Gillian McKeith
Encyclopedia
Gillian McKeith is a Scottish nutritionist
, television presenter, and writer. She is the former host in the UK of Channel 4's You Are What You Eat and Granada Television's Dr Gillian McKeith's Feel Fab Forever, and as of 2010 presents Eat Yourself Sexy on the W Network in Canada. She is the author of several books about nutrition, including You Are What You Eat (2004), and Dr Gillian McKeith's Ultimate Health Plan (2006).
McKeith takes a holistic approach to health, promoting exercise, a pescetarian
diet high in fruits and vegetables, grains, beans, nuts, and tofu, and the avoidance of processed and high-calorie foods, sugar and fat, red meat, alcohol, caffeine, white flour, and additives. She recommends detox diets and colonic irrigation, argues that the colour of food is nutritionally significant, and that she can diagnose ailments by examining people's tongues and stools
.
Her advice has attracted criticism and praise. You Are What You Eat has sold over two million copies, and in 2005 she was awarded a Consumer Education Award by the Soil Association
. At the same time, the validity of both her approach and her qualifications have been questioned by a number of health professionals.
, Scotland, and grew up on a council estate. Her father, Robert, was a shipyard worker and her mother an office worker. She has said that she was raised eating the junk food
she now advises against: "We all know the kind of food I grew up with—a typical Scottish diet. We'd have meat three times a day. I certainly never ate a mango, and had no idea what macrobiotic meant." Her father smoked for many years and died of cancer of the oesophagus in 2005.
She obtained a degree in linguistics from the University of Edinburgh in 1981, later moving to the United States, where she worked in marketing and international business. In 1984, she received an MA in international relations from the University of Pennsylvania. In 1994, she obtained an MA and, in 1997, a PhD, both in holistic nutrition, via a distance-learning programme from the non-accredited
American Holistic College of Nutrition, later the Clayton College of Natural Health
in Birmingham, Alabama (but since closed). She is a member of the American Association of Nutritional Consultants
. Her website lists post-graduate membership of The Centre for Nutrition Education; certificates from the London School of Acupuncture and the Kailash Centre of Oriental Medicine; and a Master Herbalist Diploma (Honors) from The American College of Healthcare Sciences.
She met her American husband, Howard Magaziner, a lawyer, in Edinburgh, where he was spending a year studying. At the time he ran a chain of health food shops in the United States, with which she became involved. The couple now live in London and have two daughters, Skylar (born 1994) and Aston (born 2000). She suffers from scoliosis
, and has said there is not a moment in her life when she is not in pain because of it.
show, and when she first moved to the United States she co-presented a syndicated radio show called Healthline Across America.
, a nutritionist, described her in 2006 as fervent in her beliefs and thinks of her as a sort of health televangelist. In each episode of the fourth series, called Gillian Moves In: You Are What You Eat, two people were chosen to stay with McKeith at a house in London "with no escape". She first showed each of the subjects their typical week's food consumption. The food was laid out on a table in a cold, congealed and unpleasant state. The subjects were often shown emptying the display into refuse sacks. According to Jan Moir in The Daily Telegraph, she was seen "shouting at sobbing, fat women while forcing them to eat quinoa
and undergo frequent sessions of colonic irrigation enthusiastically administered by her good self." She then offered advice on diet and exercise, and forbade alcohol. Once trained, the participants were able to return home, and were expected to stick to their new regime for eight weeks. If they failed to stick to it, McKeith moved in with them to make sure they followed her advice. The participants were shown at the end of the eight weeks to have lost body mass, and said they felt healthier.
She often attributes some of the featured clients' health problems to a vitamin
or mineral
deficiency. There are certain foods she considers to be particularly nutritious, and these are often mentioned in her programmes. These can be unusual foods, some of which are available only from healthfood shops or from McKeith's own range of products. Asked about her advice, Amanda Wynne, senior dietician with the British Dietetic Association
, said: "We are appalled. I think it is obvious she has not a clue about nutrition. In fact her advice, if followed to the limit, could be dangerous. Her TV programme takes obese people and puts them on a crash diet
that is very hazardous to health." A spokesperson for Celador, the production company behind McKeith's television series, said that the criticism of her is reflective of her rejection of traditionalist approaches to nutrition: "You have to realise that when someone takes a holistic approach, there is always going to be an old school of traditionalists who are going to be sceptical and besmirch that. That's what's going on."
