Health and Hucksterism

Few things are more fashionable among the fad-conscious today than the dietary approach to health. The Food and Drug Administration has found that one out of every five Americans believes that illness can be avoided if only they gulp enough vitamins and mineral supplements or give up processed breakfast foods for cereals made from organically grown nuts and wheat grains. Americans spend $320 million a year on vitamin pills alone, additional millions on so-called "organic" or "health" foods. Last week crowds of the faithful and their suppliers gathered at New York's Madison Square Garden for a nutritional circus called the second International Health Fair. TIME asked Dr. Myron Winick, director of the Institute of Human Nutrition at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons, and Medicine Writer Peter Stoler to attend the production. Here is their review:

The audience, which seemed equally divided between young, long-haired hopefuls and aging hypochondriacs, got a good show for the $2 admission price. More than 100 exhibitors occupied booths to display vitamins, natural foods and cosmetics, home food grinders, even vibrating "massage chairs." Visitors who wandered among the displays could pick up free vitamin-pill samples, munch organic foods or drink Swedish mineral water. They could test their strength on some antique carnival machines or stare at the leotard-clad figure of Lizalotta Valesca, 70. In 1930 she was Miss Finland; today she is perhaps the world's best-preserved great-grandmother and a persuasive saleswoman for a line of health and beauty aids. Visitors could also slip into an adjoining auditorium and hear lectures on such subjects as biofeedback (TIME, Oct. 16) and the prevention of illness and achievement of a satisfactory sex life through proper eating.

Cardboard Crackers. Most customers opted for the health-food exhibits. Vittles were, in fact, the show's best attraction. Most were made from organically grown fruit and grains, nurtured without chemical fertilizers, sweetened with honey instead of refined sugar and packaged without preservatives--a feature that may enhance their appeal, though not their shelf life. Plants produce nutrients to aid their own growth, not to benefit the consumer, and there is no reliable evidence that organically grown foods are any more nutritious than those produced by conventional means. Nor did most health-food exhibitors make any wild claims. Admitting that their products' appeal was more mystical than medical, they stressed purity instead.

There is little doubt that most health foods are unadulterated. They are also sufficiently expensive to make eating them an affectation of the affluent. A package of natural cereal retails for 89-c- a box of a popular processed cereal that is at least as nourishing costs half as much and contains more servings. As to taste--you take your chances. Some crackers, made from stone-ground whole wheat, looked, felt and tasted exactly like cardboard. But an almond and molasses cereal handed out by a white-jacketed "Dr. Pure" was delicious. Equally good was a frankfurter made from the meat of animals raised on organic foods. It provides an appetizing alternative to the standard American hot dog, which has been found by Consumers Union to contain more water, fat and bacteria than meat. An imitation cheesecake made from soybean curd was even better. Low in fats and high in protein, it was not only enjoyable but nourishing as well.

Misleading Claims. Far less impressive were the show's vitamin and cosmetics exhibitors, almost all of them smaller firms known mainly to health faddists. The best were ill-informed about their products and showed little knowledge of body chemistry. One vendor claimed that his lipsticks were enriched with vitamins. Why they are is a mystery; vitamins are absorbed into the system through the digestive tract, and there is no reason to believe that any added to a lipstick could get into the skin in sufficient quantity to do any good. Another booth offered "natural" shampoo said to contain sheep placenta. When challenged as to the virtue of this exotic ingredient, the salespeople quickly backed off their initial claim that the substance created "an ideal pH [acid-alkaline balance] for the hair."

A few other pitches were downright misleading. A salesman for an expensive line of vitamins ($30 for a 15-day supply) said that ribonucleic acid (RNA) had been added to some capsules because it was essential for the body's utilization of vitamins and minerals. In fact, the body makes its own RNA for the synthesis and storage of proteins. Another vitamin pusher maintained that his "predigested collagen protein liquid" contained free amino acids that the system could use immediately to build its own collagen (connective tissue) and bone. That claim is ridiculous. Though an excellent source of protein, the supplement is not predigested to free amino acids. Moreover, the amino acids unique to collagen cannot be utilized from an outside source but must be synthesized by the body.

These hucksters were relatively harmless. Some of the others were not. One glib salesman insisted that large doses of vitamin C, which--when taken in amounts of 35 milligrams--prevents scurvy, would, in doses of 25,000 mg. a day, prevent colds and strengthen arteries. Although some scientists, including Chemist Linus Pauling, believe that vitamin C has such properties, there is no scientific proof that it has any effect on colds or arteries. Further, the safety of large doses of vitamin C over long periods of time has not been established. Another vendor recommended one of his company's products for men suffering from prostate trouble There is no medical proof that this preparation could relieve enlargement of the prostate. Even if this were true, the product could merely mask the disease's symptoms. That would hardly be a bargain. An enlarged prostate is one of those medical conditions that gives the victim plenty of warning that something is wrong. A man getting such an alert should consult his doctor, not his druggist.

But even these exhibits were better than one for Dr. Schleusser's Biochemic Cell Salts, a direct descendant of the old medicine-show snake oil. Schleusser's stuff ostensibly contains twelve salts essential to the body and is recommended for everything from malaria to enuresis (bed-wetting). All a sufferer need do is look up his symptoms in Dr. Schleusser's book and take the proper salt. Actually, medical science has yet to find that these salts exist in the body at all. The salesman for this modern miracle claimed that the cell salts were harmless. Even if they are, their sale should be outlawed. Anything taken to cure illness is medicine, and any medicine should be not only safe but effective. There is no evidence that these nostrums meet either criterion.

Nor is there reason to believe that diet and food supplements alone can either prevent or cure most medical problems. Proper nutrition is crucial to sound health, but so, when disease occurs, is expert diagnosis and prompt medical care. Man may not live by white bread alone, but he cannot thrive on vitamin pills and soya oil either

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