanses and detoxes. It doesn’t matter, you see, that science says these things are at best worthless and at worst harmful. I mean bowel perforation? Whatever. Gwyneth wants us to know that she has even studied up and is ready for smart aleck retorts about the liver and kidneys from doctors, biologists, and anyone who has completed 5th grade science because yes, yes my precious that was before we had flame retardants. You see flame retardants and PCBS and heavy metals can only be removed with expensive ingredients, special doctors, and a tube up the ass irrigating your colon. Why would you go to a board certified toxicologist if you suspected some kind of chemical poisoning when there is lemon juice, cayenne pepper, silicone tubing, foam rolling, and infrared saunas?

Read the full post, magnificently laced with Olympic-grade snark: Gwyneth Paltrow and GOOP are empowering women with psychic vampire repellent | Dr. Jen Gunter

Gerson therapy: a treatment to avoid at all cost

The Gerson therapy, CANCER RESEARCH UK correctly informs us, is an alternative therapy which means it is usually used instead of conventional cancer treatment. It aims to rid the body of toxins and strengthen the body’s immune system. There is no scientific evidence that Gerson therapy can treat cancer. In fact, in certain situations Gerson […]

Read the rest here: Gerson therapy: a treatment to avoid at all cost

Goop touted her as one of 'our doctors.' Dr. Aviva Romm rejects that label | Statnews

The headline on Gwyneth Paltrow’s wellness site, Goop, looked straightforward enough: “Uncensored: A word from our doctors.”

It featured a defense of the alternative medical practices that Goop has promoted, such as tucking a jade egg in the vagina to enhance sexual pleasure. An attack on an OB-GYN who has publicly slammed Goop’s advice. And then, open letters from two doctors who have written for Goop in the past...

Read on: Goop touted her as one of 'our doctors.' Dr. Aviva Romm rejects that label

Aviva Romm, Big Farma shill | The Skeptical OB

Why is it that in the world of “alternative” medicine (aka quackery), shilling for Big Pharma is viewed as the ultimate disqualification by aficionados, but those same people simultaneously turn a blind eye to shilling for Big Farma (herbs and supplements)?

Indeed, as Aviva Romm, MD demonstrates, one of the most effective tactics in shilling for Big Farma is criticizing Big Pharma. Romm, former homebirth midwife, and current herbalist and functional “medicine” physician, is a walking, talking financial conflict of interest. She monetizes fear of Big Pharma to shill for Big Farma...

Read the rest: Aviva Romm, Big Farma shill | The Skeptical OB

Dr. Aviva Romm: Distancing herself from Goop after defending it – Respectful Insolence

It’s been over a month now since I started paying real attention to that wretched celebrity hive of scum and quackery founded by Gwyneth Paltrow known as Goop. It was a long time coming, and I feel a bit guilty for not really paying much attention to the “wellness,” “lifestyle,” and, of course, expensive quackery being sold by Paltrow and her minions through Goop. It began when Goop caught flack for selling pricey magic energy healing stickers. Well, it wasn’t so much for that as much as for the amusing intervention of NASA, which slapped down Goop’s claims that these stickers were made with a carbon compound that was developed for use in spacesuits used by astronauts.

Then it was a mere three weeks later that Goop decided to strike back against Dr. Jen Gunter...

Read more: Dr. Aviva Romm: Distancing herself from Goop after defending it – Respectful Insolence

Gwyneth Paltrow and Goop: Another triumph of celebrity pseudoscience and quackery – Science-Based Medicine

Earlier this month, the hostilities between Gwyneth Paltrow’s den of celebrity pseudoscience and quackery, her “lifestyle” website and store Goop, and skeptics erupted into open warfare, as Goop attacked Dr. Jen Gunter, an OB/GYN, blogger, and frequent critic of the pseudoscience published and sold by Goop. This leads to the question: Who are the physicians facilitating Paltrow and Goop? And does debunking nonsense as ridiculous as that peddled by Paltrow and her minions do any good?

Full post by Dr David Gorski at Gwyneth Paltrow and Goop: Another triumph of celebrity pseudoscience and quackery – Science-Based Medicine

Scientology detox? No thanks!!!

I was surprised to receive this email yesterday: “Hello Edzard Ernst, You may remember I got in touch last week regarding losing a loved one to the ravages of drugs or alcohol. I just wanted to remind you that Narconon is here to help. For over fifty years Narconon drug and alcohol rehabilitation centres have been successfully reversing the tide of addiction for men and woman from all walks of life. The Narconon programme has saved them from the misery of addiction, and the potential of an early grave. We not only address the cause of the addiction, we resolve them…”

The email was signed by a man from ‘Narconon International’. […]

Read the rest here: Scientology detox? No thanks!!!

What The Fuck Is Goop? - A Scarlet Investigation - scarlet brigade

Goop is a lifestyle brand, created by Paltrow in 2008 that aims to empower and enlighten women. It does so by selling women jade eggs to shove up their vagina and promoting, “death detoxes,” which slowly starve you to death on a diet of privilege and room temperature water.

These are actual instructions from the detox section on the website...

