The Immune Power Diet is a pseudoscientific

elimination diet An elimination diet, also known as exclusion diet, is a diagnostic procedure used to identify foods that an individual cannot consume without adverse effects. Adverse effects may be due to food allergy, food intolerance, other physiological mechani ...

promoted by physician Stuart M. Berger (1953-1993). The diet was based on the false idea that many people have hidden

food allergies A food allergy is an abnormal immune response to food. The symptoms of the allergic reaction may range from mild to severe. They may include itchiness, swelling of the tongue, vomiting, diarrhea, hives, trouble breathing, or low blood pressure ...

and that by eliminating certain foods and taking dietary supplements the body's

immune system The immune system is a network of biological processes that protects an organism from diseases. It detects and responds to a wide variety of pathogens, from viruses to parasitic worms, as well as cancer cells and objects such as wood splinte ...

would be strengthened.

History

Berger authored ''Dr. Berger's Immune Power Diet'' in 1985. The book states that different health problems including

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

and

obesity Obesity is a medical condition, sometimes considered a disease, in which excess body fat has accumulated to such an extent that it may negatively affect health. People are classified as obese when their body mass index (BMI)—a person's we ...

are the result of an "immune hypersensitivity response" to common foods and that "

detoxification Detoxification or detoxication (detox for short) is the physiological or medicinal removal of toxic substances from a living organism, including the human body, which is mainly carried out by the liver. Additionally, it can refer to the period of ...

dietary supplement A dietary supplement is a manufactured product intended to supplement one's diet by taking a pill, capsule, tablet, powder, or liquid. A supplement can provide nutrients either extracted from food sources or that are synthetic in order ...

s and weight loss can strengthen the immune system.Butler, Kurt. (1992). ''A Consumer's Guide to "Alternative Medicine": A Close Look at Homeopathy, Acupuncture, Faith-healing, and Other Unconventional Treatments''. Prometheus Books. pp. 10-11. Barrett, Stephen; Jarvis, William T. (1993). ''The Health Robbers: A Close Look at Quackery in America''. Prometheus Books. pp. 151-152. Berger advises his readers to eliminate what he called the "Sinister Seven" from their diets, as they cause immune damage.Yetiv, Jack Z. (1988). ''Popular Nutritional Practices: Sense and Nonsense''. Dell Publishing. pp. 312-314. These include

dairy A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting or processing (or both) of animal milk – mostly from cows or buffaloes, but also from goats, sheep, horses, or camels – for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on ...

, wheat, yeast,

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the a ...

s, corn,

soy The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean, which has numerous uses. Traditional unfermented food uses of soybeans include soy milk, from which tofu and ...

and

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double ...

. After "detoxifying" the immune system and elimination was completed, these foods could be gradually eaten again, but no more than once every four days. In 1994, an autopsy revealed that Berger died from

hypertension Hypertension (HTN or HT), also known as high blood pressure (HBP), is a long-term medical condition in which the blood pressure in the arteries is persistently elevated. High blood pressure usually does not cause symptoms. Long-term high bl ...

and

cardiovascular disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels. CVD includes coronary artery diseases (CAD) such as angina and myocardial infarction (commonly known as a heart attack). Other CVDs include stroke, h ...

. Contributing factors to his death were

cocaine addiction Cocaine dependence is a neurological disorder that is characterized by withdrawal symptoms upon cessation from cocaine use. It also often coincides with cocaine addiction which is a biopsychosocial disorder characterized by persistent use of coc ...

and obesity.

Criticism

The Immune Power Diet was criticized as unscientific and described as

quackery Quackery, often synonymous with health fraud, is the promotion of fraudulent or ignorant medical practices. A quack is a "fraudulent or ignorant pretender to medical skill" or "a person who pretends, professionally or publicly, to have skill, ...

by nutritionists. The

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

Health Letter suggested the book was fiction and based on quack ideas about food allergies. The diet may cause

malnutrition Malnutrition occurs when an organism gets too few or too many nutrients, resulting in health problems. Specifically, it is "a deficiency, excess, or imbalance of energy, protein and other nutrients" which adversely affects the body's tissues a ...

. Berger's claim that 30% of American people have food allergies is not supported by scientific research. The real figure (as of 2017) is less than 4%. Berger advocated dangerous megavitamin supplements for different ills which were unsupported by scientific evidence. Nutritionist Jack Z. Yetiv noted that Berger recommended his patients to megadose on

Vitamin B6 Vitamin B6 is one of the B vitamins, and thus an essential nutrient. The term refers to a group of six chemically similar compounds, i.e., "vitamers", which can be interconverted in biological systems. Its active form, pyridoxal 5′-phosphat ...

supplements but these have been show to be toxic in large amounts and the cause of irreversible nerve damage. The Immune Power Diet is listed by immunologists as an ineffective treatment for AIDS.Dwyer, Johanna T. (1993). ''Nutrition, Immunology, and Quackery''. In David M. Klurfeld. ''Nutrition and Immunology''. p. 11.

References

{{Reflist, 30em

External links

Dr. Berger's Immune Power Diet
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Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

Fruits That Boost Immunity
Fad diets

History

Criticism

See also

References

External links