Live blood analysis

Live blood analysis
Claims Ability to diagnose disease from blood examined using dark field microscopy
Related scientific disciplines Microscopy, dark field microscopy
Year proposed ca. 1925
Original proponents Günther Enderlein
Subsequent proponents Robert O. Young
Pseudoscientific concepts

Live blood analysis (LBA), live cell analysis, Hemaview or nutritional blood analysis is the use of high-resolution dark field microscopy to observe live blood cells. Live blood analysis is promoted by some alternative medicine practitioners, who assert that it can diagnose a range of diseases. There is no scientific evidence that live blood analysis is reliable or effective, and it has been described as a fraudulent means of convincing patients that they are ill and should purchase dietary supplements.[1][2][3]

Live blood analysis is not accepted in laboratory practice and its validity as a laboratory test has not been established.[4] There is no scientific evidence for the validity of live blood analysis,[4] it has been described as a pseudoscientific, bogus and fraudulent medical test,[5][6] and its practice has been dismissed by the medical profession as quackery.[7] The field of live blood microscopy is unregulated, there is no training requirement for practitioners and no recognised qualification, no recognised medical validity to the results, and proponents have made false claims about both medical blood pathology testing and their own services, which some have refused to amend when instructed by the Advertising Standards Authority.[8]

It has its origins in the now-discarded theories of pleomorphism promoted by Günther Enderlein, notably in his 1925 book Bakterien-Cyklogenie.

In January 2014 prominent live blood proponent and teacher Robert O. Young was arrested and charged for practising medicine without a license,[9] and in March 2014 Errol Denton, a former student of his, a UK live blood practitioner, was convicted on nine counts in a rare prosecution under the Cancer Act 1939,[7] followed in May 2014 by another former student, Stephen Ferguson.[10]

Overview

Proponents believe that live blood analysis provides information "about the state of the immune system, possible vitamin deficiencies, amount of toxicity, pH and mineral imbalance, areas of concern and weaknesses, fungus and yeast." Some even claim it can "spot cancer and other degenerative immune system diseases up to two years before they would otherwise be detectable" or say they can diagnose "lack of oxygen in the blood, low trace minerals, lack of exercise, too much alcohol or yeast, weak kidneys, bladder or spleen."[1] Practitioners include alternative medicine providers such as nutritionists, herbologists, naturopaths, and chiropractors.[4]

Dark field microscopy is useful to enhance contrast in unstained samples, but live blood analysis is not proven to be useful for any of its claimed indications. Two journal articles published in the alternative medical literature found that darkfield microscopy seemed unable to detect cancer, and that live blood analysis lacked reliability, reproducibility, and sensitivity and specificity.[11][12] Edzard Ernst, professor of complementary medicine at the University of Exeter and University of Plymouth, notes: "No credible scientific studies have demonstrated the reliability of LBA for detecting any of the above conditions." Ernst describes live blood analysis as a "fraudulent" means of convincing patients to buy dietary supplements.[1]

Quackwatch has been critical of live blood analysis, noting dishonesty in the claims brought forward by its proponents.[13] The alternative medicine popularizer Andrew Weil dismissed live blood analysis as "completely bogus", writing: "Dark-field microscopy combined with live blood analysis may sound like cutting-edge science, but it's old-fashioned hokum. Don't buy into it."[3]

Common diagnoses

There are several common diagnoses by the LBA practitioners that are actually based on observation of artifacts normally found in microscopy, and ignorance of basic biological science: [14][15]

Regulatory issues

In 1996, the Pennsylvania Department of Laboratories informed three Pennsylvania chiropractors that Infinity2's "Nutritional Blood Analysis" could not be used for diagnostic purposes unless they maintain a laboratory that has both state and federal certification for complex testing.[16]

In 2001, the Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General issued a report on regulation of "unestablished laboratory tests" that focused on live blood cell analysis and the difficulty of regulating unestablished tests and laboratories.[4]

In 2002, an Australian naturopath was convicted and fined for falsely claiming that he could diagnose illness using live blood analysis[17] after the death of a patient. He was acquitted of manslaughter. He subsequently changed his name and was later banned from practice for life.[18]

In 2005, the Rhode Island Department of Health ordered a chiropractor to stop performing live blood analysis. An attorney for the State Board of Examiners in Chiropractic Medicine described the test as "useless" and a "money-making scheme... The point of it all is apparently to sell nutritional supplements." A state medical board official said that live blood analysis has no discernible value, and that the public "should be very suspicious of any practitioner who offers this test."[2]

