*Mexikaresistance.com Note: Conspiracy crackpot and vehement racist Alex Jones loves to shill for this guy, going so far as to promote his "youngevity" supplements on his radio show. Please, read this article if you are thinking of taking this lunatic seriously. Don't waste your money on crackpot science and conspiracy theory nonsense!

Joel D. Wallach, M.S., D.V.M. (University of Missouri) and N.D. (National College of Naturopathic Medicine) is a veterinarian and naturopath who claims (in a widely distributed audio tape entitled "Dead Doctors Don't Lie") that all diseases are due to mineral deficiencies, that everyone who dies of natural causes dies because of mineral deficiencies,* and that just about anyone can live more than one hundred years if they take daily supplements of colloidal minerals harvested from pits in Utah.

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 metals. Being colloidal has more to do with the origin, size, and structure of the mineral particles that with their effectiveness. (A colloid is “a substance that consists of particles dispersed throughout another substance which are too small for resolution with an ordinary light microscope but are incapable of passing through a semipermeable membrane.” –Merriam-Webster)

Wallach learned all this from living on a farm, working with Marlin Perkins (of Mutual of Omaha’s “Wild Kingdom” fame), doing necropsies on animals and humans, reading stories in National Geographic magazine, and reading the 1934 novel by James Hilton, The Lost Horizon. He certainly didn’t learn any of it from science texts.

Dr. Wallach makes his claims about minerals despite the fact that in 1993 a research team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, reported the results of a 13-year study on 10,758 Americans which failed to find any mortality benefits from vitamin and mineral supplements. The study found that even though supplement users smoke and drink less than non-users, eat more fruits and vegetables than non-users, and are more affluent than non-users, they didn’t live any longer than non-users. The study also found no benefit from taking vitamin and mineral supplements for smokers, heavy drinkers, or those which chronic diseases. In May 2006, a committee of physicians impaneled by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced that little information exists as to whether people should take supplements. The previous March the NIH noted that research suggests that vitamins and other supplements may do more harm than good, and that antioxidants are of little use.* Further research has found that vitamin supplements can even be deadly.* The simple fact is that there is no compelling scientific evidence that vitamin or mineral supplements effect the health or longevity of most people. Of course, those suffering from a vitamin or mineral deficiency should take supplements, but there is no merit to Wallach’s claim that most or all diseases are due to mineral deficiencies.

The basic appeal of Dr. Wallach is the hope he gives to people who fear or are mistrustful of medical doctors and scientific knowledge. He gives hope to those who want to live for a really long time. He gives hope to those who are diagnosed with diseases for which current medical knowledge has no cure. He gives hope to those who want to avoid getting a terminal disease. And he gives hope to those who want to be healthy but who do not want to diet or exercise. All we have to do is drink a magic elixir of colloidal minerals and we’ll be healthy. You can’t just take your minerals in pill form, he warns us. You must take the colloidal variety in liquid form. Until he had a falling out with T.J. Clark & Co., this elixir had to come from special pits in Utah. After John H. Renner, M.D., President of the National Council Against Health Fraud, exposed the “distortions, bogus science, and outright lies” in Wallach’s tape, T.J. Clark & Co. “severed its business relationship with him.”* Wallach then “revised his ‘scientific’ opinion and quickly moved on to find new partners.”*

FULL ARTICLE: Joel D. Wallach, the mineral doctor – The Skeptic’s Dictionary – Skepdic.com.