Joel Fuhrman
Joel Fuhrman (born December 2, 1953) is an American celebrity doctor who advocates what he calls a micronutrient-rich diet.[1]
Joel Fuhrman | |
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Joel Fuhrman, May 2011 | |
Born | |
Nationality | USA |
Other names | Joel H. Fuhrman |
Education | M.D., University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania), 1988 |
Alma mater | University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine |
Occupation | Family physician, author |
Known for | Nutritarian diet, ANDI, micronutrient-rich diet |
Notable work | Eat to Live; The End of Diabetes; Eat for Health: Lose Weight; Keep It Off and Look Younger; Live Longer. |
Spouse(s) | Lisa |
Website | drfuhrman.com |
A former competitive figure skater, he suffered a serious injury which removed him from competition. He says an alternative medicine therapy helped speed his recovery and led him to become a physician. His practice is based on his nutrition-based approach to obesity and chronic disease, also referred to as a nutritarian or restrictive diet,[2][3] as well as promoting his products and books.[4] He has written several books promoting his dietary approaches and sells a related line of nutrition related products. As of April 2013, his book Eat to Live was on the New York Times bestseller paperback Advice & Misc. list for 90 weeks.[5]
Life and career
Fuhrman was born in New York City, on December 2, 1953. He was a competitor in the amateur figure skating circuit.[4] He was a member of the US World Figure Skating Team and placed second in the US National Pairs Championship in 1973. In 1973, he suffered a heel injury which prevented him from competing.[4] He followed an "irregular cure" from a naturopath which included a long fast and led Fuhrman to become interested in alternative medicine.[4] He came in 3rd place at the 1976 World Professional Pairs Skating Championship in Jaca, Spain, skating with his sister, Gale Fuhrman,[6] but due to the short-term massive muscle loss from the fast was unable to make the Olympic team.[4] In 1988, he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.[4] Fuhrman is a board-certified family physician and serves as Director of Research for the Nutritional Research Foundation.[7]
Diet and health
Fuhrman has advocated eating at least one pound of raw vegetables and another pound of cooked vegetables each day.[4] He popularized the notion of nutrient density in what he calls the Health Equation: Health = Nutrients/Calories (abbreviated as H = N/C).[4] Peter Lipson, a physician and writer on alternative medicine, has been heavily critical of Fuhrman's health equation, writing that since its terms cannot be quantified, it is "nothing more than a parlor trick".[8] Fuhrman created what he calls the "Aggregate Nutrient Density Index" or ANDI, a ranking of foods based on his claims of micronutrient concentration and kale is at the top of this list.[4] Whole Foods began using the scores as a marketing project and reported that the sales of high scoring foods "skyrocketed".[4]
Fuhrman has heavily marketed his products and his infomercials have "become a staple during the self-improvement bloc of PBS pledge drives."[4] In the October 2012 edition of Men's Journal, Mark Adams stated that Fuhrman "preaches something closer to fruitarianism or Christian Science than to conventional medical wisdom".[4] Adams also reported that Fuhrman believes that the flu vaccine "isn't effective at all".[4]
Fuhrman appeared on the raw food documentary Simply Raw in which he promoted a vitalistic view of food and the pseudoscientific idea of detoxification.[9]
Dietician Carolyn Williams has described Fuhrman's nutritarian diet as a fad diet.[10] According to Williams "Although this diet is marketed as an eating pattern, it is essentially a fad diet. Those who do try this diet should go into it knowing that it is not sustainable for everyone long-term, and is only a temporary quick fix to lose weight."[10]
References
- Bijlefeld, M; Zoumbaris, SK (2014). Celebrity Doctors. Encyclopedia of Diet Fads: Understanding Science and Society (2nd ed.). ABC-CLIO. pp. 127–8. ISBN 978-1-61069-760-6.
- Schweitzer, Lisa. "Eat to Live". WebMD. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
- Brown, Douglas. "Nutrition ambitions: "Nutritarian" diet is easy; just try to eat a rainbow". The Denver Post. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
- Adams, Mark (Oct 2012). "Joel Fuhrman: The doctor is out there". Men's Journal. Retrieved 23 March 2014.
- "Paperback Advice & Misc". New York Times. 21 April 2013. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
- "World Professional Figure Skating Championships (Jaca, Spain)". Retrieved 19 Dec 2012.
- "Probiotics and the immune system: An interview with Joel Fuhrman, M.D." Nutrition Health Review. 108 (Winter): 2. 2011.
- Lipson, Peter (9 September 2010). "Your disease, your fault". Science-Based Medicine. Retrieved 19 August 2014.
- Gorski, David (2015). ""America's Quack" strikes back". Science-Based Medicine. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
- Williams, Carolyn (2018). "Does the Nutritarian Diet Really Live Up to Its Hype?". Cooking Light. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
External links
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