The Daily Mail reports that Lorna Slater took part in McKeith's programme in 2005, lost 21 pounds, but regained it afterwards. Slater said, "she demoralised me totally ... she gave me a balloon—put two drinking straws underneath it and said: "That's what you look like" — I ended up in tears. Then she gave me a completely unrealistic eating plan which involved very little meat or fish and lots of food that disagreed with my system like avocado—which makes me sick—and cucumber. I had to boil mung bean
s all day long, which took hours, made the flat smell horrible and tasted more like the gravel at the bottom of a fish tank than food. Although I tried hard and did lose weight, it was totally unrealistic."
She assesses people's nutritional needs based on the appearance of their nails, hair, lips, and skin. She also attributes the presence of depression or PMS to mineral deficiencies, and maintains that the location of pimples can suggest the source of health problems. Former professor of human nutrition John Garrow
says of her diagnostic abilities: "One of the programmes showed her prodding at the abdomen of a very large lady saying she could feel her intestines were inflamed. That is impossible. There is a large layer of fat between you and any intestines — it would be like trying to guess what's under a mattress." McKeith also argues that the appearance, smell and consistency of faeces can give clues to bodily malfunction. She frequently engages in this activity during her television shows, a technique that has led to Ben Goldacre
, a physician who writes for The Guardian, to dub her "the awful poo lady". Her management company writes that she "literally gets to the bottom of some of the country's worst eaters."
Goldacre writes that he finds it offensive that the British media is "filled with people who adopt a cloak of scientific authority while apparently misunderstanding the most basic aspects of biology." He offers as an example McKeith's recommendation to eat darker leaves because they are rich in chlorophyll
, writing that her claim that it will "really oxygen
ate your blood" is erroneous. McKeith's advice in her book Miracle Superfood: Wild Blue-Green Algae is also disputed. Jan Krokowski of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency wrote a letter to New Scientist, as a private individual, in which she said "blue-green algae—properly called cyanobacteria—are able to produce a range of very powerful toxins, which pose health hazards to humans and animals and can result in illness and death." In response to the criticism, McKeith argues: "I am on a crusade to change the nation and fortunately, or unfortunately, that is going to put me in the limelight. But you cannot have change without a bit of resistance."
McKeith's website sells books, advice, club membership, food (e.g. Goji berries
, hemp seeds, "Living Food Energy Powder", "Immune Defence" pills, weight loss pills, "Raw and unprocessed wild blue green algae", etc.), and accessory equipment (blender, juicers, sprouters, and a mini-trampoline). She was censured in November 2006 by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency
(MHRA) for selling unproven herbal sex aids. The products, "Fast Formula Wild Pink Yam Complex
" and "Fast Formula Horny Goat Weed Complex" were both advertised as having been shown, in a controlled study, to promote sexual satisfaction. The MHRA found McKeith guilty of "selling goods without legal authorisation whilst making medicinal claims about their efficacy." The products have since been withdrawn. McKeith's website suggested the sex aids had been withdrawn because of EU regulations. According to Goldacre, the MHRA said it had nothing to do with EU regulations.
, singing her rendition of "The Shoop Shoop Song". She also appeared in a health show transmitted on E4 called Supersize vs Superskinny
. In 2009 she appeared on the W Network in Canada on Eat Yourself Sexy, in which participants claimed to have a diminished sense of sex appeal or sex drive, with McKeith employing the same practices as in You Are What You Eat. In November 2010 she became a contestant on the UK version of "I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!".
, a British charity promoting organic food
, in recognition of her work in "tackling obesity, championing healthier eating and promoting the contribution that organic fruit, vegetables and other products can make to sound nutrition."
, who questioned her credentials in 2004. Ben Goldacre
speculated that parts of her PhD thesis may have been published as a 48-page pamphlet entitled "Miracle Superfood: Wild Blue-Green Algae"; he called the pamphlet Cargo cult science
, describing it as full of "anecdote, but no data." His book Bad Science
(2008) dedicates a chapter to an analysis of her scientific credibility.
