0:00:04 > 0:00:07Imagine if the food you choose could clean your body
0:00:07 > 0:00:10and make you feel well.
0:00:10 > 0:00:13Imagine if you could become not just healthy, but healthier,
0:00:13 > 0:00:16by eating fresh, natural ingredients.
0:00:16 > 0:00:20This is the promise of the growing clean eating movement.
0:00:21 > 0:00:25We all know it's good to eat healthily.
0:00:25 > 0:00:29But clean is a totally new approach to food, driven by social media.
0:00:29 > 0:00:31- Hello, sir. - I'm looking for some bones.
0:00:31 > 0:00:33Beef bones, sir? No problem.
0:00:33 > 0:00:35Are they synthetic hormone free?
0:00:35 > 0:00:37- Hormone free.- Fantastic.
0:00:37 > 0:00:39There we go.
0:00:42 > 0:00:44I'm Dr Giles Yo.
0:00:44 > 0:00:46As a scientist, I discovered that genetic changes
0:00:46 > 0:00:50can increase appetite and obesity.
0:00:50 > 0:00:52I'm going to investigate the messages
0:00:52 > 0:00:55that the new gurus of clean are selling us.
0:00:55 > 0:00:58We're starting with Hemsley and Hemsley.
0:00:59 > 0:01:02Fish curry tonight, it sounds great.
0:01:02 > 0:01:06Millions of us are embracing this new generation of cooks.
0:01:06 > 0:01:10This is from Honestly Healthy.
0:01:10 > 0:01:14Clean, and diets like gluten free are the latest fads,
0:01:14 > 0:01:17and they're big business.
0:01:17 > 0:01:22What do you need after a run? Almond butter quinoa.
0:01:22 > 0:01:24From Deliciously Ella.
0:01:28 > 0:01:31Once, diets like Atkins were all about losing weight.
0:01:31 > 0:01:35Now, clean's pitch is that food can improve your health.
0:01:35 > 0:01:37But does it actually work?
0:01:37 > 0:01:41I'll reveal the ideas and the people who are influencing
0:01:41 > 0:01:43the gurus of clean.
0:01:43 > 0:01:48Hello, guys. So, I'm off on a week-long trip stateside.
0:01:48 > 0:01:52I find all is not always what it appears to be.
0:01:54 > 0:01:56I'll challenge one of the key figures
0:01:56 > 0:01:59fuelling the gluten-free fad.
0:01:59 > 0:02:04Are you saying that the consumption of grains are harming all of us
0:02:04 > 0:02:06- to some degree? - Yes, without exception.
0:02:06 > 0:02:08- Without exception? - Without exception.
0:02:08 > 0:02:11I'll track down the pioneer of alkaline eating
0:02:11 > 0:02:13who has made millions by
0:02:13 > 0:02:18claiming vegetables can keep us well, and even reverse cancer.
0:02:18 > 0:02:23All sickness and disease can be prevented
0:02:23 > 0:02:29by managing the delicate pH balance of the fluids of the body.
0:02:30 > 0:02:36My investigation sets clean against science, promise against proof.
0:02:36 > 0:02:38Ultimately, what I really want to know is,
0:02:38 > 0:02:41when it comes to clean food...
0:02:41 > 0:02:44can we really eat ourselves well?
0:02:54 > 0:02:58To find out how the clean movement has become so popular,
0:02:58 > 0:03:00I'm going to cook for someone who has become
0:03:00 > 0:03:03one of its most influential figures.
0:03:04 > 0:03:07Ella Mills is Deliciously Ella.
0:03:07 > 0:03:10She has nearly a million followers on Instagram
0:03:10 > 0:03:14and her debut cookbook was the fastest-selling ever in the UK.
0:03:14 > 0:03:17- Hello.- Oh, hi! Ella. - Nice to meet you.
0:03:17 > 0:03:21I've been nervous. I've been nervous because I'm going to cook for you.
0:03:21 > 0:03:23OK. No, it's going to be amazing.
0:03:23 > 0:03:26And I normally cook for carnivores, it's a terrible thing to say.
0:03:26 > 0:03:29- OK. Don't worry. - Obviously, I'm cooking for you,
0:03:29 > 0:03:34and so I'm going down the route of your philosophy, using plants.
0:03:34 > 0:03:38'I'm going to cook Ella's spiced sweet potato stew.'
0:03:38 > 0:03:41- It's nice and easy. - You have to forgive me first.
0:03:41 > 0:03:43No, I can't wait to see it.
0:03:43 > 0:03:44Before you actually...
0:03:44 > 0:03:47'Like all her food, it is vegan.'
0:03:47 > 0:03:51Have you always been this veggie person?
0:03:51 > 0:03:53- Have your always been a plant lover? - No, God... Oh, my God, no.
0:03:53 > 0:03:55I was actually the worst...
0:03:55 > 0:03:59I was the least vegetarian person you'd have ever met in your life
0:03:59 > 0:04:00ten years ago. Hated vegetables.
0:04:00 > 0:04:04- Hated fruit.- No sweet potatoes? - Not even a sweet potato.
0:04:05 > 0:04:09Ella decided to change her diet when she developed a rare condition
0:04:09 > 0:04:13called postural tachycardia syndrome.
0:04:14 > 0:04:16I had the kind of classic issue of POT,
0:04:16 > 0:04:19which is you can't control your heart rate properly
0:04:19 > 0:04:21and then your blood pressure drops,
0:04:21 > 0:04:23and my digestive system wasn't working,
0:04:23 > 0:04:26and then I had problems with my immune system,
0:04:26 > 0:04:28and infections and chronic fatigue.
0:04:28 > 0:04:33So I spent about six months or so in bed just taking all these drugs
0:04:33 > 0:04:37and they just didn't have enough of an effect.
0:04:37 > 0:04:41'As the medical options ran out, Ella did what many of us would.'
0:04:42 > 0:04:45Obviously, went to Google, because that's what you do these days.
0:04:45 > 0:04:47- Professor Google.- Professor Google.
0:04:47 > 0:04:50Which obviously can be a dangerous game,
0:04:50 > 0:04:53but I started researching alternative things I could look at,
0:04:53 > 0:04:58and I came across lots of stories of people who had used a change in diet
0:04:58 > 0:05:01and lifestyle to help manage all kinds of conditions,
0:05:01 > 0:05:04which, to be honest, I was incredibly sceptical of.
0:05:04 > 0:05:07It seemed quite bizarre to me that you could...
0:05:07 > 0:05:10that that could be an effective thing.
0:05:10 > 0:05:12But at this point, kind of, you know,
0:05:12 > 0:05:14anything is worth a try, really.
0:05:14 > 0:05:18'Overnight, Ella gave up meat, dairy, refined sugar,
0:05:18 > 0:05:21'gluten and processed foods.
0:05:21 > 0:05:26'Her story of how she changed her diet to change her health has proved
0:05:26 > 0:05:28'hugely influential.'
0:05:30 > 0:05:32It was quite cathartic for me the first time I shared it,
0:05:32 > 0:05:35but it was also amazing, the number of people who would get in touch and
0:05:35 > 0:05:37say, you know, that they could relate to it
0:05:37 > 0:05:39for some reason or another.
0:05:39 > 0:05:42I think that was also another reason to keep talking about it,
0:05:42 > 0:05:44cos it made sense of what I was doing.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49Ella has become one of THE faces of clean eating.
0:05:49 > 0:05:53The movement grows by sharing images of perfect-looking food
0:05:53 > 0:05:56on social media sites like Instagram.
0:05:58 > 0:06:02Type hashtag cleaneating into Instagram...
0:06:02 > 0:06:04and you get more than 26 million posts.
0:06:04 > 0:06:09I often post images of food on social media,
0:06:09 > 0:06:13- particularly Instagram. - Do I post images of food?
0:06:13 > 0:06:16Yes, I try to do that at least once a day.
0:06:16 > 0:06:18Sometimes twice.
0:06:18 > 0:06:22The NHS recommends a balanced diet to stay healthy and cut the risk of
0:06:22 > 0:06:24heart disease and other conditions.
0:06:24 > 0:06:28But more and more of us are inspired by the clean gurus' message -
0:06:28 > 0:06:30eating their way will make us well.
0:06:30 > 0:06:34My favourite recipe is probably something called zoat,
0:06:34 > 0:06:36and you're going think I'm crazy,
0:06:36 > 0:06:38but it's courgettes grated into oats.
0:06:38 > 0:06:42Quinoa porridge, and I'll put it with coconut milk, add flaxseed
0:06:42 > 0:06:46for fibre, turmeric for, you know, anti-cancerous properties.
0:06:48 > 0:06:49I really need to be a part of this,
0:06:49 > 0:06:52so I'm going to set up my own Instagram account
0:06:52 > 0:06:54so that I can document
0:06:54 > 0:06:57my investigation of the clean phenomenon.
0:06:57 > 0:06:59All right, here we go.
0:07:04 > 0:07:08To investigate clean's promise that we can eat ourselves well,
0:07:08 > 0:07:10I need my own forensic space.
0:07:11 > 0:07:15Individual clean recipes are no doubt healthy,
0:07:15 > 0:07:19but I'm focusing on the overall approaches to food these new gurus
0:07:19 > 0:07:23are promoting, and how they prove they work.
