Hotep/Peace,
Quackwatch is a website set up by the infamous "quackbuster" ringleader, Stephen J. Barrett M.D. Barrett and his "quackbusting" colleagues say they are working to protect the public against health frauds. They state that they don't want the public to waste their money on "sham" treatments that don't work. In the paradox of "quackbusting," the quackbusters say they're protecting public health, but in fact, they're abandoning the public to their own suffering to protect the financial interests of conventional/allopathic medicine.
The "quackbusters" further say that they are using science to protect the public from expensive fad diagnoses, but if this "quackbuster" has his way, the public will have no recourse but conventional/allopathic medicine for their health problems. Well, fortunately and willfully, the so-called quacks are busting/fighting back! By clicking on the following links, you can check out the bustin' yourself:
http://canlyme.com/quackwatch.htmlhttp://www.quackpotwatch.org/opinionpieces/obfuscator.htmhttp://www.americanchiropractic.net/chiropractic/Quack%20Buster%20busted%20-%20Dr%20S%20Barrett.pdfhttp://educate-yourself.org/cn/stevenbarrrettcourtroomdefeat20oct05.shtmlhttp://www.iahf.com/antiquackbusters/20020105a.htmlhttp://www.quackpotwatch.org/opinionpieces/horsewhipped.htmhttp://www.rense.com/general68/quakcbust.htmhttp://www.quackpotwatch.org/opinionpieces/quackbuster_report_card.htmhttp://www.quackpotwatch.org/opinionpieces/quackbuster_report_card.htmhttp://www.mnwelldir.org/docs/editorial/quack.htmhttp://www.quackpotwatch.org/opinionpieces/quackpot_barrett_crushed_in_fede.htmTo be just and balance, I'll also provide Stephen Barrett's site address:
http://www.quackwatch.orgBarrett, also, on his quackwatch site, attacks the writings/findings of Weston Price
(CLICK HERE)However, the Weston Price foundation came bustin' back debunking Barrett's feeble criticisms
(FOUND HERE)Stephen Barrett of Quackwatch.com, the self-appointed arbiter of correctness in the fields of medicine and nutrition, describes Weston Price as "a dentist who maintained that sugar causes not only tooth decay but physical, mental, moral, and social decay as well." He dismisses Price?Äôs monumental research project as "a whirlwind tour of primitive areas" in which he "examined the natives superficially, and jumped to simplistic conclusions. While extolling their health, he ignored their short life expectancy and high rates of infant mortality, endemic diseases, and malnutrition. While praising their diets for not producing cavities, he ignored the fact that malnourished people don?Äôt usually get many cavities."
He then puts his own politically correct spin on Price?Äôs findings: "Price knew that when primitive people were exposed to ?Äòmodern?Äô civilization they developed dental trouble and higher rates of various diseases, but he failed to realize why. Most were used to ?Äòfeast or famine?Äô eating. When large amounts of sweets were suddenly made available, they overindulged. Ignorant of the value of balancing their diets, they also ingested too much fatty and salty food. Their problems were not caused by eating ?Äòcivilized?Äô food but by abusing it. In addition to dietary excesses, the increased disease rates were due to: (a) exposure to unfamiliar germs, to which they were not resistant; (b) the drastic change in their way of life as they gave up strenuous physical activities such as hunting; and (c) alcohol abuse."
Aside from contradicting himself--implying that Price was wrong to blame sugar for the tooth decay he observed in modernized populations but then stating that "indulging" in sweets suddenly made available was a contributor to caries-- Barrett makes several statements that don?Äôt stand up to the facts:
1. "Whirlwind tour" and "superficial examination." Price spent considerable time in each place he visited and carefully examined thousands of mouths, noting the presence of cavities and dental deformities. This part of his research was extremely precise and scientific, and it was published in many peer reviewed journals of his day. His research project took him over 10 years to complete.
2. "Jumped to simplistic conclusions." Price?Äôs conclusions were based on his research. He demonstrated the relationship between the decline in nutrients in primitive diets and the increase in disease. He clinched his argument with case studies showing the reversal of tooth decay and degenerative disease using a diet rich in nutrients. He also quoted from numerous scientific studies that supported his findings and conclusions.
3. "While extolling their health, he ignored their short life expectancy and high rates of infant mortality, endemic diseases, and malnutrition." Price extolled the health of those groups who were healthy, and described the high rates of infant mortality, endemic diseases and malnutrition in the groups that were not healthy. Much of the value of his research comes from the fact that he was able to observe healthy and unhealthy groups of the same racial stock side by side, and thereby demonstrate the correlation between diet and disease. Although we will never be able to ascertain the life expectancy of the primitive peoples he studied, Price noted great longevity among certain groups, such as the Eskimos and the South Sea Islanders.
4. "Malnourished people don?Äôt usually get many cavities." Reference, please? In fact, malnourished people do get cavities.
Price proved that cavities are a sign of malnutrition.
5. Once modernized, the tribal peoples "ingested too much fatty and salty food." Price showed that the primitive, protective diets were in fact rich in fatty foods, and also included some salt. Has any scientist yet claimed that salt causes tooth decay?
6. The health decline that Price observed was due to "exposure to unfamiliar germs, to which they were not resistant." Price was amazed to find that the primitive African tribes he studied were resistant to the infectious diseases associated with Africa. By contrast, the whites on their devitalized diet suffered greatly from these diseases. Even though exposed to TB, Swiss villagers and Gaelic seafaring peoples were completely immune as long as they consumed their native diet. Infectious disease did indeed cause much suffering among nonindustrialized peoples as soon as they abandoned their traditional diets; the same dearth of nutrients that made them susceptible to these diseases also made them susceptible to tooth decay and a change in skeletal structure in the next generation.
7. The health decline that Price observed was due to "the drastic change in their way of life as they gave up strenuous physical activities such as hunting." Lack of exercise can in no way explain the great increase in degenerative disease, including tooth decay, that modernized tribal peoples experienced when they changed their way of life.
8. The health decline was due to "alcohol abuse." Alcoholism became a huge problem in these communities after contact with the West. But the introduction of strong alcoholic beverages (many primitive peoples consumed mildly alcoholic beverages) occurred simultaneously with the change in diet, and the drastic lowering of food quality created deficiencies that can lead to alcoholism. Note Barrett?Äôs moralistic tone in the word "abuse," just as he moralizes about "overindulgence" in sugar. Apparently the blame lies not with the West for introducing these substances, but with the once-primitive peoples who "abused" and "overindulged" because they are "ignorant." For Barrett, the frailty of people unlike himself is congenital, not, as Dr. Price suggested, the inevitable consequence of processed foods.
Hotep/Peace
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