In July 2010, McKeith's Twitter
account, @gillianmckeith, described the book as "lies"; Goldacre requested a correction. See Chivers, Tom: "Gillian McKeith should have a PhD in how not to use Twitter", The Daily Telegraph, 14 July 2010.
Responding to criticism of her degrees from Clayton College, she said: "I could have gone anywhere I wanted but I chose Clayton. There was cutting-edge research being put forward by people who were pioneers at the time." In February 2007 she agreed not to use the academic title "Dr" in advertisements, after a complaint to the British Advertising Standards Authority
, The offending ad was reportedly a leaflet without the usual disclaimer that she was not a medical doctor. Max Clifford
, McKeith's PR representative, said that she had not misled the public: "This was one complaint in relation to one leaflet from one trade show, and it was withdrawn. I hardly think that's misleading."
Nutritionist
A nutritionist is a person who advises on matters of food and nutrition impacts on health. Different professional terms are used in different countries, employment settings and contexts — some examples include: nutrition scientist, public health nutritionist, dietitian-nutritionist, clinical...
, television presenter, and writer. She is the former host in the UK of Channel 4's You Are What You Eat and Granada Television's Dr Gillian McKeith's Feel Fab Forever, and as of 2010 presents Eat Yourself Sexy on the W Network in Canada. She is the author of several books about nutrition, including You Are What You Eat (2004), and Dr Gillian McKeith's Ultimate Health Plan (2006).
McKeith takes a holistic approach to health, promoting exercise, a pescetarian
Pescetarianism
Pescetarianism is the practice of a diet that includes seafood but not the flesh of other animals.In addition to fish and/or shellfish, a pescetarian diet typically includes all of vegetables, fruit, nuts, grains, beans, eggs and dairy...
diet high in fruits and vegetables, grains, beans, nuts, and tofu, and the avoidance of processed and high-calorie foods, sugar and fat, red meat, alcohol, caffeine, white flour, and additives. She recommends detox diets and colonic irrigation, argues that the colour of food is nutritionally significant, and that she can diagnose ailments by examining people's tongues and stools
Human feces
Human feces , also known as a stool, is the waste product of the human digestive system including bacteria. It varies significantly in appearance, according to the state of the digestive system, diet and general health....
.
Her advice has attracted criticism and praise. You Are What You Eat has sold over two million copies, and in 2005 she was awarded a Consumer Education Award by the Soil Association
Soil Association
The Soil Association is a charity based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1946, it has over 27,000 members today. Its activities include campaign work on issues including opposition to intensive farming, support for local purchasing and public education on nutrition; as well the certification of...
. At the same time, the validity of both her approach and her qualifications have been questioned by a number of health professionals.
Early life and education
McKeith was born in PerthPerth, Scotland
Perth is a town and former city and royal burgh in central Scotland. Located on the banks of the River Tay, it is the administrative centre of Perth and Kinross council area and the historic county town of Perthshire...
, Scotland, and grew up on a council estate. Her father, Robert, was a shipyard worker and her mother an office worker. She has said that she was raised eating the junk food
Junk food
Junk food is an informal term applied to some foods that are perceived to have little or no nutritional value ; to products with nutritional value, but which also have ingredients considered unhealthy when regularly eaten; or to those considered unhealthy to consume at all...
she now advises against: "We all know the kind of food I grew up with—a typical Scottish diet. We'd have meat three times a day. I certainly never ate a mango, and had no idea what macrobiotic meant." Her father smoked for many years and died of cancer of the oesophagus in 2005.
She obtained a degree in linguistics from the University of Edinburgh in 1981, later moving to the United States, where she worked in marketing and international business. In 1984, she received an MA in international relations from the University of Pennsylvania. In 1994, she obtained an MA and, in 1997, a PhD, both in holistic nutrition, via a distance-learning programme from the non-accredited
Higher education accreditation in the United States
Higher education accreditation in the United States has long been established as a peer review process coordinated by accreditation commissions and member institutions. The federal government began to play a limited role in Higher education accreditation in 1952 with reauthorization of the GI Bill...
