There are many laws in the UK that ought to make trading in quackery difficult. In practice though, the laws are often skirted around or side-stepped by careful wording of claims and marketing tactics. Those of us who prefer to pop off a complaint to Trading Standards rather than watch Eastenders find it quite a frustrating business.
One of the main problems in the UK is that there is no joined up approach to dealing with the type of fraud and issues posed by quackery. If a claim is made in print media then you can complain to the Advertising Standards Authority. But if it is on the web then you may have a little more difficulty. Trading Standards operate within local councils are are primarily set up to deal with dodgy builders and fly-by-night tour operators. The web crosses these boundaries and finding a trading address may be hard. If you are worried about multi-national operations then you really have problems. Respectable companies like Google or e-Bay flout anti-quackery laws in the UK with impunity.
Take Bionetics: a company run from Camberley in Surrey. The company sells a hair testing process and claims to be able to diagnose and treat the underlying causes of many illnesses from a few strands of hair. We have seen Patrick Holford, with his Food for the Brain ‘charity’, make similar claims, but Bionetics take it one stage further into deep quack land by claiming they are measuring the ‘energies’ in the hair follicles and can measure ‘toxins’, pathogens, food allergies, and nutritional needs. It is the same scam as Hair Mineral Analysis but ‘new-aged’ up a bit with talk of applied kiniesiology and that old black box of nonsense, radionics.
The American Medical Association condemn similar practices as just a fraudulent way of selling mineral supplements. And so we see Bionetics offering a load of food supplements to correct your imbalances with some magic herbal and homeopathy pills. Customers using the service get doubly fleeced: first, on the test fee (£48-£78); and then on the subsequent course of useless pills you are supposed to take. If you are unfortunate enough to be ‘diagnosed’ with a food intolerance or allergy then you may be advised to take unnecessary and potentially harmful dietary changes.
Last year, someone complained to the ASA about Bionetics and they were found to be making untruthful and unsubstantiated claims,
The ASA noted the positive customer testimonials and the training undertaken by the supervising practitioner. Nevertheless, we considered that, without robust clinical evidence to support them, the claims that Bionetics methods of hair testing could “establish whether or not your body has become intolerant to 123 of the most common problem foods and ingredients” and “report on … accumulations of toxins, problem pathogens and nutritional deficiencies” were not justified. We concluded that testimonials alone were not sufficient to substantiate the efficacy of the testing methods and told Bionetics to consult the CAP Copy Advice team before advertising the test again.
Well, that told them. The action that had to be taken by Bionetics was that ‘the ad should not be repeated in its current form.’ Whilst this is obviously the right finding, the decision makes essentially no difference to what Bionetics can do with their business. They can still advertise in print, but just have to be little more careful with their wording in the future, and of course the ruling makes no difference to what they can claim online. In short, Bionetics are free to carry on trading with a untruthful and unsubstantiated business that sells gobbledygook and nonsense to the public.
If you want an idea of the nonsense that Bionetics are peddling then their ‘science’ page is a good start,
The birth of Newtonian physics heralded a change in conventional medical thinking. Newton’s laws related only to physical matter, and ignored the “energy” factor. Opinion of the day backed Newton’s theories and modern medicine as we know it was born.
Therapies that could not easily be explained by reference to Newton became portrayed as quackery.
…
First, is the now generally held view that the cause of many of today’s most common medical problems can not be explained by conventional Newtonian theories.
So, Newton had nothing to say about energy? That will be news to physicists. And medical therapies that do not use F=ma are quackery? Utter gobbledygook.
And, the best bit,
First fact – scientists have now proved that the basic component of the universe is energy, and not physical matter. Quantum physics has replaced the Newtonian belief that the smallest building blocks of all matter are physical objects – protons and neutrons, and proved that spinning energy vortices are actually at the source. Everything is based on energy.
Second fact – scientists have proved that collections of atoms (molecules) all radiate their own energy patterns or vibrations. Everything, living or not, including our bodies and everything in them, radiates a unique energy pattern.
Third fact – scientists have proved that the body constantly communicates both internally and with the outside world through the interaction of these energy patterns. Experiments have shown that protein receptors on the cell membrane pass signals to the nucleus (DNA) when stimulated by external energy signals.
I wonder who wrote all of that? Its only intention can be to bamboozle since it is just comic book physics, innacurate and unrelated to anything medical whatsoever.
