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Story
March 30, 1954
The Key West Citizen
Key West, Monroe County, Florida
What is this article about?
In Kansas City, Dr. Horace L. Sipple tells the American Chemical Society that food faddists and quacks, modern versions of old-time medicine men, mislead 10 million Americans into spending $500 million yearly on unneeded health products, endangering health via fraudulent diets and scare tactics.
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Medicine Man Just Changed His Gimmick
By Alton L. Blakeslee AP Science Reporter
KANSAS CITY (AP)—The old-time medicine man didn't die—he's still doing business as the food faddist and food quack, a nutrition scientist said here.
Some 10 million Americans pay out $500 millions a year for "health foods," "health aids" and "diet supplements" they don't really need, Dr. Horace L. Sipple, executive secretary of the Nutrition Foundation, New York, told the American Chemical Society.
Worse, he said, "the health of a significant number of these persons is being endangered through following the diet of the faddist."
Dr. Sipple, whose organization supports research to learn facts about nutrition in health and disease, said the usual method of the "food expert" is this:
He carries on a scare campaign, playing on natural fears of ill health and hopes for good health and long life.
He declares everyone suffers from some dietary lack.
He disagrees with established information, condemns the generally recognized and authoritative organizations and institutions.
He promises a quick, easy remedy if people do as he says.
And he always has something to sell—some product or pamphlet.
Fat people now are a main target, Dr. Sipple said.
"The racket of reducing aids and diets is now one of the most active and profitable operations of the nutrition quack."
"All types of food fads have one identifying characteristic—claims unlimited in scope and as fraudulent as any made by the medicine man of yesterday" who hawked cure-alls on street corners.
By Alton L. Blakeslee AP Science Reporter
KANSAS CITY (AP)—The old-time medicine man didn't die—he's still doing business as the food faddist and food quack, a nutrition scientist said here.
Some 10 million Americans pay out $500 millions a year for "health foods," "health aids" and "diet supplements" they don't really need, Dr. Horace L. Sipple, executive secretary of the Nutrition Foundation, New York, told the American Chemical Society.
Worse, he said, "the health of a significant number of these persons is being endangered through following the diet of the faddist."
Dr. Sipple, whose organization supports research to learn facts about nutrition in health and disease, said the usual method of the "food expert" is this:
He carries on a scare campaign, playing on natural fears of ill health and hopes for good health and long life.
He declares everyone suffers from some dietary lack.
He disagrees with established information, condemns the generally recognized and authoritative organizations and institutions.
He promises a quick, easy remedy if people do as he says.
And he always has something to sell—some product or pamphlet.
Fat people now are a main target, Dr. Sipple said.
"The racket of reducing aids and diets is now one of the most active and profitable operations of the nutrition quack."
"All types of food fads have one identifying characteristic—claims unlimited in scope and as fraudulent as any made by the medicine man of yesterday" who hawked cure-alls on street corners.
What sub-type of article is it?
Deception Fraud
What themes does it cover?
Deception
Moral Virtue
What keywords are associated?
Nutrition Quackery
Health Food Fads
Diet Supplements
Food Faddist
Reducing Aids
What entities or persons were involved?
Dr. Horace L. Sipple
Alton L. Blakeslee
Where did it happen?
Kansas City
Story Details
Key Persons
Dr. Horace L. Sipple
Alton L. Blakeslee
Location
Kansas City
Story Details
Dr. Horace L. Sipple warns that modern food faddists and quacks endanger health by selling unnecessary health foods, aids, and supplements through scare tactics, rejecting established nutrition knowledge, and promising quick remedies, targeting fat people with reducing aids.