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Robert Barefoot. (Click to viewhis Coral Calcium infomercial.)
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Beat Cancer the Barefoot WayBy Terry Dunkle, DietPower Founder and Editor-in-Chief
Reprinted from the June 2003 issue of DietPower's newsletter, Piping Hot
If you watch TV, you've probably seen one of the
top infomercials in recent years, an interview
with Robert Barefoot about his book, The Calcium
Factor. Barefoot, who describes himself as a
scientist, says cancer can be prevented or reversed
with calcium supplements. This is true, he says,
because lots of people in Okinawa live to be 100
and "never get sick," and for centuries they've been
sprinkling their food with the world's best form of the
mineral: coral calcium.
In fact, says Barefoot, calcium from Okinawan coral works against more than 200
degenerative maladies. "We can wipe out 90 percent of the disease in America in two
years," he says, including "heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer's—you name it." He
says he's personally seen people "get out of wheelchairs with multiple sclerosis just
by getting on the coral." Coral calcium, he declares, "will become the nutrient of the
21st century."
If sales are any indication, this may be true. Calcium already accounts for a large
fraction of the $18-billion supplement market. The term "coral calcium" yields 116,000
hits on Google—half of them sites actually retailing the product. (Typical price: $30 to
$40 a month, versus $1 for ordinary calcium.) Many sellers claim that their brand has
been formulated by Barefoot. His name shows up on Google 58,000 times.
Not everyone agrees with Barefoot. Last month, the Council for Responsible Nutrition
(CRN), a trade group representing 70 large supplement companies, urged the
Federal Trade Commission and the Food and Drug Administration to "end Mr.
Barefoot's highly visible and deceptive marketing campaign for coral calcium, and toprevent Mr. Barefoot from further fraudulent activities."
Is CRN just jealous? Is coral calcium really special? Who's making the big bucks
here? Is any of this illegal? To find out, we checked the scientific evidence, consulted
legal and regulatory sources, and spent an hour on the phone with Barefoot—a rare
accomplishment because he seems to be ducking the press lately. "My business
manager told me not to talk to you," he said from his headquarters in Arizona.
Let's begin with Barefoot's scientific claims, then move on to the legal and financial.
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Scientific Claims
(Except where otherwise noted, Barefoot makes all of these assertions in "A Closer
Look: The Calcium Factor," the infomercial in which he is interviewed by Kevin
Trudeau. It has aired on many cable channels.)
1. Calcium is enormously important to health.
True. Calcium is the most abundant mineral in the body, comprising 2 percent of the
average adult's weight. Although it's known chiefly as a building block for bones and
teeth, it also plays a role in blood clotting, muscle contraction, nerve transmission,
and chemical regulation of hundreds of other processes.
2. Most people don't get enough calcium.
True, but they're not "totally deficient," as Barefoot often claims. In 1994 the U.S.
Department of Agriculture pegged the median intake at 865 milligrams for men and
625 milligrams for women. That's lower than the adult Recommended Dietary
Allowance—1000 milligrams through age 50 and 1200 milligrams thereafter—but
when your intake falls a bit short, your body cleverly absorbs a higher percentage of the calcium that you do get, minimizing the problem.
If your intake is severely deficient, however, your body begins borrowing the calcium
stored in your bones. Long-term borrowing can lead to osteoporosis and eventually
"dowager's hump," hip fracture, and premature death.
Osteoporosis is by far the most prevalent calcium-related disease, yet Barefoot never
discusses it in the infomercial—nor did he mention it on the phone with me.
3. Okinawans live longer than Americans.
True, but residents of this Japanese archipelago do not live to 140, as Barefoot has
claimed. (France boasts the oldest well documented age ever achieved: 122, by
Jeanne Louise Calment.) In 1996, average life expectancy in Okinawa was 82,
versus 73 in the United States.
4. Okinawans almost never get cancer.
False. Their cancer rate is lower than ours—but they do get the disease.
Squamous-cell lung cancer, for example, is several times more prevalent in Okinawa
than on the Japanese mainland. Gerontologists attribute the longevity of Okinawans
to a happy combination of diet, exercise, clean environment, good medical care, and a
laid-back lifestyle.
5. Cancer is caused by an oxygen shortage in the cells.
False. Barefoot claims that German scientist Otto Heinrich Warburg (1883-1970) won
two Nobel prizes for proving this in the 1930s and 40s. In fact, Warburg earned his
medals for unraveling the chemistry of cellular energy supply. He believed that cancer
involved an oxygen shortage, but research has since proven him wrong.
