How ‘wellness’ almost killed an 11-year-old girl: Mannatech’s false promises lead to tragedy

Brisbane, Australia. The Brisbane District Court recently passed sentence on the father of an 11-year-old girl who had refused his daughter hospital treatment for a heart infection. Instead, he kept her at home and force-fed her a form of “glyconutrients” – essentially, sugar pills – made by a firm called Mannatech. The result was grim:

She was gravely ill when she was admitted to Toowoomba Base Hospital in September 2006. Her temperature was 42C, she had been hallucinating and was weak, pale and could no longer walk. The court was told her mouth was peeling, black and clogged from the alternative medicine her father had been giving her in extremely high doses. The doctor who finally examined the 11-year-old said in a report the girl was as ‘sick as the sickest person I’ve ever seen in 35 years’.

By the time the girl was admitted to hospital, it was far too late for routine treatment. She underwent immediate emergency bypass and valve replacement surgery and spent some time in a coma. Despite her doctors’ best efforts, she suffered brain damage due to a haemorrhage, leaving her with reduced cognitive and motor functions.

The father was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment, with bail after six months. “A psychologist report tendered in court said the father’s belief in Mannatech bordered on ‘obsessive’ and that he had an ‘exaggerated view of his own knowledge and ability’ about health treatments.” No kidding.

But such an exaggerated view doesn’t come from nowhere: a little digging shows that Mannatech are not the most scrupulous company in the world when it comes to making claims about the efficacy of their little sugar pill.

Their website was my first port of call. It’s full of jargon: “The Science of Wellness,” “Solutions for Global Health,” products that “guard” against the “dangers” of “decreasing quality of life and wellness.” It’s textbook counterknowledge, designed to sound “scientific”:

Glyconutrients, or plant-based ‘health sugars,’ are a key factor in Mannatech’s products. They support your body’s natural ability to reach optimum nutritional levels and play a role in enhancing the quality of life. We are the leaders in this industry and want to share this exciting opportunity for maintaining good health with you! Our proprietary products redefine wellness and are designed to give you assurance of nutritional health.

Nothing is said here, other than that certain kinds of sugar are good for your immune system – which is true. Glycobiology is a real scientific field, though its leaders are appalled by Mannatech’s use of the term: they point out that while, yes, the body needs some essential sugars to maintain good health, these are widely available in most common foods. ABC News did a very interesting 20/20 investigation into Mannatech in mid-2007 in which they contacted two leading Glycobiologists:

Dr. Hudson Freeze from the Burnham Institute for Medical Research in La Jolla, Calif., and Dr. Ronald Schnaar from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, say there is a huge disconnect between this new science and what Mannatech sells. ‘There are authentic, scientific studies that have looked at people drinking these kinds of materials,’ said Freeze, referring to glyconutrients. ‘And it doesn’t really do anything except increase flatulence.’

“Mannatech strongly contests these conclusions, citing a large number of studies and research papers that can be found on the Web at www.glycoscience.org. But articles, published in the Fort Worth Star Telegram, have linked some of those studies to a research institute that Mannatech funds.

“Dr. Hudson Freeze, another leading glycobiologist said this about glyconutrients: ‘There are authentic, scientific studies that have looked at people drinking these kinds of materials, and it doesn’t really do anything except increase flatulence.’

Mannatech’s phrasing is clever – no outlandish claims are made in any legally identifiable form, they’re just hinted at. “Wellness” is substituted for medical terms when the products are discussed.

This legal caginess is unsurprising when you consider Mannatech’s history. The first court case was filed in 2005, in the form of three separate class action lawsuits. The claimants were Mannatech’s own shareholders, and they accused Mannatech of “artificially inflating the value of the Company’s common stock by knowingly allowing independent contractors to recklessly misrepresent the efficacy of its products during the purported class period.” In essence, Mannatech salespeople were lying about its products to get sales, and the company was encouraging it.

Mannatech’s founder, Sam Caster, already had a history of perpetrating hoaxes when he founded the company in 1994. A previous product of his, the ‘Electrocat’, supposedly emitted pulse vibrations that repelled household pests, but another investigation by the Texas Attorney General’s office declared it a hoax and had it removed from sale.

In 2007, the Attorney General for the State of Texas announced that Mannatech had been under investigation for violations of the Trade Description Act since 2005. In July of 2007, they were found guilty of illegal marketing practices. The Attorney General’s Office report stated:

Documents filed in Travis County district court reveal Mannatech’s scheme to exploit families, including those challenged by cancer, Down’s syndrome, cystic fibrosis and other serious illnesses. According to investigators, exaggerated claims about the therapeutic benefits of Mannatech’s dietary supplements and nutritional products were unlawfully used to increase sales. The attorney general’s enforcement action asserts that Mannatech’s deceptive practices pose a health risk to seriously-ill consumers who may forgo traditional medical attention because of the company’s false claims.

The three-month ABC news “20/20” hidden camera investigation  found that Mannatech salespeople are encouraged to vastly exaggerate the prowess of their product in order to make sales:

For example, one Mannatech sales associate in Austin, Texas, said: ‘People with cancer call us every single day: “The tumor is gone!”’Another in New York said: ‘She comes in five months after we’ve worked together, and she’s breast cancer free!’

In November of 2008, Mannatech agreed to a settlement payment of $11,250,000 to a consolidated group of all the class action suits it then had pending. The Texas Attorney General’s complaint into the company is yet to be concluded.

Back in Brisbane, a local doctor, Ian Raddatz, had already been barred from practicing medicine for the years 2000-2005 for “unsatisfactory conduct”. The decision was based on complaints that he had made unsubstantiated claims to patients that Mannatech products were effective against cancer, infertility, and hemochromatosis (iron-overload disease), and other health problems. The tribunal heard that:

The registrant has practised for many years on the North Coast. Until 1998 his practice has been successful and, in a relevant sense, uneventful. It was then that he was introduced to Mannatech products and as a result his conduct and attitude changed.

He was disciplined again in 2008, and must now only practice under certain conditions – and may not recommend Mannatech products.

Mannatech’s modus operandi make tragedies like this girl in Brisbane’s experience almost inevitable. Her father was almost certainly acting on the advice of a deluded doctor like Ian Raddatz, who himself is a victim of Mannatech’s official promises of wellness and illegal hints of miracle cures. This is counterknowledge at its most dangerous.