Mucoid plaque 1304321 219926322 2008-06-17T14:12:15Z Nescio 343981 [[WP:UNDO|Undid]] revision 219799462 by [[Special:Contributions/74.37.162.144|74.37.162.144]] ([[User talk:74.37.162.144|talk]]) accurate, but too much editorial '''Mucoid plaque''' or '''mucoid rope''' is a term coined by Richard Anderson, a [[naturopathic physician|naturopath]] and [[entrepreneur]], describing a harmful coating of [[mucus]]-like material which Anderson claims exists in the [[gastrointestinal tract]]s of most people. [[Medical literature]] has never reported the existence of any harmful gastrointestinal coating corresponding to "mucoid plaque" among the [[general public]].<ref name="pubmed">{{Cite web | url=http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=search&db=pubmed&term=%22mucoid+plaque%22 | title=PubMed query: "mucoid plaque" | work=PubMed | publisher=National Library of Medicine, a search did not return any article using the term | accessdate=2007-02-14}}</ref><ref name="textbooks">Textbooks of Internal Medicine *[http://www.cecilmedicine.com/buy.cfm?book=goldman Cecil Textbook of Medicine] *[http://books.mcgraw-hill.com/getbook.php?isbn=0071391401 Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine] *[http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Medicine/PrimaryCare/?ci=0192629220&view=usa The Oxford Textbook of Medicine]</ref><ref name="New Life Health Care">[http://www.newlifehealthcare.co.uk/blog/mucoid-plaque.php? Mucoid plaque], by New Life Health Care</ref> It has been described by [[physician]]s and researchers as "a complete fabrication without any anatomical basis",<ref name="Uthman">[http://www.quackwatch.org/04ConsumerEducation/QA/mucoidplaque.html Mucoid Plaque.] Edward Uthman, M.D. Accessed 21 Feb 2007.</ref> a "non-credible concept",<ref name="bjmu">{{Cite web | url=http://cmbi.bjmu.edu.cn/news/report/2004/medinfo2004/pdffiles/papers/5509Soergel.pdf | title=Helping Healthcare Consumers Understand: An "Interpretive Layer" for Finding and Making Sense of Medical Information | work=MedInfo2004 | publisher=IOS Press, Amsterdam | accessdate=2007-02-21}}</ref> and "a bold lie".<ref name="Friedlander">[http://www.pathguy.com/altermed.htm#colonic Ed’s Guide to Alternative Therapies: Colonics.] Ed Friedlander, M.D. Accessed 21 Feb 2007.</ref> Despite the absence of [[scientific evidence]],<ref name="pubmed"/><ref name="textbooks"/><ref>[http://www.articlecreek.com/articledetail.php?artid=21721&catid=75&title=Colon+Cleanse+For+the+Removal+Of+Mucoid+Plaque Colon Cleanse For the Removal Of Mucoid Plaque] by Sandra Kim Leong, [[Article Creek]], June 6, 2007</ref> mucoid plaque is discussed outside the medical community, especially within [[holistic health]] circles and in [[anecdotal evidence|anecdotal]] accounts of [[Enema#In alternative medicine|colon hydrotherapy]] procedures.<ref>[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=425286&in_page_id=1879 "Cold turkey: imagine spending Christmas at the world's toughest detox resort"], by Hannah Borno. Published online by the ''[[Daily Mail]]''. Accessed 21 Feb 2007.</ref> == Background == The term "mucoid plaque" was [[neologism|coined]] by Richard Anderson, a naturopath and entrepreneur whose products purport to remove mucoid plaque. Anderson explains that it is a term he coined to describe a "gel-like, viscous and slimy mucus that forms as a layer or layers covering epithelium cells in various hollow organs, especially all the organs of the alimentary canal."<ref>Anderson, Richard. ''Cleanse & Purify Thyself Book Two''. Christobe Publishing, 2000 page 59</ref> Anderson claims that mucoid plaque is created when the body produces [[mucus]] to protect itself from potentially toxic substances. Anderson further claims that mucoid plaque acts as a health threat by reducing the absorption of nutrients, impairing digestion, causing sugar intolerance, providing a haven for [[parasite|parasitic microorganisms]], promoting the development of [[cancer]], causing skin conditions and [[allergy|allergies]], and reducing bowel transit time <!-- speaks for itself /xav-->. Anderson further claims that removing this protective layer is beneficial to health.