American Holistic College of Nutrition, later the Clayton College of Natural Health
Clayton College of Natural Health
The Clayton College of Natural Health was a non-accredited American distance-learning natural health college based in Birmingham, Alabama, offering classes in various forms of alternative medicine. The school was founded in 1980 by Lloyd Clayton Jr. as the American College of Holistic Nutrition...
in Birmingham, Alabama (but since closed). She is a member of the American Association of Nutritional Consultants
American Association of Nutritional Consultants
The American Association of Nutritional Consultants is an organisation which seeks to enhance the reputation of Nutritional and Dietary Consultants by consolidating them into a professional organisation....
. Her website lists post-graduate membership of The Centre for Nutrition Education; certificates from the London School of Acupuncture and the Kailash Centre of Oriental Medicine; and a Master Herbalist Diploma (Honors) from The American College of Healthcare Sciences.
She met her American husband, Howard Magaziner, a lawyer, in Edinburgh, where he was spending a year studying. At the time he ran a chain of health food shops in the United States, with which she became involved. The couple now live in London and have two daughters, Skylar (born 1994) and Aston (born 2000). She suffers from scoliosis
Scoliosis
Scoliosis is a medical condition in which a person's spine is curved from side to side. Although it is a complex three-dimensional deformity, on an X-ray, viewed from the rear, the spine of an individual with scoliosis may look more like an "S" or a "C" than a straight line...
, and has said there is not a moment in her life when she is not in pain because of it.
Career
Her mission, according to her website, is to empower people to "improve their lives through information, food and lifestyle". According to her Channel 4 biography, she was celebrity health reporter for the Joan RiversJoan Rivers
Joan Rivers is an American comedian, television personality and actress. She is known for her brash manner; her loud, raspy voice with a heavy New York accent; and her numerous cosmetic surgeries...
show, and when she first moved to the United States she co-presented a syndicated radio show called Healthline Across America.
You Are What You Eat
Her book, You Are What You Eat, had sold over two million copies by 2006, and was the most borrowed non-fiction library book in the UK between July 2005 and June 2006. The book derived from the Channel 4 show she presented, You Are What You Eat, broadcast until 2007, in which she attempted to motivate people to lose weight and change their lifestyle. Ian MarberIan Marber
Ian Marber, born in London on December 15, 1963, is a nutrition therapist, well known author and one of the founding members of The Food Doctor, a leading UK healthy eating brand and nutrition clinic in London....
, a nutritionist, described her in 2006 as fervent in her beliefs and thinks of her as a sort of health televangelist. In each episode of the fourth series, called Gillian Moves In: You Are What You Eat, two people were chosen to stay with McKeith at a house in London "with no escape". She first showed each of the subjects their typical week's food consumption. The food was laid out on a table in a cold, congealed and unpleasant state. The subjects were often shown emptying the display into refuse sacks. According to Jan Moir in The Daily Telegraph, she was seen "shouting at sobbing, fat women while forcing them to eat quinoa
Quinoa
Quinoa , a species of goosefoot , is a grain-like crop grown primarily for its edible seeds. It is a pseudocereal rather than a true cereal, or grain, as it is not a member of the grass family...
and undergo frequent sessions of colonic irrigation enthusiastically administered by her good self." She then offered advice on diet and exercise, and forbade alcohol. Once trained, the participants were able to return home, and were expected to stick to their new regime for eight weeks. If they failed to stick to it, McKeith moved in with them to make sure they followed her advice. The participants were shown at the end of the eight weeks to have lost body mass, and said they felt healthier.
She often attributes some of the featured clients' health problems to a vitamin
Vitamin
A vitamin is an organic compound required as a nutrient in tiny amounts by an organism. In other words, an organic chemical compound is called a vitamin when it cannot be synthesized in sufficient quantities by an organism, and must be obtained from the diet. Thus, the term is conditional both on...
or mineral
Dietary mineral
Dietary minerals are the chemical elements required by living organisms, other than the four elements carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen present in common organic molecules. Examples of mineral elements include calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, zinc, and iodine...
deficiency. There are certain foods she considers to be particularly nutritious, and these are often mentioned in her programmes. These can be unusual foods, some of which are available only from healthfood shops or from McKeith's own range of products. Asked about her advice, Amanda Wynne, senior dietician with the British Dietetic Association
British Dietetic Association
The British Dietetic Association is a professional association and trade union for dieticians in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1936 and became a certified union in 1982; it is affiliated to the Trades Union Congress and the Scottish Trades Union Congress.The BDA was established in 1936...