0:07:24 > 0:07:29Alongside Ella we have the Hemsley sisters, Jasmine and Melissa,
0:07:29 > 0:07:32and Natasha Corrett of Honestly Healthy.
0:07:32 > 0:07:36All of them have claimed that by changing their diet
0:07:36 > 0:07:39they have improved their health - and what does this actually mean?
0:07:39 > 0:07:40Science, after all,
0:07:40 > 0:07:43is about telling the difference between anecdote and evidence,
0:07:43 > 0:07:47and something that works for one person doesn't necessarily work
0:07:47 > 0:07:49for very many people.
0:07:50 > 0:07:53But clean isn't built on science.
0:07:53 > 0:07:55It is bringing into our kitchens
0:07:55 > 0:07:57approaches to food that are influenced by ideas
0:07:57 > 0:08:02that range from the unproven to the peculiar, to the sometimes,
0:08:02 > 0:08:05when taken to the extremes, harmful.
0:08:08 > 0:08:12The Hemsley sisters have published two books and had a TV series.
0:08:13 > 0:08:17They promote the health benefits of traditional foods,
0:08:17 > 0:08:19and make some colourful claims.
0:08:19 > 0:08:21I'm about to make bone broth.
0:08:21 > 0:08:24The Hemsleys call this the ultimate superfood,
0:08:24 > 0:08:28one of the oldest home-made foods, apparently.
0:08:28 > 0:08:33They say it is an elixir that can cure ailments and nurture the sick.
0:08:35 > 0:08:37You might call it stock.
0:08:40 > 0:08:44But the Hemsley sisters' approach isn't all about ancient foods.
0:08:44 > 0:08:50In fact, they're also helping fuel the biggest food fad of all.
0:08:54 > 0:08:56Across the Western world,
0:08:56 > 0:09:00more and more people are cutting out one foodstuff we've eaten every day
0:09:00 > 0:09:02for millennia -
0:09:02 > 0:09:03gluten.
0:09:09 > 0:09:11What kind of bread are we going to be making?
0:09:11 > 0:09:14We're making gluten-free olive oil focaccia.
0:09:14 > 0:09:17Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley and rye.
0:09:17 > 0:09:19Gluten is just what it says it is.
0:09:19 > 0:09:21It's glue, it glues things together.
0:09:21 > 0:09:23It's a binding agent.
0:09:24 > 0:09:27'Gluten-free bakeries like this were once rare.'
0:09:29 > 0:09:31Most of our customers are coeliacs
0:09:31 > 0:09:34and what happens is, when coeliacs ingest gluten
0:09:34 > 0:09:38they tend to get an autoimmune effect.
0:09:40 > 0:09:44The immune system of people with coeliac disease mistakes gluten for
0:09:44 > 0:09:47a threat and attacks it, damaging the intestine.
0:09:50 > 0:09:54The condition affects around 1% of the global population.
0:09:54 > 0:09:59The number of us going gluten free is far higher.
0:09:59 > 0:10:01- So, how does it feel?- Oh, dude.
0:10:01 > 0:10:03That's awesome.
0:10:03 > 0:10:05That is fantastic.
0:10:07 > 0:10:10This is gluten... This is gluten free, guys.
0:10:11 > 0:10:16The clean gurus are united in promoting gluten-free food.
0:10:16 > 0:10:21But the Hemsley sisters take this restriction one step further.
0:10:23 > 0:10:26Now, the Hemsleys are not just gluten free,
0:10:26 > 0:10:28they are also grain free, and they seem to have arrived
0:10:28 > 0:10:32at this position via this chap over here, William, or Bill, Davis,
0:10:32 > 0:10:35who wrote a book called Wheat Belly.
0:10:35 > 0:10:38They say he describes how eliminating grains from your diet
0:10:38 > 0:10:40can have an incredibly positive effect
0:10:40 > 0:10:43on your overall health and wellbeing.
0:10:45 > 0:10:48So who is Dr Davis?
0:10:48 > 0:10:51And how objective is he in presenting the evidence?
0:10:51 > 0:10:53Time to find out.
0:10:59 > 0:11:02Wheat country, Ohio.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05Before the harvest, it looked like this.
0:11:07 > 0:11:11Today, it is a fitting place to meet an anti-wheat evangelist.
0:11:11 > 0:11:14Science is complex, it's full of grey areas.
0:11:14 > 0:11:18There are always caveats to how things work.
0:11:18 > 0:11:21It is very, very seldom black or white.
0:11:21 > 0:11:22What I want to know is,
0:11:22 > 0:11:25is whether or not Bill Davis is reflecting the true complexity
0:11:25 > 0:11:26of the science of gluten,
0:11:26 > 0:11:31or is he exploiting that grey area and fuelling unfounded fears?
0:11:32 > 0:11:36Intriguingly, Bill Davis was a cardiologist
0:11:36 > 0:11:38for more than two decades.
0:11:38 > 0:11:40Bill? Hi, I'm Giles.
0:11:40 > 0:11:43- Glad to meet you. - Pleased to meet you.
0:11:43 > 0:11:45'Then he began his war on grains.'
0:11:45 > 0:11:48I didn't set out to do this. In fact, years ago,
0:11:48 > 0:11:50I used to advocate what the American Heart Association
0:11:50 > 0:11:52and all other agencies advocate,
0:11:52 > 0:11:56which is cut saturated fats and eat plenty of healthy wholegrains.
0:11:56 > 0:11:59My focus was, of course, heart disease.
0:11:59 > 0:12:03I saw too many people succumbing to the "need" for bypass surgery,
0:12:03 > 0:12:07stents, dying, sudden cardiac death, etc, heart attacks.
0:12:07 > 0:12:10I wanted better tools to help them put a stop to this.
0:12:12 > 0:12:15'Bill focused on how to cut his patients' high levels
0:12:15 > 0:12:20'of LDL-cholesterol, which has been linked to heart disease.'
0:12:20 > 0:12:23So I asked my many patients to remove grains and sugars.
0:12:23 > 0:12:25Let's see what happens.
0:12:25 > 0:12:27Spectacular things happened.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30Their LDL, 100% reduction in most instances.
0:12:30 > 0:12:32Or at least dramatic reduction.
0:12:32 > 0:12:36Blood sugars dropped. Many diabetics became non-diabetics.
0:12:36 > 0:12:38Then people came back and said, "I don't get it.
0:12:38 > 0:12:41"Why did I lose 43lb? I didn't try."
0:12:41 > 0:12:45In other words, I saw this incredible transformation in health.
0:12:45 > 0:12:48- Hello.- Hello.- Are you ready to order or do you need a few minutes?
0:12:48 > 0:12:49- I'm OK.- You're OK?
0:12:49 > 0:12:51- Really?- I'll just have...
0:12:51 > 0:12:54- How about a hamburger without no bun?- Hamburger with no bun?
0:12:54 > 0:12:58A hamburger without a bun?
0:12:58 > 0:12:59OK.
0:12:59 > 0:13:02I'll... Hamburger without a bun?
0:13:02 > 0:13:05'Bill follows a grain-free, low-carb diet
0:13:05 > 0:13:08'which he says has improved his health.'
0:13:08 > 0:13:12- I'm going to have French toast and bacon.- Bacon, OK.
0:13:12 > 0:13:14Why do people not put two and two together
0:13:14 > 0:13:16like you put two and two together?
0:13:16 > 0:13:17I will give you the very cynical view.
0:13:17 > 0:13:20- Give me the cynical view. - It doesn't make money.
0:13:20 > 0:13:21- Thank you, ma'am.- You're welcome.
0:13:21 > 0:13:24You want ketchup and vinegar for your French fries?
0:13:24 > 0:13:26That's fine, thank you.
0:13:26 > 0:13:29- More coffee?- No, we're fine for now.
0:13:30 > 0:13:33What is the difference between me eating a slice of French toast
0:13:33 > 0:13:38made of flour - the worst type, white flour - versus you having
0:13:38 > 0:13:40a fry, a piece of potato?
0:13:40 > 0:13:43Let me make clear. First, I'm not going to eat the fries,
0:13:43 > 0:13:46because I'm also limiting my carbohydrate exposure,
0:13:46 > 0:13:48- but let's put that aside.- OK.
0:13:48 > 0:13:52Let's accept there are starches, carbohydrates on both plates.
0:13:52 > 0:13:54- What is the difference?- Yes.
0:13:54 > 0:13:57Well, there is a blood sugar rise, but that is shared by both.
0:13:57 > 0:13:59It's the proteins, Giles.
0:14:00 > 0:14:04'I'm wondering where Bill is going with this worry about the proteins
0:14:04 > 0:14:06'in wheat.'
0:14:06 > 0:14:09In the broad perspective of human time on Earth, humans have
0:14:09 > 0:14:12consumed grains, the seeds of grasses,
0:14:12 > 0:14:16for less than one half of 1% of our time on Earth.
0:14:16 > 0:14:20What happened to humans when we first turned to seeds of grasses?
0:14:20 > 0:14:22There was an explosion in tooth decay.
0:14:22 > 0:14:26Iron deficiency, more arthritis and other bone diseases.
0:14:26 > 0:14:31In other words, grains were not really fit for human consumption.
