Bronze-level articleGillian McKeith

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So basically, her thesis tries to promote a known toxin<ref>[http://www.health.state.ny.us/environmental/water/drinking/bluegreenalgae.htm Department of Health - Blue-Green Algae]</ref> as a "[[superfood]]" and tries to claim that chlorophyll generates oxygen - despite the fact that chlorophyll only generates oxygen in the presence of light, something not normally associated with the human digestive system; and even if you did stick a light in your rectum (or just used the sun shining out of your arse), oxygen is only absorbed through the lungs, not the gut. Indeed, oxygen ''there'' is precisely where you do not want it to be, not least because of the flammability of some gases produced by the digestive tract. This second claim has been particularly jumped on by her detractors and critics, as McKeith has claimed that it was a typo or a misquote, even though it appears separately in at least two of her books.
 
So basically, her thesis tries to promote a known toxin<ref>[http://www.health.state.ny.us/environmental/water/drinking/bluegreenalgae.htm Department of Health - Blue-Green Algae]</ref> as a "[[superfood]]" and tries to claim that chlorophyll generates oxygen - despite the fact that chlorophyll only generates oxygen in the presence of light, something not normally associated with the human digestive system; and even if you did stick a light in your rectum (or just used the sun shining out of your arse), oxygen is only absorbed through the lungs, not the gut. Indeed, oxygen ''there'' is precisely where you do not want it to be, not least because of the flammability of some gases produced by the digestive tract. This second claim has been particularly jumped on by her detractors and critics, as McKeith has claimed that it was a typo or a misquote, even though it appears separately in at least two of her books.
  
[[File:Blue green algae 01.jpg|Yummy!|thumb]]{{cquote|The healing powers of wild blue-green algae are truly broad-spectrum: amoung<sup>''[sic]''</sup> the conditions they have alleviated are dermatitus<sup>''[sic]''</sup>, obesity, heavy metal poisoning, depression, congestion, Candida albicans overgrowth, hypoglycemia and anemia. Gillian McKeith, who has improved her client's health - and her own - with algae treatment, explains the makeup of this superfood and how to use it to optimise health.|4=[http://www.gillianmckeith.info/gillianmckeithbooks/books-bluegreenalgae.php Gillian McKeith's webshite]}}
+
[[File:Blue green algae 01.jpg|Yummy!|thumb]]{{cquote|The healing powers of wild blue-green algae are truly broad-spectrum: amoung<sup>''[sic]''</sup> the conditions they have alleviated are dermatitus<sup>''[sic]''</sup>, obesity, heavy metal poisoning, depression, congestion, [[candida]] albicans overgrowth, hypoglycemia and anemia. Gillian McKeith, who has improved her client's health - and her own - with algae treatment, explains the makeup of this superfood and how to use it to optimise health.|4=[http://www.gillianmckeith.info/gillianmckeithbooks/books-bluegreenalgae.php Gillian McKeith's webshite]}}
  
 
{{Cquote|In 1989, a group of soldiers took part in canoe training, including rolling and swimming exercises, at Rudyard Lake in Staffordshire. Two became severely ill with atypical pneumonia; others reported abdominal pains, vomiting, diarrhoea, blistering of the mouth and sore throats. Further incidents of effects on human health have occurred after recreational contact with blue-green algal scums and blooms in UK inland waters in recent years. The effects were probably associated with exposure to blue-green algae and ingestion of the toxin-containing blue-green algal scum.|4=One paragraph from [http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2002/05/14852/5345 Blue-Green Algae (Cyanobacteria) in Inland Waters: Assessment and Control of Risks to Public Health] A Scottish ''(like G MK)'' government publication}}
 
{{Cquote|In 1989, a group of soldiers took part in canoe training, including rolling and swimming exercises, at Rudyard Lake in Staffordshire. Two became severely ill with atypical pneumonia; others reported abdominal pains, vomiting, diarrhoea, blistering of the mouth and sore throats. Further incidents of effects on human health have occurred after recreational contact with blue-green algal scums and blooms in UK inland waters in recent years. The effects were probably associated with exposure to blue-green algae and ingestion of the toxin-containing blue-green algal scum.|4=One paragraph from [http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2002/05/14852/5345 Blue-Green Algae (Cyanobacteria) in Inland Waters: Assessment and Control of Risks to Public Health] A Scottish ''(like G MK)'' government publication}}

Revision as of 05:19, 30 January 2011

Gillian McKeith, or to give her her full medical title, Gillian McKeith (also known as "the awful poo lady"[1]) is known in Britain as a peddler of food woo and is a successful businesswoman, selling her own range of books and health foods (which appear to be the same as any other health foods, but cost more). Her website sells such snake oil as "24 hour detox" stuff, and diet pills.[2]

Doctor McKeith's official promotional photo.

Contents

Poo

She may have no nutritional qualifications, but she knows business all right. Her branded stuff is easily the most expensive compared to similar items.

