Comments on: Michael Ash/Food for the Brain seminar on ‘The Gut Brain link in Autism, Depression and Mental Health’ (part 1)

By: jonhw

jonhw — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 19:07:01 +0000

I think that, when treating vulnerable children, using treatments without good evidence of safety or efficacy (or where there is evidence that the treatments don’t work) is a bad thing. Not sure what this has to do with Viox.

By: Sandra

Sandra — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:10:38 +0000

Your rant sounds like an elevator conversation between two members of a protected guild, who dispense with all civility to unleash their vitriol, confident in their colleagues’ shared bias. As I notice a side bar of other attacks unleashed on your site, the word “Spleen” catches my eye, which makes sense in your case.

Running with the pack is no guarantee of understanding, nor is it always a guarantee of safety. In the case of mainstream medicine enormous damage is wracked under the protection of such herd behavior (an estimated 100,000 heart attacks from Viox comes to mind as one example). And in your case, such an admission of ignorance of your target’s work along with such aggression and superficial criticism (a GBP49 fee scarcely gets you into a health seminar in this country and sounds like near pro bono work) is extraordinary. I can only surmise that someone in this vast field hurt you once, and you have contrived to cure the trauma with this on-going blunt force smear crusade.

Disclosures: No connections of any sort with the author you target, you, nor any professional connections with any medical field.

By: jonhw

jonhw — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 17:32:56 +0000

Thanks Catherine. We should really be careful not to undersell Ash's achievements, though. It is hard to tell exactly what he does (his writing style is somewhat unclear). However, Ash writes [PDF link] about areas including GI, neurological, immunological and liver problems, genetics, heavy metal toxicity/poisoning and mental health. That's an impressive range of research and practice. Oddly, though, I've been struggling to find publications by Ash in reputable peer-reviewed journals, and the only qualifications he lists are "BSc (Hons) DO ND Dip ION". So, Ash hasn't taken up neurosurgery, but I'd share Catherine's worries about whether he's qualified to work across the diverse range of areas that he does write about.

By: Catherine Collins RD

Catherine Collins RD — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 10:22:03 +0000

Well done on the issues raised. The parents of children with autism/ autistic spectrum disorders have a potentially stressful life coping with a child with such a condition without adopting unproven, unregulated and nutritionally inadequate diets to bolster the hypothetical musings of ‘autism guru’s’.

As a Registered Dietitian I have had direct experience of the restricted and nutritionally inferior diets adopted by clients on the basis of ‘allergy’ tests such as AK, IgG, and Vega therapy, or adopting the musings of self-styled therapists.
It then becomes part of the RDs role to deconstruct the mythical musings and restore the diet appropriate to the condition.

Complete lack of regulation of such practices and therapists allows exploitation of the public keen to adopt a pro-active approach to health maintenance and disease prevention or management.

The law does not take a benign approach to an individual without medical qualifications claiming to ‘do’ neurosurgery. We shouldn’t confer a benign opinion on those enthusiastic amateurs who think they can ‘do’ nutrition, either .