<ref name="anderson">[http://www.cleanse.net/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=21 Colon Plaque - Mucoid Plaque], by Richard Anderson, from his website cleanse.net. Accessed 21 Feb 2007.</ref> He explains that disorders and physiological entities that the medical community has identified as separate &ndash; i.e. [[amyloidosis]], gastric [[metaplasia]], [[hypertrophia]], [[inflammatory bowel disease]], intestinal [[lymphangiectasia]], [[malacoplakia]], [[mucin]], [[mucoviscoidosis]], [[polypus]], [[villous adenoma]] &ndash; are, according to him, one and the same condition, which he names "mucoid plaque."<ref name="anderson"/> Anderson claims that many anatomical studies{{Fact|date=January 2008}} mention well-known aspects of gastrointestinal [[physiology]] that unwittingly describe the purported condition "mucoid plaque". Among other things he cites a study [[selection bias|limited to]] children with chronic diarrhea, which says "with increasing age, the mucus layer becomes more pronounced and widespread," to establish that the phenomenon is reported in pathological studies.<ref>Anderson, Richard. ''Cleanse & Purify Thyself Book One''. Christobe Publishing, 2000 pages 36 and 38; for example, Anderson's book quotes a study which says "This layer of mucus, when adhering closely to the mucosal surface, probably functions as a barrier to membrane digestion and most likely also to absorption... where, with increasing age, the mucus layer becomes more pronounced and widespread... Furthermore, mucus on the mucosal surface inhibits contact of carbohydrates with disaccharidases, resulting in clinical intolerance of lactose or sucrose in the presence of normal disaccharidase activities." (Poley, J. Rainer. "The Scanning Electron Microscope: How Valuable In The Evaluation of Small Bowel Mucosal Pathology In Chronic Childhood Diarrhea?" ''Scanning Microscopy'' Vol. 5 No. 4 1991).</ref> == Criticism == The major criticisms of the concept of mucoid plaque are that the supposed phenomenon has never been described in the scientific or medical literature<ref name="pubmed"/><ref name="textbooks"/><ref name="New Life Health Care"/> and that physicians have never encountered it in their patients.<ref name="Uthman"/> A 2004 paper by Soergel, Tse and Slaughter on the relationship between lay and medical language uses "mucoid plaque" as an example of "non-credible concepts" used by healthcare consumers.<ref name="bjmu"/> Edward Uthman, a practicing [[pathologist]] and Adjunct Professor of Pathology at the [[University of Texas System|University of Texas]] School of Medicine, has said on the basis of having examined several thousand intestinal biopsies: "This is a complete fabrication with no anatomic basis."<ref name="Uthman"/> Another practicing pathologist, Ed Friedlander of [[Brown University]], states, "As a pathologist, I have opened hundreds of colons and never seen anything like 'toxic bowel settlement'." Furthermore, in reference to purported photos of expelled mucoid plaque, he writes, "Sites they have shared include one depicting what I recognize to be a [[Melena|blood clot]]."<ref name="Friedlander"/> == The John Wayne myth == Advertisements for some products marketed to cleanse the colon of mucoid plaque claim that an [[autopsy]] of [[John Wayne]] revealed that the actor had over 40 pounds of plaque or fecal material accumulated in his colon.<ref>[http://www.presentmoment.com/product_info.php?products_id=4848 Colon Cleanse Kit (multiple item kit)] -- Present Moment</ref><ref>[http://www.thedetoxlounge.com/faq/content_text_one.html Frequenty Asked Questions] The Detox Lounge</ref> In fact, an autopsy was never performed on John Wayne.<ref name="snopes">{{cite web | url = http://www.snopes.com/horrors/gruesome/fecalcolon.asp | title = Meat your Maker | publisher = [[Snopes]] | accessdate = 2008-01-14 | last = Mikkelson | first = Barbara & Peter | date = 2005-12-31 }}</ref> == See also == *[[Alternative medicine]] *[[Enema#In alternative medicine|Colon hydrotherapy]] == References == {{reflist|2}} [[Category:Alternative medicine]] [[Category:Pseudoscience]]