Robert O. Young
| Robert O. Young | |
|---|---|
 Robert O. Young |
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| Born | March 6, 1952 |
| Occupation | Author, naturopath |
| Known for | pH Miracle book series |
Robert O. Young (born 1952) is an American entrepreneur and author of alternative medicine books promoting an alkaline diet.[1] His most popular works are the "pH Miracle" series of books, which outline his beliefs about holistic healing and an "alkalarian" lifestyle.[2][3][4]
Young resides in Alpine, Utah as well as at Rancho Del Sol, an avocado and grapefruit ranch in Valley Center, California, with his wife, Shelley Redford Young.[5] Together, they run the pH Miracle Center, farm alkaline fruits and vegetables, hold health retreats, and teach live blood analysis and seminars on what they refer to as "The New Biology", which promotes an alkaline diet and a physically active, low-stress lifestyle.[4]
Contents |
[edit] Biography and published books
According to Young's website, he is a great-great grandson of Brigham Young and Jean-Baptiste Jules Bernadotte, King of Norway and Sweden.[6] Young's website also states that he attended the University of Utah on a tennis scholarship and studied biology and business in the early 1970s,[7] after which he did missionary work for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for two years in London.[7] He received several degrees from Clayton College of Natural Health, a now defunct unaccredited distance learning school. These include an Masters degree in nutrition (1993), a D.Sc. with emphasis in chemistry and biology (1995), a Ph.D. (1997) and an N.D. (Doctor of Naturopathy, 1999).[7]
Young has authored a series of best-selling books and videos titled The pH Miracle (2002), The pH Miracle for Diabetes (2004), The pH Miracle for Weight Loss (2005), and "The pH Miracle Revised" (2010). Other books he has authored include Herbal Nutritional Medications (1988), One Sickness, One Disease, One Treatment (1992), Sick and Tired (1995), Back to the House of Health (1999), and Back to the House of Health 2 (2003).[7] According to Young's website, the pH Miracle books have sold more than 1,000,000 copies as of February, 2012, and have been translated into 21 different languages.[4]
[edit] Work
Young promotes an alkaline diet. He claims that health depends primarily on proper balance between an alkaline and acid environment in the human body, and that an acid environment causes cancer, obesity, osteoporosis, yeast overgrowth, flu, skin disorders, and other diseases.[8] Young writes about pleomorphism, a school of thought which was prominent in late-19th-century microbiology but which fell out of favor with the advent of modern germ theory.[2][9] Young's fundamental claim is that the human body is alkaline by design and acidic by function, and that there is only one disease (acidosis) and one treatment (an alkaline diet).[10][11]
Young's books recommend a low-stress lifestyle and a high-water-content, high-chlorophyll, plant-based diet.[12] He recommends moderate intake of high-carbohydrate vegetables, some grains, and fresh fish.[13] Young recommends abstaining from "acidic" foods—sugar, red meat, shellfish, eggs, dairy, processed and refined foods, stored grains, artificial sweeteners, alcohol, coffee, chocolate, and sodas—because he believes that such foods overload the body with acidity and cause disease.[13] Young claims that disorders such as weight gain, water retention, high cholesterol, kidney stones, and tumors are all life-saving mechanisms for dealing with excess acidity in the body. Young's writings commonly explain these theories using a "fish tank" metaphor that compares the environment of the human body to a fish tank.[1][14]
Research supporting alkaline diets, like that promoted by Young, is limited to in vitro and animal studies.[15] A number of recent systematic reviews and meta-analyses in the medical literature have concluded that there is no evidence that alkaline diets are beneficial to humans.[16][17][18] According to the National Council Against Health Fraud, a 2005 MEDLINE search indicated that Young had not published any research in recognized scientific journals.[19]
[edit] Nutritional microscopy
Young bases some of his theories, research, and written works on the alternative medical approach of live blood analysis. Young teaches microscopy courses in which he trains people to perform live blood analysis as well as dry blood analysis.[7] Young has also stated that he teaches live blood analysis solely for research and educational purposes, and not for use in diagnosing medical conditions—an important legal distinction.[20]
Live blood analysis is used by alternative medical practitioners, who claim it to be a valuable qualitative assessment of a person's state of health. Live blood analysis lacks scientific foundation, and has been described as a fraudulent means of convincing patients to buy dietary supplements and as a medically useless "money-making scheme".[20][21][22] Live blood analysis has been described by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as an "unestablished laboratory test", or test that is not generally accepted in laboratory medicine.[23]
[edit] Legal issues
In 1995, Young allegedly drew blood from two women, told them they were ill, and then sold them herbal products to treat these illnesses. He was charged with two third-degree felony counts of practicing medicine without a license, but pled guilty to a reduced misdemeanor charge.[9][20] Young argued that he had never claimed to be a medical doctor, that the women had entrapped him by asking to be part of his research, and that he "looked at the women's blood and simply gave them some nutritional advice."[9]
In 2001, Young was again charged with a felony in Utah, after a cancer patient alleged that Young told her to stop chemotherapy and to substitute one of his products to treat her cancer. Subsequently, when an undercover agent visited Young, he allegedly analyzed her blood and prescribed a liquid diet. The case was taken to preliminary trial, but charges were dropped after the prosecutor stated that he could not find enough people who felt cheated by Young.[24] Young dismissed the arrests as "harassment" and stated that he moved to California because the legal climate there was more tolerant.[20]
[edit] References
- ^ a b "Authors Say Key to Health is in the Blood". Arizona Tribune. May 30, 2002. http://archive.aztrib.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Search&Key=ATribuneL%2F2002%2F05%2F30%2F1%2FAr00102.xml&CollName=EVT_Archive_ATribuneL&DOCID=1198&Keyword=(pH~+and+Miracle~)&skin=EVTA&AppName=2&ViewMode=GIF. Retrieved Apr 01, 2009.
