werner@aecom.UUCP (Craig Werner) (12/03/85)
[A few month's ago, someone inquired about Carlton Fredericks and a slight discussion transpired. Here are more of the facts elaborated.] [As usual, questions, comments, considerations, and recommendations actively solicited.] Carlton Fredericks (real name Harold Frederick Caplan) is billed on his Radio Show and his column in Prevention magazine, as "America's Foremost Nutritionist." The truth: His Undergraduate degree (1931) is in English. His first major job, in 1937, was writing copy for U.S. Vitamin Corp. He later began prescribing vitamins to patients and narrowly escaped a jail term for practicing medicine without a license in 1945 by pleading guilty to fraud charges and paying $500. He received a Masters from NYU in 1949 and and PhD in 1955 -- both in the field of communcations, without ever taking a course in Nutrition. The topic of his thesis: "A Study of the Responses of a Group of Adult Female Listeners to a Series of Educational Radio Programs." These were his own WOR broadcasts, which continue to this day. In 1960, he had a contract with Foods Plus to turn over all his mail so they could use the names for promotional purposes. The contract was terminated when Foods Plus was indicted for misbranding 42 products [remember it is a crime to lie on the LABEL] At the trial in 1965, an expert witness branded him a charlatan. The defense objected, but after the witness read the dictionary definition of "Charlatan", the objection was overruled and the description allowed to stand. He is also one of the originators of the campaign to discredit sugar. Once on Merv Griffin, he was asked to estimate the number of Americans suffering from Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). He answered 20 million. In fact, actual screenings to detect high blood sugar (ie Diabetes) put the number of Hypoglycemics at several thousand Americans - making it a very rare disorder. Most of his mail indicates that people think he is a medical doctor, probably due to the fact that he is referred to as simply "Dr. Fredericks." [Epilogue: I listened to his radio show. Most of his advice can be labeled, as the Hitchhiker's Guide said about Earth, as "mostly harmless." What concerned me more was the attitudes of his callers. Even on the few instances where he recommended seeing a doctor and getting diagnostic tests (non-invasive, of course -- which are actually those preferred by most physicians anyway), the caller persisted in asking about yet another herbal salve, or a whole list of them. The crime is not one of commission, but rather one of ommision in those cases.] -- Craig Werner !philabs!aecom!werner "Comedy, like Medicine, was never meant to be practiced by the general public."
seifert@hammer.UUCP (Snoopy) (12/07/85)
In article <2106@aecom.UUCP> werner@aecom.UUCP (Craig Werner) writes: > He is also one of the originators of the campaign to discredit sugar. >Once on Merv Griffin, he was asked to estimate the number of Americans >suffering from Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). He answered 20 million. In >fact, actual screenings to detect high blood sugar (ie Diabetes) put the >number of Hypoglycemics at several thousand Americans - making it a very rare >disorder. Craig, I'm surprised that you don't know the difference between a test for diabetes and a test for hypoglycemia. (hint: there is more than one form of hypoglycemia, the test for diabetes only catches one) Snoopy tektronix!tekecs!doghouse.TEK!snoopy
werner@aecom.UUCP (Craig Werner) (12/09/85)
> Craig, I'm surprised that you don't know the difference between a test > for diabetes and a test for hypoglycemia. (hint: there is more than > one form of hypoglycemia, the test for diabetes only catches one) > > Snoopy Obviously a test for blood sugar levels would pick up high (diabetes) and low levels (hypoglycemia). Since you are right that I don't know of any hypoglycemia that is NOT reflected in low blood sugar levels, you'll have to enlighten me and the net (or get a mailpath that works). In order for Fredericks to be right, it would have to be ~1000X more common that the detectable type. I hope it's interesting. -- Craig Werner !philabs!aecom!werner "It's hard to argue with someone who knows what he's talking about."