British nutritionist Gillian McKeith, often criticized for claims that run contra to scientific consensus, is engaged in an entertaining catfight on twitter with Ben Goldacre of Bad Science fame.

The background: Goldacre and others mock the lady for presenting herself as a doctor, when her PhD was in fact awarded via 'distance learning' from a non-accredited college in the U.S. Her frequent inspection of human turds earned the notorious "Poo Lady" sobriquet. Though the U.K.'s Advertising Standards Authority made clear its dim view of "Dr. Gillian"-style marketing, whoever is at the controls of her twitter account isn't having any of it. Criticizing what has been desribed as a diploma mill is anti-American bigotry! And Goldacre is an ass:

gillianmckeith



@rachelemoody Is it that you don't like my Doctorate (PhD) because it's from America and you're discriminatory? USA knows how to educate too



9:56 AM Jul 8th via web in reply to rachelemoody

gillianmckeith



@rachelemoody Miss Anti-American: How sad a life to enjoy reading lies about another by an ass who makes money from pharmaceutical giants



10:22 AM Jul 8th via web in reply to rachelemoody

gillianmckeith



@rachelemoody So you believe if you tell a lie enough times it becomes fact. It doesn't honey! Your anti-American bigotry is too glaring. gx

bengoldacre



@gillianmckeith which bit is "lies"? very happy to do an unedited podcast chat and discuss the criticisms i've made, if you have concerns.

bengoldacre



@gillianmckeith has protected her tweets. that was quick. lucky i have them archived them in full online here… http://bit.ly/bfng7u

bengoldacre



The unaccredited correspondence course college which gave Dr Gillian McKeith PhD her PhD: has finally closed http://dlvr.it/2b2mv

bengoldacre



Since Gillian McKeith has unwisely said my book is "lies" on Twitter: here's a reminder of my concerns about her work http://dlvr.it/2bSFr

At about this point, the @gillianmckeith account switches to third-person and twittered smacktalk starts disappearing from it. (But screengrab.)

gillianmckeith



What's with all these tweeters talking against the Gillian PhD. Isn't that so last decade?! http://bit.ly/9p6duf

That accomplished, an apparent denial that the account is Gillian's follows:

gillianmckeith



Do you actually believe this is real twitter site for the GM? http://bit.ly/aPXQzo

bengoldacre



sigh @gillianmckeith is the GM account linked to from gillianmckeith.info this is now a full scale newsworthy PR #fail

bengoldacre



haha that was quick. gillian mckeith has now removed all links to twitter from gillianmckeith.info . this is frantic.

But … it's only been commented out in the code.

And then there's this from just a few weeks ago:

A defender of Dr. McKeith, PhD., suggests she's been hacked. The simultaneous website edits suggest otherwise.