In 2011, the UK General Medical Council suspended a doctor's licence to practise after he used live blood analysis to diagnose patients with Lyme disease. The doctor accepted he had been practising "bad medicine". [19]

In 2013, following several Advertising Standards Authority adjudications [20] against claims made by LBA practitioners, the Committee of Advertising Practice added new guidelines to their AdviceOnline database advising what LBA marketers may claim in their advertising material. These state that "CAP is yet to see any evidence for the efficacy of this therapy which, without rigorous evidence to support it, should be advertised on an availability-only platform." [21] One of these practitioners, Errol Denton, who practised out of a serviced office in Harley Street, was prosecuted in December 2013 under the Cancer Act 1939, and chose to use a Freeman on the Land defence.[22] On March 20 2014 he was convicted on nine counts under the Cancer Act 1939 and fined £9,000 plus around £10,000 in costs.[23][7]

See also

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Ernst, Edzard (2005-07-12). "Intrigued by the spectacular claims made for Live Blood Analysis? Don't be. It doesn't work". The Guardian. Retrieved 2008-11-17.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Freyer, Felice (2005-06-21). "Chiropractor ordered to halt blood tests". Providence Journal. Retrieved 2008-11-17.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Weil, Andrew (September 11, 2007). "Ask Dr. Weil". Arizona Daily Star. Retrieved November 9, 2009.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 "CLIA regulation of unestablished laboratory tests" (PDF). U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. July 2001. Retrieved January 26, 2009.
  5. Brigden ML (November 1995). "Unproven (questionable) cancer therapies". West. J. Med. 163 (5): 463–9. PMC 1303171. PMID 8533410.
  6. Morris A (March 2006). "Complementary and alternative allergy tests" (PDF). Current Allergy and Clinical Immunology 19 (1).
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 Mendick, Robert (30 March 2014). "Duped by the 'blood analyst' who says he can cure cancer". Daily Telegraph.
  8. "Breast implant compensation, 'live' blood tests, and magic mirrors". You and Yours. BBC Radio 4. March 15, 2012.
  9. 10 News
  10. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2621396/Bodybuilder-turned-Harley-Street-nutritionist-fined-claiming-CURE-cancer-diet-fitness-techniques.html
  11. El-Safadi S, Tinneberg HR, von Georgi R, Münstedt K, Brück F (June 2005). "[Does dark field microscopy according to Enderlein allow for cancer diagnosis? A prospective study]". Forsch Komplementarmed Klass Naturheilkd (in German) 12 (3): 148–51. doi:10.1159/000085212. PMID 15985779.
  12. Teut M, Lüdtke R, Warning A (2006). "Reliability of Enderlein's darkfield analysis of live blood". Altern Ther Health Med 12 (4): 36–41. PMID 16862741.
  13. Lowell, James (November 1986). "Live Cell Analysis: High-Tech Hokum". Quackwatch. Retrieved 2008-11-17.
  14. 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 14.5 Patterson, Thomas (2012). "The Pseudoscience of Live Blood Cell Analysis". Skeptical Inquirer (Center for Inquiry) 36 (November/December): 43–45.
  15. 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 15.5 Crislip, Mark (13 February 2009). "Live Blood Analysis: The Modern Auguries". Science-Based Medicine. Retrieved 28 December 2012.
  16. Wlazelek, A. (1996-04-12). "Chiropractors cease blood cell show and tell. State restricts the use of magnified images to sell vitamins, supplements". The Morning Call. p. B6.
  17. "Former Lismore naturopath fined over newspaper ads". Abc.net.au. 2002-05-24. Retrieved 2008-11-17.
  18. Court orders life ban on naturopath, Brisbane Times, April 4 2008
  19. "MPTS Fitness to Practise Panel, 17th Oct - 2nd Nov 2011 & 6th - 8th Aug 2012" (PDF). Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
  20. "ASA rulings on "live blood"". Retrieved 7 July 2013.
  21. "Therapies: Live Blood Analysis". 2013-07-03. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
  22. Harley Street practitioner claimed he could cure cancer and HIV with lifestyle changes and herbs, court hears, Daily Telegraph, Dec 11 2013
  23. Eastern Daily Press, 20 March 2014