Comments on: BANT ethics code: BANT nutritional therapists are allowed to earn commission from selling pills and tests

By: BANT: A Profile « Stuff And Nonsense

BANT: A Profile « Stuff And Nonsense — Tue, 04 May 2010 20:54:41 +0000

[...] to receive commission from supplement sales. This was something that the Holford Watch blog had written about previously, and Gimpy added to this by reporting on the revision of the Code of Ethics and the trade [...]

By: A Tale of Two WorkForces in the Same Workplace: Different Rules for Dietitians and Nutritionists in the NHS? « Holford Watch: Patrick Holford, nutritionism and bad science

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 12:37:40 +0000

[...] of ethics nor a transparent complaints procedure. BANT is also sanguine about its members taking undeclared commission/discounts from the sales of supplements and various tests. Even if a nutritional therapist were reported to BANT for making claims for dietary advice or [...]

By: jonhw

jonhw — Tue, 26 May 2009 11:33:18 +0000

In terms of IgG testing – that’s very interesting to know. Would any ION teachers or graduates like to discuss this in a public forum? (we would happily allow them to make a guest post here, if they wanted) One of our concerns about nutritional therapy is that there’s often a lack of robust public debate about the treatments recommended…

Am i right in thinking then that you critisise ION nutritional therapist without knowing what have they have been taught? If this is the case then this is quite simply shocking.

The only aspects of the course which we have criticised are those which we do know about. For example, we would be cautious as to whether a 3 year part-time course is sufficiently in depth, in comparison to – for example – a 4 year full time dietetics course. I think that’s fair enough. We’re always happy to learn more, of course.

By: nodrande

nodrande — Mon, 25 May 2009 07:22:48 +0000

sorry about the typos….it is early!

By: nodrande

nodrande — Mon, 25 May 2009 07:20:40 +0000

Am i right in thinking then that you critisise ION nutritional therapist without knowing what have they have been taught? If this is the case then this is quite simply shocking. I have noticed that a favourite topic of yours is the IgG food reaction test. Although Holford does continue to reccomend the test (as he is in no doubt connected to some company that carries out such tests) i am aware that the majority of lecturers at ION do not see any evidence for the test as the immune system is hugely complex and only elimination diets are worthy when considering food reactions.
Im not sure of your view on gut permeability but a loss of epithelium tight junctions appears to invoke formation of IgG antibodies so a test would only show that increased gut permeability has occured. Speaking to a student only last week they informed of an experiment carried out at ION where 1 sample of blood was sent to 3 companies 6 times (i hope that makes sense) and every result was different. It appears that the course is evolving at great speed and before you critisise it is important that you keep up with the course structure. It is obvious to me that although I agree with your view regarding the need for tighter regulation of NTs, the treament of the underlying cause of patholgies is a far better approach than symptom management offered by GPs (take a drug, oops you have three side effects, take another drug and so on………)
Dont get me wrong drugs without a doubt have their place and can save peoples lives but the ION root cause approach is heading in the right direction and if people are willing to change it will be far more effective.
Another important focus at ION is the mind body connection or psych-neuro-immunolgy which the sciecne is developing at a speedy rate. (im sure you are aware of this) unfortunatly, mainstream medicine is lagging behind because drugs cannot play a part.
I would if you contacted ION yourselves and enquire about posting the couse on line. But any questions, I would be happy to help.

By: jonhw

jonhw — Sun, 24 May 2009 20:43:01 +0000

We would hate to be unfair to the ION. If anyone would like to contact us – holfordwatch at googlemail dot com – with a copy of the course materials, we will offer a balanced discussion of them. If ION gives us permission to post the course materials online, we would be delighted to do so – so that readers can judge the quality of the course materials for themselves.

By: nodrande

nodrande — Sun, 24 May 2009 19:48:23 +0000

Unfortuantely Andy, you have the complete wrong Idea about ION graduates. Judging by the content of the course, the main areas of teaching focus on underlying causes of pathology and how food and stress management can aid the rebalancing of body systems. Heavy emphasis is on digestion/assimilation, bio-transformation/elimination, immune system dysfunction (auto-immune,allergy), endocrine and structural dysfunction. Focus is then on how these 5 systems interact with each other.
Unfortunately GPs only focus on symptom management (take a pill that blocks a certain chemical pathway that is causing the sign or symptom) and never addresses the underlying reason why the chemical pathway has occured.
I am not an ION grad but have a good look at the course structure and can see that it is not based on making a profit (although people like Holford do seem to be)
The main problem with nutritional therapy is that change in diet and lifestyle is too much of a price to pay for health. People in general are so manipulated by marketing that they will forever live in the false reality that has been created.

By: El

El — Sun, 24 May 2009 16:51:33 +0000

I’m an ION graduate. The teaching was focussed on food, not supplements.

I recommend supplements only when they look like they’ll helpful. I don’t make any money from the supplements that I recommend.

Whichever side you’re on, please stop this petty fighting. Couldn’t this energy be put to better use?

By: Alt Med Societies « jdc325’s Weblog

Alt Med Societies « jdc325’s Weblog — Thu, 21 May 2009 20:40:23 +0000

[...] is that there were found to be potential conflicts of interest as BANT members were allowed to earn commission from selling tests and pills, and were under no obligation to declare this commission to the client. In typically forthright [...]

By: Dr Ann Walker removed from Register of Nutrionists

Dr Ann Walker removed from Register of Nutrionists — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 19:49:38 +0000

[...] It is interesting to compare the high standards of the Nutrition Society with the quite different standards of BANT (the British Association for Applied Nutrition and Nutritional Therapy). They bill themselves as the “Professional Body for Nutritional Therapists”. Nutritional therapists are those fantasists who believe you can cure any ill by buying some supplement pills. Their standards can be judged by, for example, BANT ethics code: BANT nutritional therapists are allowed to earn commission from selling pills and …. [...]