0:14:31 > 0:14:37Are you saying that the consumption of grains are harming all of us
0:14:37 > 0:14:40- to some degree? - Yes, without exception.
0:14:40 > 0:14:42- Without exception? - Without exception.
0:14:42 > 0:14:45But we often don't recognise the diseases of grains
0:14:45 > 0:14:46as diseases of grains.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49But when you see the full list of diseases that have been associated
0:14:49 > 0:14:52with grains, you start to realise we're talking about
0:14:52 > 0:14:55a huge portion of the landscape of human illness.
0:14:55 > 0:14:57Is it not quite extreme to say this?
0:14:57 > 0:14:59I mean, I don't think, as far as I understand,
0:14:59 > 0:15:02this is the prevailing view in the scientific community.
0:15:02 > 0:15:05So you're right. This is a kind of extreme view.
0:15:05 > 0:15:07You know, I didn't appreciate the wonderful effects
0:15:07 > 0:15:10that develop until I did this.
0:15:12 > 0:15:15'Bill's claim that eating grains is harming all of us
0:15:15 > 0:15:18'is not supported by any scientific study.'
0:15:20 > 0:15:25Hello, guys. I'm here with Bill Davis, author of Wheat Belly.
0:15:26 > 0:15:28At a wheat farm.
0:15:28 > 0:15:31'To build his case against grains,
0:15:31 > 0:15:35'Bill pieces together evidence from different dietary studies.'
0:15:35 > 0:15:38I think there was wheat here at some point, earlier in the year.
0:15:38 > 0:15:42I'm looking for the wheat, where is the wheat?
0:15:42 > 0:15:46'One crucial focus for Bill is the rise in coeliac disease and other
0:15:46 > 0:15:49'autoimmune conditions in the Western world,
0:15:49 > 0:15:52'something he blames largely on wheat.'
0:15:52 > 0:15:54People talk about gluten,
0:15:54 > 0:15:58but the real culprit in a lot of problems is the gliadin protein.
0:15:58 > 0:16:00'Gliadin is an element in gluten.'
0:16:00 > 0:16:04But what is the problem with gliadin, specifically?
0:16:04 > 0:16:07The biggest problems, Giles, are, one,
0:16:07 > 0:16:11it triggers the first step in generating autoimmune diseases,
0:16:11 > 0:16:14so we know that with confidence. The gliadin protein initiates...
0:16:14 > 0:16:16I challenge you that we know this with confidence
0:16:16 > 0:16:18because I don't know this.
0:16:18 > 0:16:20My wife is an autoimmune biologist, and I don't know this.
0:16:20 > 0:16:23I don't know that with confidence, that this is the situation.
0:16:23 > 0:16:25So, your wife would likely be
0:16:25 > 0:16:27familiar with the data from Dr Fasano's lab,
0:16:27 > 0:16:30that showed, in exhaustive, very thorough studies,
0:16:30 > 0:16:31that the gliadin protein initiates
0:16:31 > 0:16:34the steps that create intestinal per....
0:16:34 > 0:16:36Intestinal permeability is a very dangerous process
0:16:36 > 0:16:38because it allows foreign substances
0:16:38 > 0:16:42access into your body, and that sets the stage.
0:16:43 > 0:16:47Bill is referring to the work of Dr Alessio Fasano,
0:16:47 > 0:16:51one of the world's leading researchers of coeliac disease.
0:16:51 > 0:16:53For more than 20 years,
0:16:53 > 0:16:56he has been investigating how gluten enters the body
0:16:56 > 0:16:58and affects our health.
0:16:59 > 0:17:01There is no such thing in science as
0:17:01 > 0:17:03a straightforward question because
0:17:03 > 0:17:07you have a question, you have an answer,
0:17:07 > 0:17:09that opens another ten questions.
0:17:09 > 0:17:14The big question for Dr Fasano is, who is harmed by consuming gluten?
0:17:14 > 0:17:17It seems to be such a no-brainer question, but it's not.
0:17:17 > 0:17:21You know, it involves evolutionary biology,
0:17:21 > 0:17:24involves biochemistry,
0:17:24 > 0:17:26structural biology, genetics.
0:17:26 > 0:17:29So, the question by itself is trivial.
0:17:29 > 0:17:32The answer is much more complex than you can imagine.
0:17:35 > 0:17:39Dr Fasano has shown the gut wall is one crucial element governing
0:17:39 > 0:17:41our response to gluten.
0:17:41 > 0:17:45It separates the external world from our immune system.
0:17:47 > 0:17:50But in coeliac disease and many other autoimmune conditions,
0:17:50 > 0:17:52this barrier is faulty.
0:17:52 > 0:17:55These two worlds, they are compartmentalised.
0:17:55 > 0:17:58They need to have the chance to interact physically with each other
0:17:58 > 0:18:01so this barrier function needs to be gone.
0:18:02 > 0:18:06It turns out Bill is right. In people prone to it,
0:18:06 > 0:18:10gluten can breach the gut wall by opening a door between cells.
0:18:10 > 0:18:13All right, that was easy.
0:18:13 > 0:18:17What we learn is that some of these undigested pieces of gluten can
0:18:17 > 0:18:20communicate with the cells and say, please, make the intestine leakier.
0:18:20 > 0:18:23And in doing that, these bridges,
0:18:23 > 0:18:27they come down and then stuff, including gluten, comes in.
0:18:27 > 0:18:31So it's like gluten creates a shortcut for itself to come in.
0:18:33 > 0:18:38Bill takes Dr Fasano's evidence and goes one unproven step further.
0:18:38 > 0:18:40Bill, look.
0:18:41 > 0:18:44Grain still here. This is it.
0:18:44 > 0:18:45That's the real thing.
0:18:45 > 0:18:47This is what we've been talking about.
0:18:47 > 0:18:49No question about it.
0:18:49 > 0:18:51What is in here that is bad for you?
0:18:51 > 0:18:54- The entire thing.- The entire thing!
0:18:56 > 0:18:59Bill believes the way gluten can make the gut leaky
0:18:59 > 0:19:03is crucial evidence grains can be bad for all of us.
0:19:04 > 0:19:06We already have a smoking gun,
0:19:06 > 0:19:11connecting grains to auto... at least some autoimmune diseases.
0:19:11 > 0:19:12So what Dr Fasano and his team
0:19:12 > 0:19:15have demonstrated is that the gliadin protein of wheat
0:19:15 > 0:19:17and related proteins of other grains,
0:19:17 > 0:19:19this class of prolamin proteins,
0:19:19 > 0:19:23can initiate the process that allows foreign substances
0:19:23 > 0:19:26entry into your body. So some of those proteins,
0:19:26 > 0:19:30when they gain entry into your body, will fool your body's immune system.
0:19:30 > 0:19:32It's a foreign protein,
0:19:32 > 0:19:35it initiates an immune attack, but it resembles some of the proteins of
0:19:35 > 0:19:38your own body, and the body can attack its own organs.
0:19:38 > 0:19:43Dr Fasano, who Bill credits with discovering this evidence,
0:19:43 > 0:19:45does not agree.
0:19:45 > 0:19:49You know, I respect and like some of the aspects of Dr Davis,
0:19:49 > 0:19:52it is not that I am an enemy, or whatever,
0:19:52 > 0:19:56so of course I will be ecstatic if he is right, but, honestly,
0:19:56 > 0:19:58I don't think that it is the case.
0:19:58 > 0:20:02These mice show that gluten on its own is not enough
0:20:02 > 0:20:05to cause people problems.
0:20:05 > 0:20:07The animals on the right
0:20:07 > 0:20:10have been genetically modified to produce zonulin,
0:20:10 > 0:20:14the chemical released by gluten that controls the leakiness of the gut.
0:20:14 > 0:20:16These are normal mice.
0:20:16 > 0:20:20They naturally do not make this hormone, and they live happy.
0:20:20 > 0:20:22You see them, they are running around,
0:20:22 > 0:20:25and they eat chow that has gluten in it,
0:20:25 > 0:20:26no problem whatsoever.
0:20:26 > 0:20:29These, on the other hand, have been genetically engineered
0:20:29 > 0:20:32to make not one but two copies of the zonulin gene,
0:20:32 > 0:20:36and they eat gluten, but they look as happy as these other guys.
0:20:36 > 0:20:41So, meaning that eating gluten and releasing zonulin by themselves
0:20:41 > 0:20:44would not be sufficient to create the problem.
0:20:44 > 0:20:48Animal studies can't always be counted on,
0:20:48 > 0:20:53but this unpublished work supports Dr Fasano's other research.
0:20:53 > 0:20:56He has found gluten is only harmful
0:20:56 > 0:20:59if you already have four other problems -
0:20:59 > 0:21:02a genetic predisposition,
0:21:02 > 0:21:05a leaky gut, a faulty immune system,
0:21:05 > 0:21:08and imbalanced gut microbes.
0:21:08 > 0:21:11Now, if I put these animals under stress,
0:21:11 > 0:21:15i.e., in a condition to create chronic inflammation,
0:21:15 > 0:21:19these guys will survive, these will not,
0:21:19 > 0:21:23meaning that while, you know,
0:21:23 > 0:21:27gluten ingestion and leaky gut are necessary
0:21:27 > 0:21:30to create the problem, they are not sufficient.
