Consumer Health Digest, Issue #22-37 (original) (raw)

Consumer Health Digest is a free weekly e-mail newsletter edited by William M. London, Ed.D., M.P.H., with help from Stephen Barrett, M.D., It summarizes scientific reports; legislative developments; enforcement actions; other news items; Web site evaluations; recommended and nonrecommended books; research tips; and other information relevant to consumer protection and consumer decision-making. The Digest’s primary focus is on health, but occasionally it includes non-health scams and practical tips. Items posted to this archive may be updated when relevant information becomes available. To subscribe, click here.

Anti-vax nurse suspended. The British Columbia College of Nurses and Midwives has suspended Carole Garfield of West Kelowna for four weeks following her anti-vaccine activities in September 2021. While off duty, Garfield contacted a vulnerable client using her personal cell phone and email to provide anti-COVID-vaccine information and to recommend “alternative pseudo-science modalities.” Under the consent agreement, Garfield has also voluntarily agreed to: (a) a public reprimand, (b) prohibition from being the sole RN on duty for six months, and (c) remedial education in ethics, boundaries, documentation, privacy and confidentiality, and professional nursing standards. According to the college’s registry, Garfield’s nursing license was cancelled in April, so it’s unclear how the requirements of the consent agreement will be applied. [Former B.C. nurse suspended after giving vulnerable client anti-vaccine information. CBC News, Sept 18, 2022]

Journal tells homeopathic product seller to stop using article in marketing. The American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (AAOMS) has notified StellaLife, a company marketing a homeopathic “oral care recovery kit,” to cease and desist referencing a study published in AAOMS’s official journal JOMS to imply endorsement of StellaLife. Mentions of JOMS have been removed from StellaLife’s website except for a reference to the study among a list of 40 similar references. The cease-and-desist letter was prompted by complaints from Dr. Stephen Barrett and Professor William London to the editor of JOMS about the study’s methodology and the conflicts of interest of Walter Tatch, DDS, the sole author. Tatch reported decreased opioid prescribing in his practice managing oral surgery pain after offering over-the-counter pain relievers in combination with the homeopathic treatment. The reduction in opioid prescribing cannot be attributable even in part to the homeopathic treatment. Tatch didn’t report any measures of patients’ pain levels. [Journal sends cease-and-desist letter to a company marketing a homeopathic alternative to opioids. Retraction Watch, Sept 14, 2022]

Tatch is an oral and maxillofacial surgeon who operates the NorthShore Center for Oral & Facial Surgery & Implantology in Gurnee, Illinois. Corporate filings list him as a member of StellaLife’s board of directors and indicate that Diana Mandel-Tatch is the company’s secretary. Diana, who is Walter’s wife, is also a dentist. There is no published scientific evidence or logical reason to believe that the homeopathic ingredients in StellaLife VEGA Oral Care Recovery Kit produce any medicinal benefit, “promote oral health,” or “promote a lifetime of good health and well-being.” It’s possible that the kit’s non-homeopathic ingredients provide a rinsing or covering action that can lessen post-surgical discomfort. The product currently sells for $89.97. [Barrett S. Be wary of StellaLife homeopathic dental products. Dental Watch, Aug 14, 2022]

Dietary supplement touted for curing vision problems scrutinized. Joe Schwarcz, PhD, Director of McGill University’s Office for Science and Society, has looked closely at “SightCare,” a supposedly revolutionary stem-cell-enhancing dietary supplement composed of vitamins, minerals, herbal extracts, and other chemicals. David Lewis, a product spokesperson, claims in a lengthy video it can cure all vision problems and is “divinely elegant, that it has nothing to do with embryos or unborn babies, and is 100% Christian approved.” The video offers SightCare for the “special price of $69 a bottle.” It warns that later availability could not be guaranteed, since the eye care industry is expected to protect its profits by campaigning to prevent SightCare sales. Dr. Schwarcz concluded:

Leaving all the hype aside, the fundamental question here is whether the claim that this specific composition of ingredients can cure all visual problems is backed by randomized, double-blind studies. There is a simple answer. No! The evidence we are furnished is an anecdote from. . . David Lewis that his failing eyesight was restored and that members of his church have also been happy with the product.

