Frank McCoy (author)

Frank Joseph McCoy (March 4, 1888 – March 31, 1940)[1] was an American chiropractor and alternative health author, known for his book The Fast Way to Health, as well as his nationally syndicated health- and nutrition-related newspaper columns and radio broadcasts. He was active between 1923 and 1940. His ideas were criticized by medical experts as quackery.[2]

Frank McCoy
Born1888
Milan, Ohio
Died1940
Rustic Canyon, Los Angeles
Occupation(s)Chiropractor, writer

Biography

He was born in Milan, Ohio,[3][4] and received training in Chicago,[5] in chiropractic. He is referred to in publications as "Dr. Frank McCoy" but did not have an M.D. degree.[6]

His book, The Fast Way To Health, was first published in 1923 by the Times-Mirror Press. His first newspaper column "Health and Diet Advice" ran in the Los Angeles Times from 1927 to 1932[7] and was syndicated in other cities.[8] During roughly this time, he also lectured and had a radio program in the Los Angeles area.[5]

Other newspaper columns he has authored include "How to Keep Well"[5] and "Here's To Your Health."[9] He died at the age of 52 in his home at the Uplifters Club in Southern California. His death was related to liver disease.[10]

Criticism

McCoy was criticized for making dangerous pseudoscientific claims about fasting.[11] For example, he stated that fasting could cure everything from deafness and diarrhoea to cancer. McCoy's book The Fast Way To Health developed a "Philosophy of Scientific Fasting" that was described by health writer Carl Malmberg as a "collection of misinformation".[11]

His opinions drew criticism in The American Journal of Public Health[6] and in a 1934 JAMA editorial[2] which stated:

How long will newspapers and periodicals which share some responsibility for the public health continue to advise the uninformed in regard to infectious diseases in such ways as to encourage the spread and the virulence of these infections? It is not known how many newspapers print these daily discourses of Frank McCoy, pet of the Los Angeles Times. Surely editors fail their readers when they continue to promulgate such superlative nonsense as emanates from McCoy and his Los Angeles Times associates.

Publications

See also

References
  1. California, Death Index, 1940-1997
  2. "A Dietary Quack Discusses Dysentery". Editorials. JAMA. 103 (5): 347–348. 4 August 1934. doi:10.1001/jama.1934.02750310041017.
    • NOTE: In a later issue, a response by E. Taggart, secretary to Los Angeles Times editor-in-chief L. D. Hotchkiss, clarified that McCoy is no longer affiliated with the paper. (Taggart, E.; Hotchkiss, L. D. (1934). "McCOY NO LONGER WITH LOS ANGELES TIMES". JAMA. 103 (8): 622. doi:10.1001/jama.1934.02750340086024.)
  3. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918
  4. California, Passenger and Crew Lists, 1882-1959
  5. Shurtleff, William; Aoyagi, Akiko (2009). Mildred Lager: History of Her Work With Soyfoods and Natural Foods in Los Angeles (1900-1960). Lafayette, CA: Soyinfo Center. pp. 7, 62–64. ISBN 9781928914266. Retrieved 20 August 2014. - contains extensive footnote discussion of the life of Frank McCoy
  6. "Education and Publicity". American Journal of Public Health and the Nation's Health. 23 (4): 381–388. April 1933. doi:10.2105/AJPH.23.4.381. PMC 1558273. PMID 18013726.
  7. "Los Angeles Times archives". Retrieved 20 August 2014. - link to Los Angeles Times archive search for articles authored by "Frank McCoy"
  8. McCoy, Frank (24 Apr 1927). "Health and Diet Advice". The Pittsburgh Press. Retrieved 20 August 2014.;
    McCoy, Frank (3 Aug 1928). "Health and Diet Advice". Eugene Register-Guard. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  9. McCoy, Frank. "Here's To Your Health". The Deseret News. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  10. "Dr. Frank McCoy, Diet Expert, Dies". San Jose News. 1 April 1940. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  11. Malmberg, Carl. (1935). Diet and Die. Hillman-Curl, Inc. pp. 44-46
  12. McCoy, Frank (1923). The Fast Way to Health: Being, as the First Part, an Exposition of the Fasting Cure and its Application to Prevalent Disorders, and, as to the Second Part, a Treatise of Food, Together With Diets for the Well. Los Angeles: Times-Mirror Press. OCLC 14778024. - popular book by Frank McCoy
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