Holford Watch: Patrick Holford, nutritionism and bad science

I was planning to blog something about Patrick Holford, but then I saw The Apprentice last night: they gave contestants a visit to the Energy Clinic as a prize, and Sir Alan Sugar recommended the clinic as a place where companies often send their ‘highfliers’. If wealthy business people and corporations want to waste their money on unpleasant herbal teas and implausible energy spa ‘treats’, we have no particular objection. However, the Energy Clinic (formerly called the Energy Bank) has had a darker side.

As we noted on this blog, at the Energy Bank there were

claims of efficacy for treating Aids. In 2003, BBC2 broadcast Annie Kossoff’s Kill or Cure series. Warwick Powell worked with Energy Bank to attempt to counter Aids. Powell eschewed conventional treatment because it offered disease management rather than a cure. After following the Energy Bank programme for some time, Powell has a blood test and is distressed to learn that his T-cell count has not improved. Keep reading →

A break from our usual Holford coverage, to discuss a recent EJCN Short Communication on “Effects of a short-term intervention with a paleolithic diet in healthy volunteers“. The study began with a small sample of 20; however, a high proportion of these dropped out, and the researchers appear to have lost some of the data on many of those remaining in the study. Moreover, a surprising proportion of those involved showed signs of illness, and the study lacked a control group. Frankly - with so much going wrong - I rather felt for the researchers: one could almost conclude that the Paleo diet is somewhat cursed. However, they were blessed in one respect: plenty of positive media coverage, meaning that the NHS felt the need to offer a critical response to the study.

Because of these problems, while the study concludes that the intervention showed some apparently positive effects, the problems with it mean that (as the authors rightly acknowledge) considerably more research is needed before conclusions can be reached. Frankly, we struggled to see much useful information to be gained from this problematic study. Keep reading →

You may have experienced déjà vu over the last few days if you’ve been reading excited accounts about polypills for the over-55s (there was a lot of Oh Brave New World about the potential for polypills in 2003). The claims are that polypills will prevent 100,000 premature deaths a year and also prevent up to 80% of heart attacks and strokes. The polypills will contain a cholesterol-reducing statin; three types of medicine to lower blood pressure (thiazide, aspirin and beta-blockers); and folic acid to reduce levels of homocysteine (Hcy). Keep reading →

Visiting Professor Patrick Holford of Teesside University and Head of Science and Education at Biocare has an alternative reality (TM, Dr Aust) in which it is possible for a drink of water to alter the pH of your blood. Keep reading →

Visiting Professor Patrick Holford of Teesside University and the Food for the Brain Foundation (FFTB) are promoting a very well-thought plan whereby food and supplement manufacturers will give them money in exchange for the endorsement of their products. Now, charities have to get their money from somewhere, so isn’t that all very sensible? Keep reading →

Here at HolfordWatch, we are a bit puzzled as to Holford’s position at Teesside: it is no longer clear whether or not he is visiting professor of nutrition at the University. As far was we know, Holford’s appointment was in Teesside’s school of Social Sciences and law. As HolfordMyths notes, Teesside previously told Holford that he should “not use the title of “Visiting Professor in Mental Health & Nutrition”. Keep reading →

Dear Vice-Chancellor Terence Kealey,

Your comment piece in The Times triggered some tristesse: The limitations of peer review. If Eddie ‘The Eagle’ Edwards had been capable of making leaps on a similar scale to yours then Britain’s medal haul in the Winter Olympics would be a cause for celebration rather than derision. Keep reading →

Skeptical Alchemist Steppen W is on the lookout for hosts for the new Molecular and Cell Biology Carnival. This is a compilation of the best posts on molecular and cell biology and is just finding its feet as one of the latest special-interest carnivals.

It is well worth supporting. Take a look at the criteria and contact Steppen. In these early stages, Steppen is interested in rotating the carnival round a number of different, non-specialised blogs to spread awareness of it. Hosting a carnival is a good way of attracting new traffic to your blog. The next edition is May 11 and Steppen would like to hear from potential hosts.

Read all about it: science carnival looking for hosts.

In yesterday’s Telegraph, Damian Thompson asks whether we’re seeing “The last rites for alternative medicine?” For Thomson

CAM’s [Complementary and Alternative Medicine's] real problem…is shortage of proof. The information technology brilliantly exploited by unorthodox therapies is now being harnessed to spread the inconvenient truth that most of them don’t work. Sceptics in the blogosphere have assembled a global daisy-chain of links exposing the falsehoods of alternative practitioners.

Interestingly, Thompson believes that media nutritionists such as Prof Patrick Holford of Teesside University (and - in particular - Holford’s unjustified support for Wakefield’s bad science) have played an important role in CAM’s problems Keep reading →

You may remember that Miriam Barry of the Irish Association of Nutritional Therapy (IANT) offers a Response to the recent media coverage regarding antioxidants. She opens her response with these words:

As nutritional therapists we feel compelled to give the public the facts of this case. Please click here to inform yourself of the facts regarding this study.

Keep reading →