Medical misinformation in Malaysiakini: the Live Blood Analysis hocus pocus
posted in - Fraud watch, - Palmdoc |I thought they got it right when Malaysiakini ran an article Blood tests a big scam? but unfortunately quite a fair bit of it was about an “explanation” from an alleged Klang Valley doctor who touted Live Blood Analysis (LBA)’s “usefulness”. Unfortunate for this explanation amounts to pseudo-scientific hocus pocus.
The Malaysikini article contained the alleged doctor’s claims:
“Through LBA the activities of blood cells such as killing bacteria and fungus can be observed clearly,” said Lim, who has been conducting LBA in his center for 10 years.
He added: “To perform LBA, a single drop of blood is collected from a finger-tip for examination when the blood cells and microorganisms are still alive.
“Through LBA doctors are able to assess a patient’s immune, nutritional, circulation and toxicity (liver stress) status after the blood cells have been observed under a microscope.
“It thus gives us early signs of deterioration of our health conditions and provides vital information to formulate a nutritional or metabolic programme.”
The warning flag should be the “nutritional or metabolic programme” that someone is trying to sell you.
Unfortunately the notion that LBA can reliably detect one’s “immune, nutritional, and toxicity” status is extremely contentious to put it mildly. There are far better and more sensitive tests to detect liver function, infections and assays for specific deficiencies where these are indicated.
“Free radical test” as a follow-up to LBA? Please-lah, this is another scam test you see advertised in “natural health” websites and carried out by nutrition quacks.
I just want to quote Wikipedia which summarises it nicely, and at least this time gets it right:
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.” Practitioners include alternative medicine providers such as nutritionists, herbologists, naturopaths, and chiropractors.
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.
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.
Let me repeat the last line in case you didn’t get it in your heads:
Ernst describes live blood analysis as a “fraudulent” means of convincing patients to buy dietary supplements.
LBA if done by a medical doctor is not necessarily better than if done by “nutritionists, herbologists, naturopaths, and chiropractors”. The issue is not who is doing it but the scientific basis (or lack of) behind LBA and the dubious claims practitioners make about it.
I am also surprised that according to Malaysiakini, “The Health Ministry and the Malaysian Medical Association declined to comment on this issue”. Nothing to say on this? What if the alleged doctor is indeed a registered medical practitioner on the MMC register? Isn’t it worse?
Any claim that a particular “test” has a clinical application should be properly evaluated. There should be publications which independently validate the tests and if one tries to search for Live Blood Analysis in the medical literature via Pubmed or Google Scholar, the precious few there are aren’t positive (see References below)
More reading:
Guardian: Intrigued by the spectacular claims made for Live Blood Analysis? Don’t be. It doesn’t work
Quackwatch: Live Blood Cell Analysis: Another Gimmick to Sell You Something
Skeptic Zoners: Live Blood Analysis – hocus pocus?
References:
1. Clinical utility of live blood analysis. J Korean Acad Fam Med. 2001 Jan;22(1):70-77.
There was no difference between patients and controls in observing 3 abnormal finding. CONCLUSION: We conclude that Live blood analysis may have no clinical significance.
2. Complementary and alternative allergy tests : review article. Morris, Adrian 2006
This article reviews the common tests employed by complementary and alternative medical practitioners to diagnose allergies and intolerances. These tests include VEGA, applied kinesiology, hair analysis, auriculocardiac test, stool and live blood analysis, leucocytotoxic tests and IgG ELISA tests. None of these tests has proven to be as accurate as specific IgE measurement in allergy diagnosis and they cannot be recommended.
3. eMJA 2004; 180 (12): 647-648: Good medicine and bad medicine: science to promote the convergence of “alternative” and orthodox medicine
- poses a question which those in charge of ethics should ponder (MMC, MMA Ethical committee):
Should Medical Boards (and indeed similar statutory authorities monitoring the quality of care given by nurses and allied health professionals) be more vigilant in challenging the appropriateness of renewing registration of those whose diagnostic and therapeutic approaches would not be acceptable to their peers (for example, the use of “live blood analysis”, inappropriate chelation therapy,infusing massive doses of intravenous vitamin C, colonic irrigation procedures)?
Related MMR posts:
Live Cell Analysis: High-Tech Hokum
Nutritional Live Blood Analysis
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July 1st, 2009 at 6:27 pm
What is Ministry of Health’s take on this? Is Live Blood Analysis a scam or is it not?
The Malaysiakini reporter (Wong Pheak Zern) should have checked with MOH, not with the people practicing Live Blood Analysis. Really bad journalism.
The “Dr Lim” quoted in the Malaysiakini article is most likely “Dr” Lim XX of the (www.XXX.com.my) health clinic. On the website, you can see “Dr” Lim proudly posing with the con man Robert W. Bradford, the quack “inventor” of the Live Blood Analysis microscope that Lim uses in his health clinic.
The most obvious point is that Lim is a Live Blood Analysis practitioner, so of course he’s going to promote it if you interview him – DUH!! Sometimes these young journalists have no common sense, can’t they even see there is a conflict of interest there? For goodness sake, check with MOH first.
Take note that Robert W. Bradford is not a doctor and was recently arrested in December 2008 by the US Department of Justice and charged with fraud, involving fake cures and his Live Blood Analysis microscope:
LYME DISEASE TREATMENT WAS FRAUD FEDERAL INDICTMENT CHARGES
Trio indicted in fake Lyme disease diagnosis, cure and marketing scheme
Also note that Robert W. Bradford and his companions have a long history of fraud and selling quack remedies, Live Blood Analysis being one of them
Hope that MOH can clarify on LBA before this misinformation is wrongly spread in the Malaysian public. Malaysiakini should do a proper follow-up story that gets the official views of MOH.
