One of the "hits" on google groups search, Michael Pugliese
QuackWatch on Pacifica's Gary Null
Some Notes on Gary Null Stephen Barrett, M.D.
Gary Null, whose book jackets bill him as "one of America's leading health and fitness advocates," is one of the nation's leading promoters of dubious treatment for serious disease. He hosts radio and television talk shows, writes books and magazine articles, delivers lectures, and has marketed supplement products. According to an article in East West magazine, Null became interested in nutrition during his twenties while working as a short order cook in New York City, where he now resides. He researched the subject and wrote The Complete Guide to Health and Nutrition, which was published in 1972 and sold briskly after Null appeared on a succession of prominent talk shows. He began hosting radio shows around that time and eventually got his own show on WABC, the flagship radio station of the ABC network. Later he moved to WMCA, which broadcast Null's show on Sunday nights to about 200 stations across the United States. He has also hosted a daily show on WBAI and a Sunday evening program on WEVD in New York City.
Dubious Promotions
.... His series on "The Politics of Cancer," which was published in Penthouse magazine in 1979 and 1980, promoted unproven methods that he said were being "suppressed" by the medical establishment. His lengthy series, "Medical Genocide," began appearing in Penthouse in 1985 with an article calling our medical care system a "prescription for disaster." Other articles in the series have promoted chiropractic and homeopathy, claimed that effective nutritional methods for treating AIDS were being suppressed, claimed that chelation therapy was safe and effective for treating heart disease, recommended nutritional approaches for arthritis, and endorsed several treatments for cancer that the American Cancer Society recommends against. His Web site, now sponsored by The Vitamin Shoppe, contains a huge amount of misinformation.
Dubious Credentials
Null says he holds an associate degree in business administration from Mountain State College in West Virginia, a bachelor's degree from Thomas A. Edison State College in New Jersey, and a PhD in human nutrition and public health sciences from The Union Institute in Cincinnati, Ohio. Edison State, a "nontraditional" school with neither campus nor courses, awards accredited bachelor's degrees based on career experience, equivalency exams, and courses taken at other schools.
The Union Institute is also accredited, but its degree requirements and standards for health-related doctoral degrees differ greatly from those of traditional universities. Students design their own program, form and chair their own doctoral committee, and are required to attend only an introductory colloquium and a few interdisciplinary seminars. Null's PhD committee was composed of a "core faculty member," three "adjunct professors," two "peers," and a "second core reader." The "core faculty member" is a well-credentialed academician whose expertise (in geologolic sciences) is unrelated to Null's topic. One of the three "adjunct professors" was Martin Feldman, MD, a "complementary" physician (and "clinical ecologist") who has pinch-hit for Null as a radio host and helped develop some of Null's books and supplement formulations. When I asked a school official about the background or location of the other two "adjunct professors," he replied that information was in storage and was too difficult to obtain.
Traditional universities require that research for a doctoral degree in a scientific discipline make a genuine contribution to the scientific literature. Null's thesis, entitled "A Study of Psychological and Physiological Effects of Caffeine on Human Health," contributes nothing. The stated purpose of his project was to evaluate (1) caffeine's effects on "adrenal function determined by a medical examination," (2) "its perceived psychological effects as recorded in a questionnaire and daily diary, and (3) "the anabolic effect of caffeine according to a theory proposed by Dr. E. Revici." (Emanuel Revici, MD, was a physician in New York City whose methods were disparaged by the American Cancer Society. State licensing authorities placed Revici on probation in 1988 and revoked his license in 1993 after concluding that he had violated the terms of his probation.)
The data for Null's thesis were obtained by observing two groups of volunteers. One group contained eleven chronic caffeine users who stopped their caffeine intake for a week and then took caffeinated tea for a week. The other group contained six nonusers who drank caffeinated tea for one week and then drank decaffeinated tea. The total number of participants is unclear. Null's thesis states that six others who began in the first group and five others who began in the second group dropped out of the study because they were uncomfortable. It also states that "at least thirteen" other users were disqualified for noncompliance.
The "medical evaluation" included two tests. One compared each volunteer's blood pressure when lying down and when standing up. The other was a chemical test for the amount of sodium and chloride in the urine. Null claims that these tests can detect "diminished adrenal function." Unfortunately for his thesis, they have no practical value for this purpose.
The method Null used to determine "the anabolic effect of caffeine" involved measurement of the specific gravity, pH (acidity), and surface tension of single samples of the urine -- a test used by Emanuel Revici. Null notes that the theory behind the test "is still the subject of debate and has not yet gained wide scientific report" -- a rather strange way to describe a test that is utterly worthless for any medical purpose. The specific gravity of urine reflects the concentration of dissolved substances and depends largely on the amount of fluid a person consumes. The acidity depends mainly on diet, but varies considerably throughout the day. Thus, even when these values are useful for a metabolic determination, information from a single urine sample would be meaningless. The surface tension of urine has no medically recognized diagnostic value.
Following 41 pages of findings, calculations, tables, and graphs, Null concludes that "chronic caffeine users tend to have diminished adrenal function, which he blames on "exhaustion" of the glands. "Fortunately," he adds, "there are non-drug nutritional programs which have the ability to repair or rebalance weakening adrenal glands toward normal." The program consists of "diminishing stressors," implementing strategies to diminish anxiety, and taking doses of five vitamins and three other products.
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