0:21:30 > 0:21:34Meaning not everybody that eats gluten will be in trouble.
0:21:35 > 0:21:38Science is closing the gaps in our knowledge about
0:21:38 > 0:21:41who is harmed by gluten and who isn't.
0:21:41 > 0:21:45Something Bill had told me earlier that day was troubling.
0:21:45 > 0:21:48The bar to prove, let's say, a new surgery is effective
0:21:48 > 0:21:52should be very high, right? You need very clear-cut data.
0:21:52 > 0:21:55If I were to say, let's eliminate watermelon from your diet.
0:21:55 > 0:21:59- OK.- How confident do you have to be to do that?
0:21:59 > 0:22:02Well, you can just try it. Right? Nothing lost, nothing gained.
0:22:05 > 0:22:07But there is a danger.
0:22:07 > 0:22:09When it comes to drugs,
0:22:09 > 0:22:13an unproven diet might appeal more than a proven treatment.
0:22:13 > 0:22:17What struck me about today was that Bill actually has no proof
0:22:17 > 0:22:20that giving up grains will have all of these health effects,
0:22:20 > 0:22:23on this wide range of different diseases.
0:22:23 > 0:22:27And I just feel, if you're going to give such extreme dietary advice,
0:22:27 > 0:22:30you've got to have proof,
0:22:30 > 0:22:35otherwise all you are doing is you are stoking fear about a food group
0:22:35 > 0:22:38that most people shouldn't have to worry about.
0:22:41 > 0:22:45We asked the Hemsley sisters, who cut out all grains,
0:22:45 > 0:22:48to take part in this film, and they refused.
0:22:48 > 0:22:50In a statement, they told us,
0:22:50 > 0:22:54"Grains are already abundant in the modern diet so our recipes celebrate
0:22:54 > 0:22:56"other ingredients."
0:22:56 > 0:23:00They told us they don't believe in absolutes, and no one way
0:23:00 > 0:23:02of eating suits everyone.
0:23:07 > 0:23:12The next strain of clean I'm going to examine is alkaline eating.
0:23:12 > 0:23:16It means choosing foods that are said to balance out acidity
0:23:16 > 0:23:18in your body with alkalinity.
0:23:18 > 0:23:21That means vegetables, which sounds great.
0:23:21 > 0:23:24But does the alkaline way stand up?
0:23:27 > 0:23:31According to Honestly Healthy, meat, dairy, processed foods,
0:23:31 > 0:23:34form acid in the body and these place a burden on your liver
0:23:34 > 0:23:36and your kidneys.
0:23:36 > 0:23:41Alkaline foods, however, such as broccoli, kale, avocado -
0:23:41 > 0:23:44these are far easier for your system to digest,
0:23:44 > 0:23:47and creating an alkaline state in your body is said to
0:23:47 > 0:23:49help to cure ailments.
0:23:55 > 0:23:58Honestly Healthy is the work of Natasha Corrett.
0:23:58 > 0:24:03Now, Natasha is one of the key promoters of alkaline eating today.
0:24:03 > 0:24:08And she has taken inspiration from this chap over here, Robert Young.
0:24:10 > 0:24:14And in the introduction to her book, Honestly Healthy Cleanse,
0:24:14 > 0:24:19Natasha says that, "He discovered that eating a plant-based diet,
0:24:19 > 0:24:20"free from processed foods,
0:24:20 > 0:24:23"can help to cure terminal diseases in the body.
0:24:23 > 0:24:27"Unfortunately, his work is not recognised by the medical industry,
0:24:27 > 0:24:30"perhaps because giant pharmaceutical organisations
0:24:30 > 0:24:31"wouldn't be able to
0:24:31 > 0:24:34"make any money out of doctors prescribing vegetables."
0:24:38 > 0:24:42Time to meet the godfather of alkaline eating.
0:24:44 > 0:24:49Just outside San Diego, California - Paradise Mountain Road.
0:24:49 > 0:24:53Is it taking me to scientific truth or the vanishing point
0:24:53 > 0:24:56where pseudoscience takes over?
0:24:59 > 0:25:01So how does science arrive at the truth?
0:25:01 > 0:25:03I mean, fundamentally, as scientists,
0:25:03 > 0:25:05we're curious how things work,
0:25:05 > 0:25:07so we test our ideas with experimentation.
0:25:07 > 0:25:10If experiments work, we progress our ideas.
0:25:10 > 0:25:13If they don't, we have to modify them.
0:25:13 > 0:25:16I'm curious how far what I'm going to see today
0:25:16 > 0:25:19either conforms to this or even perverts it.
0:25:21 > 0:25:26Up ahead is Dr Robert Young's pH Miracle Ranch.
0:25:26 > 0:25:28It's quite nice. Palatial.
0:25:28 > 0:25:33It's a millionaire's paradise funded by alkaline eating.
0:25:37 > 0:25:41He has a moat. He has a moat here, guys.
0:25:41 > 0:25:44I don't see any alligators coming to eat me, so let's see if he's here.
0:25:44 > 0:25:46- Robert?- Yes.
0:25:46 > 0:25:47Hello, I'm Giles.
0:25:47 > 0:25:51- Dr Giles.- Dr Giles! Very pleased to meet you.
0:25:51 > 0:25:54- Nice to meet you.- Is this is where miracles happen?
0:25:54 > 0:25:56This is your Miracle Ranch?
0:25:56 > 0:25:59Well, we call it the Rancha Del Sol.
0:25:59 > 0:26:01I really, really appreciate it.
0:26:01 > 0:26:06'I want to know how Robert thinks we can use food to stay well.'
0:26:06 > 0:26:10That's a metaphor for the fishbowl.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13Are you familiar with the fishbowl metaphor?
0:26:13 > 0:26:14Give me the fishbowl metaphor.
0:26:14 > 0:26:18OK, the fishbowl metaphor begs a question, and the question is,
0:26:18 > 0:26:21if the fish is sick, what would you do?
0:26:22 > 0:26:24Treat the fish or change the water?
0:26:24 > 0:26:27I'd change the water, you're right.
0:26:27 > 0:26:28Right.
0:26:28 > 0:26:31'By "change the water",
0:26:31 > 0:26:34'he means eat alkaline food to stop ourselves becoming acidic.'
0:26:34 > 0:26:36Hi, guys.
0:26:36 > 0:26:40'The human body in its perfect state of health is alkaline
0:26:40 > 0:26:42'in its design.'
0:26:42 > 0:26:46'Robert invites me to share in his daily alkaline routine.'
0:26:46 > 0:26:48Here we go.
0:26:48 > 0:26:50My brain needs to prepare.
0:26:50 > 0:26:52I'll join you. Cheers.
0:26:52 > 0:26:53Is this...
0:26:56 > 0:26:59Tastes like green tea - it tastes like cold green tea.
0:26:59 > 0:27:01Well, it's wheatgrass.
0:27:03 > 0:27:07'Robert's developed his alkaline approach outside the academic world.
0:27:07 > 0:27:11'He claims to have sold more than four million books
0:27:11 > 0:27:14'in his pH Miracle series.'
0:27:14 > 0:27:16I think I read somewhere...
0:27:16 > 0:27:19you call yourself a world-renowned microbiologist.
0:27:19 > 0:27:20I don't know that, you know,
0:27:20 > 0:27:22we need to put "world-renowned" in front of it.
0:27:22 > 0:27:24- Microbiologist?- Microbiologist.
0:27:24 > 0:27:27I mean, biology has been my passion.
0:27:27 > 0:27:34I have studied it for years, and the area of haematology.
0:27:34 > 0:27:39Blood has a slightly alkaline pH, and the medical consensus is,
0:27:39 > 0:27:42nothing you eat can change it.
0:27:43 > 0:27:46Robert's theory is certain foods
0:27:46 > 0:27:48cause acid to build up in the body.
0:27:48 > 0:27:51He believes if there's too much acid
0:27:51 > 0:27:56it can't be balanced by the blood, so it ends up in our tissues.
0:27:56 > 0:27:59If we go back to the good book, the Bible,
0:27:59 > 0:28:02like Moses said, for the life of all flesh is the blood,
0:28:02 > 0:28:05or Mohammed in the Koran said,
0:28:05 > 0:28:08don't you understand that you are made out of one drop of blood?
0:28:08 > 0:28:12So the transformation and the pleomorphism of blood
0:28:12 > 0:28:15into other cells got me thinking.
0:28:16 > 0:28:20'Before I can ask Robert what he means by pleomorphism,
0:28:20 > 0:28:21'we're moving on.'
0:28:21 > 0:28:25So we're right now pruning the avocado trees down.
0:28:25 > 0:28:30- Oh, right.- Avocado is what I refer to as God's butter.
0:28:30 > 0:28:32It's possibly the perfect food.
0:28:32 > 0:28:37Robert believes alkaline foods like avocados can prevent
0:28:37 > 0:28:41the over-acidification of our blood and tissues,
0:28:41 > 0:28:42with dramatic results.
0:28:42 > 0:28:48All sickness and disease can be prevented by managing
0:28:48 > 0:28:52the delicate pH balance of the fluids of their body.
0:28:53 > 0:28:58Even modern medicine can't prevent all sickness and disease.
0:28:58 > 0:29:02Robert's claim is rooted in how he thinks disease is caused.