Read the rest of this NFSW dissection: What The Fuck Is Goop? - A Scarlet Investigation - scarlet brigade

‘DETOX’ = a danerous and counter-productive illusion

Alternative medicine is deeply rooted in the notion of ‘detox’. This website is one of thousands and displays some of the issues in an exemplary fashion: 

START OF QUOTES 

…There are more than 80,000 chemicals used in the industrialized world. Accumulate enough of these toxins and you might suffer, at the very least, fatigue, headaches, muscle […]

Read the rest here: ‘DETOX’ = a danerous and counter-productive illusion

‘Foods that will naturally cleanse your arteries’

In the realm of alternative medicine, the Internet is a double-edged sword. It can be most useful to many, particularly to those who are able to think critically. To those who do not have this ability, it can be outright dangerous. We have researched this area in several way and always arrived at this very conclusion. For instance, we evaluated websites providing advice for cancer patients and concluded that “the most popular websites on complementary and alternative medicine for cancer offer information of extremely variable quality. Many endorse unproven therapies and some are outright dangerous.”

This makes it abundantly clear that, for some, the Internet can become a danger to their health and life. Recently I was reminded of this fact when I saw this website entitled ‘Foods that will naturally cleanse your arteries’. Its message is instantly clear, particularly as it provides this impressive drawing […]

View the incredibly convincing artwork and read the rest here

Lies, damned lies, and Dana Ullman

Dana Ullman is an indefatigable promotor of bogus claims and an unwitting contributor of hilarity. Therefore he has become a regular feature of this blog (see for instance here, here and here). His latest laughable assertion is that lead and other poisonings can be successfully treated with homeopathy.

Just to make sure: lead poisoning is no joke. The greatest risk is to brain development in babies, where irreversible damage can occur. Higher levels can damage the kidneys and nervous system in both children and adults. Very high lead levels may cause seizures, unconsciousness and death.

In view of this, Ullman’s claim is surprising, to say the least […]

Read the rest here

Have yourself a merry little detox

Yes, the festive season is upon us and therefore it is high time to discuss detox (yet again). As many of us are filling their fridges to the brim, most of us prepare for some serious over-indulgence. Following alt med logic, this must prompt some counter-measures, called detox.

The range of treatments advocated by detox-fans is weird and wide (see also below)...

Read on: Have yourself a merry little detox

Encyclopedia of American Loons: #1705: Vani Hari

A.k.a. The Food Babe
A.k.a. The Jenny McCarthy of Food

Food Babe is the blog of Vani Hari, an internet troll and “consumer advocate” who specializes in advice on nutrition and health-related matters, topics on which she has no background, education (she has a degree in computer science and background as a management consultant) or even minimal understanding – trusting the Food Babe on food or health is much like trusting Donald Trump on vaccines or the random Deepak Chopra quote generator on life wisdom. She is, in other words, full of shit...

More shit here: Encyclopedia of American Loons: #1705: Vani Hari

The tricks of the quackery trade (part 3) | Edzard Ernst

In part one and part two of this series of posts, we have discussed altogether six ‘tricks of the trade’:

• TREAT A NON-EXISTING CONDITION 
• MAINTENANCE TREATMENT 
• IT MUST GET WORSE BEFORE IT GETS BETTER 
• THINK HOLISTICALLY 
• IT’S DUE TO THE POISONS YOUR DOCTOR GAVE YOU 
• A CURE TAKES A LONG TIME 

Now it is time to disclose three […]

Read on: The tricks of the quackery trade (part 3)

Avoid pink Himalayan salt if on a WTF-free diet

There are days when you wonder if there isn’t a god after all. Possibly one with a Lokiesque sense of humour, though. This remarkable specimen of extreme out-to-lunchism was recently brought to my attention. It’s not so much facepalm stuff as pure and unadulterated facewall.

Ladies, gentlemen and others, I present to you: the Byron Bay Healthy Salt Co. They sell salt, in case this was not immediately obvious. They also make some quite impressive claims for its health benefits. Well, we all need some salt, aka sodium chloride (NaCl), but you shouldn’t get carried away. All sorts of health problems of the cardiovascular variety are available for those who do.

WTFometers at the ready? Here we go  Continue reading →

The post Avoid pink Himalayan salt if on a WTF-free diet by Anarchic Teapot first appeared on Plague of Mice.

Detox? What a load of old goop! | Lee Turnpenny

... Now, I’m an admirer of Gwyneth Paltrow, based on her performances in a number of films. So, as Bingham’s article cites Paltrow’s ‘lifestyle website Goop [sic]‘, I perambulated over for a look. Well, it is certainly a very swanky looking place; very professionally maintained; very ‘convincing’ marketing (oh yes, marketing – there is plenty on sale there) pitched at the pre-convinced and the too-‘open-minded’ curious. With prominent announcement of ‘the annual GOOP DETOX’, replete with enticing colour photographs of… well, food...

Read the full post: Detox? What a load of old goop! | Lee Turnpenny

It’s beginning to look a lot like DETOX…everywhere I go | Edzard Ernst

Well, not everywhere actually; if you go on Medline, for instance, and search for ‘detox’, you hardly find anything at all on detox as used in alternative medicine. This is because there is no science behind it (for the purpose of this post, ‘detox’ means the alternative detox that is supposed to rid us from environmental poisons and, more relevant to the Christmas season, of the effects of over-indulgence). Notwithstanding this lack of science and evidence, detox is currently being heavily promoted in magazines, newspapers and, of course, via the Internet...

Read more: It’s beginning to look a lot like DETOX…everywhere I go