- ^ a b Young, Robert (2001). Sick and Tired. pp. 9–11. ISBN 1-58054-030-9. http://books.google.com/?id=I8sL16sztrAC&pg=PA10&lpg=PA10&dq=Young+Robert+Sick+and+Tired+text.
- ^ Young, Robert (2002). The pH Miracle. pp. 1–11. ISBN 0-446-52809-9. http://www.google.com/books?id=pwzcGwAACAAJ&dq=The+pH+Miracle.
- ^ a b c pH Miracle Living, About Us
- ^ Utah County Property Owners 2008
- ^ "pH Miracle Press Release for pH Miracle book series" (Press release). Phmiracleliving.com. http://www.phmiracleliving.com/press-kit.htm. Retrieved 2011-09-19.
- ^ a b c d e Robert Young Website Media Kit
- ^ The Alkalarian Approach to Optimal Health
- ^ a b c "Herbalist in Alpine pleads guilty to reduced charge". Deseret News. February 5, 1996. http://www.deseretnews.com/article/469857/HERBALIST-IN-ALPINE-PLEADS-GUILTY-TO-REDUCED-CHARGE.html. Retrieved July 20, 2008.
- ^ "In Search for Alternative...". WCMessenger. http://www.wcmessenger.com/holistic/part_two.shtml. Retrieved Jul, 2009.
- ^ Young, Robert. Overacidity and Overgrowth of Yeast, Fungus and Moulds. Canada Consumer Health. May 1997.
- ^ Young, Robert (2002). The pH Miracle. pp. 37, 41, 50–80. ISBN 0-446-52809-9. http://books.google.com/?id=vZ07PgAACAAJ&dq=pH+Miracle.
- ^ a b Young, Robert (2002). The pH Miracle. pp. 58, 81–91. ISBN 0-446-52809-9. http://books.google.com/?id=vZ07PgAACAAJ&dq=pH+Miracle.
- ^ Karr, Chris (2007). Crazy Sexy Cancer. p. 129. ISBN 978-1-59921-231-9. http://books.google.com/?id=xym9HByBEmkC&dq=Crazy+Sexy+cancer&printsec=frontcover.
- ^ Alkaline Diets and Cancer: Fact or Fiction?, by Stephanie Vangsness, R.D., L.D.N. Intelihealth, published May 3, 2006; accessed July 17, 2008.
- ^ Fenton TR, Tough SC, Lyon AW, Eliasziw M, Hanley DA (2011). "Causal assessment of dietary acid load and bone disease: a systematic review & meta-analysis applying Hill's epidemiologic criteria for causality". Nutr J 10: 41. doi:10.1186/1475-2891-10-41. PMC 3114717. PMID 21529374. http://www.nutritionj.com/content/10//41.
- ^ Fenton TR, Lyon AW, Eliasziw M, Tough SC, Hanley DA (November 2009). "Meta-analysis of the effect of the acid-ash hypothesis of osteoporosis on calcium balance". J. Bone Miner. Res. 24 (11): 1835–40. doi:10.1359/jbmr.090515. PMID 19419322. http://dx.doi.org/10.1359/jbmr.090515.
- ^ Fenton TR, Lyon AW, Eliasziw M, Tough SC, Hanley DA (2009). "Phosphate decreases urine calcium and increases calcium balance: a meta-analysis of the osteoporosis acid-ash diet hypothesis". Nutr J 8: 41. doi:10.1186/1475-2891-8-41. PMC 2761938. PMID 19754972. http://www.nutritionj.com/content/8//41.
- ^ "'Dr.' Robert O. Young lacks legitimate credentials". Consumer Health Digest. National Council Against Health Fraud. April 5, 2005. http://www.ncahf.org/digest05/05-14.html. Retrieved July 17, 2008.
- ^ a b c d Naturopathic technique stirring bad blood, by Logan Jenkins. Published in the San Diego Union-Tribune on April 11, 2005; accessed July 20, 2008.
- ^ Ernst, Edzard (2005-07-12). "Intrigued by the spectacular claims made for Live Blood Analysis? Don't be. It doesn't work". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1526339,00.html. Retrieved 2008-11-17.
- ^ Freyer, Felice (2005-06-21). "Chiropractor ordered to halt blood tests". Providence Journal. http://www.projo.com/news/content/projo_20050621_chiro21.2342042.html.
- ^ "CLIA regulation of unestablished laboratory tests" (PDF). U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. July 2001. http://oig.hhs.gov/oei/reports/oei-05-00-00250.pdf.
- ^ "A Critical Look at "Dr." Robert Young's Theories and Credentials". Quackwatch.org. http://www.quackwatch.org/11Ind/young3.html. Retrieved 2011-09-19.
[edit] External links
Media related to Robert O. Young at Wikimedia Commons
