Matthias Rath: Difference between revisions
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'''Matthias Rath''', [[Doctor of Medicine|M.D.]] (born [[1955]] in [[Stuttgart]], [[Germany]]) is a controversial German [[physician]]. |
'''Matthias Rath''', [[Doctor of Medicine|M.D.]] (born [[1955]] in [[Stuttgart]], [[Germany]]) is a controversial German [[physician]]. |
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== Controversy == |
== Controversy == |
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Rath research remains controversial among medical circles by virtue of his anti-pharmaceutical industry position. He claims the pharmaceutical industry |
Rath's research remains controversial among medical circles by virtue of the fact that he profits directly by selling a patented brand of micronutrients, because he advocates his proprietary mixture as an alternative to proven medical therapies, because of the unreproducability of his research, and because of his anti-pharmaceutical industry position. He claims the pharmaceutical industry tries to address symptoms rather than the causes of heart disease, which he believes can be cheaply remedied by improving dietary intake. |
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| ⚫ | Franc Ulrich Montgomery (chairman of the [[Marburger Federation]], roughly translated as Federation of German Physicians) and Michael Bamberg (executive of the German Cancer Foundation) have demanded legal procedures against Dr Rath following the death of a child (Dominik Feld) suffering bone cancer which metastisised to the lungs. The child's parents, prior to his death, had taken their son off chemotherapy treatment and put him under Dr Rath's nutritional supplement therapy. |
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However, further research on Dr Rath's branch of cellular medicine needs to be made to corroborate or refute his finding in regards to the causes and treatment of heart disease. Rath's cellular medicine is yet to mature as a hard science, and thus suffers from insufficient positive peer review in support his claims. |
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| ⚫ | Dr Rath's treatments do not have verifiable source as to his therapeutic claims made outside a limited range of practitioners. The role of nutrition is not clear as to whether it is either a preventive factor or definitely a curative therapy with a verifiable track record of success/effectiveness with sufferers, especially in advance stages and or terminally ill patients. |
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| ⚫ | Franc Ulrich Montgomery (chairman of the [[Marburger Federation]], roughly translated as Federation of German Physicians |
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| ⚫ | Dr Rath's treatments do not have |
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== New [[Codex Alimentarius]] law and restriction of nutritional supplements== |
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'''Potential for Food Supplement Ban on the Horizon August 2005 in the European Union''' |
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Dissenters argue that the Codex Alimentarius is under undue influence of Germany's pharmaceutical industry; German pharma industry has the potential to affect the outcome of Codex Alimentarius at European which later will become an international standard by virtue of its adoption by the [[WTO]]. Germany's pharmaceutical industry has the greatest vested interest in this outcome. |
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September 15, 2004 |
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"Huge Supplements Ban Coming to Europe: an Interview with John Hammell of IAHF" by Greg Ciola, |
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Crusador Newsletter, DEC-JAN 2004, (ISSUE 16) |
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:In August 2005, everything in Europe is about to change. Over 300 bioavailable nutrient forms present in over 5,000 safe vitamin and mineral products that include a large number of the safest, most readily absorbed and most effective, food-derived forms will be banned from the market. It stems from radical legislation passed in Europe by member State governments in June 2002 known as the EU Food Supplements Directive (FSD).''' The list of banned items includes natural vitamin forms such as mixed tocopherols (natural [[vitamin E]]), [[carotenoids]] and [[methylcobalamin]], all forms of sulphur, boron, vanadium, silicon and most trace elements, the most readily absorbed and safest forms of calcium, magnesium, zinc, selenium, chromium and molybdenum'''. It will severely limit the doses of vitamins and other nutrients allowed in products, removing all high-dose products from the market. It will include future restrictions on nutrient forms other than vitamins and minerals such as fatty acids, amino acids, enzymes, probiotics, phytonutrients, etc." ... [http://www.communicationagents.com/emma_holister/2004/09/15/huge_supplements_ban_coming_to.htm Full article] |
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A dissenter's view on the "EUROPEAN LEGISLATION FOOD SUPPLEMENTS DIRECTIVE". |
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[http://www.laleva.cc/supplements/supplements.html The controversial side of vitamin supplements] |
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[http://bumbuys.com/download/codex.pdf The Codex Alimentirius] potential to ban or restrict the usage of vitamins as nutrional supplements. |
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== Other claimed discoveries and beliefs== |
== Other claimed discoveries and beliefs== |
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Rath has also claimed discoveries on the role of [[lysine]] and the propagation of cancer cells (see links below). He alleges that lysine has been found to block the [[enzyme]]s secreted by cancer cells that dissolve connective tissue ([[collagen]]) which stops their spread (metastasis). |
Rath has also claimed discoveries on the role of [[lysine]] and the propagation of cancer cells (see links below). He alleges that lysine has been found to block the [[enzyme]]s secreted by cancer cells that dissolve connective tissue ([[collagen]]) which stops their spread (metastasis). |
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Rath is a former student of [[Nobel Prize]] winner [[Linus Pauling]], and he was the Director of Cardiovascular Research at the Linus Pauling Institute. |
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==Heart Disease as an evolutionary adaptation== |
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:"The Ice Age - Cardiovascular Disease Connection |