6. The shortage happens because your body is too acidic.
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mineral. Coral calcium, he says, is essentially calcium carbonate—the same stuff
used in supplements. "It is no more available to the body than other forms of calcium,"
he says.
When we pressed Barefoot on his total-absorption claim, he said, "Well, the reality is,
it's up to 100 percent. We've documented over 70 percent. And it's absorbed within 20
minutes."
"Totally wrong," said Dr. Heaney when we described this. "They haven't actually
measured the absorption. I don't know of anyone who's done that for coral—at least
not accurately. What they mean is that in 20 minutes, 70 percent of the calcium is
dissolved. That doesn't mean the body's actually absorbed it." He said that in assays
that he's done for fruit-juice companies, some of the best-dissolving calcium turned
out to be the worst-absorbed.
11. Coral calcium also provides important trace minerals.
True, but you probably don't need them. Barefoot makes much of the fact that coral
calcium also contains "yttrium, germanium, and 100 other trace minerals." Most
nutrition experts feel that people get enough of these from their food. (There is noRecommended Dietary Allowance for yttrium or germanium. Yttrium is used chiefly for
strengthening aluminum alloys; germanium for manufacturing computer chips.)
Some of the minerals in coral may even be dangerous. A few years ago, health
authorities discovered that calcium supplements made from dolomite (a rock similar to
limestone) contained lead. Coral-calcium sellers often insist that their products are
tested for lead, but so far we haven't seen any independent tests.
12. Coral calcium provides valuable organisms, too.
False. Barefoot says that the marine microbes in coral calcium take up residence inyour intestines and help to break down your food. "When you eat the coral calcium,
these critters go to work and all of a sudden you take in ten times as much nutrition,"
he told us.
It's true that human digestion is aided by intestinal bacteria, but a) they can't produce
a tenfold improvement (if they did, you'd be overdosed on a lot of nutrients), and b)
the bacteria in your intestines evolved in warm-blooded animals and differ greatly
from marine bacteria. Many of the "critters" in coral calcium probably wouldn't survive
the trip through your stomach. Or if they did, they might harm you—especially if you're
allergic to shellfish.
When we described all of these natural "extras" in coral calcium to Dr. Heaney, he
commented, "You know, there's a name for that stuff. It's called dirt."
13. Cholesterol doesn't cause heart disease; acidosis does.
False. Barefoot claims that cholesterol is just the "goop" that your body uses to seal
"holes that the acid eats in your artery walls." It's true that homocysteine, an amino
acid, may damage artery linings if blood levels get too high, but a) it doesn't "eat
holes" in them (amino acids aren't that powerful), b) high levels may occur only in rare
individuals who've inherited a 1-in-100 gene from both parents, and c) homocysteine's
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role in heart disease is too poorly understood to make such a sweeping
generalization. Most cardiologists would laugh at it.
14. The AMA Journal says calcium supplements prevent cancer.
This is a classic Barefoot exaggeration. His exact words (taken from the infomercial):
"The Journal of the American Medical Association—this year—quoted the Strang
Cancer Research Institute and said that calcium supplements reverse cancer. That's
a quote from the Journal of the AMA. And they quoted how much: they said 1500
milligrams a day is enough to reverse colon cancer. And they said other cancers will
grow back to normal."
Now here's what the Strang study actually said: People who have polyps (sometimes
a precursor to colon cancer) often show abnormally rapid cell growth in their intestinal
linings. When such people were given enough low-fat dairy products to increase their
calcium intake to the Recommended Dietary Allowance of 1200 milligrams per day,
the cell growth changed "toward normal." The study did not use calcium supplements,
nor did it prove that calcium could "reverse" an existing cancer.
15. Taking calcium will make a diet 10 times more likely to succeed.
False. Barefoot made this claim during our phone conversation. When you reduce
your calorie intake, he said, "this lack of nutrients makes you crave food," and taking
calcium cuts the craving by replacing the nutrients.
If "lack of nutrients" really caused food craving, the best solution might be a multi-
vitamin-and-mineral supplement, not a calcium pill. Furthermore, if calcium really
improved weight-loss success by 1000 percent, the news would be running on the
ticker in Times Square.
16. Robert Barefoot is qualified to interpret medical studies.
We don't think so.
Although Barefoot calls himself a scientist, he doesn't have a bachelor's degree in
science—or in any other field. A native of Edmonton, Alberta, he completed a
three-year certificate in chemical research technology at the Northern Alberta Institute
of Technology in 1967. The school seems to specialize in vocational-technical
training—welding, auto-body repair, and the like. According to its website, chemical
engineering technology "deals with the processing of oil, natural gas, and bitumen
into final products such as motor gasoline." Later, Barefoot had a year's training in
geochemistry and worked in the mining and petroleum industries. He holds a patent
on an electrostatic method of extracting metals from ore. But he has no formal
education in organic chemistry or human biochemistry.