Since trading in nutritional supplements, homeopathy and herbal remedies is legal, the problem with this site revolves around the claims made regarding their diagnostic techniques and their ability to tell you which of these ‘remedies’ you ‘need’. (Answer: none). Most trading standards officers find this whole area totally alien to them. They are much more likely to be clued up on the ins and outs of extended warranty or the return of faulty goods. A ripped off pensioner with a badly tarmaced drive is an obvious injustice. Quackery is a more insidious form of harm and more difficult to pin down.
If someone was to pay me to police the quacks of the world (where are you Big Pharma and World Government when I need you?) I would set up a Minority Report style control room and I would wear a techno-glove to move quackometer screens around my transparent display wall. I would mash up my quackometer scan results with Google Earth and direct black helicopters full of elite troops into the homes of quacks, arrest them and force them to work as orderlies in the laundry rooms of large hospitals for the rest of their natural lives. Mwa ha ha ha.
In the meantime, we must rely on Consumer Direct.
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I couldn’t agree more, I tried complaining to TS about homeopathic remedies in boots that didn’t contain any of the product on the label and just got refered to the MHRA. maybe one day I shall write to my MP but as the recent eaarly day motion shows that might not do much good.
I haven’t read anything so ignorant and utterly blinkered in a long time. You sad fool – open your eyes. People like Bionetics are trying to put right the damage that your pharma giants have caused with their drug-pushing greed. We’re being poisoned every day, through our apparantly superior living. We were given this beautiful planet and we’ve blatantly abused it. And while people like you continue to draw breath, it’s not going to be easy to change. Do yourself a favour and find your truth – you might just find something useful to say…
Amen! Bionetics has helped me so much over the last few years. I would probably be dead without it!
Which bit is ignorant and blinkered? What have I got wrong? Please let me know.
I have had ME for two years and recently had a hair test with Bionetics. I don’t know whether the actual results I got were legitimate but I have started to make a full recovery after taking products recommended by them including Green Barley Grass – main component is chlorophyll, ‘Prime Directive’ – contains 18 amino acids, ionic calcium to neutralise my system (there has been a lot of research into having a more alkaline diet to aid recovery) and am going to start taking vitamin C, selenium, and vitamin B12 which were also recommended. The latter two were also advised independently by my doctor. All of these things have quite blatantly been vital in aiding my recovery and enabled me to live a normal life again. I think you should reconsider your claims.
Wow anonymous. Hook, line and sinker.
Why? You write scaving reports about a lot of these companies without any real evidence to back you up. You don’t seem to know much about the products they sell either which have helped me a great deal.
I wonder who is going to take charge of creating an 'anti-quackometer' site. Everything on here is written with such sarcasm and venom. I totally agree with one of the posts above: pharmaceutical and chemical companies have been poisoning us for years with their 'legal' and 'scientifically' backed and 'researched and proven' drugs. I don't see any of them get a mention here.
Instead of providing a useful service, this site seems to just look at the surface of things and doesn't research its claims properly.
I found this site through a search about Bionetics, to see what others thought of it and found this article among the results. Thank you Quackometer as you've helped me make up my mind: I can't wait to try Bionetics!
Andy, you need to learn and appreciate the features of free market economics. I happen to agree with you in so far Bionetics techniques are unsupported by any clinical evidence and is as far that goes making wild unsubstantiated claims. However, I don't want my choice impeded by regulation or legislation not their right to business impeded the same. That is the cardinal sin of market principles. As much you don't like what they sell, they have a right to be there because it's for consumers to make their OWN assessment and informed choice not you or me or a body to override that. If they're poorly informed, then bring information to fore with sites like these but responsibility must be kept within the market. The moment you intervene you diminish that responsibility, you hinder potentially new innovation and treatment which hasn't got clinical funding from reaching the market so you kill lots of good stuff…
…and you make taxpayers pay for bureaucratic regulatory jobs. Bad products exist across the board even in the high st environment but they get weeded out by the market in the long run. Don't forget too some people will have benefited from Bionetics and even if that's a Placebo Effect, it's worth something to them. Finally you cannot attribute anything whatsoever to Google or Ebay they merely present you the market place online they don't create it. They have no responsibility to look after me and what I might decide to buy online.
I find it patronising that you tell that I need to "learn and appreciate the features of free market economics." Why should that be?
From my perspective, it looks like the height of naivety to believe that 'free market economics' can assess the medical efficacy of a treatment. Can you name any effective treatments that have become accepted purely though the workings of the market? Homeopathy has existed for 200 years – a simple placebo treatment – and the free market laps it up.