, said: "We are appalled. I think it is obvious she has not a clue about nutrition. In fact her advice, if followed to the limit, could be dangerous. Her TV programme takes obese people and puts them on a crash diet
Crash diet
A crash diet is a diet which is extreme in its nutritional deprivations, typically severely restricting calorie intake. It is meant to achieve rapid weight loss and may differ from outright starvation only slightly. It is not meant to last for long periods of time, at most a few weeks. ...
that is very hazardous to health." A spokesperson for Celador, the production company behind McKeith's television series, said that the criticism of her is reflective of her rejection of traditionalist approaches to nutrition: "You have to realise that when someone takes a holistic approach, there is always going to be an old school of traditionalists who are going to be sceptical and besmirch that. That's what's going on."
The Daily Mail reports that Lorna Slater took part in McKeith's programme in 2005, lost 21 pounds, but regained it afterwards. Slater said, "she demoralised me totally ... she gave me a balloon—put two drinking straws underneath it and said: "That's what you look like" — I ended up in tears. Then she gave me a completely unrealistic eating plan which involved very little meat or fish and lots of food that disagreed with my system like avocado—which makes me sick—and cucumber. I had to boil mung bean
Mung bean
The mung bean is the seed of Vigna radiata. It is native to the Indian subcontinent.-Description:They are small, ovoid in shape, and green in color...
s all day long, which took hours, made the flat smell horrible and tasted more like the gravel at the bottom of a fish tank than food. Although I tried hard and did lose weight, it was totally unrealistic."
Diagnostic techniques
In her book You Are What You Eat, McKeith advocates examination of the tongue, the mapping of pimples, and detailed scrutiny of faecal matter and urine as indicators of health. She asserts that many exterior parts of the body provide insight into illness: "I always think of the tongue as being like a window to the organs. The extreme tip correlates to the heart, the bit slightly behind is the lungs. The right side shows what the gallbladder is up to and the left side the liver. The middle indicates the condition of your stomach and spleen, the back the kidneys, intestines and womb." These claims have no scientific basis.She assesses people's nutritional needs based on the appearance of their nails, hair, lips, and skin. She also attributes the presence of depression or PMS to mineral deficiencies, and maintains that the location of pimples can suggest the source of health problems. Former professor of human nutrition John Garrow
John Garrow
Professor John Garrow , MD, PhD , FRCP , FRCP was editor of European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1988-1999. He was formerly Professor of Human Nutrition, University of London, Honorary consultant physician St Bartholomew's Hospital, St Mark's Hospital, Royal London Hospital and Northwick Park...
says of her diagnostic abilities: "One of the programmes showed her prodding at the abdomen of a very large lady saying she could feel her intestines were inflamed. That is impossible. There is a large layer of fat between you and any intestines — it would be like trying to guess what's under a mattress." McKeith also argues that the appearance, smell and consistency of faeces can give clues to bodily malfunction. She frequently engages in this activity during her television shows, a technique that has led to Ben Goldacre
Ben Goldacre
Ben Michael Goldacre born 1974 is a British science writer, doctor and psychiatrist. He is the author of The Guardian newspaper's weekly Bad Science column and a book of the same title, published by Fourth Estate in September 2008....
, a physician who writes for The Guardian, to dub her "the awful poo lady". Her management company writes that she "literally gets to the bottom of some of the country's worst eaters."