Barefoot also seems to lack familiarity with basic medical terms. In both the
infomercial and our telephone conversation, for example, he referred to the pineal
gland as the "penal gland" and the hypothalamus as the "hypothymus." No one who
has read much about these parts of the brain or discussed them with experts should
be mispronouncing their names. (We also wonder about a guy who says "pitcher"
instead of "picture.")
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Similarly, the footnotes in Barefoot's book seem to give equal credence to
peer-reviewed medical studies, magazine articles, and publications by notorious
cancer quacks—including Max Gerson, who treated patients with coffee enemas, and
Mary Ruth Swope, M.D., who sold them powdered grass.
(Barefoot's book does have a medical co-author: the late Carl M. Reich, M.D., who,
according to Barefoot, treated many cancer patients with calcium. Reich's medical
license was revoked by the Alberta College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1986.)
Finally, Barefoot does not reason like a scientist. Instead of considering all the
evidence on a question, he seems to select only the facts that support his
preconceptions. In addition, he frequently misinterprets the facts in convenient ways.
That's not a scientist; it's a salesman.
Financial and Legal Claims
1. Barefoot isn't making a lot of money from Coral Calcium.
He says he isn't.
"People think, 'You must be making a killing from that infomercial,'" Barefoot told us,
"but I'm not. Kevin Trudeau has made hundreds of millions of dollars from coral
calcium. I've been paid less than one percent of that—and I've had to use it all for
lawyers and taxes. Last month alone, I paid one lawyer $140,000."
Kevin Trudeau is the man who interviews Barefoot in the infomercial. He's not a
journalist—he's a marketer who specializes in infomercials that masquerade as talk
shows. (Sometimes he plays the host, sometimes the guest.)
In his video with Barefoot, T rudeau gives an 800 number that sells coral calcium—not
Barefoot's book. Nevertheless, says Barefoot, "there's lots of ways to make money."
His own company, Deonna Enterprises, "is selling The Calcium Factor all over the
world. It's being translated into Russian—they've invited me to Moscow. And the
Chinese—they love Bob Barefoot, and they love coral calcium, too."
In recent months, The Calcium Factor has ranked among the top 500 books sold by
Amazon.com. When we ask Barefoot how many copies were in print, he answered,
"'Hard to say. There's a group in Canada mass-producing and pumping it illegally into
the U.S. I have a lawsuit against them. Oh, it's a hot seller."
2. Barefoot isn't doing anything unlawful.
You be the judge.
First, look at the company he keeps. Kevin Trudeau is not just a marketer; he's a
convicted felon. In the early 1990s he served time in a federal penitentiary for
credit-card fraud. He also pleaded guilty to state charges for depositing $80,000 in
worthless checks at a bank in Massachusetts. And in 1998 he paid $500,000 in a
consent agreement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for making false
advertising claims in infomercials.
(When we asked Barefoot whether he knew about Trudeau's criminal history before
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agreeing to do the infomercial, he replied, "I didn't meet him until five minutes before
the shooting.")
Lately, however, Barefoot and Trudeau seem to be having a falling out. Barefoot told
me that he had filed suit against Trudeau to pull the latest infomercial off the air "for
being noncompliant. I want them to change some words so they'll be compliant." He
explained that he was concerned about "things people at the Washington Post have
been telling me." The Post ran a story the month before my interview implying that
Trudeau's infomercial might now be under FTC scrutiny. Barefoot told me that
Trudeau had "finally agreed to reshoot the show." (We have not yet confirmed this
with Trudeau—he hasn't responded to repeated requests for an interview.)
After our phone conversation with Barefoot, we put the question of legality before
Stephen Barrett, M.D., a retired psychiatrist in Philadelphia who runs a nonprofit
website called Quackwatch and is vice president of the National Council Against
Health Fraud. Dr. Barrett has helped the Council file many suits against firms selling
questionable products. For coral calcium, he said, "it depends on what is being sold
and who owns it."
Barefoot's books, tapes, and speeches are protected by the First Amendment, of course. But if he is selling coral calcium itself, he could be prosecuted for "marketing
an unapproved drug," said Dr. Barrett. Reason: supplements are perfectly legal when
sold without therapeutic claims. But when a supplement is claimed to prevent or cure
a disease, it is legally considered a drug and can't be sold until it is approved as "safe
and effective" by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
In the infomercial, Barefoot clearly argues that coral calcium cures cancer and
prevents a host of other diseases. "Under federal law," Dr. Barrett explained, "those
are drug claims."