0:29:02 > 0:29:06You mentioned the word... Was it "pleomorphism"?
0:29:06 > 0:29:07What was the word you used?
0:29:07 > 0:29:13Pleomorphism is the study of matter and how it can change its form
0:29:13 > 0:29:17or its function or its expression based upon its environment.
0:29:17 > 0:29:19- OK.- And you know that.
0:29:19 > 0:29:21You know morphism.
0:29:21 > 0:29:24I know morphism, but I don't know pleomorphism.
0:29:24 > 0:29:27OK. Pleomorphism would be many changes.
0:29:27 > 0:29:29OK.
0:29:29 > 0:29:33'In 1994, I took the blood of a type I diabetic using phase contrast...'
0:29:34 > 0:29:39Robert has posted a video online he says shows a red blood cell
0:29:39 > 0:29:41transforming into bacteria.
0:29:41 > 0:29:43'This was the first time I had ever witnessed
0:29:43 > 0:29:47'biological transformation, or pleomorphism.'
0:29:47 > 0:29:52Robert has never published any evidence to substantiate this video.
0:29:52 > 0:29:56And as a trained scientist, I have never come across any either.
0:29:56 > 0:30:03It was by sheer accident that I saw these pleomorphic transformations
0:30:03 > 0:30:07taking place, not in healthy people but in sick people.
0:30:07 > 0:30:11Pleomorphism is a name Robert gives a scientific idea championed by
0:30:11 > 0:30:13a French scientist, Antoine Bechamp,
0:30:13 > 0:30:16in the second half of the 19th century,
0:30:16 > 0:30:19that diseases emerge from changes within the body.
0:30:22 > 0:30:25His scientific adversary was Louis Pasteur,
0:30:25 > 0:30:28who was a proponent of germ theory -
0:30:28 > 0:30:31that disease infects the body from the outside.
0:30:31 > 0:30:34The theory is, whether you accept this or not,
0:30:34 > 0:30:38because I know this is a huge jump, you know, for most people.
0:30:38 > 0:30:41- From my education.- Yes, OK.
0:30:41 > 0:30:45Is that the bacteria is a biological transformation
0:30:45 > 0:30:47of what used to be something else.
0:30:47 > 0:30:48So you don't believe in germs?
0:30:48 > 0:30:50- Yes, I do.- OK.
0:30:50 > 0:30:53But germs are nothing more than the biological transformation
0:30:53 > 0:30:56of animal, human or plant matter.
0:30:56 > 0:30:58They are born out of that.
0:30:58 > 0:31:02So the Pasteurian theory is that germs are unique individuals,
0:31:02 > 0:31:03- like cats and dogs.- Yes.
0:31:03 > 0:31:09The Bechamp theory is a new thought, a new consideration.
0:31:10 > 0:31:16Bechamp's theory was discarded after Pasteur and others proved bacteria
0:31:16 > 0:31:20and viruses cause disease by infecting the body from the outside.
0:31:21 > 0:31:25These discoveries led to modern medicine's use of vaccines
0:31:25 > 0:31:27and drugs to target infection.
0:31:27 > 0:31:32So the idea in Pasteurian theory is if you kill the germ,
0:31:32 > 0:31:36if you kill the virus, then you can cure the disease.
0:31:36 > 0:31:40- Yeah.- In my world, the germ is nothing.
0:31:40 > 0:31:44The germ is just a product of its environment,
0:31:44 > 0:31:48and you don't try to kill the germ, you change the environment.
0:31:48 > 0:31:52Thus, you come to a more contextual, environmental approach
0:31:52 > 0:31:53which is pH sensitive.
0:31:53 > 0:31:57But how do you then explain all of the evidence,
0:31:57 > 0:32:02all of the evidence which supports Pasteur's theory
0:32:02 > 0:32:05and does not support Bechamp's theory?
0:32:05 > 0:32:09Well, I agree that germs do exist,
0:32:09 > 0:32:12but we're talking about peeling the onion back further.
0:32:12 > 0:32:13Where is their origin?
0:32:16 > 0:32:19So what I've heard today at the ranch
0:32:19 > 0:32:23is really quite some wild, I'm going to use the word...
0:32:25 > 0:32:27..wild thoughts from Robert
0:32:27 > 0:32:31which goes against all evidence-based medical dogma.
0:32:31 > 0:32:33And this is a problem.
0:32:34 > 0:32:38Whenever he speaks he's saying that, look, thoughts need to be,
0:32:38 > 0:32:41they're unique thoughts, they still need to be tested.
0:32:41 > 0:32:43So he's not looking at this from a scientific basis.
0:32:43 > 0:32:45Because before you open your mouth and blab,
0:32:45 > 0:32:47you should actually test the evidence.
0:32:48 > 0:32:52It's anti-intellectual, it's anti-fact,
0:32:52 > 0:32:55it's anti-evidence-based and it's a very troubling narrative.
0:32:58 > 0:33:00'Time for an alkaline lunch.
0:33:00 > 0:33:04'I was about to be surprised by the scale of Robert's influence.'
0:33:04 > 0:33:07Do you know the two authors that make up Honestly Healthy?
0:33:07 > 0:33:09Natasha Corrett and Vicki Edgson?
0:33:09 > 0:33:13Yeah, two of my students who have been studying my work for years.
0:33:13 > 0:33:17They actually called me when they were producing this book, you know,
0:33:17 > 0:33:21because they wanted my impressions on it.
0:33:21 > 0:33:24- So you saw a proof of it? - Yeah, I saw a draft.
0:33:24 > 0:33:25I saw a draft of the book.
0:33:25 > 0:33:30So I am happy to help anyone, you know,
0:33:30 > 0:33:33that is interested in helping others feel better,
0:33:33 > 0:33:36look better and live a better life,
0:33:36 > 0:33:39and it comes right down to food.
0:33:40 > 0:33:44'The book's publisher told us they never consulted Robert directly
0:33:44 > 0:33:48'or sent him proofs. The authors would not comment.
0:33:48 > 0:33:51'We wanted to ask Natasha Corrett
0:33:51 > 0:33:53'about her endorsement of Robert Young,
0:33:53 > 0:33:56'and his influence on Honestly Healthy.
0:33:56 > 0:33:59'But she chose not to speak to us.'
0:33:59 > 0:34:01Good morning, guys.
0:34:01 > 0:34:04Checking my Instagram account, my daily morning things.
0:34:04 > 0:34:05I just want to...
0:34:06 > 0:34:10OK, so we've gone from, when I first started this exercise,
0:34:10 > 0:34:11from 20 followers, right,
0:34:11 > 0:34:15to now 268 and this is over a period of less than ten days,
0:34:15 > 0:34:17so I think we're building momentum here.
0:34:17 > 0:34:21But what I think is funny are the people that are following me.
0:34:21 > 0:34:27And I think names in this situation gives the whole picture.
0:34:27 > 0:34:29So here, for example, is
0:34:29 > 0:34:31Hope Vegan Mamma, I love that.
0:34:32 > 0:34:35We have Mental Stew, I don't what that is.
0:34:35 > 0:34:39Oh, here we go, Vicious Vegan Valkyrie.
0:34:42 > 0:34:45'Back with Deliciously Ella.
0:34:45 > 0:34:47'One of more than half a million people
0:34:47 > 0:34:50'who have embraced a vegan diet,
0:34:50 > 0:34:52'though Ella prefers to call it plant-based.'
0:34:52 > 0:34:54For me, plant-based is about "based",
0:34:54 > 0:34:56do you see what I mean?
0:34:56 > 0:34:58And therefore you add on to it, adapt it.
0:34:58 > 0:35:01It's about sharing recipes that start with a base of plants
0:35:01 > 0:35:04rather than saying, you can never do this ever again,
0:35:04 > 0:35:07which is not what I'm about by any shape or form.
0:35:07 > 0:35:11'I want to know where Ella got the idea to give up meat and dairy
0:35:11 > 0:35:12'when she was sick.'
0:35:13 > 0:35:16You were looking on Google, you were trying to change your diet.
0:35:16 > 0:35:18Who would you consider your influences?
0:35:18 > 0:35:20I mean, lots of different people.
0:35:20 > 0:35:23So, the first book that I read was The China Study.
0:35:23 > 0:35:24- OK.- By Colin Campbell.
0:35:24 > 0:35:28- OK.- Which, for me, was really interesting.
0:35:28 > 0:35:30Always liked science, did science at school,
0:35:30 > 0:35:32did biology at A-level, and it was full of science.
0:35:34 > 0:35:36The China Study is billed as
0:35:36 > 0:35:40"the most comprehensive study of nutrition ever conducted."
0:35:40 > 0:35:44It was the first time that I really understood that food could
0:35:44 > 0:35:46potentially have a powerful effect.
0:35:46 > 0:35:49That was not something that I'd really considered before.
0:35:51 > 0:35:54And I think more than anything it was that, you know, vegetables and,
0:35:54 > 0:35:57you know, were really actually...
0:35:57 > 0:36:01could be amazing things and they could have an impact on you
0:36:01 > 0:36:03that I would... never even considered.
0:36:04 > 0:36:06A little bit too hot?
0:36:06 > 0:36:08It's nice. The miso.
0:36:08 > 0:36:11The miso is amazing. That's the thing, it's all about spices.
