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QUACKERY ONE
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The fields of exercise, nutrition and weight management are rife with fraud. Multitudes of tricksters, savvy marketing professionals and flat out dishonest people use skillful ploys to hoodwink consumers into handing over their money for worthless or even dangerous advice, products, and procedures. Use of the words fraud or quackery is how health promotion professionals describe these products and programs that contrast with reliable, scientifically based information about health issues.
Misinformation purveyed by quacks rarely sticks to the facts derived from scientific research. Instead you will read or hear claims that sound logical or true. Usually this "research" is not published in refereed journals (their reviewers would not accept it for publication) or is grossly misinterpreted by the "quack". The "documentation" for their published claims come from magazines, newspapers, and trade books or uses part of a sentence from a legitimately published study. Sadly, some publications with high standards for truthfulness are unable to screen out all unreliable information. Writers who make fraudulent claims are rarely credentialed professionals. If you look into their qualifications, you may find they are only words on pretty pieces of paper. (There are exceptions, unfortunately. Occasionally a person with all the earmarks of the real thing turns out to be just plain dishonest. But for the most part these generalizations hold true.)
To identify quackery, look for these signs:
1. Claims that provide solutions that sound "magical" or that present enticingly simple (and logical sounding) answers to complex problems.
2. Distrust of the current methods of medicine or suspicion of the regular food supply, with "alternatives" for sale (providing profit to the seller) under the guise that people should have freedom of choice. Beware of anyone claiming to be persecuted by the medical establishment, it means an amateur is making your diagnosis. They often try to convince you that physicians "want to keep you ill so that you will continue to pay for office visits."
3. Evidence in the form of testimonials, case histories, and other nonscientific support for their claims. These are carefully selected and too often use the name of a person who doesn't exist. Everyone is passionate about something.
4. Evidence from "unpublished studies." Valid scientific studies are published in reputable scientific journals.
5. In tiny print, somewhere on a page, the word "Advertisement".
6. Evidence that is purported to be valid because the person has a M. D. or Ph.D. or "has studied ___________".
Be a savvy consumer. WATCH OUT FOR THESE:
Logic without proof Motive: personal gain Authority not cited Unreliable publication Fake credentials Advertisement Unpublished studies Testimonials Suspicions about food supply Persecution claims Simple answers
| Quackery Two | Smart Eating | Lifestyles |
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