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Do not fill this in! == In alternative medicine == Although practitioners of [[alternative medicine]] promote "[[Detoxification (alternative medicine)|cleansing the body]]" through fasting,<ref name=Hunger>{{cite book|last1=Russell|first1=Sharman Apt|last2=Russell|first2=Sharman|title=Hunger: An Unnatural History|publisher=Basic Books|isbn=978-0786722396|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XT2WzJuNPZ8C&pg=PT35|access-date=22 January 2017|language=en|date=1 August 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202031142/https://books.google.de/books?id=XT2WzJuNPZ8C&pg=PT35|archive-date=2 February 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> the concept of "detoxification“ is marketing myth with few scientific basis for its rationale or efficacy.<ref name=bda>{{cite web |url=https://www.bda.uk.com/foodfacts/detoxdiets.pdf |publisher=British Dietetic Association |title=Detox diets |date=May 2016 |last=Porter |first=Sian |quote=The whole idea of detox is nonsense. The body is a well-developed system that has its own built-in mechanisms to detoxify and remove waste and toxins. Our body constantly filters out, breaks down and excretes toxins and waste products like alcohol, medications, products of digestion, dead cells, chemicals from pollution and bacteria |access-date=29 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161017170537/https://www.bda.uk.com/foodfacts/detoxdiets.pdf |archive-date=17 October 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="sbm2011">{{cite web | title=Fashionably toxic | author=David Gorski | website=Science-Based Medicine | date=23 May 2011 | url=https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/fashionable-toxins/ | access-date=29 January 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190130001710/https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/fashionable-toxins/ | archive-date=30 January 2019 | url-status=live }}</ref> During the early 20th century, fasting was promoted by alternative health writers such as [[Hereward Carrington]], [[Edward H. Dewey]], [[Bernarr Macfadden]], [[Frank McCoy (author)|Frank McCoy]], [[Edward Earle Purinton]], [[Upton Sinclair]] and [[Wallace Wattles]].<ref name="Griffith 2000">Griffith, R. Marie. (2000). ''Apostles of Abstinence: Fasting and Masculinity during the Progressive Era''. ''[[American Quarterly]]'' 52 (4): 599-638.</ref> All of these writers were either involved in the [[Orthopathy|natural hygiene]] or [[new thought]] movement.<ref name="Griffith 2000"/> [[Arnold Ehret]]'s pseudoscientific Mucusless Diet Healing System espoused fasting.<ref name="Kuske 1983">Kuske, Terrence T. (1983). [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780723670469500205 ''Quackery and Fad Diets''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190420014820/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780723670469500205 |date=20 April 2019 }}. In Elaine B. Feldman. ''Nutrition in the Middle and Later Years''. John Wright & Sons. pp. 291-303. {{ISBN|0-7236-7046-3}}</ref> [[Linda Hazzard]], a notable quack doctor, put her patients on such strict fasts that some of them died of [[starvation]]. She was responsible for the death of more than 40 patients under her care.<ref>Hall, Harriett. (2016). [https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/natural-medicine-starvation-and-murder-the-story-of-linda-hazzard/ "Natural Medicine, Starvation, and Murder: The Story of Linda Hazzard"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190601162549/https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/natural-medicine-starvation-and-murder-the-story-of-linda-hazzard/ |date=1 June 2019 }}. Science-Based Medicine. Retrieved 1 May 2019.</ref><ref>[https://www.medicalbag.com/home/features/despicable-doctors/linda-hazzard-the-starvation-doctor/ "Linda Hazzard: The “Starvation Doctor”"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190601162549/https://www.medicalbag.com/home/features/despicable-doctors/linda-hazzard-the-starvation-doctor/ |date=1 June 2019 }}. Retrieved 1 May 2019.</ref> In 1911, [[Upton Sinclair]] authored ''[[The Fasting Cure]]'', which made sensational claims of fasting curing practically all diseases, including [[cancer]], [[syphilis]], and [[tuberculosis]].<ref>Nash, Jay R. (1982). ''Zanies: The World's Greatest Eccentrics''. New Century Publishers. p. 339. {{ISBN|978-0832901232}}</ref><ref name="Gratzer 2005">Gratzer, Walter. (2005). ''Terrors of the Table: The Curious History of Nutrition''. Oxford University Press. p. 201. {{ISBN|0-19-280661-0}}</ref> Sinclair has been described as "the most credulous of faddists" and his book is considered an example of quackery.<ref name="Gratzer 2005"/><ref>Kang, Lydia; Pedersen, Nate. (2017). ''Quackery: A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure Everything''. Workman Publishing. p. 265. {{ISBN|978-0-7611-8981-7}}</ref> In 1932, physician [[Morris Fishbein]] listed fasting as a [[fad diet]] and commented that "prolonged fasting is never necessary and invariably does harm".<ref>Fishbein, Morris. (1932). [https://archive.org/details/1932FishbeinFadsAndQuackeryInHealing/page/n261 ''Fads and Quackery in Healing: An Analysis of the Foibles of the Healing Cults'']. New York: Covici Friede. p. 253</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. 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