‘Raise your PH level like a celebrity’ says the London Evening Standard

Following a tip off by Ben Goldacre, I was shocked to read this article by Victoria Stewart of the Evening Standard, which appeared in yesterday’s ES magazine. (EDIT: The article has since been removed from the Standard site but can be found here.)

It contains such gems as ‘the average sleep-deprived, hard-partying Londoner will probably have an acidic pH level below 7′.

This week’s ASA Adjudications: three complaints upheld about misleading healthcare claims

This week, we have three adjudications to consider, two of which the Nightingale Collaboration tweeted about in the middle of last night, which I thought was remarkably quick off the mark.

The first concerns a leaflet about a ‘therapeutic couch’ sold by Nuga Best UK and Ireland.  It contained a series of wild, laughable claims. My favourite is ‘use during a nights sleep can produce the same effect as running 20~30km’.  They sell lots more weird and wonderful gadgets and their website is chock-full of unsubstantiated claims and implications about their medical benefit.

Why do UK websites not publicise ‘Dr’ Robert O Young’s revolutionary theories?

We have established that Robert Young’s views on diet and health are somewhat unusual and contradictory to science. Are those UK practitioners and nutritionists who promote his diet aware of his more controversial beliefs about diabetes and viruses? If so, do they share his beliefs? Why are his most revolutionary theories not mentioned on their websites?

Meat makes you smelly and flatulent and blood is built out of light

Robert Young has some very strange ideas about meat, algae and mushrooms. He describes them below, during his interview for the Renegade Health Show in December 2009.

Here are some of the more peculiar statements he makes for those who don’t have time to watch it:

Live Blood Analysis, pleomorphism and the Advertising Standards Authority

I have been reading the websites of UK practitioners of Live Blood Analysis with increasing interest.

As explained on the Solar Health website, Live Blood Analysis is based on the theory of pleomorphism, as proposed by Günther Enderlein. He believed small harmless particles present in every animal or plant can, under certain circumstances, transform into larger pathogenic bacteria or fungi. In terms of modern day understanding of microbiology, this clearly makes no sense.