Nutritional advice
McKeith's advice is based on both standard and non-standard medicine, including common sense tips, such as avoiding shopping when hungry, eating fruit and vegetables instead of cakes or buns, and favouring fresh fish over processed products such as fish-fingers. She recommends a detox diet in which the "top 12 toxic terrors to avoid" are: smoking; caffeine; alcohol; chocolate and sweet snacks; pub snacks such as crisps, nuts, and pork scratchings; processed meat; white bread, white pasta, white rice; products containing added sugar; takeaways and ready meals; table salt; saturated fats; and fizzy drinks. Her clients have included Jennifer Aniston and Demi Moore.Goldacre writes that he finds it offensive that the British media is "filled with people who adopt a cloak of scientific authority while apparently misunderstanding the most basic aspects of biology." He offers as an example McKeith's recommendation to eat darker leaves because they are rich in chlorophyll
Chlorophyll
Chlorophyll is a green pigment found in almost all plants, algae, and cyanobacteria. Its name is derived from the Greek words χλωρος, chloros and φύλλον, phyllon . Chlorophyll is an extremely important biomolecule, critical in photosynthesis, which allows plants to obtain energy from light...
, writing that her claim that it will "really oxygen
Oxygen
Oxygen is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O. Its name derives from the Greek roots ὀξύς and -γενής , because at the time of naming, it was mistakenly thought that all acids required oxygen in their composition...
ate your blood" is erroneous. McKeith's advice in her book Miracle Superfood: Wild Blue-Green Algae is also disputed. Jan Krokowski of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency wrote a letter to New Scientist, as a private individual, in which she said "blue-green algae—properly called cyanobacteria—are able to produce a range of very powerful toxins, which pose health hazards to humans and animals and can result in illness and death." In response to the criticism, McKeith argues: "I am on a crusade to change the nation and fortunately, or unfortunately, that is going to put me in the limelight. But you cannot have change without a bit of resistance."
Her products
Wolfberry
Wolfberry, commercially called goji berry, is the common name for the fruit of two very closely related species: Lycium barbarum and L. chinense , two species of boxthorn in the family Solanaceae...
, hemp seeds, "Living Food Energy Powder", "Immune Defence" pills, weight loss pills, "Raw and unprocessed wild blue green algae", etc.), and accessory equipment (blender, juicers, sprouters, and a mini-trampoline). She was censured in November 2006 by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency
Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is the UK government agency which is responsible for ensuring that medicines and medical devices work and are acceptably safe....
(MHRA) for selling unproven herbal sex aids. The products, "Fast Formula Wild Pink Yam Complex
Yam (vegetable)
Yam is the common name for some species in the genus Dioscorea . These are perennial herbaceous vines cultivated for the consumption of their starchy tubers in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Oceania...
" and "Fast Formula Horny Goat Weed Complex" were both advertised as having been shown, in a controlled study, to promote sexual satisfaction. The MHRA found McKeith guilty of "selling goods without legal authorisation whilst making medicinal claims about their efficacy." The products have since been withdrawn. McKeith's website suggested the sex aids had been withdrawn because of EU regulations. According to Goldacre, the MHRA said it had nothing to do with EU regulations.
Other television
In 2007 McKeith presented Three Fat Brides, One Thin Dress for Channel 4, a competitive version of the You Are What You Eat format in which three women compete for a designer wedding dress. In addition to presenting her own TV shows, she occasionally appears in other programmes. She competed in The X Factor: Battle of the StarsThe X Factor: Battle of the Stars
The X Factor: Battle of the Stars was a UK celebrity special edition of The X Factor, which screened on ITV, started on 29 May 2006 and lasting for eight consecutive nights...
, singing her rendition of "The Shoop Shoop Song". She also appeared in a health show transmitted on E4 called Supersize vs Superskinny
Supersize vs Superskinny
Supersize vs Superskinny is a British television programme on Channel 4 that features information about dieting and extreme eating lifestyles. One of the main show features is a weekly comparison between an overweight person, and an underweight person...
. In 2009 she appeared on the W Network in Canada on Eat Yourself Sexy, in which participants claimed to have a diminished sense of sex appeal or sex drive, with McKeith employing the same practices as in You Are What You Eat. In November 2010 she became a contestant on the UK version of "I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!".
Awards
In May 2005, McKeith was given the Best Organic Businesses 2005 Consumer Education Award by the Soil AssociationSoil Association
The Soil Association is a charity based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1946, it has over 27,000 members today. Its activities include campaign work on issues including opposition to intensive farming, support for local purchasing and public education on nutrition; as well the certification of...
, a British charity promoting organic food
Organic food
Organic foods are foods that are produced using methods that do not involve modern synthetic inputs such as synthetic pesticides and chemical fertilizers, do not contain genetically modified organisms, and are not processed using irradiation, industrial solvents, or chemical food additives.For the...