She hosted a television series called You are What You Eat, in which she analysed people's faeces to seek nutritional imbalances, becoming famous as "the poo lady" on the programme. Most of the program featured her "shouting at sobbing, fat women while forcing them to eat quinoa and undergo frequent sessions of colonic irrigation enthusiastically administered by her good self."[3] Further articles in the Daily Mail (uncharacteristically not toeing the line of the nutritionist) described her techniques, reporting the cases of three women who appeared on the show, indicated more of her fantastic technique and bedside manner: "she gave me a balloon... put two drinking straws underneath it and said: "That's what you look like!" I ended up in tears."[4]

More recently, she's been repeating her trick of shouting at obese women by trying to "ban big bums" on E4's Supersize vs Superskinny. She also rehashed You Are What You Eat as a competitive show called Three Fat Brides, One Thin Dress.

More poo

Gillian McKeith has a PhD in holistic nutrition from Clayton College of Natural Health, a non-accredited distance-learning natural health college in Alabama. Her PhD thesis is unavailable from the college, but can be bought as a 48-page book entitled Miracle Superfood: Wild Blue-Green Algae, the nutrient powerhouse that stimulates the immune system, boosts brain power, and guards against disease, which states, among other things, that "Chlorophyll within the algae is a powerful oxygen generator for human beings" and that algae can increase levels of DNA. Oh, and there are recipes and stuff as well. In a thesis.[5] The fact that her thesis contained superscript references and fancy sounding science words, but on closer inspection referenced poor sources (such as pamphlets and magazine cuttings) as well as the numerous inaccuracies have lead to her leading critic Ben Goldacre describing it as cargo cult science.[6]

So basically, her thesis tries to promote a known toxin[7] as a "superfood" and tries to claim that chlorophyll generates oxygen - despite the fact that chlorophyll only generates oxygen in the presence of light, something not normally associated with the human digestive system; and even if you did stick a light in your rectum (or just used the sun shining out of your arse), oxygen is only absorbed through the lungs, not the gut. Indeed, oxygen there is precisely where you do not want it to be, not least because of the flammability of some gases produced by the digestive tract. This second claim has been particularly jumped on by her detractors and critics, as McKeith has claimed that it was a typo or a misquote, even though it appears separately in at least two of her books.

Yummy!
The healing powers of wild blue-green algae are truly broad-spectrum: amoung[sic] the conditions they have alleviated are dermatitus[sic], obesity, heavy metal poisoning, depression, congestion, candida albicans overgrowth, hypoglycemia and anemia. Gillian McKeith, who has improved her client's health - and her own - with algae treatment, explains the makeup of this superfood and how to use it to optimise health.
Gillian McKeith's webshite
In 1989, a group of soldiers took part in canoe training, including rolling and swimming exercises, at Rudyard Lake in Staffordshire. Two became severely ill with atypical pneumonia; others reported abdominal pains, vomiting, diarrhoea, blistering of the mouth and sore throats. Further incidents of effects on human health have occurred after recreational contact with blue-green algal scums and blooms in UK inland waters in recent years. The effects were probably associated with exposure to blue-green algae and ingestion of the toxin-containing blue-green algal scum.
—One paragraph from Blue-Green Algae (Cyanobacteria) in Inland Waters: Assessment and Control of Risks to Public Health A Scottish (like G MK) government publication

Oh poo

In 2007 she agreed to stop using the title "Doctor" in her advertising, after a complaint made by a regular to the Bad Science forum to the Advertising Standards authority was upheld.[8]

A senior dietician with the British Dietetic Association said of the advice on her programme: "We are appalled. I think it is obvious she hasn't a clue about nutrition. In fact her advice, if followed to the limit, could be dangerous. Her TV programme takes obese people and puts them on a crash diet that is very hazardous to health."[9]

In November 2006 she was censured by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency for selling unproven herbal sex aids. The products, "Fast Formula Wild Pink Yam Complex" and "Fast Formula Horny Goat Weed Complex" were both advertised as having been shown to promote sexual satisfaction in a controlled "study". The MHRA found that McKeith was guilty of "selling goods without legal authorisation whilst making medicinal claims about their efficacy," i.e., advertising and selling unlicensed medicines. The products have since been withdrawn.[10]

Into the poo

In July 2010, Ms McKeith dragged herself back into a world of poo when a random person tweeted at having read Bad Science by Goldacre and Ms McKeith (or someone controlling her Twitter) tweeted back calling the book "lies"[11] ... which is not something a UK resident wants to say about another UK resident in a public broadcast context about serious matters of professional truthfulness. Whoever operates Ms McKeith's Twitter then deleted the tweets and tried to remove links to said Twitter from her official website, but very hamfistedly, and without reckoning on just how many people had screencapped the tweets[12]. Dr Goldacre was somewhat bemused, and really doesn't want to bring legal action against her, but does quite seriously want her to retract the statement.[13] Jack of Kent has stepped up to act for him in a legal capacity[14]. The world readies its popcorn.

See also

Footnotes

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