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Gary Null: vitamin guru with hypervitaminosis

Gary Null is a guru alti celebrity in America. It is proclaimed as "the expert leader in health and nutrition in America." Armed with a doctorate from a university duckling, a radio program that has been passed for nearly 30 years, audiovisual programs, books, a product line and a chain of stores, Null promotes and sells almost every branch of medicine alti: its methods claim to be "natural" and "embraces the body, mind and spirit" and considers aging as a disease (for anti-aging guru , looks good bumpy) agrees with the views of AIDS denialists and anti-vaccination movement, promotes conspiracy theories about pharmaceutical and biomedical industries, and prescribes treatment almost every crazy in the world of alternative medicine for almost every disease view and future. These treatments

"natural" could not miss the supplements. Like the rest of orthomolecular altis and nutritionists in general, Null attributed an exaggerated importance to the role of vitamins in the prevention and cure of all diseases, and advocating megadoses of vitamins, amounts far above what a normal human being needs to live a life healthy. And like any self-respecting nutritional quack, Null sell bottles of vitamins labeled with your name.

seems that Gary Null is convinced of the effectiveness of their methods, so they usually consume their own products. One such product is a supplement of vitamin D (which is becoming the fashionable panacea) called Ultimate Power Meal. In late 2009, Null consumed a Power Meal coming from a item with a manufacturing defect, the supplement of yore had a thousand times more vitamin D than advertised, which was slightly higher than the recommended dose of vitamin D. So over a month, Power Meal Null took enough to meet the needs of vitamin D for a lifetime. The result was an overdose of vitamin D that caused kidney damage. There was a time when the continued stalling of vitamin D, true to his belief that the supplement would help you improve. Finally had to go with a real doctor, the kind that Null said that safeguard their own interests conspire against the monetary and health "natural", which he studied and detected high levels unlikely vitamin D. As he had no more to wait for your body to get rid of excess vitamin D, Null was subjected to a liquid fast. At the time of posting this, Gary Null improved in health but has not fully recovered. According to two letters in the press in late April, the demand for lawyers Null says "still occasionally urinating blood."

Following that incident, Null canceled work commitments, ordered the immediate withdrawal of defective item, consumers were warned, blaming the manufacturer of the whole thing broke up commercial and sued him for $ 10 million (M $ 12.6 M € 7.7 m). Many let him know that customers would no longer consume their products. It is reported that at least six consumers of Power Meal also had renal failure and were hospitalized. Who knows how he will go to your business: insurance Null forget the matter and will continue as usual.

My first reaction was schadenfreude and even I was tempted to put a Nelson. But then I felt sorry for Gary Null, because I think he was acting in good faith and I can not responsible for anything. After all, is so convinced of the goodness of its products that are eaten. But no such product, and knew or had means of knowing that the product had too much vitamin D. When he knew he had the decency to recognize that the item was defective and could be fatal, and off the market.

But one also begins to think in the alternative medicine industry in general, and many similar cases have already gone before, but not the guys whose pictures are on the bottle of supplements. In Mexico and has become relatively common for Cofepris post warnings and remove harmful supplements, but never goes higher. A similar event in the pharmaceutical industry (in the U.S., Mexico or almost anywhere) would have caused a scandal for weeks, and most just reason.

One reason for this is the huge difference in regulation between the biomedical industry and altis: pharmaceuticals, laboratories, hospitals and physicians are subject to a lot of legislation, standardization and supervision, and violations are severely punished (although violations are passed by more times higher than they should). In contrast, the alternative medicine industry has even the slightest self-regulation, much less strict legislation or a body that actively monitor their products, services and processes. The same lack of legislation that gives people like Null carte blanche to say whatever they want where they want without having to prove nothing or face legal consequences is the same as Null poison made its own fee. The iron that kills ...

In this story we learn two things:

1. is beyond dispute that you need vitamins to live and be healthy. It is also true that most people above the food poverty line consume adequate amounts of most vitamins and do not need supplements. It is also true that vitamins are not panaceas and they have a very minor role in the prevention of noncommunicable diseases related to vitamin deficiencies. It is also true that one can consume too many vitamins and get very sick. As happened to Gary Null, nutritional guru and marketer of vitamins.
2. Alternative medicine is not the exclusive concern of farmers humble little business or home. There is a whole industrial and commercial infrastructure closer to the pharmaceutical industry than it wants, but no one knows what happens in the industry because nobody alti altis requires to comply with anything, and none of us has a guarantee that the remedies "natural" and "healthy" actually are.

In short, if you need vitamins, better eat a balanced diet. Supplements are more risks than benefits, and cost much more. Sources

• suit vs Gary Null. Claims supplement manufacturer Gary Null's Ultimate Power Meal Nearly Killed him in NY Daily News, April 28, 2010.
• Putting the "die" in diet. Health guru Nearly Killed eating own product in The New York Post . April 28, 2010.
• In response to those notes, Gary Null wrote response in place.
• additional tests can NeuroLogica , Respectful Insolence and Smartplanet .