As Dr 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. In my view, it is fraudulent; those who promote ineffectual diagnostic methods for financial gain are charlatans, and patients who try them are being ripped off.”
(www.guardian.co.uk/society/2005/jul/12/health.science)
(Moderator: actual name of local doctor removed as it is only speculation as we do not know for sure who the “Dr Lim” interviewed in Malaysiakini was. In any case, the proper channel of complaint should be directed to the MMC at http://mmc.gov.my )
July 1st, 2009 at 7:31 pm
Thank you for your comments and the links on Bradford.
To be fair to Wong the reporter, he did say he tried to reach the MOH and the MMA but they had “no comment”. I have emailed Wong about this blog post but he has not replied to date. No further explanation to date has occured in Malaysiakini.
July 1st, 2009 at 11:11 pm
Blood tests a big scam?
http://nccc.org.my/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=971&Itemid=1
This “Dr Lim” is talking bullshit. When the truth comes out, I hope he gets arrested for cheating his clients.
Simple question for “Dr Lim”: if the practice of LBA is legitimate, why isn’t there a single peer-reviewed research article on the benefits of Live Blood Analysis in one of the medical or scientific journals? Can “Dr Lim” produce a single peer-reviewed journal article that supports LBA?
Also, if LBA is so useful, why aren’t the hospitals around the world already using it to diagnose patients? Since, according to LBA practitioners, LBA can diagnose everything from high cholesterol to cancer!! Yeah, right. If this was real, I’m pretty sure every doctor on the planet would already be using this “miracle diagnostic” LBA tool.
And how come Robert W. Bradford, the inventor of the “Bradford Peripheral Blood Assessment” aka Live Blood Analysis used by “Dr Lim”, was arrested for fraud in December 2008, the charges all related to his Bradford Variable Projection Microscope, the same equipment being used by “Dr Lim”?
Some Notes on the Bradford Variable Projection Microscope:
(www.devicewatch.org/reports/bvpm/overview.shtml)
I apologise for being so harsh on Wong, the Malaysiakini journalist. I’m sure he tried his best. The problem is that now his article might be used by con men like “Dr Lim” to legitimise their LBA scam businesses.
I hope that Malaysiakini and MOH will clarify this issue for the Malaysian public, before more innocent people get cheated.
July 2nd, 2009 at 6:57 am
The MOH is already going down the slippery slope of promoting dubious TCM so I wouldn’t put much hope on clarification by them.
July 2nd, 2009 at 8:02 am
Palmdoc, I totally agree with you. How are TCM practices like palm-reading and face-reading any different from pseudosciences like astrology? I’m really concerned for the general Malaysian public, because they are stuck in an environment of superstition and pseudoscience – how to progress as a nation?
Worse part is that many of my family members and relatives are into this alternative medicine and superstitious nonsense. It’s very hard to talk sense to them, because they put so much faith in these bogus sinsehs, bomohs and feng shui charlatans. They actually prefer to put their lives in the hands of these con men rather than listen to the people who really care about them!! Very frustrating.
One example: a family member of mine got very depressed after a sinseh read his palms and told him that he was prone to sudden death and to avoid this, he had to buy a lot of expensive nutritional supplements from this con man. What kind of rubbish pseudoscience is this, that can even predict the future?? This sinseh so terror can even bend the laws of physics!! But ask him what causes rainbows and he doesn’t know how to answer.
People seem to be losing faith and turning back to all all kinds of cults and pseudoscience these days – really worries me. Thanks for creating this blog, at least there is some light in the darkness.
Only way to rid Malaysian mindset of pseudoscience is through education and awareness of younger generation, need to encourage our kids to pick up science, math and critical thinking skills.
July 2nd, 2009 at 4:01 pm
Speaking of the devil…
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hgjt-Glo5tCzQvU2KBoSIOrE6z6Q
July 4th, 2009 at 3:10 am
Speaking of fraudulent practice, a scammer claiming to be a professor, dato’ and even a Doctor named “Raden Johari Mansor” and his “Pusat Rawatan Keraton”
is practicing scam surgery.
This guy and his “surgeries” needs to be exposed FAST !!
Please refer the following link regarding this scam, I hope palmdoc or any other doctors can suggest on how to deal with this scam:
http://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopic=1070318&hl=
September 17th, 2009 at 5:06 pm
This LBA scam is getting worse in Malaysia. So called Doctors are now publicly promoting LBA in the mainstream newspapers. See:
(www.utusan.com.my/utusan/info.asp?y=2009&dt=0809&pub=Utusan_Malaysia&sec=Kesihatan&pg=kn_02.htm)
(www.myhealth.gov.my/myhealth/eng/template.jsp?showMe=6&storyid=1249891670054)
(www.newlife.com.my/news/NewsFlash/0708_2009/0708_p18.asp)
(www.ozonewellnesscentre.com/hd1.php)
(www.flantechasia.com/index.php?option=com_events&task=view_detail&agid=262&year=2009&month=08&day=09&Itemid=44)
Why is MoH keeping silent over this?? Please warn the public.
September 17th, 2009 at 5:08 pm
There might be an article in the Star on LBA coming out soon. As for the MOH, don’t hold your breath.