, in recognition of her work in "tackling obesity, championing healthier eating and promoting the contribution that organic fruit, vegetables and other products can make to sound nutrition."
Debate about qualifications
McKeith has threatened legal action against a number of critics, including nutrition professor John GarrowJohn Garrow
Professor John Garrow , MD, PhD , FRCP , FRCP was editor of European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1988-1999. He was formerly Professor of Human Nutrition, University of London, Honorary consultant physician St Bartholomew's Hospital, St Mark's Hospital, Royal London Hospital and Northwick Park...
, who questioned her credentials in 2004. Ben Goldacre
Ben Goldacre
Ben Michael Goldacre born 1974 is a British science writer, doctor and psychiatrist. He is the author of The Guardian newspaper's weekly Bad Science column and a book of the same title, published by Fourth Estate in September 2008....
speculated that parts of her PhD thesis may have been published as a 48-page pamphlet entitled "Miracle Superfood: Wild Blue-Green Algae"; he called the pamphlet Cargo cult science
Cargo cult science
Cargo cult science refers to practices that have the semblance of being scientific, but are missing "a kind of scientific integrity, a principle of scientific thought that corresponds to a kind of utter honesty". The term was first used by the physicist Richard Feynman during his commencement...
, describing it as full of "anecdote, but no data." His book Bad Science
Bad Science (book)
Bad Science is a book by Ben Goldacre, criticising mainstream media reporting on health and science issues. Published by Fourth Estate in September 2008, the book contains extended and revised versions of many of his Guardian columns...
(2008) dedicates a chapter to an analysis of her scientific credibility.
In July 2010, McKeith's Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
account, @gillianmckeith, described the book as "lies"; Goldacre requested a correction. See Chivers, Tom: "Gillian McKeith should have a PhD in how not to use Twitter", The Daily Telegraph, 14 July 2010.
Responding to criticism of her degrees from Clayton College, she said: "I could have gone anywhere I wanted but I chose Clayton. There was cutting-edge research being put forward by people who were pioneers at the time." In February 2007 she agreed not to use the academic title "Dr" in advertisements, after a complaint to the British Advertising Standards Authority
Advertising Standards Authority (United Kingdom)
The Advertising Standards Authority is the self-regulatory organisation of the advertising industry in the United Kingdom. The ASA is a non-statutory organisation and so cannot interpret or enforce legislation. However, its code of advertising practice broadly reflects legislation in many instances...
, The offending ad was reportedly a leaflet without the usual disclaimer that she was not a medical doctor. Max Clifford
Max Clifford
Maxwell Frank Clifford is an English publicist, considered the highest-profile and best-known publicist in the United Kingdom...
, McKeith's PR representative, said that she had not misled the public: "This was one complaint in relation to one leaflet from one trade show, and it was withdrawn. I hardly think that's misleading."
Selected works
- (1996) Miracle Superfood: Wild Blue-Green Algae: the nutrient powerhouse that stimulates the immune system, boosts brain power and guards against disease. ISBN 0-879-83729-2
- (2004) Gillian McKeith's living food for health: 12 natural superfoods to transform your health. ISBN 0-749-92673-2
- (2004) You Are What You Eat. ISBN 0-452-28717-0
- (2005) You Are What You Eat Cookbook. ISBN 0-7181-4797-9
- (2006) Dr Gillian McKeith's Ultimate Health Plan: The Diet Programme That Will Keep You Slim for Life. Michael Joseph. ISBN 0-718-14891-6
- (2006) Dr Gillian McKeith’s Shopping Guide. Michael Joseph. ISBN 0-718-14954-8
- (2007) Slim for Life. Plume. ISBN 0452289254
- (2009) Gillian McKeith's Food Bible: How to Use Food to Cure What Ails You. Plume. ISBN 0452289971
- (2009) Gillian McKeith's Boot Camp Diet: Fourteen Days to a New You!. Penguin. ISBN 0141037164
- (2010) Women's Health: A Practical Guide to All the Stages and Ages of the Female Life Cycle. Michael Joseph. ISBN 0718154355