In this episode, Hannah and Victoria do their best to keep their shit together while discussing Medical Medium, a 55-year-old self-proclaimed medium who claims the Spirit of Compassion provides him with medical information years beyond what current science has uncovered.
History
From his website, Medicalmedium.com:
“Medical Medium Anthony William, the chronic illness expert, originator of the global celery juice movement and Brain Shot Therapy, and host of the Medical Medium Podcast, is the #1 New York Times best-selling author of Brain Saver, Brain Saver Protocols, Cleanses & Recipes, Cleanse to Heal, Celery Juice, Liver Rescue, Thyroid Healing, Life-Changing Foods, and the revised and expanded Medical Medium. Anthony was born with the unique ability to converse with the Spirit of Compassion, who provides him with extraordinarily advanced healing medical information that’s far ahead of its time.
Since age four, Anthony has been using his gift to see into people’s conditions and tell them and their doctors how to recover their health. Over decades of helping individuals find the answers they needed, Anthony found that he could only help so many as his waiting list continued to grow. Anthony now dedicates much of his time and energy to listening to Spirit of Compassion’s information and placing it into books so everybody can have an opportunity to heal.
His unprecedented accuracy and success rate as the Medical Medium have earned him the trust and love of millions worldwide, among them movie stars, rock stars, billionaires, professional athletes, and countless other people from all walks of life who couldn’t find a way to heal until he provided them with insights from above. Over the decades, Anthony has also been an invaluable resource to doctors who need help solving their most difficult cases.”
4.8 million followers on Instagram
He declines to give his age in interviews. From what we could find, he’s 55 years old.
Anthony is a “trusted expert” on Goop, and his books have been on NYT bestseller lists.
Note: Many of his supplement links go to a company called Vimergy. It’s owned by Phil McCulskey, who appears to be a close friend.
His work and claims are prolific. He may be best known for his hyperbolic claims about the curative properties of celery juice and about the Epstein-Barr Virus.
He seems to flat-out make up his own definition and scientific explanation for his claims. He claims that celery juice can cure chronic disease, he details the mechanisms and processes that he says explain his claims but insists that the scientific community just hasn’t discovered them yet. He says he knows about them because the Spirit of Compassion tells him. This includes undiscovered viruses and mechanisms/physiology behind chronic diseases. All of this is woven into snippets of pretty solid holistic health advice - like eat more unprocessed foods, avoid alcohol, the body can heal, etc.
He also claims that the worldwide scientific community uses his discoveries to further their understanding of human health and that many doctors successfully use his protocols to treat their patients with chronic diseases.
Around 2000, he owned a health food store with his wife, Rachel Schutzman, in Machias, Maine, called Good Earth Organic Market.
Nutrition Claims
He claims that certain foods feed viruses in the body and recommends eliminating them. These include meat and eggs.
From what I can tell, many of his protocols are strict vegan diets, consisting of mostly fruit and celery juice.
He claims that any dietary fat accumulates in the liver. His idea of metabolism:
“The idea that your body can switch to burning fat as fuel is also flawed. We don’t run on fat. We run on glucose, which is sugar. If it were true that our bodies could flip from burning glucose for energy to burning fat for energy, as the keto diet suggests, then it would be impossible for someone who was overweight or obese to starve. If the ketosis theory is correct, you could take away an overweight person’s food completely and they’d continue to live for a long period of time, using their fat as energy. But that’s not how it works. Fat does not convert to usable material for our bodies.”
He also claims that the brain is a jellyfish-like organ is made of sugar:
“There’s a highly popular belief today that the brain is made out of fat and you need to eat a lot of “healthy fats” to have good brain health and function. Sadly, this is more damaging misinformation. High-fat diets are disastrous for the brain. In truth, there is only a microscopic percentage of fat in the brain. Outside of these low traces of omegas, the brain is mostly a jellyfish-like organ made up of sugar.“
Epstein Barr virus claims
Autoimmune diseases are caused by viruses, it is not possible for the body to form self-antigens. There is no genetic basis to AID.
Claims there are over 60 forms of EBV
“Doctors have no idea how the virus operates long-term”
“Medical communities are unaware that every case of mononucleosis is only Stage Two of EBV”
From his Epstein Barr podcast episode: “What the scientific community doesn’t know is that EBV causes more things than mono.” “The scientific community thinks that EBV can only be spread when someone has mono, but Medical Medium knows that it can be spread through saliva & bodily fluids by anyone who has it.”
(Both of these claims are false - it is researched and documented that EBV can contribute to some cancer and other illnesses, and the CDC explains that EBV can be spread even when someone doesn’t have active mono.)
For Breastfeeding moms: ”Just blend avocado, ripe banana, and water or coconut water to create a delicious drink to replace breastmilk or to supplement on top of it.” (THIS IS FALSE INFORMATION, DON’T DO THIS.)
