TV is evil - What did I tell you?

I'm reprinting this here because it will disappear by next week, they really should be archived. Ben's column appears in the Life section on thursdays.

Ben Goldacre
Thursday August 12, 2004
The Guardian

Right. Who shall we pick on this week? How about Dr Gillian McKeith (PhD): she is number one in the bestseller charts, after all, and she does have a weekly show on Channel 4 where "the eccentric but brilliant doctor", as her management firm calls her, examines people's faeces, in test tubes no less, and gives them technical nutritional advice, for dealing with their health issues. "Gillian holds certificates, degrees and a doctorate (PhD) from top colleges and universities," says her website (www.drgillianmckeith.com). She has claimed to have a PhD from the American College of Nutrition. In fact, she does not have a PhD from there. Her PR says this was an isolated, accidental error and an intern might have got the name of the college wrong. This is not an isolated error: she also claims to have a degree from the ACN in her book, Dr Gillian McKeith's Living Food for Health. Where is her PhD actually from? The same place as her Masters degree: the Clayton College of Natural Health. The cost of the course is currently $5,300 (nearly £3,000), online or by post. There is, if you're interested, a discount if you pay for your Masters at the same time. It's a non-accredited correspondence course, which is not recognised by the US secretary for education for the purpose of educational grants.

· What about the rest of her CV? It has been removed from the web. But, fortunately, you can still see it, in Google's cache (www.tinyurl.com/6mdvw) or on other sites such as www.womenspeakers.co.uk. How about her research projects? As she says, "Dr Gillian McKeith (PhD), conducts key clinical research, publishes findings." "Studied effects of aphanizomenon-flos aqua on childhood learning disabilities and behavioural problems (Nebraska, USA; and El Salvador school system)" is particularly impressive. It goes on. "Studied effects of stressors on ageing and immunity with Dr Robert Pollack (MD), Temple University Medical School (Philadelphia, USA)." She may well have published findings, but none of these feature on Medline, the universally-used database of academic peer-reviewed research publications, which also, since you ask, includes alternative medicine and nutrition journals.

· According to her PR (Max Clifford Associates) Dr Gillian McKeith (PhD) is "enormously proud" of her PhD, and feels that it is equivalent to any other PhD. By the way, Channel 4 has commissioned another series from her.