Holford Watch: Patrick Holford, nutritionism and bad science

Professor Patrick Holford of Teesside University and Head of Science and Education at Biocare has an unerring sense for his endorsements (see, e.g., the qLink with the unconnected coil and the dLan that may enhance your exposure to EMR).

It shows commendable loyalty to one’s partners that his name is showing up in Google Sponsored Links, advertising blood tests that came in for especial criticism in this week’s report from the House of Lords on allergy and allergic disease in the UK.

In a comprehensive report HL 166-I (pdf from which pg numbers are given), the Committee makes a number of good recommendations and provide some useful summaries. Pages 86-88 cover the issue of direct-to-consumer tests such as the YorkTest foodSCAN IgG test for food intolerance and the YorkTest-Allergy UK MAST IgE test for allergies to food and airborne allergens, amongst others.

Two days ago, we wrote:

Holford Watch is not optimistic that Holford is heeding the expert opinion of others but the House of Lords summed up their advice as follows (pg 87):

We are concerned both that the results of allergy self testing kits available to the public are being interpreted without the advice of appropriately trained healthcare personnel, and that the IgG food antibody test is being used to diagnose food intolerance in the absence of stringent scientific evidence…We urge general practitioners, pharmacists and charities not to endorse the use of these products until conclusive proof of their efficacy has been established.

It almost seems gratuitous to add that the House of Lords aligns themselves with clinical experts in their notion of who is qualified to diagnose allergies and allergic disease (hint, it is not the typical holder of a Diploma ION nor an auto-didact nor self-proclaimed expert; pg 89…

It is absolutely clear that the House of Lords has considered the evidence and finds that there is no adequate scientific or clinical support for the usefulness of these blood tests as a direct to consumer item; further than that, there is clear cause for concern as to the relevance of the tests. The House of Lords urges professionals in positions of responsibility and authority, whose opinions or recommendations may influence others, to refrain from endorsing this technique.

And so, today, we see that YorkTest has a new series of Google Sponsored Links citing endorsement by Patrick Holford. That’s Patrick Holford who thinks that IgG testing for food intolerance is the “new kid on the block” when it was first mentioned in the clinical literature 35 years ago. That’s Patrick Holford who seems to believe that you can pick up a lactose intolerance from cheese on toast when hard cheese contains scanty amounts of lactose. So, that’s OK then.