I cannot say that SightCare cannot have some effect on sight, but I will go out on a limb and assert that it cannot eliminate glasses or cure eye diseases. Indeed, I think such unsubstantiated promises are criminal and make me see red, another problem that cannot be solved with SightCare.

[Schwarcz J. Not seeing eye-to-eye with an eye visionary. McGill Office for Science and Society, July 8, 2022]

Longevity House biohacking spotlighted. A recent article spotlights Longevity House, a private club in Toronto with a 100,000lifetimemembershipfee.Theclubclaimstoprovidemembersthepossibilityoflivingto120yearsfreefromchronicillnessandmentaldecline.Activitiesatagatheringofmemberslastfallincludedsipping“brain−boosting”beverageslinkedwithlion’smanemushroomsgarnishedwithgrapefruit,breathwork,andsoakingupelectronicpulsesofa100,000 lifetime membership fee. The club claims to provide members the possibility of living to 120 years free from chronic illness and mental decline. Activities at a gathering of members last fall included sipping “brain-boosting” beverages linked with lion’s mane mushrooms garnished with grapefruit, breathwork, and soaking up electronic pulses of a 100,000lifetimemembershipfee.Theclubclaimstoprovidemembersthepossibilityoflivingto120yearsfreefromchronicillnessandmentaldecline.Activitiesatagatheringofmemberslastfallincludedsipping“brain−boosting”beverageslinkedwithlion’smanemushroomsgarnishedwithgrapefruit,breathwork,andsoakingupelectronicpulsesofa20,000 “BioCharger” device. That’s the same device that Australian celebrity chef Pete Evans claimed could cure COVID-19. (Evans subsequently received a $25,000 fine for doing so from the Therapeutic Good Administration, the regulatory body in Australia.) The club also offers high-performance exercise equipment, “a Katalyst (an electronic muscle-stimulation garment that looks like a wetsuit and promises ‘the world’s most efficient workout’),” a red-light therapy room, a full-body vibration plate, a cold-plunge tub, a custom-built sauna, naturopaths, breathwork specialists, a chakra guy, a therapist who specializes in psychedelics, and “functional-medicine doctors who read blood and stool samples like physiological tea leaves.” Longevity House was launched by Michael Nguyen, who got his start as a tailor to the stars. He is not a health professional. The article describes Nguyen and Longevity House members as engaging in biohacking—to “hack one’s biology for the purposes of optimization”—which is New Age woo-woo wellness spiked with gadgetry. The author wrote:

How genuine is Michael Nguyen? He certainly walks the walk, drinks the bone broth and bathes in the forest. He may actually have the cardiovascular system of a man half his age. But, ultimately, his heart is mainly entrepreneurial, and a business like Longevity House benefits from the blurring of credible science with all kinds of quackery.

[Shea C. The death cheaters. Toronto Life, Aug 29, 2022]

K-Tape lambasted. Exercise physiologist Nick Tiller, MRes, PhD, has examined the jargon-filled promotional claims and scientific evidence regarding kinesiology tape, also known as Kinesio Tape, KT Tape, or K-Tape, commonly used by athletes to stabilize injured joints. He concluded:

When the omnipresence of K-tape in health and fitness is contrasted against the evidence for its benefit, the disparity is among the largest I have seen for any intervention, second only to chiropractic and homeopathy. Exactly how long this practice will endure, despite the damning evidence, remains to be seen, although if other pseudoscientific practices serve as an indication, K-Tape may be with us indefinitely. Notwithstanding, there is likely to be a potent placebo effect that some proponents will use to justify its continued use in the clinic. In fact, around 40 percent of athletic trainers and physiotherapists are already cognizant that K-tape works only via placebo. They use it anyway. Hence the brand’s estimated value of about $350 million.

[Tiller N. Kinesio Tape: A magnificent marketing machine. Skeptical Inquirer, Aug 22, 2022]

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