It’s been a while since we last heard from Dr. Mark Hyman, the hypocritical doctor who openly sells a product filled with the same chemicals he falsely claims causes cancer. Actually, he’s selling two such products. Well, OK, there are over a half dozen. But I digress.

Today, I’d like to talk to you about Hyman and sweeteners. Dr. Mark has the following to say about one of my favorites, xylitol:

“Whatever you do, stay away from artificial sweeteners. I recommend giving up aspartame, sucralose, sugar alcohols such as xylitol and maltitol, and all of the other heavily used and marketed sweeteners unless you want to slow down your metabolism, gain weight, and become an addict.” (emphasis mine)–Dr. Mark Hyman1

Good Lord! According to Hyman, xylitol is responsible for increased risk of obesity, rewiring your brain chemistry and metabolism, and is highly addictive.1 Sounds pretty dangerous! Something you’d especially want to keep away from children, right?

Friends, cast your eyes on Herr Hyman’s “Pure Pals” children’s vitamin supplement, and its list of ingredients:2

Wait a minute, that’s xylitol in them thar pills!2 Doctor (and I feel embarrassed to use that word) Hyman recommends one gram of xylitol per day for children aged 2-3, and two grams per day for those aged 4 and up.2 Remember, this is the sugar substitute that’s supposed to be highly addictive, increase obesity, and rewire your children’s brain chemistry. Yet the man making these claims wants to feed it to your children daily, at a cost of $27.60 per bottle.

To put this into context, let’s look at how xylitol is used in some well known candy products, and compare it to Hyman’s recommended daily dosing for a four year old child. A publication produced by Augusta University’s Dental College of Georgia3 reveals ten times less xylitol (0.2 grams per piece) in a piece of Mentos Pure candy, 132% less in Icebreakers Frost Mints (0.33 grams per mint), and less than 50% in Spry Gum (0.72gm/piece).3

But, what should one do upon finding any of these candies in the kitchen of their home? According to the good doctor: throw them out immediately!4 I kid you not. Read Hyman’s polemic “Four Steps To Detoxify Your Kitchen“4 lest you think I exaggerate.

Another delicious piece in this Pie of Irony is that xylitol is a naturally occurring compound, so Hyman’s use of the word “artificial” is rather disingenuous. According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine’s PubChem database:

“Xylitol is naturally found in many fruits (strawberries, plums, raspberries) and vegetables (e. g. cauliflower).” –Extracted from PubChem Detail for CID 69125

According to PubChem, xylitol can be produced industrially starting with, for example, a variety of natural sources, including almond hulls and birch bark,5 but it’s important to remember that everything is a chemical, so “artificial” and “natural” are just arbitrary labels.

For the record, this isn’t the first time Dr. Hyman has been caught selling xylitol in his products6 but, as I pointed out in this meme when I caught him red handed three years ago, none of his lemming-like followers seem inclined to read the man’s own product labels:

Ironically, the PurePals vitamin product is manufactured by Pure Encapsulations, the same company that makes Neuromins, another Hyman product that contains chemicals the doctor hypocritically and falsely links to cancer.7 Why would a doctor claim his own product causes cancer? Because once the man says “hello, I’m a doctor,” people stop paying attention, bend over, grease up, and proceed to get screwed.

What do we make of all this hypocrisy, then? Perhaps we should take Mark Hyman’s advice and simply throw his Pure Pals product in the garbage:

“Throw out food with artificial sweeteners of all kinds (aspartame, NutraSweet, Splenda, sucralose, and sugar alcohols — any word that ends with “ol,” like xylitol or sorbitol)” –Dr. Mark Hyman4

References

(1) Why You Should Ditch Artificial Sweeteners

Warning: not a scholarly link

http://drhyman.com/blog/2015/12/02/why-you-should-ditch-artificial-sweeteners/

Retrieved 29 Dec 2017

(2) Pure Encapsulations “Pure Pals” Children’s Supplement

https://store.drhyman.com/supplements-1/purepals-formally-pure-bears-without-iron.html

Retrieved 29 Dec 2017

(3) Xylitol Products

Augusta University’s Dental College of Georgia

https://www.augusta.edu/dentalmedicine/axium/documents/xylitol-products2.pdf

Retrieved 29 Dec 2017

(4) Four Steps To Detoxify Your Kitchen

Warning: not a scholarly link

http://drhyman.com/blog/2015/01/22/4-steps-detoxify-kitchen/

Retrieved 29 Dec 2017

(5) U.S. National Library of Medicine PubChem Database: Xylitol (CID 6912)

https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/6912#section=Top

Retrieved 29 Dec 2017

(6) Xylitol, Warrior Princess

https://badscidebunked.wordpress.com/2015/11/23/xylitol-warrior-princess-mark-hyman-debunked/

Retrieved 29 Dec 2017

(7) Trick or Tweet: Dr. Mark Hyman Exposed

https://badscidebunked.wordpress.com/2015/09/10/trick-or-tweet-dr-mark-hyman-exposed/

Retrieved 29 Dec 2017

Image Credits

Mark Hyman imagery and Pure Encapsulation screen snapshots and product image captures are used in strict compliance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of United States copyright law (commonly known as “fair use law”). This material is distributed without profit with the intent to provide commentary, review, education, parody, and increase public health knowledge.

Ice Cream Truck/Candy Man parody image by the author, also produced and used under the parody provisions of Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of United States copyright law (commonly known as “fair use law”). This material is distributed without profit with the intent to provide commentary, review, education, parody, and increase public health knowledge.