Trudeau, on the other hand, makes no claims in the infomercial—in fact, he displaysgreat skepticism. "But that's just your opinion!" he objects at one point, and at
another, "Well, then, how come doctors aren't telling their patients?" Trudeau may be
professing doubt in order to enhance the pitch's credibility. ("While thinking they're
watching actual programming," he told Brill's Content in 1999, "viewers allow
themselves to be persuaded. That's what we want to do. That's our idea. We don't
want to look like an infomercial.") But he may also be trying to side-step his $500,000
agreement with the FTC, which promised he would no longer make unsubstantiated
claims in infomercials.
Something devilishly clever seems to be going on here. Barefoot is making the drug
claims, but Trudeau is selling the coral. Unless there's a financial connection between
the two parties, it would seem that, legally speaking, neither is "marketing an
unapproved drug."
But is there a connection? To find out, I phoned 800-987-8181, the number that
appears at the end of the infomercial. As expected, I got Trudeau's company, Shop
America. After a message saying that my call might be monitored or recorded, a live
operator came on the line. (I know her real name, but let's call her Jill.) She said yes,
she could sell me coral calcium.
"But if I buy it from you, will my purchase benefit Mr. Barefoot?" I asked. I told Jill I had
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seen the TV show and thought Mr. Barefoot was performing a wonderful service to
America. "Does Mr. Barefoot own Shop America? Is he the company president, or
something?"
Jill said no, she thought the president was Mr. Trudeau. "But Mr. Barefoot is—well, let
me check for you," she said. The line went silent for nearly a minute. Then she came
back and said, "Sir? Yes, Mr. Barefoot actually makes the product for us. He puts in
all the ingredients, and then he gives us authorization so we can sell it under his
name. So yes, he will benefit."
Jill also said that coral calcium was selling "so fast we can't keep up with the orders.
We've had to add a whole department, just to handle the calls."
"A whole department? You mean, like, a hundred people?" I asked.
"Yes—and we still can't keep up."
I told her I had to go just then, but might call back later to place an order.
In Dr. Barrett's judgment, even if Barefoot doesn't have an ownership position in ShopAmerica, he might be prosecuted for "conspiracy to defraud the FDA" if he receives a
royalty or commission from sales of coral calcium. Barefoot's remark that he was "paid
less than one percent" of Trudeau's take, along with Jill's description of Barefoot's
relationship with Shop America, makes me wonder.
At the end of our phone talk, Barefoot was in a jovial mood. "My secretary's in here
holding up a pitcher of me behind bars," he said. "She says that's where I'm going
because of this interview!"
Stay tuned.
To comment on this article, click here.
NEWS UPDATE
On June 10, 2003—five days after we published this story—the Federal Trade
Commission (FTC) formally charged Robert Barefoot, Kevin Trudeau, and their
companies with making false and unsubstantiated claims about the health benefits
of coral calcium. The agency said it will ask a federal court to freeze the assets of
both parties and order restitution to consumers who purchased their product, Coral
Calcium Supreme. In addition, the FTC and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
sent warning letters to websites that sell coral calcium. Click for details.
On the same day, ConsumerLab announced that tests of Coral Calcium Supreme
revealed 2.5 micrograms of lead per gram. This isn't enough to pose a health threat,
except perhaps to a developing child when taken by a woman who is pregnant or
breastfeeding. But it does exceed the 1.5-microgram level that requires a warning
label in California. (The product has no such label.) Click for details.
In January 2004, shortly before going to trial on the FTC charges, Robert Barefoot
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agreed to a permanent injunction against making claims that Coral Calcium can
cure cancer, heart disease, and other serious maladies. He also agreed to recall any
product packaging that makes such claims, notify distributors about the FTC action,
and forfeit al l of his royalties from the Coral Calcium infomercial.
As for Kevin Trudeau, in September 2004 he agreed to pay $2 million to settle
charges of false medical claims—not only for coral calcium, but also for Biotape, a
product said to relieve severe pain. The settlement banned him from appearing in,
producing, or disseminating infomercials that advertise any product, service, or
program and from claiming that any product, program, or service can cure, treat, or
prevent any disease or provide health benefits.
There was only one hitch: The ban exempts infomercials for books, newsletters, and
other "informational publications." And so today, Trudeau is back on TV with another
phony talk show pushing a $19.95 book, The Weight Loss Cure "They" Don't Want
You to Know About, whose claims are as absurd as those made for Coral Calcium.
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