From my point of view, an unconstrained market in healthcare operates inneficiently because it allows miriad false claims to be made that the consumer is largely unable to assess. Regulated markets allow better quality information to survive and hence allow more efficient markets. And pretty much all markets in the world operate in this way – whether it be markets in second hand cars or houses – regulation ensures that high quality information is made public and so allowing better choices to be made.
First of all I object to being called an idiot simply because I want to remain annonymous; my industry prevents me from rattling cages in natural healthcare debates to preserve our dignity.
I am however fed up with the beligerant rantings of 'anti-quackery' sites such as this, which do nothing to help anyone. The first rule of natural healthcare is to 'Do No Harm', it's a pity the big Pharma's don't adopt the same approach.
I agree scientific evidence is required before claims to cure can be made. There is masses of research available to show the efficacy of nutritional supplements when taken to balance a state of deficiency, and I have seen much improvement in my clients health with managed food group elimination diets.
The Pharma's are just terrified that natural healthcare will undermine their industry if allowed to thrive.
Nutritional Therapist. Degree Qualified.
Well, you clearly are an idiot as I ask for a private identity and not just a generic Anonymous. You fail to appreciate why.
And your idiocy does not stop there. Please supply your best evidence that 'Big Pharma' is 'terrified' about 'natural healthcare'. Your best evidence. Anything. Or are you just deluded about this?
Nutritional Therapist. Degree Qualified = degree in baloney. To idiotic to realise that though.
Big Pharma scared by natural healthcare?
They most certainly are. Have you heard of Codex Alimentarius?
Yes I have heard of that… And yes they are scared… I was almost burned as a witch by so called Christian doctors who work for pharmaceutical companies because I offered to practice freely in their Surgery once a week to help chronic conditions… With only hands on healing.. Proven tried and tested my techniques I simply wanted to help People get off the medicines that were killing them..that the docs were throwing at them daily…
The docs suggested I was working for the devil.. I suggested they look a little closer to home…..
Proven tried and tested you say, Esther???
Gosh, Canard Noir, you sound so bitter. Usually you have lost the argument when you start slinging personal abuse around.
May I suggest Bronze Dog’s response to this type of argument?
http://rockstarramblings.blogspot.com/2009/11/doggerel-216-why-are-you-so-angry.html
the company is not being run from surry any more but from honey suckle,cottage,high st,fincham norfolk,
sorry,thats richard and mandy pilkington,for the address above.
Hey guys,
I know alot more people who have been cured, or at worse, in remission, from the use of alternative therapies (psych, herbal, nutritional med) but hardly anyone who have gone down the Western medicine approach. They only treat symptoms and just seem to make people sicker from side effects, reliant on more drugs to treat the problem the first caused. I also know of a few people who have lost their lives due to so-called ‘preventative’ Western meds so I know where the quacks really hang out! My own private GP said that their cures dont work as too limited and prefers to refer to alternative and my NHS GP will always suggest herbs/nutrients before reaching for the prescription pad. Double-blind placebo only works for simple equations like 1+1, the human body and mind is so much more complex than that and will always try to heal itself – it its given half the chance and not bombarded with poisons. I think this test is pretty acurate, I was shocked at how it pinpointed the only B vitamin I lack, B1, (I already knew and tested it as a practitioner).
Wow. The quack credo. Do you learn this at quack school?
I have a daughter with ME (I dont think it ever leaves you) who was written off by the doctors at 18 and from a possible Netball International to bedridden in a month nothing could be done until we found Magic Mick a Quack? Organic food, supplements, no profit to him but most of all he cared! whatever it worked she’s 90% fit again. My Son however has a thyroid and minor heart problem again the doctors attitude is come back when you are worse so when I saw that a Bionetics test for £48 could possibly show a pathway to a possible good eating and supplement cure I was naturally exited. However if you say that this is all a scam I would appreciate if you would prove this to me (you must have lots of e.mails and maybe better still put me in touch with an honest Quack who might help as the medical profession who we all fund are just not interested. p.s
My sister has just had chemo for her cancer and is not at all well and then I go onto the internet and read that over 70% doctors would not have chemotherapy if they cancer! who do you believe?
Great post, thanks for taking the time to expose this hogwash. I am currently suffering with ME/CFS and there is a propensity in the patient community to resort to untested alternative treatments because so far medical science has yet to provide a clearcut answer to the problem, although it is working on it and making great progress in the face of criminal underfunding.
