Konstantin Monastyrsky

Konstantin Monastyrsky is an author, self-taught nutritionist and food woo promoter.

Konstantin Monastyrsky
Potentially edible!
Food woo
Fabulous food!
Delectable diets!
Bodacious bods!
v - t - e

Monastyrsky is the author of Fiber Menace (2008), in which he attacks dietary fiber based on his personal experiences with irritable bowel syndrome.[1] The book was endorsed by the Weston A. Price Foundation, which explains a lot.[2] His research has been described as pseudoscience.[3][4]

Credentials

Monastyrsky was born in Ukraine in 1954, and became a naturalized US citizen.[5] He has been described as a "trained pharmacist, burglar alarm installer, computer programmer and the self-proclaimed Russian Atkins".[6] In 1977, he says he graduated from a medical university with a pharmacy degree but he does not give details.[7] His knowledge about nutrition is self-taught.[3] He offers a disclaimer, admitting he is not a medical doctor and his website should not be used for medical advice: "My books and essays aren't a substitute for qualified medical advice, and do not provide quick (or, in some cases, any) fixes."[8] This is contradicted by statements elsewhere on his website such as, "this site provides safe, effective, and natural solutions for resolving the nastiest kinds of constipations".[9]

Pseudoscience

Monastyrsky promotes a pseudoscientific fiber-free low-carb diet that he claims helped him cure irritable bowel syndrome. He advertises as an "expert" in forensic nutrition.[10] His evidence against fiber is anecdotal. Skeptic Eric Hall noted:

“”His entire body of research by his own claim is based on his personal experience. That is the opposite of science — it is anecdote. He throws out a quick ad hominem that most medical writers suffer from bias, but that his "science" is so pure that it cannot contain bias. All science has some bias, but the very process of science is designed to reduce and eliminate most of it. Mr. Monastyrsky does not follow any type of bias reducing process.[3]

His website has been criticized for misinformation, such as misrepresenting statements from the Food and Drug Administration. For example, he made false claims that the laxative macrogolFile:Wikipedia's W.svg ("MiraLax") can cause neuropsychiatric events.[4]

Monastyrsky likes to brag about his personal health and offers sex advice on his website. He has posted a 2014 picture of his wife (age 60) and promises it is un-retouched.[11]Do You Believe That? He says he knows some "ladies in their mid-40s who have been following my recommendations for several years, and got accidentally pregnant because they abandoned contraceptives years ago".[11][note 1] He also posts some bizarre videos. He claims that anal sex causes constipation.[12]

Publications
  • Functional Nutrition: How to Prevent Nutritional Disorders and Premature Aging with Functional Nutrition (2007).
  • Fiber Menace: The Truth About the Leading Role of Fiber in Diet Failure, Constipation, Hemorrhoids, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Ulcerative Colitis, Crohn's Disease, and Colon Cancer (2008)

Notes
  1. Wait, he's saying that like it's a good thing? Apparently he's implying they were infertile because of their evil carb diet. But the mean age of menopauseFile:Wikipedia's W.svg is around 50; a 40-something woman becoming pregnant is not very unusual. If this is evidence that his diet "works", logically, 40-something women not following his diet and becoming pregnant is evidence against, but obviously he ignores this.
gollark: The P in IoT stands for "privacy" and the "Q" stands for "uses open standards to prevent vendor lock-in".
gollark: They can guess when you're at home?
gollark: Did you know? The S in IoT stands for "security".
gollark: YAY FUTURE!
gollark: Your thermostat will also be part of several different botnets, and upload your temperature settings to China.

References
  1. Are you a victim of nutrition fraud?. Smart Nutrition.
  2. Fiber Menace by Konstantin Monastyrsky
  3. Konstantin Monastyrsky - Pseudoscience of Nutrition (Part 1)
  4. Konstantin Monastyrsky - Pseudoscience of Nutrition (Part 2)
  5. About Konstantin Monastyrsky Gut Sense
  6. Wacky Week: Konstantin Monastyrsky Is Fighting the Fiber Menace (Episode 199) (November 20, 2008) The Livin' the Vida Low-Carb Show (archived from August 3, 2010).
  7. About Konstantin Monastyrsky
  8. Common sense medical disclaimer
  9. Is MiraLAX the next Vioxx?
  10. What is forensic nutrition?. Konstantin Monastyrsky
  11. Q&A with Konstantin Monastyrsky
  12. Why Does Anal Sex Cause Constipation?
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