0:36:11 > 0:36:12You need the spices, you need
0:36:12 > 0:36:14the flavour to make vegetables interesting.
0:36:14 > 0:36:18You're right, it's fantastic with everything, actually.
0:36:20 > 0:36:23The China Study has sold two million copies.
0:36:23 > 0:36:25Over hundreds of pages,
0:36:25 > 0:36:29Professor T Colin Campbell promotes a plant-based diet
0:36:29 > 0:36:31as the best for our health.
0:36:31 > 0:36:36Prof Campbell published The China Study in 2005 and in it,
0:36:36 > 0:36:38he said that plant-based foods were beneficial,
0:36:38 > 0:36:41whereas animal-based foods were not.
0:36:41 > 0:36:43It has proven to be very influential.
0:36:43 > 0:36:45For instance, Bill Clinton, who,
0:36:45 > 0:36:48in an effort to combat his heart disease,
0:36:48 > 0:36:50is said to have changed his diet after reading the book.
0:36:51 > 0:36:54Time to look at how the evidence stacks up.
0:36:56 > 0:37:00I'm in rural Ohio to meet Professor T Colin Campbell,
0:37:00 > 0:37:01author of The China Study.
0:37:08 > 0:37:09It should be fascinating,
0:37:09 > 0:37:13because I am not sure how well advocacy and science sit together.
0:37:18 > 0:37:20Science depends on objectivity.
0:37:20 > 0:37:23It depends on your work being able to be repeated by other people.
0:37:23 > 0:37:26The real danger is in what we call confirmation bias,
0:37:26 > 0:37:28which is when you see what you want to see
0:37:28 > 0:37:30rather than what the data shows you.
0:37:30 > 0:37:33I'm curious how much of Professor Campbell's passion
0:37:33 > 0:37:36for his work has emerged from the data
0:37:36 > 0:37:39or has actually framed his interpretation of the data.
0:37:39 > 0:37:41Hello. Prof Campbell?
0:37:41 > 0:37:43- Yes.- Hello, I'm Giles.
0:37:43 > 0:37:45- Pleased to meet you. - Might I call you Colin?
0:37:45 > 0:37:47- Yes.- Fantastic, Colin.
0:37:48 > 0:37:49'Colin is one of the world's
0:37:49 > 0:37:52'most influential advocates for plant-based eating.'
0:37:52 > 0:37:54We're getting in here, OK.
0:37:55 > 0:37:58Now... I haven't driven this before. I haven't driven this before.
0:37:58 > 0:38:00I'll tell you. I play golf.
0:38:00 > 0:38:01Oh, OK.
0:38:03 > 0:38:07'Colin grew up on a dairy farm in the 1930s.
0:38:07 > 0:38:10'As a young nutritional biochemist, he didn't question eating meat.'
0:38:12 > 0:38:15So, we all were, in nutrition, in a sense,
0:38:15 > 0:38:18believing that protein coming from animal sources
0:38:18 > 0:38:20was the most important of all nutrients, if you will.
0:38:21 > 0:38:24In 1966, Colin was in the Philippines
0:38:24 > 0:38:27helping undernourished children eat more protein.
0:38:27 > 0:38:31I saw something that was at odds with what I thought,
0:38:31 > 0:38:33that was for sure.
0:38:33 > 0:38:36'There were reports of children as young as four with liver cancer.
0:38:36 > 0:38:40'Colin thought there might be a link with diet.'
0:38:40 > 0:38:43The families that were consuming the most proteins seemed to be
0:38:43 > 0:38:45having the children that were getting more cancer.
0:38:48 > 0:38:52In the lab, Colin induced cancer in rats,
0:38:52 > 0:38:56then he gave them differing levels of casein, a protein found in milk.
0:38:56 > 0:39:01It turned out that all the animals getting the 20% protein,
0:39:01 > 0:39:03they all got the cancer.
0:39:03 > 0:39:04The cancer was growing robustly.
0:39:04 > 0:39:07In the animals getting 5%, it was not.
0:39:08 > 0:39:11There was more evidence that seemed persuasive.
0:39:12 > 0:39:16We could turn on and turn off cancer development by just adjusting
0:39:16 > 0:39:18the level of protein. Really quite dramatic.
0:39:18 > 0:39:22So, I was really convinced that this protein thing was really very,
0:39:22 > 0:39:26- very significant.- This is all fine and dandy, but it's rats.
0:39:26 > 0:39:28It has nothing to do with the human being,
0:39:28 > 0:39:31I'm questioning the direct transferability
0:39:31 > 0:39:35between the studies you see in rats to human beings.
0:39:35 > 0:39:38That's the reason that led to the China project itself, quite frankly.
0:39:41 > 0:39:42How about the Instagram world?
0:39:42 > 0:39:45I don't do too much of that, if it's OK with me.
0:39:45 > 0:39:47It's OK with you!
0:39:47 > 0:39:52Fantastic, and I'll make sure I post this when I get back to Wi-Fi world.
0:39:52 > 0:39:55Animal studies can't always be counted on
0:39:55 > 0:39:58but they helped convince Colin
0:39:58 > 0:40:01that eating animal protein was linked to cancer.
0:40:01 > 0:40:05In 1981 he began an ambitious human study.
0:40:05 > 0:40:08The China project was a population-based study looking at
0:40:08 > 0:40:11the incidence of disease in rural China.
0:40:11 > 0:40:13Now, Prof Campbell and his colleagues
0:40:13 > 0:40:15gathered data from 6,500 people
0:40:15 > 0:40:20living in 65 different counties to try and understand the relationship
0:40:20 > 0:40:21between diet and health.
0:40:24 > 0:40:28'Colin looked for links between animal protein and disease.'
0:40:30 > 0:40:35What we learned was that diets that contain more animal proteins,
0:40:35 > 0:40:38- is associated with increase in cancer rates.- OK.
0:40:38 > 0:40:40And heart disease rates.
0:40:40 > 0:40:44'But the data on animal protein was far from clear-cut.'
0:40:44 > 0:40:48So we had to look at it somewhat indirectly and comprehensively,
0:40:48 > 0:40:50and we learned, for example, that blood cholesterol
0:40:50 > 0:40:53- was a pretty good indication.- OK.
0:40:53 > 0:40:56And that in turn was associated with the consumption of more animal
0:40:56 > 0:40:59protein or animal food.
0:40:59 > 0:41:02OK, so you're using cholesterol here as a proxy for protein.
0:41:02 > 0:41:05As a proxy, yes. Largely as a proxy.
0:41:06 > 0:41:11Scientists sometimes use the proxy method when looking for correlations
0:41:11 > 0:41:14in sets of data. But it can be unreliable.
0:41:15 > 0:41:18In order to make the connection between the eating of animal protein
0:41:18 > 0:41:24and disease, Colin relied on data linking increased meat intake, A,
0:41:24 > 0:41:26to increased cholesterol levels, B.
0:41:28 > 0:41:31He then relied on additional data linking increased cholesterol levels
0:41:31 > 0:41:33to increased disease, C.
0:41:35 > 0:41:38The problem is, many other factors in addition to meat intake
0:41:38 > 0:41:41influence cholesterol levels. Such as, for example, genetics.
0:41:41 > 0:41:44So A does not necessarily link to C.
0:41:45 > 0:41:46Therefore, in this situation,
0:41:46 > 0:41:48the proxy method may not be very reliable.
0:41:48 > 0:41:52Are you looking for what you wanted to see rather than what the data
0:41:52 > 0:41:54- actually showed you? - It's a very good point.
0:41:54 > 0:41:56I'm very much aware of confirmation bias.
0:41:56 > 0:42:00- OK.- So when I was looking at that I did the best I could to try to look
0:42:00 > 0:42:03at it objectively, show it to other people,
0:42:03 > 0:42:05in the kind of analysis that we did.
0:42:05 > 0:42:07Standing alone, it wasn't enough.
0:42:07 > 0:42:09I've said this many times.
0:42:09 > 0:42:11The China Study, the China project,
0:42:11 > 0:42:14that data set is not to make broad conclusions.
0:42:14 > 0:42:15It's not strong enough.
0:42:17 > 0:42:21The China project was not strong enough to make broad conclusions
0:42:21 > 0:42:23but when Colin wrote his book he stated
0:42:23 > 0:42:27plant-based foods are beneficial and animal-based foods are not.
0:42:29 > 0:42:35Your work has inspired a lot of people, including people like Ella,
0:42:35 > 0:42:38and, in turn, those people who are then writing cookbooks
0:42:38 > 0:42:41and doing their things, are influencing millions of people.
0:42:41 > 0:42:43- Right, right. - I guess my question is,
0:42:43 > 0:42:46when you make nutritional advice,
0:42:46 > 0:42:49which is what this is, which is
0:42:49 > 0:42:52quite extreme, by asking to remove an entire food group...
0:42:53 > 0:42:58- No, wait, wait. Let me tell you... It has changed a little bit.- OK.
0:42:58 > 0:43:00I never... What I say, this is the goal.
0:43:00 > 0:43:03And the reason I say it is the goal, is not because we have all the science in,
0:43:03 > 0:43:08I just simply say this is the goal because as we proceed in that direction
0:43:08 > 0:43:10I don't see harm occurring.
