Joel D. Wallach

[[File:Joel Wallach.png|right|thumb|165px|Joel Wallach]]
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{{cquote|It is not clear where Wallach gets his data, but it is a lie.|||[[National Council Against Health Fraud]]<ref name="ncahf">[https://quackwatch.org/ncahf/3-4-2/ NCAHF News, March/April 1996]</ref>}}

'''Joel D. Wallach''' {{lived|1940}},<ref>https://thewallachfiles.com/about-dr-wallach/</ref> also known as the '''mineral doctor''', is an [[American]] veterinarian, [[naturopath]] [[quack]], colloidal mineral [[woo]] promoter, [[cholesterol denialist]], [[vaccine denialist]] and best known for promoting the false claim that all diseases are caused by mineral deficiencies.<ref name="ncahf"/><ref name="Skeptic">[http://skepdic.com/wallach.html Joel D. Wallach, the "mineral doctor"]</ref>

Wallach believes that people can live more than one hundred years if they take colloidal [[Vitamin and mineral supplements|mineral supplements]], including [[colloidal silver]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20180315085841/https://youngofficial.com/seven-benefits-of-colloidal-silver/ Seven Benefits of Colloidal Silver] Youngevity (archived from March 15, 2018).</ref> His ideas have been described by medical experts as false, misleading, and dangerous to the public.<ref name="ncahf"/><ref name="Skeptic"/><ref name="Nutra Smart">[http://nutra-smart.net/al.htm Youngevity Australia, Colloidal Minerals & Dr Joel Wallach]</ref><ref name="Quackwatch">[https://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/DSH/colloidalminerals.html Colloidal Mineral Supplements: Unnecessary and Potentially Hazardous]</ref> 

He operates the alternative medicine website '''Critical Health News'''.<ref>[https://criticalhealthnews.com/ Critical Health News]</ref>

==Qualifications and naturopathic career==

Wallach refers to himself as a physician. However, he is not qualified in this field.<ref name="ncahf"/><ref>[https://www.healthwatcher.net/Quackerywatch/Colonics/index.html Colloidal Minerals Miracle or Menace] "Wallach is a total and utter quack. He is an ND, and a veterinarian. He is not licensed to perform human medical autopsies, as he claims."</ref> He is a qualified veterinarian, but when it comes to human medicine, he is totally unreliable; he obtained his [[Alternative Medicine Education|ND]] from the National College of Naturopathic Medicine.<ref name="Skeptic"/><ref name="ncahf"/> 

In the early 1980s, Wallach was associated with [[cancer woo]].<ref name="Nutra Smart"/> He described himself as a "Manner Metabolic Physician" and practiced metabolic therapy, a form of cancer quackery pioneered by Harold W. Manner.<ref name="ncahf"/><ref>[https://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/Cancer/manner.html Manner Metabolic Therapy] "No scientific study has ever shown that "metabolic therapy" or any of its components is effective against cancer or any other serious disease."</ref> This type of discredited treatment involved the use of [[laetrile]], which is clinically ineffective for cancer and potentially toxic.<ref>Nightingale SL. (1984). "Laetrile: the regulatory challenge of an unproven remedy". Public Health Reports. 99 (4): 333–8.</ref><ref>Milazzo S, Horneber M (April 2015). "Laetrile treatment for cancer". The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (4): CD005476.</ref>

He also worked for the "Hospital Santa Monica", an alternative medicine clinic operated by convicted fraud Kurt Donsbach.<ref name="ncahf"/><ref>For information on Donsbach check out [https://www.casewatch.net/crim/donsbach/declaration.shtml Kurt Donsbach Convicted Again], or [https://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/donsbach.html The Shady Activities of Kurt Donsbach]</ref>

In 1995, it was reported that Wallach was practicing [[chelation therapy]] for coronary artery disease at a clinic in [[San Francisco]], [[California]], and that one of his patients had died following his advice to avoid help from a regular physician.<ref name="Nutra Smart"/><ref name="ncahf"/> Chelation therapy has been utilized by alternative medicine proponents, but is a serious misuse of the treatment.<ref name="Skeptic"/><ref name="Nutra Smart"/>

==Nobel Prize nominee==

Alternative medicine websites like to claim that Wallach was a [[Nobel Prize]] nominee. What they do not mention is that he was nominated by the "Association of Eclectic Physicians", a non-scientific naturopathic group founded in 1982.<ref name="Nutra Smart"/><ref name="Quackwatch"/> [[Quackwatch]] have noted that:

{{quotebox|Wallach's supporters frequently describe him as a Nobel Prize nominee. Actually, he was "nominated" in 1991 for his "research" on cystic fibrosis by the Association of Eclectic Physicians, a naturopathic group with no scientific standing. His research findings were invalid, because the people he studied were self-selected, and not [[Randomized controlled trial|randomized]]; he did not follow an appropriate data-gathering protocol; his diagnoses were made with a questionnaire; and his report made claims about other data that were either unsupported or unreferenced. The Nobel Committee gave no credence to Wallach's "nomination" and, in an unprecedented move, officially denied that he was ever a legitimate nominee.<ref name="Quackwatch"/>}}

This isn't [[Nobel disease]]; this is "never even got in the Nobel Institute's doors".

==Dead Doctors Don't Lie==

Wallach is known for his controversial audiotape ''Dead Doctors Don't Lie'', 1994.<ref name="Skeptic"/> In the tape, he made a number of distortions, lies, and pseudoscientific claims.<ref name="Quackwatch"/>

Wallach claimed that he has authored over 70 [[peer-reviewed]] papers. Upon investigation, the real figure was only a handful.<ref name="Quackwatch"/> Wallach said that cystic fibrosis is preventable and totally curable. Scientific evidence says otherwise.<ref name="Skeptic"/><ref>[https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/cystic-fibrosis/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20353706 Cystic fibrosis] "There is no cure for cystic fibrosis, but treatment can ease symptoms and reduce complications."</ref> He proclaimed that physicians have a life expectancy of only 58 years, which is entirely false and has been described by medical experts as an outright lie.<ref name="Quackwatch"/>

Wallach claimed that five cultures in the world had average lifespans of 120-140 years when, in reality, no such cultures have existed.<ref name="Quackwatch"/> He also made many false medical claims unsupported by clinical evidence, such as all aneurysms being caused by copper deficiency, male-pattern baldness being caused by tin deficiency, and Bell's palsy being caused by calcium deficiency.<ref name="Quackwatch"/>

==Cholesterol denialism==

Wallach is a [[cholesterol denialist]].<ref name="Nutra Smart"/> He believes that people should not worry about high blood cholesterol levels as they have no negative health effects. He has ignored the majority of scientific studies that have found that saturated fat intake and high LDL cholesterol levels increase the risk of cardiovascular disease.<ref name="Nutra Smart"/>

==Colloidal Minerals==
{{quackbox|The most notorious colloidal mineral promoter is Joel D. Wallach, DVM, ND, who says that Americans desperately need his minerals. Wallach has a long history of involvement in dubious healthcare schemes, such as laetrile treatment for cancer, as well as chelation and hydrogen peroxide therapies for coronary artery disease. He has also hosted an AM radio talk show in San Diego titled “Let’s Play Doctor” and briefly plied naturopathy at Kurt Donsbach‘s Hospital Santa Monica.|<ref>James Pontolillo, [https://quackwatch.org/related/DSH/colloidalminerals/ Colloidal Minerals: Unnecessary and Potentially Hazardous]. Quackwatch, 11 December 1998.</ref>}}

Wallach's statements about colloidal minerals are entirely erroneous.<ref name="ncahf"/><ref name="Quackwatch"/> According to ''[[The Skeptic's Dictionary]]'':

{{quotebox|Wallach claims that minerals in foods and most supplements are "metallic" and not as effective as "plant-based" colloidal minerals, which is nonsense because colloidal minerals are also "metallic," i.e., contain trace amounts of [[aluminum]] and [[heavy metal]]s. Being that colloidal has more to do with the origin, size, and structure of the mineral particles that with their effectiveness. Being metallic is irrelevant. Wallach claims that metallic minerals (i.e., regular vitamins and minerals) are only 8-12% absorbable while colloidal minerals are 98% absorbable. No data support this claim; Wallach seems to have made it up.<ref name="Skeptic"/>}}

==See also==
*He was featured on [[Coast to Coast AM]].

==External links==
*[http://nutra-smart.net/al.htm A critical look at Youngevity & Dr Joel Wallach]

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wallach, Joel}}
[[Category:Anti-vaccination movement]]
[[Category:Authors]]
[[Category:California]]
[[Category:Cholesterol and statin denialists]]
[[Category:Food woo promoters]]
[[Category:Pseudoscience promoters]]

Categories: Anti-vaccination movement, Authors, California, Cholesterol and statin denialists, Food woo promoters, Pseudoscience promoters