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Here are some comments from Experts about Macrobiotic diets:
Macrobiotics are not scientific:
"The explanation given for these effects concern energy, vibrations, and yin-yang balance, all abstract notions that cannot be measured or even detected." (Cassileth)
"Because this concept was developed without benefit of physiology, it is fanciful and far from accurate. It states, for example, that blood cells, which actually are produced in the bone marrow, are birthed by a `mother red blood cell' in the stomach." (Cassileth)
"There is no scientific evidence of any such benefit, and the diet itself can cause cancer patients to undergo serious weight loss." (Hafner)
"The macrobiotic diet does not conform to any accepted theory of nutritional support for cancer patients, nor has it been demonstrated by properly controlled experiments to be helpful in maintaining nutritional status among cancer patients." (CA 1993)
"It is impossible to evaluate the safety and adequacy of the macrobiotic diet in cancer treatment because relevant scientific data are lacking. Neither descriptive studies of the clinical progress of cancer patients following such a diet nor controlled trials of the diet in defined animal cancer models are available. Many of the patients reporting "miraculous" cures have received conventional medical therapy concurrently." (Bowman)
Kushi provides no scientific documentation to support his claim that the recovery of cancer patients who have undergone conventional therapy is hindered when treated macrobiotically, compared with patients who did not have conventional therapy. He advocates the avoidance of conventional cancer therapies, thus cancer patients could be needlessly discouraged from undergoing surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy. In January 1983, The ACS asked Mr. Kushi for documentation of his work and references to relevant publications. No reply had been received by June 1, 1983. (CA 1984)
"Macrobiotic `diagnostic techniques,' including iridology, or looking at a person's eyes to diagnose cancer and other diseases, appear to be less commonly accepted than they were a few decades ago. This is fortunate because in the past many sick people failed to have their illnesses properly diagnosed and they received proper treatment belatedly if at all, sometimes with fatal results. Also, some individuals were `diagnosed' with a cancer they did not really have, `cured', with macrobiotics, and presented publicly as evidence of the ability of macrobiotics to cure cancer. This kind of activity perpetuated an unfortunate cycle. Neither macrobiotics nor any other diet can cure cancer." (Cassileth)
"If eating certain foods evokes a desired closeness to nature or universal harmony, fine, but that is all one can expect from these ideas. They have no practical or therapeutic value." (Cassileth)
Macrobiotics are Dangerous to your health:
"Caution is crucial because the diet can be seriously deficient in particular nutrients. In the past five years, several studies of the macrobiotic diet have been reported in the peer-reviewed medical literature. ... Every study found serious deficiencies in infants and children who had been on macrobiotic diets. ... Researchers recommend that children on the macrobiotic diet receive dairy products and eggs to provide the missing nutritional components and produce a safer, balanced diet. Pregnant and breast-feeding women similarly should supplement their macrobiotic diets." (Cassileth)
"A population-based study on the nutritional status of children consuming macrobiotic diets was carried out in the Netherlands." Results showed that these children suffered "deficiencies of energy, protein, vitamin B12, vitamin D, calcium, and riboflavin, which led to retarded growth, fat and muscle wasting, and slower psychomotor development." (Dagnelie)
"Recent studies showed that Dutch children who were fed macrobiotic diets were smaller and weighed less than other children who eat normally. Infants on macrobiotic diets often develop rickets and have deficiencies of vitamin B, C and iron." (Hafner)
"The Council of Foods and Nutrition of the American Medical Association and the Committee on Nutrition of the American Academy of Pediatrics have roundly condemned the more restrictive of the macrobiotic diets for their nutritional inadequacies. Strict adherence to these diets could result in scurvy, anemia, hypoproteinemia, hypocalcemia, emaciation due to starvation, loss of kidney function due to reduced fluid intake, other forms of malnutrition, and even death." (CA 1984)
The Zen macrobiotics "has caused the deaths of at least 19 zealots during the 1960s." (Barrett)
Two surveys of the dietary intakes of macrobiotic children and adults have been published. Some of the results were as follows:
The diets are low in calories - most of the healthy adults reported having lost weight on the diet.
Several cases of protein-calorie malnutrition have been documented among infants and children who were fed strict macrobiotic diets.
An adult woman who had followed diet no. 7 for eight months had lost 35 pounds and on hospitalization was "near death with the classical manifestations of scurvy and severe folic acid and protein deficiency."
Several cases of nutritional rickets have been documented in macrobiotic children.
Intakes of riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B, and folate are below the recommended dietary allowances (RDA).
Calcium intakes in macrobiotic adults and children were 50-60% below the RDA.
Iron intakes of macrobiotic women and children averaged 62-84% of the RDA; those of the men exceeded the RDA. (Bowman)
The current "standard" macrobiotic diet consists of 50-60% whole cereal grains. Allergic reactions caused by eating cereals may cause gastrointestinal disturbance with vomiting, diarrhea and bloating, eczema, urticaria, angioedema, asthma or anaphylactic shock. Because of the high fibre content of the macrobiotic diet, there is a risk of complete obstruction in the presence of a narrowed intestinal lumen. (Bowman)
The Zen macrobiotics "has caused the deaths of at least 19 zealots during the 1960s." (Barrett)
Practice what you preach?
Macrobiotics Founder Dies of Cancer at 78
Aveline Kushi, a leader of the health food movement who helped found one of the nation's first natural food stores, has died following a lengthy battle with cancer. She was 78.
With her husband, Michio, the Japanese-born Kushi was a leading proponent of alternative medicine and of macrobiotics, the belief that eating a mostly vegetarian diet of organic grains and produce, affects far more than physical health.
Practitioners believe that eating meat and processed foods contributes to aggression and disharmony not only in individuals, but in whole societies, undermining prospects for world peace.
Kushi was diagnosed with cancer of the cervix about nine years ago.
In the early 1960s, the Kushis moved from New York to the Boston area, where they formed study groups to discuss diet and its effects on health and world peace.
The groups generated demand for natural and organic foods, and in 1966 Aveline Kushi opened Erewhon, a shop in Brookline named for a utopian novel by British philosopher Samuel Butler. She shortly afterward opened a branch in Los Angeles. She sold the company in 1983.
She was born in Yokota, Japan, and came to the United States in 1951.
In 1978, the couple founded the Kushi Institute, a school to teach macrobiotics. Thousands have attended the institute's courses and those offered by a sister school in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Massachusetts school moved to Becket, Mass., in 1990.
Christine Akbar, a Kushi family spokeswoman, said Aveline Kushi underwent traditional radiation therapy after learning she had cancer. When the cancer spread to her bones, she was told there was no other conventional treatment available, Akbar said. Kushi relied on acupuncture and other Eastern medicines and the cancer was in remission for several years.
Besides her husband, she is survived by four sons, 13 grandchildren and seven siblings. A daughter died of cancer in 1995.
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