0:43:10 > 0:43:14So I'm not making my arguments as if I had all of the evidence
0:43:14 > 0:43:16to say this is true for everybody. I'm not saying that.
0:43:16 > 0:43:20I'm simply saying that this idea here
0:43:20 > 0:43:24is far greater in terms of its contribution to human health
0:43:24 > 0:43:26than any other idea I know.
0:43:28 > 0:43:33In the west, many of us are eating more meat than we should.
0:43:33 > 0:43:36Evidence links high levels of red and processed meat consumption
0:43:36 > 0:43:38to bowel cancer.
0:43:38 > 0:43:42But The China Study's message to cut out all animal-based foods
0:43:42 > 0:43:44to be healthier is not proven.
0:43:47 > 0:43:52What do you think about having this idea that is not based on proof?
0:43:52 > 0:43:54Look, you know, I'm not a doctor.
0:43:54 > 0:43:58I'm not a scientist, and I've never ever pretended to be one.
0:43:58 > 0:44:02And I read so many books and watched so many documentaries and they all
0:44:02 > 0:44:05came back to one central thing which is that
0:44:05 > 0:44:07more natural food, less processed food,
0:44:07 > 0:44:09more vegetables, is a powerful thing.
0:44:12 > 0:44:16The other day I posted on my Instagram account a picture of my breakfast,
0:44:16 > 0:44:21which you can see here is a sausage and egg muffin and a cup of tea.
0:44:21 > 0:44:22And I thought, you know,
0:44:22 > 0:44:24I was just trying to pad out my Instagram account.
0:44:24 > 0:44:27Within three days I'd lost 30 followers.
0:44:27 > 0:44:3030 followers! Because I posted a picture of sausages.
0:44:30 > 0:44:32So I think... No more sausages.
0:44:32 > 0:44:34I'm not posting any more sausages.
0:44:34 > 0:44:37I'm keeping to noodles and rice and trying to do clean.
0:44:39 > 0:44:42I can't argue with clean's basic philosophy
0:44:42 > 0:44:45of eating more vegetables and cooking from scratch.
0:44:46 > 0:44:48But the way clean exploits social media
0:44:48 > 0:44:50is changing our relationship with food.
0:44:50 > 0:44:53And that could be far less positive.
0:44:53 > 0:44:57I was sick of seeing images of perfect food.
0:44:58 > 0:45:02I found that I was following wellness websites,
0:45:02 > 0:45:04and following specific bloggers,
0:45:04 > 0:45:08and they were making me feel worse about myself rather than better.
0:45:10 > 0:45:13I want to bring up the darker side of social media with the woman who
0:45:13 > 0:45:16first drove documenting food online.
0:45:17 > 0:45:19- Pretty good, right? - So, can I ask a favour?
0:45:19 > 0:45:21- Yeah.- I know it's cheeky of me,
0:45:21 > 0:45:24can we take a picture of it and post it to Instagram?
0:45:24 > 0:45:28- Can we do that?- No, of course. But let's do it at the table because the wood is going to look better.
0:45:28 > 0:45:31- It's a better surface. - You are professional.
0:45:31 > 0:45:32I'm liking that.
0:45:32 > 0:45:35'Ella owes much of her success to the way she has woven
0:45:35 > 0:45:39'her personal life and her brand together online.'
0:45:41 > 0:45:43So, we'll see who gets the better one.
0:45:45 > 0:45:47In six weeks,
0:45:47 > 0:45:49288 followers.
0:45:49 > 0:45:51- That's good. - That's pretty good, hey?
0:45:51 > 0:45:53- Yeah.- How many followers do you have?- A couple more.
0:45:53 > 0:45:55Couple more? 290?
0:45:55 > 0:45:58No, we're about to get to a million.
0:46:00 > 0:46:05I'm going to argue that a significant proportion of those...
0:46:07 > 0:46:10..even though they are intelligent human beings and should understand
0:46:10 > 0:46:13that this is a brand, actually putting it out,
0:46:13 > 0:46:16think that you are actually living like this.
0:46:16 > 0:46:18But I do. That's the point.
0:46:18 > 0:46:20And that's why it's a snapshot
0:46:20 > 0:46:22rather than a 24-hour a day documentary.
0:46:22 > 0:46:24Because I am. That is what I ate.
0:46:24 > 0:46:25That is my breakfast.
0:46:25 > 0:46:29But, you know, I made it a little prettier because I'm showing a picture of it.
0:46:29 > 0:46:31You know, I think it's there for inspiration -
0:46:31 > 0:46:36I don't think it's there to share my kind of day-to-day, like,
0:46:36 > 0:46:39"My dog peed on the bed, oh, no, I missed the train,
0:46:39 > 0:46:41"I'm going to miss an important meeting".
0:46:41 > 0:46:44'As a scientist working on obesity,
0:46:44 > 0:46:48'I know our relationship with food can be complex.'
0:46:48 > 0:46:52Is there a danger of social media
0:46:52 > 0:46:54driving disordered eating?
0:46:56 > 0:46:59You know what, I think there can be,
0:46:59 > 0:47:03and I think it is up to us to be as responsible as we can be,
0:47:03 > 0:47:08to do everything to allow people not to take it out of context.
0:47:08 > 0:47:10To me that doesn't stop at food.
0:47:10 > 0:47:12That's the whole of social media.
0:47:12 > 0:47:14And I think the whole of social media and as a collective body,
0:47:14 > 0:47:16there is a responsibility.
0:47:17 > 0:47:19This is like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
0:47:19 > 0:47:21I've got to do this properly.
0:47:21 > 0:47:24'My social media journey is ending in a way
0:47:24 > 0:47:26'I could never have imagined.'
0:47:26 > 0:47:28I'm going to make a face.
0:47:34 > 0:47:36But my investigation isn't quite over.
0:47:36 > 0:47:40I'm about to find out what happens when pseudoscience
0:47:40 > 0:47:42is taken to the extreme.
0:47:46 > 0:47:47At his pH Miracle Ranch,
0:47:47 > 0:47:52Dr Robert Young has gone way beyond the approaches advocated
0:47:52 > 0:47:55by any of the gurus, with shocking consequences.
0:47:55 > 0:47:57He's walking on water.
0:47:58 > 0:48:01'Robert has built a multi-million dollar business
0:48:01 > 0:48:06'on a miraculous claim he can use food to prevent all diseases.
0:48:06 > 0:48:09'And even reverse one of the most serious.
0:48:10 > 0:48:14'He uses the internet to sell cancer patients around the world
0:48:14 > 0:48:15'a message of hope.'
0:48:15 > 0:48:18So how many cancer patients have you brought in for therapy?
0:48:18 > 0:48:23Well, first off, we don't
0:48:23 > 0:48:25treat cancer, we help people understand
0:48:25 > 0:48:29and educate them on changing lifestyle and diet.
0:48:30 > 0:48:35Robert's view of cancer is utterly at odds with the medical consensus.
0:48:35 > 0:48:38If someone is in a cancerous condition,
0:48:38 > 0:48:39and I use it as an adjective,
0:48:39 > 0:48:42not as a noun,
0:48:42 > 0:48:45because cancer is a condition of acidity
0:48:45 > 0:48:48expressed by a compromise in the environment.
0:48:49 > 0:48:54'Robert believes the solution is infusing alkaline nutrition
0:48:54 > 0:48:58'because all diseases have the same source.'
0:48:58 > 0:49:02The one sickness and one disease is the over acidification of the blood
0:49:02 > 0:49:05and then tissues due to an inverted way of living, eating and thinking.
0:49:05 > 0:49:06OK.
0:49:06 > 0:49:08'More than 80 cancer patients
0:49:08 > 0:49:12'are known to have been treated here since 2005.'
0:49:12 > 0:49:14This is where someone would actually stay.
0:49:16 > 0:49:17In 2011,
0:49:17 > 0:49:21the Medical Board of California began an undercover investigation of
0:49:21 > 0:49:25Robert's activities at the pH Miracle Ranch.
0:49:36 > 0:49:39Concerns had been raised by a woman treated there.
0:49:41 > 0:49:43As the investigation went on,
0:49:43 > 0:49:47one patient from Australia with pancreatic cancer died.
0:49:48 > 0:49:50Where did she die?
0:49:50 > 0:49:52- She died here.- In this room?
0:49:53 > 0:49:55That's what I understand, yes.
0:49:55 > 0:49:57She died here in this room.
0:49:57 > 0:49:59Yes, that is what I believe, yeah.
0:49:59 > 0:50:00I wasn't here. I was out of town.
0:50:04 > 0:50:07Genia Vanderhaeghen died from congestive heart failure,
0:50:07 > 0:50:09fluid around the heart.
0:50:09 > 0:50:13An invoice documented 33 intravenous drips over 31 days.
0:50:14 > 0:50:18Drips included sodium bicarbonate, said to be an alkalising agent,
0:50:18 > 0:50:22and were charged at 550 each.
0:50:22 > 0:50:26Some were administered by Robert himself.
0:50:26 > 0:50:28Who has given 30 IVs over 30 days?
0:50:29 > 0:50:32Here, again, they do that in the hospital through hydration
0:50:32 > 0:50:34but I'm not the doctor, so I was not giving those IVs.
