I started following the conversation around this tweet:
What a load of #nutribollocks -no evidence for any of this: ‘Trust Your Gut For Better Brain Health’ https://t.co/3D9IjVb4gp @lustforlife
— Sinéad Conneely (@phrenohead) August 6, 2016
when I saw
. @lustforlife @phrenohead The burden of evidence is on the giver of medical advice, not those calling them out on unsubstantiated claims.
— Chris Tierney (@stunt_penguin) August 7, 2016
The rest of the conversation from Sinéad (@phrenohead) and Chris (@stunt_penguin) is very interesting and I just wanted to add some background on two points:
- The article content sourcing
- Dr. Isaac Eliaz
Article content sourcing
The article is at http://www.alustforlife.com/mental-health/mental-nutrition/trust-your-gut-for-better-brain-health (Google Cache) and I’ve taken a screenshot of the portions I want to talk about:
- This is a copy and paste of text for which the original source appears to be http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/05/03/probiotics-impact-brain-performance.aspx (Google Cache – unfortunately the site’s popover throws a 404, but you read the paragraph around the Google pop-up). This piece of copy is used quite a bit and can be found with a Google search . Mercola is a quack site: http://www.quackwatch.org/11Ind/mercola.html
- This time it’s not a direct lift from the mercola.com site mentioned in the last point but changes the specific foodstuffs mentioned.
- Finally the last two paragraphs are a copy and paste from the Udo’s Choice product page (Google Cache)
Dr. Isaac Eliaz
One of the pieces of supporting “evidence” that the “A Lust for Life” twitter account posted was:
@stunt_penguin @phrenohead https://t.co/lNJSIBNcOa can post many more.
— A Lust For Life (@lustforlife) August 7, 2016
This is an interesting choice as a reference for the claims in their post. You see, Dr. Isaac Eliaz makes a lot of claims including:
- Use of Modified Citrus Pectin in treating cancers (prostate, ovarian and breast cancer are mentioned). Most of the clinical studies on pectin are in-vitro and yet products based on it are being actively marketed for prevention and cure. You can read what information Cancer Research UK have here and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre here. Some potential benefits of pectin are mentioned by both but those benefits are a long, long way off what’s being touted.
- MCP for treating autism based on heavy metal detoxification
- Homeopathy for the treatment of cancer
In conclusion, there are a lot of people out there who are happy to make claims about various treatments. A lot of these fail to have any benefit in large scale, properly designed human trials.If “A Lust for Life” are to be a credible contributor to the mental health discussion then they need to stay clear of the unproven treatments and the outright bullshit treatments.