It has come to my attention that, this autumn, I will become a father for the second time. We have been very fortunate in that we are not spring chickens and achieving this feat has been quite straightforward. A near 100% hit rate.

For many couples, it is not so easy. Getting pregnant can take some time. Even if you are both healthy and you are managing to have regular sex, your chances of getting pregnant in any particular month are only about around 20%. According to the NHS Choices web site, this means that for every thousand couples, about 150 of them will not have been successful after a full year of trying.

Of course, it could be worse than that. Two people in busy careers, long commutes, social lives and so on, may find it hard to keep up the effort. And indeed, if you do have a genuine infertility problem, such as ovulation issues, low sperm counts, infections or being overweight, then conception can take much, much longer. Some couples simply have no explanation for their infertility.

Given these numbers, then there will always be a very large pool of people, who are probably quite healthy and fertile, who are becoming desperate that it is ‘just not happening for them’. And other people who may have significant health issues that need sorting out. And it may well be quite difficult for any particular couple to know whether they are just being unlucky or need some medical advice and treatment.

Such a potent mix of high hopes and frustration, surrounding a problem that may well be self-correcting, provides a natural hunting ground for quacks to offer their wares and claim any subsequent success.

One such organisation that has come to my attention is the 30 year old charity called Foresight Preconception. A ‘non profit’ organisation, Foresight has a list of registered Foresight practitioners who “improve natural health in both parents” and so “enhance fertility and successful pregnancy”.

On the face of it, there are some fairly sensible looking angles they take – looking at nutrition, cutting out alcohol and checking for genito-urinary infections. But scrape away ever so slightly and the approach that Foresight promotes starts to get worrying.

Let’s look at some of those aspects.

Firstly, nutrition. The headline advice is to go for “filtered water, organic food, free from pesticides and additives.” There is no good evidence that eating organic food helps with fertility. This sounds more like Sunday supplement advice rather than anything serious. But it gets worse. Instead of straightforward advice on eating a balanced diet, good food preparation tips and how to manage weight, we are presented with lists of foods to avoid, specialist foods to east (such as Alfalfa and Mung beans, Goat and sheep milk products), and a warning to look out for “individual allergies, food intolerances”. This looks more like a classic nutritionists sales pitch rather than sensible eating advice, usually the prelude to selling vitamin pills. The tactic amongst nutritionists is to make diet look really hard and complicated – this softens people up for the shortcut pill purchases.

And my suspicions are raised further.

Foresight base much of what they do on Hair Mineral Analysis. They do this to look for trace element deficiencies and heavy metal contamination. However, Hair Mineral Analysis has been described as ‘a cardinal sign of quackery’. I have previously gone into detail about why this technique is not useful for deciding if you need mineral and vitamin supplements. Indeed, HMA is used solely used as a sales tool, whether wittingly or not by practitioners. The results are not reproducible and reliable and there is no good way of interpreting results to allow people to decide if they need to take a supplement. Most people do not need supplements of this sort – but the practitioner’s interpretation of the test will invariably say you do. (I note, for example, this one person in a forum is saying they were recommended supplements costing £130 per month.)

Foresight say that they have “been testing hair and giving supplement programmes to restore natural fertility and ensure successful reproduction for over 30 years” and that it is their “most vital component”. There is no good scientific rational for why this might be so. Indeed, there are lots of good reasons to think this is nonsense and that couples will be buying lots of expensive “Foresight formulated” pills for no reason.

Hair Mineral Analysis is so popular because it looks really scientific.  Print outs of lots of data from computers and everything. Foresight say “it is an essential part of the Foresight philosophy that recommendations to clients are based on solid scientific evidence”. Hair Mineral Analysis cannot provide that and it looks like they have been misled and are misleading their clients.

More worrying signs are they part of their programme is all about cutting out “Electromagnetic Pollution”. We are told that ‘electrosmog’ can be “valid reason for headaches, dizziness, sleeplessness, fatigue, depression and we now know – ovarian failure and low sperm count.”

There is no good reason to think this is true. Indeed, the idea that the electromagnetic radiation from domestic sources can be the source of such illnesses is the invention of a few characters who have built businesses from selling solutions to protect you from such ‘dangers’. And indeed, they are advised by the usual suspects, including the high profile and doubtful Powerwatch.

Foresight say they will advise a ‘geopathic survey’ for your house. This is likely to be expensive – and completely useless as it is based on pure pseudo-science – it is a form of dowsing. Typical more ‘solutions’ are sold on the back of a meaningless report.