0:50:34 > 0:50:38- So you're washing your hands of all responsibility.- No, no...
0:50:38 > 0:50:40You own the land, you own the space.
0:50:40 > 0:50:43- This is your facility.- No, it's not that I'm not taking responsibility.
0:50:43 > 0:50:48That's why I am in court and that is why I have this litigation but, no,
0:50:48 > 0:50:50I am taking responsibility.
0:50:50 > 0:50:55You know, but the bottom line is that I ran a facility
0:50:55 > 0:50:59for people to come at their choosing, for a self-care programme.
0:51:01 > 0:51:05What happened to one British woman who came to the pH Miracle Ranch
0:51:05 > 0:51:07reveals how Robert operates.
0:51:07 > 0:51:11Naima Houder-Mohammed was a young captain in the British Army.
0:51:12 > 0:51:15Naima was a fighter. She fought to get through
0:51:15 > 0:51:17selection for Sandhurst, she fought through Sandhurst
0:51:17 > 0:51:20she fought her way through life in everything she dealt with.
0:51:20 > 0:51:23Army skiing, or whatever it might have been.
0:51:23 > 0:51:26And this, for her, was another fight in that long list of victories.
0:51:26 > 0:51:30After Sandhurst, she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
0:51:30 > 0:51:32She was told she had six months to live.
0:51:33 > 0:51:38She refused to accept that this was the end.
0:51:38 > 0:51:41Six months to live and she was going to die.
0:51:41 > 0:51:44'Naima came across Robert on the internet
0:51:44 > 0:51:46'and exchanged e-mails with him.
0:51:48 > 0:51:52'He encouraged her to come to the ranch for "a healing programme"
0:51:52 > 0:51:55'that would take at least 8-12 weeks.'
0:51:55 > 0:51:57In one of your e-mails you describe it as a healing programme.
0:51:57 > 0:52:00- It is.- A healing programme means you're treating them to try and
0:52:00 > 0:52:02- cure them of cancer? - I didn't say that we cure,
0:52:02 > 0:52:05in fact, I have never said that we can cure cancer.
0:52:05 > 0:52:07You don't even say that cancer is a disease.
0:52:08 > 0:52:13In one e-mail, Robert insisted Naima pay for her care up front.
0:52:13 > 0:52:17You kept asking her to send money before she could actually come here.
0:52:17 > 0:52:20Well, the reason why is because the doctors need to be paid
0:52:20 > 0:52:23and the people that are doing the massages need to be paid,
0:52:23 > 0:52:25and the colonics be paid,
0:52:25 > 0:52:28but I gave her the best price to make sure
0:52:28 > 0:52:30that those people were paid.
0:52:31 > 0:52:35Tens of thousands of pounds were raised so Naima could travel to
0:52:35 > 0:52:37the pH Miracle Ranch.
0:52:37 > 0:52:39She was supremely confident that she would,
0:52:39 > 0:52:43with her willpower and this therapy, she would be healed.
0:52:43 > 0:52:46That was the overriding emotion in her, that,
0:52:46 > 0:52:48"Yes, I'm going to get better".
0:52:48 > 0:52:50The problem is that if you are in a terminal state
0:52:50 > 0:52:53and you are in a state where you are desperate for a cure,
0:52:53 > 0:52:56you become very vulnerable.
0:52:56 > 0:52:59- Exactly.- And she'll buy into anything to try and...
0:52:59 > 0:53:05But I wasn't selling her anything and I didn't force her to come here.
0:53:05 > 0:53:06It was her decision.
0:53:06 > 0:53:12Naima's treatment cost more than 77,000.
0:53:13 > 0:53:16After around three months at the pH Miracle Ranch,
0:53:16 > 0:53:19her condition worsened and she was taken to hospital.
0:53:19 > 0:53:24In early October, is when she contacted me from America.
0:53:26 > 0:53:29I'll never forget the words.
0:53:29 > 0:53:31She said to me, "Tell my parents I love them
0:53:31 > 0:53:33"and please look after them."
0:53:35 > 0:53:39I knew then that she had accepted that the treatment hadn't worked
0:53:39 > 0:53:41and that she was going to die.
0:53:43 > 0:53:47Of the 81 cancer patients known to have been treated at the ranch,
0:53:47 > 0:53:52investigators established that the prognosis given to 15 before going there,
0:53:52 > 0:53:54none of them outlived it.
0:53:55 > 0:54:00There have been no clinical trials which have shown that, that...
0:54:00 > 0:54:04that alkaline infusion can do anything, anything at all...
0:54:04 > 0:54:06These things need to be studied.
0:54:06 > 0:54:11Naima was brought back to the UK and died with her family.
0:54:11 > 0:54:13She was 27.
0:54:13 > 0:54:15They feel utterly betrayed.
0:54:16 > 0:54:22It's just horrific that somebody could exploit people for money.
0:54:24 > 0:54:27This is, I think, for them, the most disturbing element.
0:54:27 > 0:54:29That for something as cheap as money,
0:54:29 > 0:54:34he was able to destroy people's lives.
0:54:34 > 0:54:36I'm trying to get out of you, you know,
0:54:36 > 0:54:39what you feel about running this programme
0:54:39 > 0:54:43and whether or not you have any...remorse.
0:54:43 > 0:54:45The term is remorse.
0:54:45 > 0:54:48I don't have remorse because of the thousands if not millions of people
0:54:48 > 0:54:51that have been helped through the programme.
0:54:51 > 0:54:54I can't control what people do or what they don't do.
0:54:54 > 0:54:57Whether they drink their drinks or do the protocol or not.
0:54:57 > 0:54:59It's a personal choice.
0:55:00 > 0:55:04The investigation revealed that Robert is not a medical doctor,
0:55:04 > 0:55:07and his PhD was bought from a diploma mill.
0:55:09 > 0:55:13In court, he was cleared of two charges of grand theft
0:55:13 > 0:55:15and convicted on two of seven charges
0:55:15 > 0:55:18'of practising medicine without a licence.
0:55:19 > 0:55:24'While Robert was imprisoned waiting to be arraigned on the charges,
0:55:24 > 0:55:27'he made a telephone call to one of his employees.'
0:55:51 > 0:55:54'Robert now faces up to three years in prison.'
0:55:54 > 0:55:56You get a custodial sentence,
0:55:56 > 0:55:58what do you think will happen to your movement?
0:55:58 > 0:56:01It will continue because it's real,
0:56:01 > 0:56:04and it's helping millions of people around the world.
0:56:04 > 0:56:07It hasn't slowed down at all.
0:56:07 > 0:56:11And it's not because of me, because
0:56:11 > 0:56:13I'm just one piece of the puzzle.
0:56:13 > 0:56:14Just like that book you showed me,
0:56:14 > 0:56:17there are people that believe in the alkalising approach
0:56:17 > 0:56:19and it's helped millions around the world.
0:56:22 > 0:56:28Not far from the pH Miracle Ranch is a desolate area called Hellhole Canyon,
0:56:28 > 0:56:32a fitting place to reflect on the nightmare of Robert Young's
0:56:32 > 0:56:33alkaline food dream.
0:56:34 > 0:56:39What I learned today gives us the true face, I think, to pseudoscience,
0:56:39 > 0:56:44when it goes beyond dietary advice about vegetables and meat.
0:56:45 > 0:56:49I think when pseudoscience is used to prey,
0:56:49 > 0:56:53to manipulate the most vulnerable, the most ill in society,
0:56:53 > 0:56:55that's when it becomes a true problem.
0:57:03 > 0:57:07The gurus of clean are doing nothing wrong in helping people eat more
0:57:07 > 0:57:13healthily, but with their growing influence comes a responsibility to
0:57:13 > 0:57:15ground their promises in proof.
0:57:16 > 0:57:20Now one of the most influential figures on the clean movement
0:57:20 > 0:57:21says it has lost its way.
0:57:23 > 0:57:26My problem with the word clean is that it has become too complicated,
0:57:26 > 0:57:30become too loaded. Clean now implies dirty, and that's negative.
0:57:30 > 0:57:35And we shouldn't have that. And I think it is sad to me that clean has
0:57:35 > 0:57:36been taken so far out of, I think,
0:57:36 > 0:57:39how it was originally meant to be used by people.
0:57:39 > 0:57:41I haven't used it, but as far as I understood it
0:57:41 > 0:57:43when I first read the term, it meant natural.
0:57:43 > 0:57:44You know, kind of unprocessed.
0:57:44 > 0:57:46And now it doesn't mean that at all.
0:57:46 > 0:57:47It means diet, it means fad.
0:57:49 > 0:57:53The NHS advises us to eat a balanced diet including fruit,
0:57:53 > 0:57:56vegetables, whole grains and dairy, while limiting meat.
0:57:58 > 0:58:00And the simple, if unfashionable truth,
0:58:00 > 0:58:04is science has so far discovered nothing to prove otherwise.
0:58:06 > 0:58:09So, what I've learned is that there are two worlds which coexist.
0:58:09 > 0:58:12The world of science, of evidence, of objectivity,
0:58:12 > 0:58:14and the world of clean,
0:58:14 > 0:58:16driven by belief, where proof is personal
0:58:16 > 0:58:19and food can do what medicine cannot.
0:58:19 > 0:58:21As a scientist, I know which should prevail.