Mucoid plaque

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mucoid plaque or mucoid rope is a term coined by Richard Anderson, a naturopath and entrepreneur, describing a harmful coating of mucus-like material which Anderson claims exists in the gastrointestinal tracts of most people. Medical literature has never reported the existence of any harmful gastrointestinal coating corresponding to "mucoid plaque" among the general public.[1][2][3] It has been described by physicians and researchers as "a complete fabrication without any anatomical basis",[4] a "non-credible concept",[5] and "a bold lie".[6]

Despite the absence of scientific evidence,[1][2][7] mucoid plaque is discussed outside the medical community, especially within holistic health circles and in anecdotal accounts of colon hydrotherapy procedures.[8]

Contents

[edit] Background

The term "mucoid plaque" was coined by Richard Anderson, a naturopath and entrepreneur whose products purport to remove mucoid plaque. Anderson explains that it is a term he coined to describe a "gel-like, viscous and slimy mucus that forms as a layer or layers covering epithelium cells in various hollow organs, especially all the organs of the alimentary canal."[9]

Anderson claims that mucoid plaque is created when the body produces mucus to protect itself from potentially toxic substances. Anderson further claims that mucoid plaque acts as a health threat by reducing the absorption of nutrients, impairing digestion, causing sugar intolerance, providing a haven for parasitic microorganisms, promoting the development of cancer, causing skin conditions and allergies, and reducing bowel transit time . Anderson further claims that removing this protective layer is beneficial to health.[10] He explains that disorders and physiological entities that the medical community has identified as separate – i.e. amyloidosis, gastric metaplasia, hypertrophia, inflammatory bowel disease, intestinal lymphangiectasia, malacoplakia, mucin, mucoviscoidosis, polypus, villous adenoma – are, according to him, one and the same condition, which he names "mucoid plaque."[10]

Anderson claims that many anatomical studies[citation needed] mention well-known aspects of gastrointestinal physiology that unwittingly describe the purported condition "mucoid plaque". Among other things he cites a study limited to children with chronic diarrhea, which says "with increasing age, the mucus layer becomes more pronounced and widespread," to establish that the phenomenon is reported in pathological studies.[11]

[edit] Criticism

The major criticisms of the concept of mucoid plaque are that the supposed phenomenon has never been described in the scientific or medical literature[1][2][3] and that physicians have never encountered it in their patients.[4] A 2004 paper by Soergel, Tse and Slaughter on the relationship between lay and medical language uses "mucoid plaque" as an example of "non-credible concepts" used by healthcare consumers.[5] Edward Uthman, a practicing pathologist and Adjunct Professor of Pathology at the University of Texas School of Medicine, has said on the basis of having examined several thousand intestinal biopsies: "This is a complete fabrication with no anatomic basis."[4] Another practicing pathologist, Ed Friedlander of Brown University, states, "As a pathologist, I have opened hundreds of colons and never seen anything like 'toxic bowel settlement'." Furthermore, in reference to purported photos of expelled mucoid plaque, he writes, "Sites they have shared include one depicting what I recognize to be a blood clot."[6]

[edit] The John Wayne myth

Advertisements for some products marketed to cleanse the colon of mucoid plaque claim that an autopsy of John Wayne revealed that the actor had over 40 pounds of plaque or fecal material accumulated in his colon.[12][13] In fact, an autopsy was never performed on John Wayne.[14]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c PubMed query: "mucoid plaque". PubMed. National Library of Medicine, a search did not return any article using the term. Retrieved on 2007-02-14.
  2. ^ a b c Textbooks of Internal Medicine
  3. ^ a b Mucoid plaque, by New Life Health Care
  4. ^ a b c Mucoid Plaque. Edward Uthman, M.D. Accessed 21 Feb 2007.
  5. ^ a b Helping Healthcare Consumers Understand: An "Interpretive Layer" for Finding and Making Sense of Medical Information. MedInfo2004. IOS Press, Amsterdam. Retrieved on 2007-02-21.
  6. ^ a b Ed’s Guide to Alternative Therapies: Colonics. Ed Friedlander, M.D. Accessed 21 Feb 2007.
  7. ^ Colon Cleanse For the Removal Of Mucoid Plaque by Sandra Kim Leong, Article Creek, June 6, 2007
  8. ^ "Cold turkey: imagine spending Christmas at the world's toughest detox resort", by Hannah Borno. Published online by the Daily Mail. Accessed 21 Feb 2007.
  9. ^ Anderson, Richard. Cleanse & Purify Thyself Book Two. Christobe Publishing, 2000 page 59
  10. ^ a b Colon Plaque - Mucoid Plaque, by Richard Anderson, from his website cleanse.net. Accessed 21 Feb 2007.
  11. ^ Anderson, Richard. Cleanse & Purify Thyself Book One. Christobe Publishing, 2000 pages 36 and 38; for example, Anderson's book quotes a study which says "This layer of mucus, when adhering closely to the mucosal surface, probably functions as a barrier to membrane digestion and most likely also to absorption... where, with increasing age, the mucus layer becomes more pronounced and widespread... Furthermore, mucus on the mucosal surface inhibits contact of carbohydrates with disaccharidases, resulting in clinical intolerance of lactose or sucrose in the presence of normal disaccharidase activities." (Poley, J. Rainer. "The Scanning Electron Microscope: How Valuable In The Evaluation of Small Bowel Mucosal Pathology In Chronic Childhood Diarrhea?" Scanning Microscopy Vol. 5 No. 4 1991).
  12. ^ Colon Cleanse Kit (multiple item kit) -- Present Moment
  13. ^ Frequenty Asked Questions The Detox Lounge
  14. ^ Mikkelson, Barbara & Peter (2005-12-31). Meat your Maker. Snopes. Retrieved on 2008-01-14.