Some "nutritionists" and other fringe practitioners use a nonsensical urine/saliva test as the basis for evaluating a person's health and prescribing dietary supplements to fix it. The most visible modern proponent of this test was Gary Martin, who, during the 1980s, operated the American College of Nutripathy, a nonaccredited correspondence school that granted "degrees" in nutrition. One of the school's brochures described nutripathy as "the condensation of most all natural healing and counseling techniques available today . . . . the basics 'boiled' from literally hundreds of different therapies and techniques."
Martin claimed that nutripathic tests could detect "imbalances which, if left to mature, must ultimately manifest as some form of disease process." and "discover the root cause of the disease while it is still in the prediagnosable stage."
The most notable of these tests was the urine/saliva test developed about more than 50 years ago by Cary Reams (1910-1985), a self-proclaimed biophysicist who was prosecuted during the 1970s for practicing medicine without a license. Reams, who also claimed to be guided by God, devised "a mathematical formula for perfect health, based on the biophysical frequencies of living matter." The formula, which Martin called "your Nutripathic Portrait," looks like this:
According to Martin's book, Nutripathy: The Final Solution to Your Health Dilemma, the first three numbers represent sugars excreted in the urine and the acidity (pH) of the urine and saliva, and indicate how much "energy input" you have. The other numbers, said to represent your "mineral salts index, urine debris index and nitrate nitrogens over the ammoniacal nitrogens index," indicate how much energy your metabolism is using. "A low energy input and high energy drain," says the book, "means degeneration, rot, decay and death." To fix these alleged problems, Martin and his followers offered a large variety of supplement products.
This urine/saliva test and its associated trappings are utter nonsense.
Acid-base status is commonly measured at hospital admission for many diseases, but it is extremely unusual to find acidosis or alkalosis of the blood or extracellular fluid in the early stages of any major disease except kidney disease. Moreover, no food is acidic or alkaline enough in a mixed diet to produce long-lasting changes in the body's acid-base balance.
For many years, Martin did business as Health Watchers System. His "graduates" include:
- Michael Biamonte, PhD, who operates the Biamonte Center for Clinical Nutrition in New York City. His Web site claims that he developed "nutritional programs for HIV and Cancer that may become one of the most important discoveries of the century."
- Lawrence Borawski, ND, of Coral Springs, Florida, who lectures on nutrition and markets "products he claims cam block absorption of fats and carbohydrates.
- R. Dale Comeaux, CBP, NLM, LMT, a massage therapist from Louisiana who includes training in iridology, reiki, and "nutitional blood analysis" in his credential list.
- Larry DiSantis, CN, a technical representative of Now Foods, who also serves as a minster at a Chicago area church, through which he teaches a "total health approach." Prior to that he worked as a nutritional counselor at an Italian clinic and an American health food store.
- Chip Huge, PhD, who "coaches natural health and wellbeing" in Bend, Oregon.
- Stephen Huer, who practices in Cupertino, California, is "Overseer" of Alchemy Ministries aka Cocoon Nutrition. His Web site contains an "informed consent" form in which clients must agree that (a) "urine and saliva specimens are screenings for research purposes only" and (b) they will never take legal action against Heuer.
- Rita M. Holgers-Awana, ND, of Lombard, Illinois, who whose online resumé states that she has practiced electrodiagnosis (with a Dermatron device) for many years and is vice president of the American Society of Dowsers.
- Joanna Jarvis, BS, CNC, who practices nutrition and ayurveda in Santa Cruz, California.
- Gregory A Kreutzer, DN, developer of "Bio-Energy Metabolic Efficiency Analysis" and founder of Natural Health Resources. His Web site states that there are 3,000 urine testers worldwide and that they can earn up to $1,000 per day.
- Julie Keegan, who practices acupuncture and Oriental medicine in Langley. Washington.
- Donald Mantell, MD, who operates the Wholistic Health Clinic in Sarver, Pennsylvania, is said to have received BS and Master's degrees in the early 1980s.
- Jan Noble, DN, MScM, who operates the Holistic Life Institute of Learning and the Academy for Reiki Masters Training, in Modesto, California. Her "MScM" credential is from the University of Metaphysical Sciences in Studio City, California. In an e-mail to me, she stated: "My studies with the American College of Nutripathy concerned nutrition only. I did not study the urine/saliva material (It was not required), only the home-study portion of the school that offered training in nutrition, food chemistry, supplementation, organic gardening, reflexology, flower essences, homeopathy, and exercise."
- Sal D'Onofrio, DN, DD, who operates Health Guardians in Redondo Beach. California. He calls his urine/saliva test "Nutri Energy Systems Analysis" and states that it determines "digestive efficiency."
- Marcelle Shane, who operates German House Reflexology in Sarnie, Ontario (Canada). Her Web site offers reflexology, reiki and "biological immunity analysis."
- Patricia A. Starr, CN, who practices as a "nutritionist" in Hotchkiss, Colorado.
Others have included Patricia Carrasco-O'Brien and William F. Lee, an episcopal priest who had both accredited and nonaccredited credentials.
| Nutritional Resources, of Warsaw, Indiana, sells a $280 "Basic Reams Test Kit" that it claims "is capable of determining up to 2,600 different health conditions by analyzing chemical, digestive and nutritional imbalances within the body." |
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This article was revised on January 24, 2008.