Where things start to get really alarming is on their advice on sexually transmitted diseases. Quite rightly, Foresight advise their couples to get tested. Where they go off the deep end is to advise them that a suitable treatment can be found in homeopathy. Homeopathic pills have ben so diluted that all that is left is the sugar pill. Treating infections with sugar pills is the same as leaving them untreated. And of course, it is worse than that because people may feel they have received treatment when they have not.

Foresight do say that antibiotics may be used. However, and this is a real worry, many of the Foresight practitioners are indeed homeopaths (e.g. see Rachael Leffman, member of the Society of Homeopaths, for her approach and costs.). Homeopaths believe that mainstream medicines, such as antibiotics,  can produce greater illness in people later on – they are likely, of course, to propose homeopathy as a treatment and so leave patients at risk and untreated. Such advice is not just counterproductive to Foresight’s aims, it is deeply irresponsible.

There are many other worrying and dubious aspects of their approach. Not least is their homeopath fuelled rejection of vaccination. So, not only do they put their clients at risk, they advise their clients to be suspicious of treatments that could protect their child. Such are the risks of alternative medicine – it is not the treatments that are dangerous, it is the untreated illness and dangerous advice that pose risks.

But Foresight say they have lots of medical advisors to make sure they are doing things right. Looking at the list of their advisors, it becomes quite apparent that the advisors live on the fringes of medicine. We see homeopaths such as Dr. Anne Wynne-Simmons (who trained at the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital) and Dr Sheila Gibson (who used to work at the Glasgow Homeopathic Hospital) . We see ‘ecological medicine’ specialists such as Dr Stephen Brooke (who advises ‘electosensitivity’ support groups) and Dr Sarah Myhill (who was investigated by the GMC last year and had her ability to prescribe taken away).

Dr Jean Munro is also on the list. I have written about her private clinic and bizarre treatments on several occasions. Munro was the subject of an investigation by ‘World in Action’ in 1990 for “allegations of wrong diagnosis, useless treatment and a death following the failure of treatments.”

There are some even odder characters too, such as Roy Riggs B.Sc who descibes himself as a “Holistic Geobiologist” and is “an “professional Earth Energy dowser”. He guest lectures at the London Westminster University’s School of Integrative Medicine and The Baltic Dowser’s Association of Lithuania. (Do you see what company you keep, Westminster?)

Foresight are keen to present some evidence that they are successful, but from their figures it is impossible to tell how much of the ‘success’ is due to their intervention and how many pregnancies would have occurred anyway. As time is one of the best factors in achieving a successful conception, all Foresight may be doing is taking hundreds of pounds off people in the meantime and waiting for nature to take its course..

But some of their practices –such as unnecessarily complex dietary restrictions, obsessions with non-existent harms and, useless treatments for significant problems, might actually be making it much harder for couples to have a baby. Just because something sounds natural and good and someone is paying attention to you does not mean that the result will be good.

For that reason, I would suggest couples are very cautious before approaching a Foresight practitioner and go and have a talk with their GP instead. To begin with, your doctor might not do much and simply advise you to keep trying whilst cutting down on alcohol, taking a folic acid supplement and eating well, but that might indeed be the best advice you can have.

Related posts:

1. Pulling My Hair Out or, The Role of Mineral Hair Analysis in the Sale of Food Supplements initially posted on Holford Watch. Patrick Holford has set up a charity. Not poorly, fluffy kittens or...
2. Which? Uncovers Dangerous Advice from Nutritionists. Having just had a baby girl and moving house, I thought I would subscribe to Which? magazine as I knew I needed to make a few critical spends over the...
3. The Mineral-Depleted Food Scandal The news (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) has been full of reports about how our food in Britain is becoming less nutritious and that it is becoming increasingly difficult to...

This mass participation turned a near hopeless case for Singh under the absurd English libel system into a victory and a total humiliation for the chiropractors. It was a great example of what Clay Shirky describes in his book Here Comes Everybody of how the internet can bring together like minded people to collaborate on creating previously unthinkable change.

