#906: Frank Mangano

Frank Mangano is an author, researcher, health advocate and entrepreneur in the field of alternative health, whose books include The 60 Day Prescription Free Cholesterol Cure, The Mind Killer Defense (with Cynthia Foster and Kim Wierman), You Can Attract It (with clinical hypnotherapist Steve G. Jones and a foreword by John Assaraf) and The Blood Pressure Miracle (also with Jones). On his website NaturalHealthontheWeb he points out that he “is very animate about the fact that he doesn't believe that the ‘title’ which follows a person's name is indicative of their education level, always ensures they are delivering the right message,” which should give you all the clues you need to assess the trustworthiness of his advice (Mangano is not an MD but apparently a graduate of the University of Google). “He is an independent researcher and has no financial relationship to any pharmaceutical or supplements company. Therefore, his opinions are unbiased,” says his bio, and some of us may be inclined to point out that the conclusion doesn’t follow by any rule of good reasoning.

Mangano seems otherwise to be into pretty much every and any branch of woo on the web – in particular supplements – and is explicit about being a follower of none other than Joe Mercola and Mike Adams, as well as Phyllis Balch and Ray Sahelian (also here; Sahelian is a prominent critic of Quackwatch, of course). And yes, his book You Can Attract It advocates The Law of Attraction, trying to capitalize on the success of the one book of lunatic woo to rule them all, “The Secret”.

Diagnosis: A small fish compared to Mercola and Adams, perhaps, but Mangano is doing his best to wrench health recommendation away from that pesky, rationality-based idea of making medical advice rely on facts and evidence, parameters for which he has little time or aptitude.