He no longer provides private consultations - it seems like he would do phone consults to “scan” peoples’ bodies. According to a Reddit thread, the cost was $500 for a 30-min phone consult.
According to a Reddit thread: If someone disagrees with him in his telegram group he calls them a “fork tongue devil,” and bullying from the group follows https://www.reddit.com/r/medicalmediumskeptic/comments/1bux0jb/medical_medium_calls_anyone_who_disagrees_with/
Controversy
“In 2013, Kate Gallagher Leong, whose 5-year-old son, Gavin, was seriously ill, handed over $350 for an hour-long consultation. She was desperate, she admitted in a blog post. William, she said, told her that mercury poisoning caused Gavin’s disease, which she had passed to him in utero. William gave her a list of supplements to put him on. Forty-eight days later, Gavin died of a febrile seizure.
Gallagher did not blame William for her son’s death but called him “a fraud” who took advantage of her anguish. She said she became a resource for others: “I feel glad when the people who don’t have $500 to lose write to me and I can keep them from handing over their rent money . . . grocery money . . . and their hopes to him.” William declined to comment on the case.”
https://www.thetimes.com/business-money/article/gwyneth-paltrow-and-the-snake-oil-salesman-gmk8mcfgr
This is Kate’s blog post about her experience from 2016
“I explained to him my desperation to get answers about Gavin's mysterious, undiagnosed genetic syndrome. He spent the first ten minutes or so talking about supplements. The history, which brands he prefers, which supplements help with what. Then he told me that mercury was the cause of Gavin's issues - that I passed actual mercury on to him and a mercury sensitivity in utero, causing his physical, neurological and developmental issues and explaining his features. Basically, that he suffered mercury poisoning in my womb. He said that was the cause of all of my miscarriages as well (nine at that time). He also said I had the Epstein-Barr Virus in my system. Then... it was back to supplements again. He was a very nice person so I tried to remain patient. I thought he was just getting off track and would get back to helping me with our medical mystery.
He didn't.
I watched the clock tick and tock - and watched our money continue to fly out the window - as he spent 95% of our call discussing supplements and telling me to write down which brands of supplements to give Gavin and which I should take. I wondered, in frustration, if he got a kickback from supplement companies! You can read that original post here.”
…After Gavin died, Anthony William's assistant called and said he requested that we call him. I suppose he either read that Gavin died on my blog or saw it on social media. I did NOT appreciate being summoned by him when it was my son that died, after all. I never called him - and he never called again.”
There are claims that he’s asked his followers to leave positive reviews in exchange for prizes, essentially buying reviews.
Accusations of silencing: https://www.reddit.com/r/medicalmediumskeptic/
Dan Adler’s article in Vanity Fair - The Medical Medium and the True Believer:
https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2023/04/the-medical-medium-and-the-true-believer
Medical Medium podcast - The Plotter Series - goes after Ashleigh Foster, a friend of the woman covered in the Vanity Fair article, and portrays her as a money grabber plotting against Medical Medium.
Evidence
Celery Juice
Celery cluster salts: used nutritionally, this term was coined by MM and appears to be completely fabricated and based on no evidence.
Celery and fertility https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28985183/
Celery and MetSyn https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31464016/
Apiaceous veggies and detox https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10837004/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16762476/
Article from Dr. Sarah Ballantyn https://www.thepaleomom.com/celery-juice-fad-or-fabulous/
In some people, excessive amounts of raw celery might contribute to symptoms due to increased amounts of oxalates. According to the Oxalosis and Hyperoxaluria Foundation’s tracker, celery has a moderate amount of oxalates: https://ohf.org/vegetables-oxalate/
Epstein Barr
Affects over 90% of the world’s population (some say 98% !) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK559285/#:~:text=Epstein%20Barr%20virus%20(EBV)%20is,from%20asymptomatic%20to%20infectious%20mononucleosis.
Epstein, M. A., & Achong, B. G. YM Bart. 1964. Virus particles in cultured lymphoblasts from Burkitt's lymphoma. Lancet, 702-703. - Article from 1964 when a virus (later found to be EBV) found in tumor cells began the hypothesis that viruses like EBV could contribute to some cancers.
Nice write-up on Tony Epstein: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00763-9 - Pathologist who found that viruses can trigger tumors in humans and transformed medical research in that area.
Takeaway:
Joe Navarro on dangerous cult leaders:
https://www.jnforensics.com/post/dangerous-cult-leaders
“They all have or had an over-abundant belief that they were special, that they and they alone had the answers to problems, and that they had to be revered. They demanded perfect loyalty from followers, they overvalued themselves and devalued those around them, they were intolerant of criticism, and above all, they did not like being questioned or challenged.”
A good breakdown of how MM likely operates: https://www.dradrianchavez.com/blog/GURUS
Episode #9: Medical Medium, Part 1