That is the worst part of having this particular condition, as you will often hear people say “well why not just try it”, and in a sense it is hard to argue against this because in most cases the worst outcome you could expect is for there to be no effect at all. When you are ill and seen to be rejecting potentially beneficial interventions then it puts you in a difficult situation.
I think it’s disgraceful how these people are able to operate legally and in some cases are even endorsed by official organisations, it gives them a veneer or legitimacy and allows them to profit relentlessly off of the uninformed and credulous. I refuse to give them a penny as every person who does so is simply contributing to the problem, I applaud your efforts to highlight the pseudo-scientific quackery that is running rampant in our society.
Dead composed subject matter, Really enjoyed reading.
Really uninformed article here, hogwash as they would say. Just because you don’t believe or know something doesn’t make it magically not exist. It looks like all this site can do is complain and bitch and moan while the world progresses you want to hold all things back.
If you would like to present any evidence to back up your assertion that the article is uninformed and hogwash, please feel free.
In a way, I don’t really feel like it, it’s like overhearing kids on the playground talking some fantastic things, it’s just not worth trying to explain every single thing to them you know.
But one of the bits which is really bad is this line: “I wonder who wrote all of that? Its only intention can be to bamboozle since it is just comic book physics, innacurate and unrelated to anything medical whatsoever.” This is a perfect example of some random opinion using rhetorical words to evoke an “us vs them” emotion in the reader, with no proof of having gone through every medical journal ever published to see if it actually is “unrelated to anything medical”. It’s purely an opinion piece and a very poor one as well.
“spinning energy vortices” – perfectly valid, all things are made of atoms right, which are what, spinning things. I’m digressing into details here, but, as an example of our bad thinking, especially when it comes to very large or very small numbers which you can’t work with intuitively: everything is energy, you cannot say for example that the moon doesn’t have an effect on your body, because mathematically there is a formula that determines the force of two bodies. You can’t ignore the numbers and maths behind things and be the one who decides whether something is “irrelevant” just because we think so.
I thought of it this morning again, like, this article has this underlying tone that everything is already known and we might as well stop searching, because “if it’s not in our textbooks, it’s not real”. Well as we know this isn’t true and the future is even vaguer than the current “thinkers” and naysayers of the day, who are one in the same usually. What I’m trying to say is, look at the history of the world, not from the eyes of the current textbooks, which are always “right” to the people who read them, but with the bigger picture in mind. The current knowledge of what ever time period has never really held up for a very long, and look at where science started too… in philosophy.
David
You must have missed the bit where I asked you for evidence.
Just because an idea is not in the textbooks and presents itself as profound does not mean that it is right. It is most likely to be utter baloney. That is the fate of most ideas.
As Alan says, evidence is the clincher. So far, we have none.
Sorry I forgot to mention that my comments isn’t really about the title of this article, but rather the intention behind the methods of this article.
But even if there was evidence, doesn’t mean we would believe it yet anyway.
We all know drug companies and marketing inflates their claims, so if something is giving people a natural way to get in touch with what they put into their bodies by telling them about different food types etc, then that’s great, it’s better than their alternative of having to go into a drug pharmacy and just being exposed to whoever paid for the shelf space.
So, who do you want to support, chemical pushers or those helping people to make better food choices?
“Proof, I want proof”, dunno how I just stumbled on this, but this is typically classic of someone who has a soapbox (internet or toilet door cubicle) and doesn’t really act as rationally as they would in the real world… http://carm.org/proof-i-want-proof
Thanks for your time guys, good luck with whatever it is your goal is with these articles, I hope it has a lasting positive effect on people’s lives and the world in general.
And good luck to you too David with your health choices, especially if you are happy accepting absurd claims without any hint of evidence behind them.
Thanks Andy, you too! I am definitely a big skeptic of what anyone says, even what other skeptics say, and keep harping at my family and friends about how bad the things they eat or use is for them. Luckily I’ve become more patient with time and realised I can’t force them to see things the way I do. Indeed my choices only came right in the last few years when I made the choice, and it all started with actually moving my body, which then made it make the right food choices etc. To summarise my “choices”, it’s a “Primal Diet”, along with the great exercises of Scott Sonnon’s programmes, and a few basic vitamins just because I can afford it. I find I don’t need much more than that to take care of my physical body. Of course a good massage every now and then to help move those knotted muscles and waste system along is always welcomed. Anyway, I’m digressing again, cheers.
Oh, this all reminds me of this line from the Desiderata poem:
“Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.”
@andy and @alan your request for evidence is every bit as much a deflection.
