Bad medicine: Misconceptions and misuses revealed, from distance healing to vitamin O

289 Pages·2003·1.14 MB·English

by  Wanjek C.

Bad
Medicine
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Misconceptions and Misuses
Revealed, from Distance
Healing to Vitamin O
CHRISTOPHER WANJEK
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
For my father, Edward Leo Wanjek
This book is printed on acid-free paper. ∞
Copyright © 2003 by Christopher Wanjek. All rights reserved
Illustration on p. 69 copyright © 2001 Patricia Wynne. Used with permission
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada
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CONTENTS
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Acknowledgments vii
Introduction: The Roots of Bad Medicine 1
PART I I Sing the Body Eclectic 15
1 10 Percent Misconception, 90 Percent Misdirection:
The Brain at Work 17
2 Big Brain, Little Smarts: Brain Size and Intelligence 23
3 Blinded by Lies: The Eyes Have It 29
4 All in Good Taste: How the Tongue Works 35
5 Scrubbing Your Liver: The Demystification
of Detoxification 39
6 Refer to the Appendix: Useless Organ
or Helpful Player? 42
7 Going Gray? Not Today: White Hair and Its Causes 45
8 Samson’s Delight: Baldness Cures 48
9 The Race Is Off: Race Defined 53
iii
iv CONTENTS
PART II Growing Old 57
10 Losing One’s Mind: Memory Loss and Aging 59
11 Getting Stiffed: Vitality and Aging 63
12 Illness Gets Old: Aging and Disease 67
13 See You in 2150: The Long and Short of Life Span 70
14 On and On: Longevity and Genetics 76
PART III Enough to Make You Sick 79
15 The Plague Lives! The Black Plague in the Modern Age 81
16 Cold Comfort: How to Catch a Cold 86
17 The Ill-Advised War on Bacteria: Are All
Bacteria Bad? 90
18 Radiating Misperception: Radiation, Pro and Con 96
19 Swimming with Sharks: Sharks and Cancer 103
20 Mutating Misconceptions: What Your Genes Say
about Your Future Health 108
PART IV Eating It Up 113
21 Learning Your Alpha-Beta-Carotenes: Antioxidants,
Pro and Con 115
22 The Unbearable Heaviness of Being: Fat People
and Food 124
23 Not Milk? Milk and Your Health 137
24 Organic Reasoning: The Benefits of Organic Food 143
25 Water, Water Everywhere: Bottled Water vs. Tap Water 150
CONTENTS v
PARTV The Return of the Witch Doctor 157
26 The Delusion of Dilution: Homeopathy x 50 159
27 Magnetic Charm: Magnets and Your Health 164
28 Reversal of Fortune: The Viability of Ayurveda 168
29 Something Smells Funny: Aromatherapy as a Cure 174
30 Suffocating Trends: Oxygen—How Much Is
Too Much? 178
31 The Ultimate Hands-Off Approach: Touch
Therapy, Qigong, and Falun Gong 182
32 Getting to the Root of the Problem: Herbs
As Alternative Medicine 188
33 A Shot in the Arm: The True Dangers of Vaccines 193
PARTVI Risking It All 199
34 Toxic Avenger: The Science of Toxicity 201
35 Peer-Reviewed for Your Pleasure: How Health
Studies Work 207
36 Candy Adds Years to Your Life: And Other
Important Health Study Findings 213
37 We’re #1: Rating America’s Health 217
PARTVII Just Like in the Movies 221
38 I’m Not a Reporter, but I Play One on TV:
The Accuracy of Television Medical News 223
39 Rambo VI: The Quest for Hearing: Guns and
Their Aftereffects 231
vi CONTENTS
40 Knocked Out, Loaded: Imagined Violence
and Real Problems 237
41 Heartbreaker: Hollywood Style 241
Epilogue: Tomorrow’s Promise: Bad Medicine
on the Horizon 243
Appendix: More Bad Medicine 251
Recommended Reading 255
Bibliography 257
Index 271
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
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Special thanks goes to Suzumi Yasutake, for her patience and her
ample flow of tea; to Grace Mary Ott, Lee Carl, Steve Maran, and
Skip Barker, who got it rolling, in that order; and, in refreshingly
reversed alphabetical order, to the following for their help, advice,
and/or ridicule: Michael Wanjek, Edward Wanjek Jr., Paul F. Tomp-
kins, Richard Todaro, Craig Stoltz, Marc Stern, William Steiger-
wald, Jane Shure, Charles Seife, Eric Sabo, P. Barry Ryan, Richard
Rinehart, Phil Plait, Charles Ott, Reba Novich, The National Insti-
tutes of Health, Amy Lanou, Ilana Harrus, Jeanne Gray, Thomas
Graham, John Graham, Jeff Golick, Christopher Dickey, Amy
Danzig, Beverly Cowart, Marie Coppola, Jessica Clark, Patrick
Carroll, Carla Cantor, Howard Brightman III, Ann Bradley, Marin
Allen; and to members of the Academy for voting for me.
Finally, special thanks to Dave Craigin and Jeff Lewis for the
idea for Chapter 36.
vii

INTRODUCTION
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The Roots of Bad Medicine
C
ompared to the ancient cockroach, we truly are a baby
species. Thefirst humans rose above the tall grasses of cen-
tral Africa a mere 150,000 years ago and, with their sharpened
rocks and heightened curiosity, set forth to conquer the world. The
cockroaches followed, never missing the opportunity for a free
meal. Many millennia later, it’s difficult to say who the winner is.
Pound for pound, the world is weighted more with roaches than
humans. And we humans are the hunted, easy prey for viruses and
bacteria. This has not been an easy lesson for big-brained humans
to learn—that we are not the dominant species; that there exists a
world of microorganisms beyond what we can see with our eyes;
that we are living not in the Age of Man but rather the Age of Bac-
teria. We didn’t catch on for about 149,900 years, until roughly
the close of the nineteenth century. But when we did . . . eureka!
Germ theory. We immediately applied this hard-won knowledge to
the field of medicine. We washed our hands, supplied clean water
to cities, created vaccines, and understood the body in terms of cel-
lular interaction. Suddenly, by the twentieth century, we were liv-
ing, on average, at least twice as long as at any time in history.
All told, it is amazing we have come as far as we have. The
forces of nature are well beyond our control and, at times, seem
overwhelming. Drought and famine strike at will. Epidemics of
disease wipe out entire cities and villages. Fires, floods, and earth-
quakes destroy in seconds what it took centuries to build. Imagine
yourself forty thousand years ago, helpless. Let’s face it, you’re no
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