Lendon Smith
Lendon Smith | |
---|---|
Born | Lendon Howard Smith June 3, 1921 |
Died | November 17, 2001 | (aged 80)
Occupation(s) | Pediatrician, author, television personality |
Years active | 1963–2001 |
Lendon Howard Smith (June 3, 1921 – November 17, 2001) was an American Ob/Gyn, pediatrician, author, and television personality. He was notable for his advice on parenting and advocating children's health and eating issues. He was known to fans as "The Children's Doctor" for his expertise on the issues and an outspoken proponent of the use of vitamins for children.
Smith was criticized by nutritionists for promoting the dangerous belief that large megavitamin dosages would help cure any disease or disorder.[1]
Background
Born in Portland, Oregon, Smith was a second generation doctor (his father was also a pediatrician), having received his M.D. in 1946 from the University of Oregon Medical School. He served as captain in the United States Army Medical Corps from 1947 to 1949, went on to a pediatric residency at St. Louis Children's Hospital in Missouri, and completed it at Portland's Doernbecher Memorial Hospital in 1951. In 1955, Smith became Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Oregon Medical Hospital. He would practice pediatrics for 35 years before retiring in 1987 to lecture, to write, and to continue to help make "megavitamin" a household word and promote megavitamin therapy, in which he advocated the uses of Vitamin A and Vitamin C in massive amounts.[1][2]
Smith was also among the first to caution against
Smith was also a fixture on television, which is where he would receive the nickname "
Controversies
Smith was placed under probation by the Oregon Board of Medical Examiners in 1973 for prescribing medication that was "not necessary or medically indicated" for six adult patients, one diagnosed as hyperactive and the other five as heroin addicts.
He remained involved with medicine through writing and lecturing, this time promoting alternative medicine. In 1993 he did a video that promoted him as a physician, even though he was not licensed to practice as one, and later helped to promote the Life Balances International Program. In 2001 he was involved with the Church of Scientology as he appointed himself as the commissioner of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights.
Smith was featured in a marketing video "Homeopathic Care of Infants and Children", 1993. It has been described by medical experts as dangerous.
Stephen Barrett of Quackwatch has noted that Smith advocated for pregnant women, "daily supplements of 20,000 to 30,000 units of vitamin A, a dosage high enough to cause birth defects."[2] Nutritionist Kurt Butler described Smith as a quack who promoted dangerous medical advice. According to Butler:
Besides encouraging people to poison themselves and their kids with toxic doses of supplements, he recommends raw milk, avoiding foods you are allergic to because they cause obesity, diagnosis by hair analysis and cytotoxic testing, taking thyroxin pills, taking glandulars, fasting to the point of feeling weak and sick, and lots of other nonsense. Smith's books are hoaxes because there is not a scrap of scientific evidence to support his claims.[6]
In his book Dr. Lendon Smith's Low-Stress Diet, he recommended his readers to practice fasting and take only distilled water and supplements for several days to cleanse the liver. He was criticized for this erroneous belief. During fasting the liver is not cleansed but overworks by saturating it with toxins produced by starvation.[1]
Death
Smith died on November 17, 2001, after having open heart surgery.[7] He was 80.[7]
Selected publications
- Feed Your Kids Right (1979)
- Dr. Lendon Smith's Low-Stress Diet Book (1988)
- Feed Your Body Right: Understanding Your Individual Body (1993)
- How to Raise a Healthy Child (1998)
See also
References
- ^ ISBN 0-87975-733-7
- ^ a b c d Barrett, Stephen. (2009). "A Critical Look at Lendon Smith, M.D.". Quackwatch. Retrieved November 26, 2018.
- ^ from Motheraid.com
- ^ from casewatch.net
- ISBN 0-87975-909-7
- ISBN 978-0967328102
- ^ a b from Find Articles Archived 2011-05-05 at the Wayback Machine
External links
- Lendon Smith at IMDb
- "Pediatrics: TV Doctor" from Time (June 16, 1967)