It is likely that a US company called Doctor’s Data (DDI) is going to be facing similar scrutiny as it is has decided to sue the website Quackwatch for libel. Stephen Barrett has been very critical of DDI and has written that the diagnostic health tests it provides are used to defraud patients. One test in particular stood out for his criticism where patients are given a “provoking agent” that flushes out heavy metals into the urine. A urine test is then analysed by DDI and the concentration of heavy metals is compared with standards. Except the standards used are for patients who have not had the provoking agent. The levels of metals are going to be much higher than normal and this ‘elevated result’ is then used to sell expensive and unnecessary treatments. These tests are particularly popular with doctors in the US who advocate chelation for the treatment of autism. It is a bogus treatment and such laboratory tests provide an artificial sense of urgency and validation.

Doctor’s Data asked Stephen Barrett to remove his articles discussing these urine tests as they were “false, fraudulent, defamatory or otherwise not truthful”. Dr Barrett replied asking for clarification as to what specifically he had written that was not correct or fair opinion. Doctor’s Data did not respond but instead has now simply filed suit.

This is tragically familiar. When the Society of Homeopaths threatened me, I asked them to detail their concerns. I got no response. The chiropractors also asserted they had a ‘plethora’ of evidence to back up their claims when they sued Simon Singh. They withheld the plethora – and when it was finally released, it was quickly shown to be worth nothing.

Pursuing a court case rather than discussing evidence does not make Doctor’s Data look the good guys in this episode. Quackwatch would appear to have some very serious concerns about how their tests are used to mislead people into expensive and unnecessary treatments. If DDI could defend the selling of these tests against these complaints then it is surprising that they do not. Looking at their web site, Doctor’s Data would appear to be a respectable laboratory and yet they happily promote a number of bogus tests.

I can confidently label these treatments as bogus because I have researched and written about some of them before. DDI also offer Hair Analysis as a way of assessing nutritional status. This is simply not possible to do in any meaningful way. As I have explained, to measure the mineral content of hair and then draw conclusions that lead to intervention recommendations (such as supplementing with pills) is not possible given the state of knowledge we have about how hair mineral levels relate to possible deficiencies. And yet, this is precisely what nutritionists do. They use these tests to give scientific plausibility to their recommendations and their customers purchase expensive supplements ‘tailored’ to their ‘nutritional status’ as revealed by the tests.

And if we in the UK think this a peculiar US phenomenon, we should note that DDI operate in Europe too. Their testimonial page for their “comprehensive testing for the treatment of autism” offers some feedback from “luminaries in this field of medicine.”

One such “luminary” is Dr Jean Monro, MB, BS, MRCS, LRCP, FAAEM, DIBEM, MACOEM, Medical Director of the  Breakspear Hospital in Hemel Hempstead.

Dr Munro is not unknown to the Quackometer. We have seen how the private hospital treats people with ‘electrosensitivity’ (a condition where people falsely attribute symptoms such as headaches to the presence of mobile phones and mains cabling) by subjecting them to strange  Eastern European magnetic therapy devices and using unreliable diagnostic tests to see if things are ‘working’. I have also documented how Breakspear  treats allergies with special injections on the basis of bizarre, pseodoscientific and homeopathic reasoning.

Breakspear also offers treatments for autism. Part of this expensive programme is chelation to remove supposed high levels of heavy metals. Breakspear states that it regularly tests urine during chelation to look at metal levels – precisely the sort test that is at issue here. Breakspear tell us that the test is “evaluated at independent accredited laboratories”.

In Jean Munro’s testimony on the DDI web page she says,

Breakspear Hospital and its antecedents have been practicing in the field of environmental medicine, allergy and nutritional medicine since the late 1970s. Throughout this entire period we have worked with Doctor’s Data Inc. Stool tests and investigations for heavy metals through urine tests have been the mainstays of our management of patients. The service we receive is excellent with results set out superbly and with expert advice available from Doctor’s Data’s scientific advisors whenever requested. Having had this experience and backup, we can now provide a service to any practitioner in the UK, including practitioners helping to treat children on the autistic spectrum and patients with Aspergers syndrome who will benefit from this laboratory service.

Munro does not hide the central importance of urine testing in the “management of patients”.

In 1990 Granada Television’s ‘World in Action’ programme produced a documentary that focused on the activities of Dr Monro and the Breakspear hospital. The programme alleged that the Breakspear Hospital in Hertfordshire has been “the subject of allegations of wrong diagnosis, useless treatment and a death following the failure of treatments. It is run by Dr Jean Monro who charges extortionate fees for bizarre treatments.”

Munro sued.

The programme makers had to apologise for stating that Munro took “wrongful advantage of her patients’ vulnerability”. Their other charges stood.