Why should anyone else put forth the effort to provide evidence when the author has not shown the willingness to do the same, nor does it seem from his comments that he is open to an honest discussion. Why would anyone risk being attacked personally simply to have their efforts fall on deaf ears.
Skepticism requires much less energy and even less effort. I doubt any of the skepticism or derision expressed on this post and in the comments expended as much effort as others who, after being written off by western medicine, refused to give up.
You are battling those who have found hope after having lost it. From reading the comments it would seem that some who are on the defense have been personally helped through a personal tragedy. To counter that kind of loyalty to convince them the burden is on you:
“If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his sincere friend.”
― Abraham Lincoln
One of the numerous anonymees above apparently needs to “start taking vitamin C, selenium, and vitamin B12”.
How does he/she know this? Were they told this by a peddler of energistic vorticial quackery?
Presumably this seemingly non-person will buy them as expensive supplements – which are probably useless as they will not be metabolised correctly.
Would it not make a lot of sense to just eat tuna, oranges and liver? Seems to work for scurvy and pernicious anaemia (dunno about selenium deficiency – is it a likely problem [Google says few cases have been reported in humans]).
Cannot get my brain around this rubbish without thinking of Harry Enfield’s “I Saw You Coming” shop. Fleece the gullible and dress the rooking up in pseudoscientific gobbledygook.
A fool and his money are soon parted.
The UK police and major companies use hair testing to identify drug and alcohol usage. In my mind screening for other things is just a natural progression.
Dr. Brian Cox, is a physicist of some repute here in the UK. He presents loads of physics/quantum theory documentaries on established mainstream media such as the BBC. It’s unlikely that he would be allowed to continue broadcasting on the UK’s publicly funded broadcasting channel if he was a quack. Here are some of his quotes specifically on energy.
http://theelectronicjournal.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/quotes-and-inferences-from-wonders-of.html
Dr Cox’s quotes are based on what the scientific community has discovered in the last 60 years. I could find loads from other mainstream physicist saying the same thing. Energy is a big deal.
Incredibly, Albert Einstein was once a non-believer in Quantum physics. It was an extension of his original thinking which he thought had gone too far. Fortunately he realised he was wrong quickly enough to join the party….
It’s with the above references and the recommendation of my accountants wife that I was considering buying a Bionetics hair test.
Before I pressed the buy button I decided to do a quick check on Google for “Bionetics Scam”.
I found your article….
Reading the headline I immediately felt relief that I had saved myself from being ripped off.
However, I winced when you made a point of highlighting the 3 facts under the heading “the best bits” and then did not explain what was wrong or misleading the facts. I found this a strange omission. It made me feel uncomfortable.
The uncomfortable feeling was the reason I read all the comments.
I’m still undecided about Bionetics but leaning towards pressing the buy button. Before I do I have a few questions which I home you won’t mind answering.
It’s been over 7 years since you wrote the article. Are you of the same opinion about Bionetics and hair strand testing?
Could you explain which of the 3 facts are incorrect and why?
Still no reply!! I’m thinking of giving them a try as conventional medicine is out on a spree somewhere else, for me. I just paid £500 [well would have done but for discounts due to errors they made] for blood tests re: Hypothyroid symptoms and fatigue etc.and though results are handy [on lower& upper limits] no treatment is forthcoming from NHS. Deadly Addison or Cushings are the only marker posts! TSH limit three times the US/EU limits and NO interest in Minerals. QED. Roll on- with a little luck!
There is a Bionetics practitioner in New Jersey (USA). Two ladies from our small town in Iowa, both of whom were given a few months to live because of cancer went to see the Bionetics guy. Now, a few years later, they are alive and vital, much to the surprise of their doctors. Both ladies attribute their recovery to the attention of this alternative health practitioner. Just the facts.
Are they indeed…
if a company sets up and decides to sell anything and the person wants to try it, what has that got to do with any one else
if you do not believe in quackery you should listen to someone’s real life experience, see there medical history before and how they live today,
my life was saved by what is classed as quackery ~ yet no nhs gp could do anything for me
i wish you could see my life in a flash and you wouldn’t write stuff like that, you really wouldn’t
i want to thank the people that stand up to others and try and find root causes to our ill health that a dr or hospital cant handle
my evidence is myself sitting here alive
Absolutely. I know a number of individuals who have found substantial relief from serious medical issues from a person who utilizes this technology among others. Many would label him a “quack”, but those he has helped certainly wouldn’t and are very grateful he can offer his services.
