Bad Science at the Guardian has a crusade against You Are What You Eat’s Dr Gillian McKeith (PhD – ahem), who they point out does not really seem to have a proper PhD at all. Last week they spent much of their time moaning about this lack of real PhD, this week they take her to task for some of the science she uses. Such as Chlorophyll being “high in oxygen” which is why the dark leaves of plants are better for you. There are obviously gags a plenty in this (he kinda squanders the “gills in your stomach” one) but this cage rattling does bring up a few questions. Surely Channel 4 could hire a reputable clinical nutritionist to do the show. But maybe they would not be so judgmental, rude and/or keen on poking around in someone’s faeces*. Channel 4 is obviously more keen on making rollicking television (and selling the tie-in book) than propagating good nutritional advice.
Of course eating the dark leaves of vegetables is good advice. For a completely different reason, and unfortunately Bad Science has yet to come up with something she says which is harmful. Except intellectually. Mind you I rather like the idea that “Skid mark stools are a sign of dampness inside the body”. Show me a body that isn’t damp and I’ll show you a Mummy.
*I had a great idea for a prime-time ITV cop show in the Inspector Morse traditional called The Faecologist, about a detective who reconstructed the last hours of peoples lives from their shit. It got turned down my netweork central for the reason that there is already too much shit on ITV.