The problem with many libel cases in the UK is that you are often as a defendant pushed into proving a state of mind, much as Simon Singh nearly had to. To show that Munro deliberately misleads and defrauds requires an impossible peering into her soul to understand her motives. An aggrieved party can always claim that they are honestly going about their business, even if the subsequent analysis of the science or facts may prove them wrong. Being wrong but honest is not the same as being fraudulent.

And that is the problem that Quackwatch may face, if any. Barrett has stated that these tests are used to defraud patients. But it is quite possible, and indeed we must assume for the moment, that all people involved are acting with what they believe to be honesty. The laboratory may well be offering analytical tests to the best of their ability. It is not up to the laboratory to dictate how doctors use the data. The doctors and nutritionists who use the tests may be mistakenly using them to spot deficiencies, excesses and problems that need correcting. They may well have been trained to interpret the tests in inappropriate ways. The end result, however, is indistinguishable from fraud. Patients are being falsely led to believe they have a problem that needs expensive intervention to correct. They may hand over thousands of dollars as a result of being misled.

Patients are being badly let down by regulatory authorities and governments that allow this chain of deception (intentional or otherwise) to take place.

We can see another clear UK example from the Doctor’s Data web site where. One other “luminary” is a Nutritional Therapist called Antony J. Haynes BA(Hons), Dip ION from London. Haynes says of the lab,

In my professional opinion, Doctor’s Data, Inc. (DDI) not only offers an excellent service, but also has the finest and most up-to-date scientific laboratory assessments available anywhere. DDI’s elemental, amino acid and comprehensive stool analysis test results have proven invaluable in helping offer the most appropriate therapy to those with ASD. I’d recommend DDI to colleagues and patients alike.

Haynes appears to work for a nutritional supplement company, lectures in many undergraduate colleges and has had over 11,000 ‘patients’. He states that he is registered with the Complementary & Natural Healthcare Council (Ofquack) although I cannot find his name on their list. (Although to be fair, I have little faith in Ofquack’s IT skills). He was trained at Patrick Holford’s ION where hair mineral analysis is taught as a legitimate technique for assessing nutrient needs. Haynes is not alone. It is quite possible to find people on Ofquack’s register who do undertake such tests and then sell pills on the back of these meaningless results.

And here is where the real failure is. Ofquack does not see such misleading claims as an impairment to fitness to practice. As Simon Perry uncovered, it appears to be acceptable for such claims to be made if they have been trained to do so and that no deliberate attempt to mislead has been made. The best that the government can do in protecting people from dodgy tests is to set up a voluntary registration body that feels it cannot tell someone off if they have been told to do the tests by bigger boys and girls.

It is a failure in the US too. As Kimball Atwood puts it on the Science Based Medicine blog,

Yes, it is true that very few people or places provide the type of information that [Barrett] does. That’s why I linked to so many of his articles from my own recent post. You can’t find that kind of information on virtually any mainstream website that claims to give reliable information about “complementary and alternative medicine”: not on WebMD, not onInteliHealth, not on the NCCAM website—even though most people would probably expect to find it in those places, if they were aware of it at all. You won’t find on any of those sites, for example, that being “a CLlA-certified company in full compliance with all state and federal regulatory and CLlA standards” is no guarantee against peddling bogus diagnostic tests.

It is a scandal that Quackwatch has had to highlight these concerns nearly alone. Barrett is now paying the price of speaking out. And he is one of the few voices warning the public to be aware. Stephen Barrett deserves to be supported. You can donate here.

More importantly, let Doctor’s Data know that deciding to sue without addressing the science is not a risk free and low cost option for shutting up critics. Write about the case. Examine its merits. Blog. Tweet. Comment. These tests are a menace and largely unregulated. Perhaps DDIs actions could shine some unexpected light into this murky world, and maybe, just maybe, someone will be watching.

Related posts:

1. The Breakspear Hospital and Antigen Vaccines Let’s jump off the deep end again with the Breakspear Hospital. Previously, we saw Dr Jean Monro using unproven allergy tests with highly questionable electromagnetic ‘therapies’ to treat food allergies....
2. A Carnival of Bogus* Chiropractic One of the side effects of the BCA vs Chiropractic libel case is that there are a growing number of people who now realise that Chiropractic is bogus*. Even though...
3. Pulling My Hair Out or, The Role of Mineral Hair Analysis in the Sale of Food Supplements initially posted on Holford Watch. Patrick Holford has set up a charity. Not poorly, fluffy kittens or...