I used Bionetics and wish I had seen this before using. I was sent test results along with recommendations. One of the recommendations was to buy “wormwood” from them. As I believed their test results I duly purchased and started using the wormwood. Within a week I was in hospital due to poisoning from the wormwood. After getting blood and skin tests I discovered all the test results from Bionetics were not worth the paper they were printed on. This company is a con and dangerous. Do not be fooled into spending money and having and hope in them.
I have many friends in our town who have been helped…remarkably helped with chronic health problems,, including cancer cases, by a health practitioner who uses Bionetics. I would never have subscribed to this kind of thing in the past, but the results this man has gotten with many sick people is undeniable. I assure you i am not making this up….i have talked to these people and they credit this man with saving their lives or, at least, diminishing their symptoms drastically. In many cases, modern allopathic medicine had failed to help these people. I and my wife, just yesterday, had a consultation with this health provider. Time will tell whether his analysis, healing techniques and recommendations have any effect.
transcender – are you absolutely sure you are not associated with the clinic? ‘Many friends’? Really?
I have no personal or professional association with this health practitioner who uses bionetics in his practice. Yes…many. I know of three people in our town who had cancer or leukemia and who the docs had basically written off, who, in desperation turned to this guy. They all had excellent results….life saving results (so far). I know of three others with chronic problems with chronic fatigue and other pernicious situations who have had very good relief from their symptoms. These people and others in our town travel over 1000 miles to follow up with this person. I know of others who no longer follow up because either they don’t feel the need or the fellow has told them they don’t need to. My wife and I have recently seen this fellow. As i said, we will see what transpires for us….but there is no doubt in my mind about the help he has provided some very sick people in our town.
One other thing. I have a theory that some people are “natural” healers who an innate sensisitivity and ability to diagnose and heal others. Sometimes they use things that appear to be instrumental in healing, when, perhaps the thing used is not critical…that the person could use other things that are a “front” for the person’s innate talents to heal. Perhaps this has some relation to this fellow who uses bionetics primarily as a diagnostic tool. Perhaps he could use a fire hydrant and get the same results. I don’t know.
Is not the evidence the ‘cure’? Conventional medicine has it’s place as far as trauma care and surgeries are concerned. But treating chronic illness or even minor illness with strong chemical compounds does not enable the body to repair. Many people who have chemotherapy die from the treatment or later on. I think common sense is needed to weed out what it effective in alternative treatment, but because it is not accepted or given any funds to run effective testing this is not easy. In healing the body taking into account that you are dealing with an individual is crucial there is not a blanket cure for all, everyones chemistry and background is different. Even with evidence and testing for medications safety is not guaranteed, and the proof is in the taking, and observe many people on medications and it is not what I would call good health! Hopefully one day we will catch up and see that prevention is the key with good diet and targeted supplements and looking after the whole person is the way forward.
I just want to applaud your common sense, balanced perspective.
your obvious lack of knowledge with such allegations makes you a “quack”
I need to get a nutrition test done and I was about to submit to Bionetics, pleased I didn’t having read your article. Who would you recommend for food intolerance testing? Many thanks, Rebecca.
Hi Rebecca
The food intolerance testing industry is rife with tests and procedures that are not validated and are little more than sales techniques to help make you think you need to buy expensive vitamin pills. Many of these tests are pseudoscientific and cannot show you any meaningful information. They will always be dressed in scientific language to persuade you that this test is the ‘real’ one. Most often the practitioners themselves have been fooled, and whilst honestly offering you what they think is a real test, is nothing of the sort. I am afraid that the only reliable route to understanding any intolerance or allergy issue you have is through a registered dietician. Such a person would be struck off if they used an unvalidated test. You can be referred to a dietician by your GP. DO not trust anyone who calls themselves any sort of ‘nutritionist’. Such people are rarely properly trained or governed by meaningful codes of ethics.
I have no proof or evidence to show whether or not the hair tests are valid or not. I can report rthough that I suffered Hay fever very severly for about 30 years and tried numerous Pharmacy drugs with either no impact or very bad side-effects. Both Chinese medicine (stopped because it was too costly – and smelly) and the Binotetics prescription (tried as a cheaper alternative) have made my hay-fever-ridden summers a thing of the past. It is unexplainable and unbelievable. Recently I took a year off the Bionetics treatment (maybe it wasn’t doing anything). The hay-fever started to return again this year. After a couple of weeks on the prescription I’m now back to a no hay-fever-symptom life.
I can 100% recommend Bionetics. I can also recommend accupuntre (back pain) and reflexology (for a range of symptoms). Maybe I’m just lucky!