Robert O Young

Background

Young's website states he attended the University of Utah on a tennis scholarship and studied biology and business in the early 1970s. He did not graduate. He then performed missionary work for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for two years in London. Young received multiple degrees from Clayton College of Natural Health (formerly American College of Holistic Nutrition), which is not accredited by any agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Young's degrees include a Master of Science in nutrition (1993), a D.Sc. with emphasis in chemistry and biology (1995), a Ph.D. (1997) and an N.D. (Doctor of Naturopathy, 1999). The prosecution at his 2016 trial said his doctorate was purchased from a "diploma mill", and it was pointed out that he had gone from a bachelor's to a doctor's degree in eight months.

Young has residences in Alpine, Utah and Rancho Del Sol, an avocado and grapefruit ranch in Valley Center, California, with his wife, Shelley Redford Young.

Published books

Young has authored a series of books and videos titled The pH Miracle (2002), The pH Miracle for Diabetes (2004), The pH Miracle for Weight Loss (2005), and "The pH Miracle Revised" (2010). Other books he has authored include Herbal Nutritional Medications (1988), One Sickness, One Disease, One Treatment (1992), Sick and Tired (1995), Back to the House of Health (1999), and Back to the House of Health 2 (2003).

Work

Young promotes an alkaline diet based on notions that are not compatible with the scientific understandings of nutrition and disease. He claims that health depends primarily on proper balance between an alkaline and acid environment in the human body, and that an acid environment causes cancer, obesity, osteoporosis, yeast overgrowth, flu, skin disorders, and other diseases. Young writes about pleomorphism, a school of thought which was prominent in late-19th-century microbiology but one that has been proven wrong since the development of germ theory. Young's fundamental claim is that the human body is alkaline by design and acidic by function, and that there is only one disease (acidosis) and one treatment (an alkaline diet).

Young's books recommend a low-stress lifestyle and a high-water-content, high-chlorophyll, plant-based diet. He recommends moderate intake of high-carbohydrate vegetables, some grains, and fresh fish. Young recommends abstaining from "acidic" foods—sugar, red meat, shellfish, eggs, dairy, processed and refined foods, stored grains, artificial sweeteners, alcohol, coffee, chocolate, and sodas—because he believes that such foods overload the body with acidity and cause disease. Young claims that disorders such as weight gain, water retention, high cholesterol, kidney stones, and tumors are all life-saving mechanisms for dealing with excess acidity in the body.

Research supporting alkaline diets, like that promoted by Young, is limited to in vitro and animal studies. A number of recent systematic reviews and meta-analyses in the medical literature have concluded that there is no evidence that alkaline diets are beneficial to humans.

According to a book review by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, some aspects of his diet, such as the emphasis on eating green leafy vegetables and exercise, would likely be healthy; however, the diet overall "is not a healthy way to lose weight." Quackwatch describes Young's claims to be a distinguished researcher as "preposterous", notes that his credentials come mainly from unaccredited schools, and characterizes his ideas as "fanciful".

Nutritional microscopy

Young bases some of his theories, research, and written works on the alternative medical approach of live blood analysis. Young teaches microscopy courses in which he trains people to perform live blood analysis as well as dry blood analysis. Young has stated that he teaches live blood analysis solely for research and educational purposes, and not for use in diagnosing medical conditions, which the San Diego Union-Tribune characterizes as "a legal distinction that some might find elusive in practice".

Live blood analysis is used by alternative medical practitioners, who claim it to be a valuable qualitative assessment of a person's state of health. Live blood analysis lacks scientific foundation, and has been described as a fraudulent means of convincing patients to buy dietary supplements and as a medically useless "money-making scheme". Live blood analysis has been described by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as an "unestablished laboratory test", or test that is not generally accepted in laboratory medicine.

Legal issues

In 1995, Young allegedly drew blood from two women, told them they were ill, and then sold them herbal products to treat these illnesses. He was charged with two third-degree felony counts of practicing medicine without a license, but pled guilty to a reduced misdemeanor charge. Young argued that he had never claimed to be a medical doctor, that the women had entrapped him by asking to be part of his research, and that he "looked at the women's blood and simply gave them some nutritional advice."

In 2001, Young was again charged with a felony in Utah, after a cancer patient alleged that Young told her to stop chemotherapy and to substitute one of his products to treat her cancer. Subsequently, when an undercover agent visited Young, he allegedly analyzed her blood and prescribed a liquid diet. The case was taken to preliminary trial, but charges were dropped after the prosecutor stated that he could not find enough people who felt cheated by Young. Young dismissed the arrests as "harassment" and stated that he moved to California because the legal climate there was more tolerant. On May 12, 2011 Quackwatch published a critical analysis of Young's qualifications and practices.

In 2014 Young was arrested in San Diego and received 18 felony charges relating to practising medicine without a license, and of theft. According to the Medical Board of California's press release chronically ill patients were paying Young up to $50,000 for his treatments. His trial started in Vista Superior Court in November 2015. In February 2016, jurors found Young guilty of two counts of practicing medicine without a license. As of January 2017 he was facing a three-year jail sentence and was also to be retried on six charges of fraud, after a jury deadlocked 8-4. He got sentenced at the end of June 2017.

Kim Tinkham

In 2007, Kim Tinkham, diagnosed with stage three breast cancer, adopted Young's protocols before appearing on The Oprah Winfrey Show. She enthusiastically promoted them on her website "cancerangel.org". A 2008 press release from Young contained her assertion that she was "cancer free by all medical terms" as diagnosed by her own doctors. Young was criticized following Tinkham's death from cancer on December 7, 2010.