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:My discovery of the Ice Age - vitamin deficiency - cardiovascular disease connection will eventually lead to the eradication of heart attacks, strokes and related cardiovascular diseases.2,3 Starting 2.5 million years ago the Ice Ages dramatically influenced the gene pool of the human race. Blood loss through the vitamin deficient and scorbutic vascular wall was the greatest threat to the evolutionary survival of man. Inherited disorders leading to cardiovascular and related diseases became Nature’s response to protect the vessel wall during thousands of generations of extreme vitamin deficiency. The Ice Age - Cardiovascular Disease Axiom says: "Inherited disorders leading to thickening of blood vessel walls or protecting the vessel wall in another way during vitamin deficiency originated during the Ice Ages or were greatly favored during that time. These diseases can be prevented and treated by optimum intake of vitamins, particularly vitamin C." -- Dr Matthias Rath, A New Era in Medicine (1993) Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine, 8:134-135. [http://www.drrathresearch.org/lab_research/lab_research_printable/study_hd_new_era_med.pdf full article] |
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The Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine is classified as a [http://www.quackwatch.org/04ConsumerEducation/nonrecperiodical.html "Nonrecommended Periodical"] by the editors of [http://www.quackwatch.org Quackwatch.org] |
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==Litigation== |
==Litigation== |
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Dr. Rath has being taken to court in [[South Africa]] by the [[Treatment Action Campaign]] for [[illegal activities]] |
Dr. Rath has being taken to court in [[South Africa]] by the [[Treatment Action Campaign]] for [[illegal activities]], including: |
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*making false claims about medicines, including that vitamins (which he sells) reverse the course of [[AIDS]] and that [[antiretroviral drug]]s make AIDS worse; |
*making false claims about medicines, including that vitamins (which he sells) reverse the course of [[AIDS]] and that [[antiretroviral drug]]s make AIDS worse; |
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*distributing medicines (since 2005), |
*distributing medicines (since 2005), unapproved for the treatment of [[HIV]], with the purpose of treating people with HIV and in doing so persuading them not to seek the services of the public health system |
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*conducting an experiment (since 2005) on humans without the authorisation of the [[Medicines Control Council of South Africa]] |
*conducting an experiment (since 2005) on humans without the authorisation of the [[Medicines Control Council of South Africa]] |
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On March 3, 2006, a South African court ordered Rath to stop publishing statements claiming that the Treatment Action Campaign was a front for drug firms. [http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L03761424.htm (Reuters)] |
On [[March 3]], [[2006]], a South African court ordered Rath to stop publishing statements claiming that the Treatment Action Campaign was a front for drug firms. [http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L03761424.htm (Reuters)] |
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==References== |
==References== |
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Revision as of 04:08, 31 August 2006
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Matthias Rath, M.D. (born 1955 in Stuttgart, Germany) is a controversial German physician.
He studied medicine in Germany and subsequently worked as a scientist at the university hospital in Hamburg and the German Cardiac Center in Berlin. He was the head of Cardiovascular Research at the Linus Pauling Institute in Palo Alto, USA. [1]
His research has focused on the causes of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease.
Controversial claimed discoveries
Rath has made numerous comparative studies of humans and animals and claims to have discovered that animals who can synthesise vitamin C naturally do not suffer heart attacks. Humans do not have this ability, thus need to obtain the vitamin C from a balanced diet. Rath advocates increased intake of vitamin C to prevent atherosclerosis, heart attack and stroke. He argues that vitamin C deficiency in Western diets causes microscopic lesions in the artery walls, which instead of being repaired are filled up with fats which later harden through dystrophic calcification, leading to typical symptoms of high blood pressure (reduced artery wall elasticity) and heart disease complications.
Controversy
Rath's research remains controversial among medical circles by virtue of the fact that he profits directly by selling a patented brand of micronutrients, because he advocates his proprietary mixture as an alternative to proven medical therapies, because of the unreproducability of his research, and because of his anti-pharmaceutical industry position. He claims the pharmaceutical industry tries to address symptoms rather than the causes of heart disease, which he believes can be cheaply remedied by improving dietary intake.
Franc Ulrich Montgomery (chairman of the Marburger Federation, roughly translated as Federation of German Physicians) and Michael Bamberg (executive of the German Cancer Foundation) have demanded legal procedures against Dr Rath following the death of a child (Dominik Feld) suffering bone cancer which metastisised to the lungs. The child's parents, prior to his death, had taken their son off chemotherapy treatment and put him under Dr Rath's nutritional supplement therapy.
Dr Rath's treatments do not have verifiable source as to his therapeutic claims made outside a limited range of practitioners. The role of nutrition is not clear as to whether it is either a preventive factor or definitely a curative therapy with a verifiable track record of success/effectiveness with sufferers, especially in advance stages and or terminally ill patients.
Other claimed discoveries and beliefs
Rath has also claimed discoveries on the role of lysine and the propagation of cancer cells (see links below). He alleges that lysine has been found to block the enzymes secreted by cancer cells that dissolve connective tissue (collagen) which stops their spread (metastasis).
Rath is also an AIDS dissident. Reuters.
Litigation
Dr. Rath has being taken to court in South Africa by the Treatment Action Campaign for illegal activities, including:
- making false claims about medicines, including that vitamins (which he sells) reverse the course of AIDS and that antiretroviral drugs make AIDS worse;
- distributing medicines (since 2005), unapproved for the treatment of HIV, with the purpose of treating people with HIV and in doing so persuading them not to seek the services of the public health system
- conducting an experiment (since 2005) on humans without the authorisation of the Medicines Control Council of South Africa
On March 3, 2006, a South African court ordered Rath to stop publishing statements claiming that the Treatment Action Campaign was a front for drug firms. (Reuters)
References
- ^ Swiss cancer centre Brief biography of Dr. Rath. as pdf - Accessed June 2006