Updated June 27, 2014.
I was attempting to help Mary Shomon's subscribers gauge the reliability of the sources they read. As an aside, I derive my income solely from my patient consultations. I do not sell supplements in my office. I do not receive a "kickback" from any nutraceutical company. I receive no money from pharmaceutical companies. I do not allow pharmaceutical reps to sample their medication in my office and do not allow them to buy my staff lunch.
I do not go to pharmaceutical sponsored dinners. When I do lecture, if a specific pharmaceutical or nutraceutical company was sponsoring the speaking fee, I donate the speaking fee to charity.
When I write my articles, I do not always reprint every quote in its entirety. I do stand by the statement that I there are no research articles by you published in peer-reviewed journals indexed on Medline. When speaking with colleagues such as Joseph Pizzorno, ND, at the Institute of Functional Medicine Conference, they were not aware of any studies you have published in Naturopathy journals. You list no university affiliation, and I do not know if you have IRB approval to study human subjects. I did review your books, and do feel that you have overstated the research that might support medium chain triglycerides containing foods such as coconut oil. As such, I felt it justified to omit your statement, ?I?m now doing studies? in my review.
You state that coconut oil ?when used as part of a thyroid-enhancing program can be invaluable in improving some forms of hypothyroidism and even bring about complete recovery.? I would be happy to review any data you may have regarding your ?drugless thyroid program,? but as of now, there is no evidence linking coconut oil with thyroid in the peer-reviewed medical literature, indexed on Medline or otherwise.
Though I do believe case reports to be a valid form of medical data, neither you nor anyone else has published any case reports in mainstream or holistic journals such as Dr. Pizzorno?s ?Integrative Medicine: A Clinician?s Journal.? Perhaps you could consider submitting some of your cases for peer-review before making unsupported claims in regard to coconut oil and thyroid function. Unpublished case histories and testimonials (such as your claims that coconut oil can cause patients to lose up to 60 pounds of excess fat) have been shown to be an unreliable source of evidence, and if the response you see is valid, I encourage you to publish your findings in the peer-reviewed literature (MD, DO, DC, ND, RD, etc.) so they would carry more weight.
You misquote Dr. Jones (1) in his McGill University review article when you say, ?They reported that several different studies have shown weight loss equivalent to 12 ? 36 pounds a year simply by changing the types of oils used in everyday cooking and food preparation.? He did not say that, and when you read the original research he reviewed, those researchers did not say this either.
The original research was based upon 4 different short-term studies each lasting between 1 and 14 days long. The referenced Flatt study (2) ?compared diets rich in Medium Chain Triglycerides (MCT), Long Chain Triglycerides (LCT) and low in fat, they concluded that a low fat diet was more prudent when aiming for weight loss." He did study a group in which MCT was added to the diet, which did have an increase in energy expenditure, but this does not lead to weight loss that the low fat group experienced because the MCT group had a greater increase in energy consumption. The referenced article by Hill (3) was a short 6-day ?overfeeding? study in which male volunteers were fed 150% of their daily energy requirement.
I was attempting to help Mary Shomon's subscribers gauge the reliability of the sources they read. As an aside, I derive my income solely from my patient consultations. I do not sell supplements in my office. I do not receive a "kickback" from any nutraceutical company. I receive no money from pharmaceutical companies. I do not allow pharmaceutical reps to sample their medication in my office and do not allow them to buy my staff lunch.
I do not go to pharmaceutical sponsored dinners. When I do lecture, if a specific pharmaceutical or nutraceutical company was sponsoring the speaking fee, I donate the speaking fee to charity.
When I write my articles, I do not always reprint every quote in its entirety. I do stand by the statement that I there are no research articles by you published in peer-reviewed journals indexed on Medline. When speaking with colleagues such as Joseph Pizzorno, ND, at the Institute of Functional Medicine Conference, they were not aware of any studies you have published in Naturopathy journals. You list no university affiliation, and I do not know if you have IRB approval to study human subjects. I did review your books, and do feel that you have overstated the research that might support medium chain triglycerides containing foods such as coconut oil. As such, I felt it justified to omit your statement, ?I?m now doing studies? in my review.
You state that coconut oil ?when used as part of a thyroid-enhancing program can be invaluable in improving some forms of hypothyroidism and even bring about complete recovery.? I would be happy to review any data you may have regarding your ?drugless thyroid program,? but as of now, there is no evidence linking coconut oil with thyroid in the peer-reviewed medical literature, indexed on Medline or otherwise.
Though I do believe case reports to be a valid form of medical data, neither you nor anyone else has published any case reports in mainstream or holistic journals such as Dr. Pizzorno?s ?Integrative Medicine: A Clinician?s Journal.? Perhaps you could consider submitting some of your cases for peer-review before making unsupported claims in regard to coconut oil and thyroid function. Unpublished case histories and testimonials (such as your claims that coconut oil can cause patients to lose up to 60 pounds of excess fat) have been shown to be an unreliable source of evidence, and if the response you see is valid, I encourage you to publish your findings in the peer-reviewed literature (MD, DO, DC, ND, RD, etc.) so they would carry more weight.
You misquote Dr. Jones (1) in his McGill University review article when you say, ?They reported that several different studies have shown weight loss equivalent to 12 ? 36 pounds a year simply by changing the types of oils used in everyday cooking and food preparation.? He did not say that, and when you read the original research he reviewed, those researchers did not say this either.
The original research was based upon 4 different short-term studies each lasting between 1 and 14 days long. The referenced Flatt study (2) ?compared diets rich in Medium Chain Triglycerides (MCT), Long Chain Triglycerides (LCT) and low in fat, they concluded that a low fat diet was more prudent when aiming for weight loss." He did study a group in which MCT was added to the diet, which did have an increase in energy expenditure, but this does not lead to weight loss that the low fat group experienced because the MCT group had a greater increase in energy consumption. The referenced article by Hill (3) was a short 6-day ?overfeeding? study in which male volunteers were fed 150% of their daily energy requirement.
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