To Your Health:
Stop the Madness and Start Thinking!
By Nancy DiMarco,
Ph.D.
I wonder how seemingly
intelligent, rational people can be convinced of false health claims and waste
precious money and possibly endanger their health.
In today’s health
climate, people are more interested in taking responsibility for their health.
But without the correct interpretation of health-related information, an eager
public is left to the devices of charlatans hawking their wares. Quite often,
those who promote these “health” products do so for the sole purpose
of profit. They take initial findings from valid research studies and distort
them into sensational products that, in fact, have little basis in truth.
One of the latest
scams is the product called Coral Calcium Supreme. Coral Calcium is said to
come from the “remnants of living coral that have fallen from coral
reefs as a result of wave action or other natural processes.”
Coral Calcium is simply
limestone (calcium carbonate) that no longer contains its live-in residents,
is ground up and then sold as a supplement. Entrepreneurs, such as Robert
Barefoot and his book The Calcium Factor, which is based on results of the
Okinawa Program, promoted it.
Calcium carbonate
pills cost as little as 5 cents for a daily supply, but Coral Calcium costs
individuals $1 a day.
A suggestion was made
that Okinawans actually drink water containing coral calcium and derive health
benefits and longevity from it.
But the authors of
the Okinawa Program wrote an entire section in their report devoted to debunking
this myth and state very plainly that Okinawans’ long life has little
to do with the water or coral calcium they may consume. In fact, the Okinawans’
calcium intake is significantly less than Americans’ (500 mg vs. 800
mg, respectively).
Some of the claims
made by Barefoot are that the Okinawan coral calcium can prevent or cure 200
diseases including heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis,
and the most scurrilous claim, prevent cancer. In a widely distributed infomercial,
in which Barefoot appears with Kevin Trudeau, he makes these claims: Americans
are totally deficient in calcium, cancer is caused by an oxygen depletion
in the cells because the body is too acidic, consuming more calcium will decrease
the body’s acidity and Okinawans consume 100,000 mg of calcium a day.
Each of these claims
is false. In fact, the body very tightly regulates its acidity and we know
that acidity does not promote cancer.
In addition, he claims
that Coral Calcium is absorbed 100 percent. But the truth is that all types
of calcium, whether from dairy sources, vegetables or supplements, are absorbed
to approximately the same extent — 25 to 35 percent.
These are but a sampling
of the outrageous claims made by this man.
On June 10, the Federal
Trade Commission (FTC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) charged
Barefoot, Trudeau, the company they represent, Deonna Enterprises Inc. and
Shop America (USA) LLC with making “false and unsubstantiated claims
about the product’s health benefits” and that “these and
other claims go far beyond existing scientific evidence regarding the recognized
health benefits of calcium.” In addition, the FTC and the FDA sent letters
warning Web site operators who market Coral Calcium to remove any false advertising
about the product immediately. On the same day, Consumer Lab.com released
the findings of its analysis of 15 calcium products and of the three that
failed, one was the Coral Calcium product promoted by Barefoot and Trudeau.
So what can a person do to be as healthy as possible? Talk to your physician, dietitian or nutritionists. You also can read information from these sources: International Food Information Council, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, National Dairy Council, National Food Processor’s Association, National Pork Producers Council, American Egg Board, American Soybean Association, to name but a few. They and others can be accessed and evaluated through the Tufts University Nutrition Navigator at http://navigator.tufts.edu.
Nancy DiMarco, Ph.D., R.D., L.D. is a research professor in the Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences and coordinator of the master’s degree program in Exercise and Sports Nutrition at Texas Woman's University. She may be reached at ndimarco@twu.edu.
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