Gillian McKeith (born Perth, Scotland in 1959) is a highly controversial author and television presenter who often uses the letters “Dr” in front of her name. She has written a number of books, including You Are What You Eat, Dr Gillian McKeith’s Living Food for Health and The Miracle Superfood: Wild Blue-Green Algae. Her television work includes Channel 4’s You Are What You Eat, Granada Television’s Dr Gillian McKeith’s Feel Fab Forever and a number of slots on shows such as ITV’s This Morning and BBC1’s Good Morning. She recently helped Scottish heavy-weight singer, Michelle McManus lose seven stone (44kg).
She suffers from scoliosis, and grows her hair long to hide the condition.
Philosophy
Her general philosophy is based on advice to exercise more, and to reduce processed and high-calorie foods in favour of organic fruits and vegetables. She is a proponent of colonic irrigation and of her proprietary ‘living food’ supplements, said to aid digestion by providing enzymes. She also claims that yeast is harmful and that the colours of foods are nutritionally significant.
The basis of some of her alternative medical procedures (for instance, diagnosis of nutritional deficiency by feces and tongue inspection) has been strongly disputed as inaccurate or untrue by some members of the scientific community. Critics have included John Garrow, Emeritus Professor of Human Nutrition, University of London; GP and journalist Dr Ben Goldacre (in The Guardian’s Bad Science column); Edzard Ernst, University of Exeter professor of complementary medicine; and Amanda Wynne of the British Dietetic Association (in The Sun). See Quackery.
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Education
McKeith originally attended Edinburgh University and gained a degree in languages and business. Later she moved to America, where she worked in marketing and international business. McKeith originally claimed, both on her website and in her book Dr Gillian McKeith’s Living Food for Health, to have a PhD from the American College of Nutrition (by implication, the Florida-based institution of that name). This claim has since been amended to say that she received a Master’s degree and PhD from the American Holistic College of Nutrition, Alabama — now the Clayton College of Natural Health — which offers correspondence courses. The Clayton College of Natural Health states that it is accredited by the American Association of Drugless Practitioners and the American Naturopathic Medical Accreditation Board. However, these are not recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education, which means “accreditation” by them is meaningless.
McKeith’s PR office indicate that her PhD Thesis has been published under the title “Blue Green Algae” by Keats publishing; however, the aforementioned volume is only around 60 pages in length, which would be very short for a PhD thesis. However, it is the fact that the PhD thesis is from an unaccredited institution, rather than its length, which makes it controversial and hence her use of the title “Doctor” is also controversial.
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Professional Affiliations
McKeith says she is a member of the American Association of Nutritional Consultants (AANC). This organisation has been criticised by Quackwatch for selling membership certificates to unqualified individuals. In 2004, Dr Ben Goldacre revealed that upon payment of $60 he obtained a certificate showing his dead cat was a member. It is claimed by Quackwatch that hamsters and poodles are members too.
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Research
McKeith claims to have conducted a number of studies. She claims she has studied effects of blue-green algae (Aphanizomenon flos-aquae) on childhood learning disabilities and behavioural problems (Nebraska, USA; and El Salvador school system) and studied effects of stressors on ageing and immunity with Dr Robert Pollack (MD), Temple University Medical School (Philadelphia, USA). She markets a product containing this algae called Dr Gillian McKeith’s Liquid Nutrient Shot.
Her work has not appeared in peer-reviewed publications, and is not considered by scientists to be of any academic value. [2]
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Quotes
“All molecules have an electrical charge and a vibrational energy. Therefore, all foods, which are made up of molecules, contain these vibrational charges. The colours of foods represent vibrational energies [...] foods which are orange in colour [...] have similar vibrational energies and even similar nutrient makeup.”
Note that many molecules don’t have overall charge. While it could be argued that McKeith is referring to subatomic charges distributed within molecules, the statement as it stands gives a false impression, because usually references to charged molecules imply ions, which many molecules (and therefore food components) are not.
Secondly, visible colours are not generally a function of molecular vibrations: these usually interact with electromagnetic radiation in the infra red region. It’s probable “vibrational” is used here in some generic sense, divorced from chemists’ normal usage, deriving from a vague picture of quantum mechanics. Nonetheless, the terminology is misleading for an apparently scientific statement.
Third, it’s false to suggest on the strength of this, or any other scientific theory, that similarly coloured foods contain similar “nutrient makeup”. All it shows is that their distribution of electron energy levels (not vibrational levels) leads to a similar retinal response.
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Books
* Miracle Superfood: Wild Blue-Green Algae (1996)
* Ten Steps to Perfect Health for New Mothers (2002)
* Living Food for Health (2004)
* You Are What You Eat (2004)
* You Are What You Eat Cookbook (2005)
* Dr Gillian McKeith’s Ultimate Health Plan: The Diet Programme That Will Keep You Slim for Life (2006)
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