Dear J.,

You sent me an email the other day to protest my blog about Kangen alkalized, ionized water. 

I often get dissenting opinions on what I write. It’s part of the job, and I am always open to changing my mind if someone presents me with compelling evidence showing that my view is faulty. So I read your email looking to see what your thoughts were.

As a ‘holistic cancer practitioner,’ you believe that what I wrote in my post was absolutely wrong. You felt it was necessary to communicate that to me in the following email:

“You should do some Research before you go deterring people from a device that actually has a great positive impact on people’s long-term health. I am a holistic cancer practitioner and have seen miraculous results from using this device. The only way I can Describe your review of this product is that you’ve reviewed a Ferrari and focused on the inadequate size of the rearview mirror and not on the incredible attributes that make it a super car. Educate yourself before providing people that trust you with your opinion the The most powerful attributes of the Water Ionizer is the hydrogen that is freed up to be consumed and neutralizes hydroxyl radicals which are the worst of our known free radicals. Also you are wrong that food doesn’t play a role in our bodies overall pH do some research for the sake of the people that trust and follow you.”

After I read your message, I looked up ‘holistic cancer practitioner,’ and found out that certification can be bought for $1300 and an 8-day online class. I’m not sure how either of those things prepares someone to in any way treat people with cancer.

I then went to your website, and saw that you sell a variety of alternative therapies like live blood cell microscopy, hair analysis, and coffee enemas. You also sell a vast line of supplements like colloidal silver and pine pollen, and, of course, you sell Kangen water ionizers. You’re smart enough to not use the word ‘cure’ on your website, but the implication is clear there, and in the message you sent me. After all, you call yourself an ‘holistic cancer practitioner.’ Your title suggests that you treat people with cancer at your clinic, presumably with the treatments you list on your website.

Hey, I get it. Everyone is entitled to make a living. And everyone is entitled to an opinion.

But here’s a fact: Nobody is entitled to their own science. My problem with you, J, is that you’re faking science to sell something, and that’s unconscionable. 

You are wrong.

You are wrong to sell products by using deception.

You are wrong about basic human physiology. Among the other faulty things you promote, water ionizers (or a normal diet) don’t affect body pH or antioxidant levels. They don’t make water any healthier, and they absolutely don’t prevent diseases.

You are wrong to make the claims you make about the alternative tests and therapies that you sell. These are all unsubstantiated. Nobody needs to put coffee into their rectum. Coffee enemas are often sold to cancer patients with the promise that they detox the body and ‘stimulate the liver,’ helping with bile production. All of this is false, according to the Canadian Society of Intestinal Research. 

You are wrong to say that alkalized, ionized water yields ‘miraculous results’ for cancer patients. In fact, that’s the part of your message that I take issue with the most:

The promise of a miracle, which you’re no doubt selling this water as to prospective clients. I know this, because I’ve watched your YouTube videos, which are a minefield of poorly interpreted science and empty claims.

People with cancer want a miracle. I know this, not only because I’ve worked with cancer patients for the better part of 20 years, but because my own father died of metastatic cholangiocarcinoma in 2017. And in case you were wondering, he was a celebrated doctor who had years of practice in surgical oncology. He knew cancer. He knew physiology. And when he was diagnosed, his physician friends from all over the world sought new, experimental treatments to save his life. 

But you know what? None of them told him that coffee enemas, Kangen water, or supplements were going to cure his cancer. These things weren’t even considered, because actual physicians – which you are not, sir, understand that nobody has ever been cured of cancer by any of them. And while some cancer patients sometimes experience spontaneous remission, alternative therapies probably aren’t the cause. 

But that doesn’t matter to you, does it? With no legitimate formal training in nutrition or medicine, you’ve found an easy way to make money: using deception. And there are so many just like you, doing the same thing. It’s sickening, actually. In 2013, the alternative medicine industry was worth $30 billion. I’m sure it has only grown since then. Not all alternative medicine is bad, but selling false hope to people who are vulnerable? That’s horrible.

People like you are despicable. You spread lies and false hopes like a vile disease in order to satisfy your own agenda and dogmatic beliefs. You line your pocket with money from selling ineffective therapies to vulnerable, desperate people. You’re also dangerous, because you don’t know what you don’t know. It’s called the Dunning-Kruger effect, and when you’re playing with peoples’ health, it can be lethal.

Some of these people will forgo life-saving conventional treatments in favor of your therapies. This will cost a lot of them dearly. In fact, recent research shows that those who make this choice are more likely to die.

But you don’t really believe in research, do you, J? Because if you did, you’d never sell what you’re selling. None of it evidence-based. None of it endorsed by any cancer society in the modern world. That’s not because ‘Big Pharma’ is profiting off conventional treatment, so don’t give me that pathetic excuse. ‘Big Pharma’ wants to cure cancer, too; cancer touches everyone, even Big Pharma workers’ families and even them personally. 

People like you put the responsibility of a ‘cure’ directly on your clients’ shoulders, making it their problem, their fault, if your useless therapies fail, which they inevitably will. They didn’t do it right. They didn’t buy the right treatment. They didn’t eat the right foods. They should have done it earlier. They end up sicker, with less money.

How do you sleep?

Your therapies aren’t endorsed by legitimate organizations because they. are. useless. If they worked, nobody would die of cancer. It’s a simple concept that you seem to miss while you criticize legitimate health professionals like me, who spend a lot of time trying to undo the confusion and anxiety that practitioners like you cause people. You haven’t stumbled onto some secret cure or treatment. It doesn’t exist.

So no, J, I don’t need to do some ‘Research,’ (by the way, capitals go at the beginning of a sentence, not in the middle). What I need – what we all need – is to ignore snake oil salespeople like you who, under the guise of ‘helping,’ are actually hurting people. And yes, I will continue to ‘deter’ them from buying sham products.

Because ‘for the sake of the people who trust and follow’ me, I am educating them against the sort of shit you’re selling. 

And I will never, ever stop until nutrition charlatans like you are defeated.