Dear Mt Barrett, I have been looking at your Quackwatch website for a number of years with some interest and I would like to thank you for bringing to my attention such consumer rip off such as unnecessary surgery, explaining the scientific method to some degree – a bit more detail would be an improvement - and some common sense as regards sugar consumption.. There, however are some points of ambiguity that I would like you to clarify: Weston.A.Price. Could I ask if he documented any factual inaccuracies or altered any of his photographs? Were there serious factual errors that were known about at the time in his work? While I can see his work and conclusions would be a matter of considerable debate, I fail to see how anyone disagreeing with his findings would make him a quack. The whole scientific world is controversial and without controversy there would be no scientific progress. Robert Atkins. I have never considered it necessary to go on any diet so I have to admit I do not a great deal about the Atkins diet but what I do know is that it is a myth that he died in his forties, he actually died a t 71 from injuries sustained by slipping on a block of ice As I understand it the Atkins diet is a high fat diet and I also understand that it is the quality of fat rather than the quantity of fat in your diet that matters. The Atkins foundation appears to be correct in the advice of avoiding fruit juice and high fructose corn syrup. Again I fail to see any quackery. http://www.abc.net.au/rn/healthreport/stories/2007/1969924.htm#transcript .Advert for Ghee. Again you make the claim that eating fat is unhealthy. I understood that it is trans fat is unhealthy, not fat in general. Ghee is extensively used as a cooking fat in France and they a very low rate of heart disease. http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/8.30/helthrpt/stories/s28183.htm One of the scientific references you give is for vegetable ghee aka hydrogenated vegetable oil - not the same thing as ghee at all. Given that a low fat diet is unhealthy, it could be claimed that ghee is healthy although the same could be about many other traditional fats. All adverts are essentially irrational statements. Talking of trans fat, you might like to feature this web page on your site. http://www.nutritionaustralia.org/Food_Facts/FAQ/cholesterol_faq.asp Let me quote from it. “Avoid the food ingredient partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, which results in trans fats.” But it also says on the same page, “Replace butter with margarine spread (sunflower, canola or olive oil).” Margarine is exactly what partially hydrogenated vegetable oil is. How silly is that? Finally I could not help noticing that the demonisation of cholesterol and the dangers of taking stain medications are not mentioned on your website. Surely statins are far worse for anyone than consuming ghee? I once asked my doctor of higher cholesterol levels being associated with heart disease is a case of cause or effect and he said he did not know. http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/article/548/ Did you hear about the case of Cerivastatin being withdrawn form sale? http://www.tga.gov.au/docs/html/cerivast.htm Being the expert, unbiased, disinterested scientific intellectual that you are, I expect that you welcome such feedback as I have provided so that you can also make further improvements to your website. As I consider the contents of this email to be of public interest. I will post it up on a number of different internet forums and will post your answer, so consider you reply carefully. Your enthusiastic follower, Alexander Cranford
I received a reply as follows: We discuss low-carbohydrate diets at http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/lcd.html Finally I could not help noticing that the demonisation of cholesterol and the dangers of taking stain medications are not mentioned on your website. Statin drugs are very effective and adverse effects are not usually a problem. The "Spiked" article you cited contains several errors. Answering your other questions would take more time than I can comfortably afford. Good luck in your quest for truth.
