Victor Herbert (February 22, 1927 in New York City – November 19, 2002 in New York City)
/ref> (MD, JD, MACP, FRSM London) was an American

hematologist Hematology (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, always spelled haematology in British English) is the branch of medicine concerned with the study of the cause, prognosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases related to ...

who did ground-breaking work on

folate Folate, also known as vitamin B9 and folacin, is one of the B vitamins. Manufactured folic acid, which is converted into folate by the body, is used as a dietary supplement and in food fortification as it is more stable during processing and ...

and how its deficiency led to

megaloblastic anemia Megaloblastic anemia is a type of macrocytic anemia. An anemia is a red blood cell defect that can lead to an undersupply of oxygen. Megaloblastic anemia results from inhibition of DNA replication, DNA synthesis during red blood cell production. ...

and was a proponent of accurate and responsible nutrition information.

Career

His post at the end of his career was Professor of Medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York and Chief of Mount Sinai's Hematology and Nutrition Research Laboratory in the Bronx Veterans Affairs Medical Center. His self experimentation to prove the health benefits of

folic acid Folate, also known as vitamin B9 and folacin, is one of the B vitamins. Manufactured folic acid, which is converted into folate by the body, is used as a dietary supplement and in food fortification as it is more stable during processing and ...

by living on diet of thrice-boiled chicken, marshmallows and jelly was reported on in the third episode of the BBC series the Medical Mavericks.

Military service

Herbert served in four wars: World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the first Gulf War. On retirement his rank was Lt. Col. (Green Berets).victorherbert.com
/ref>

Criticism of nutrition quackery

Herbert was critical of

alternative medicine Alternative medicine is any practice that aims to achieve the healing effects of medicine despite lacking biological plausibility, testability, repeatability, or evidence from clinical trials. Complementary medicine (CM), complementary and alt ...

claims and nutrition

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, ...

. He was the author of ''Vitamins and `Health' Foods: The Great American Hustle'' with

Stephen Barrett Stephen Joel Barrett (; born 1933) is an American retired psychiatrist, author, co-founder of the National Council Against Health Fraud (NCAHF), and the webmaster of Quackwatch. He runs a number of websites dealing with quackery and health frau ...

and the book ''Nutrition Cultism''. The latter was described by ''

The New England Journal of Medicine ''The New England Journal of Medicine'' (''NEJM'') is a weekly medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. It is among the most prestigious peer-reviewed medical journals as well as the oldest continuously published one. His ...

'' as "a must for all readers who value the importance of nutrition in public health but are chagrined by the pretenders who exploit the public with food frauds, dietary cures, and nutrition nonsense." His book ''The Vitamin Pushers'' (1994), also co-authored with Barrett was an exposé of quacks in the

health food A healthy diet is a diet that maintains or improves overall health. A healthy diet provides the body with essential nutrition: fluid, macronutrients such as protein, micronutrients such as vitamins, and adequate fibre and food energy. A healt ...

industry, based on more than twenty years of research."The Vitamin Pushers: How the ""Health Food"" Industry Is Selling America a Bill of Goods"
Publishers Weekly.

Awards

* McCollum Award (1972), American Society of Clinical Nutrition * Middleton Award (1978), Veterans’ Administration * Robert H. Hermon Award (1986), American Society of Clinical Nutrition * Honorary Membership Award (1993), American Dietetic Association

Selected publications

Herbert authored over 800 scientific papers, many book chapters, and several books. Books
''Nutrition Cultism: Facts and Fictions''
(1980, reprinted 1984) * ''Vitamins and "Health" Foods: The Great American Hustle''] (1981, reprinted 1985) [with

]
''The Vitamin Pushers: How the "Health Food" Industry is Selling America a Bill of Goods''
( Prometheus Books, 1994) [with

] Papers * Herbert, V. (1959) ''Mechanism of intrinsic factor action in everted sacs of rat small intestine''. J. Clin. Investig. 38:102-109. 2. * Herbert, V. & Zalusky, R. (1962) ''Interrelations of vitamin B-12 and folic acid metabolism: folic acid clearance studies''. J. Clin. Investig. 41:1263-1276. 3. * Herbert, V. (1962) ''Experimental nutritional folate deficiency in man''. '' Transactions of the Association of American Physicians'' 75: 307-320. * Herbert, V., Baker, H., Frank, O., Pasher, I., Sobotka, H. & Wasserman, L. R. (1960) ''The measurement of folic acid activity in serum: a diagnostic aid in the differentiation of the megaloblastic anaemias''. Blood 15:228-235. * Waxman, S., Schreiber, C. & Herbert, V. (1971) ''Radioisotopic assay for measurement of serum folate levels''. Blood 38:219-228. * Herbert, V. & Gottlieb, C. W. (1966) ''Haemoglobin-coated charcoal assay for serum vitamin in B-12''. Blood 28:130-132. * Das, K. C. & Herbert, V. (1978) ''The lymphocyte as a marker of past nutritional status: persistence of abnormal lymphocyte deoxyuridine (dU) suppression test and chromosomes in patients with past deficiency of folate and vitamin B-12''. ''

British Journal of Haematology The ''British Journal of Haematology'' is a peer-reviewed medical journal focusing on hematology and other blood-related topics, such as blood diseases and their treatment. It is published by ileyon behalf of the British Society for Haematology. ...

'' 38: 219-233. *Herbert, V. (1981)
''Nutrition Cultism''
'' The Western Journal of Medicine'' 135 (3): 252–256. * Herzlich, B. & Herbert, V. (1988) ''Depletion of serum holotranscobalamin II. An early sign of negative vitamin B-12 balance''. ''

Laboratory Investigation ''Laboratory Investigation'' is a peer-reviewed medical journal of pathology published by the Nature Publishing Group. It is the official journal of the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology. The journal is published monthly, with one su ...

'' 58: 332–337.

References

External links

Victor Herbert, MD, 1927-2002
{{DEFAULTSORT:Herbert, Victor 1927 births 2002 deaths American hematologists American skeptics Critics of alternative medicine Scientists from New York City