Why I should probably avoid facebook.

A FB friend posted this today:

It included a link to the website of one "Dr." Llaila Afrika:  I looked at it first, quickly got "fraud" vibes, and went looking for his credentials. There is a listing for an unfindable Anglo Saxon Institute" in England where he says he got a doctorate in Naturopathy and he also claims to be a "metaphysician" and an expert in "medical astrology." Well. I'm a scientist. And I seem to be unable to let junk science go unchallenged. And so, I give you the following exchange, which I managed to grab screen shots of just before he deleted them all (forgive my typos, I was using an iPad):

I did find on-line a page by a guy named Gary Booker who had the same questions about "Dr." Afrika and who requested information about his credentials through the Freedom of Information Act. The District of Columbia's office of the Attorney General provided the following information:

1. Llaila O. Afrika did not submit any evidence of possessing either a doctorate of medicine (MD) or a doctorate of Naturopathy (ND) from any institution.
2. Llaila Afrika attended the Technical College of the Lowcountry in Beaufort, South Carolina and received a Licensed Practical Nursing (LPN) degree in 1990.
3. Llaila Africa's LPN degree from the Technical College of the Lowcountry appears to be an associates degree. He has completed 64.30 credit hours at that institution.
4. Llaila Afrika indicated having medical experience that includes work at Dr. Otis Williams Chiropractic Clinic from 1990 through the date of his application as an employee and an instructor. He also indicated working for the Bayview Nursing Home from 1990 until the date of his application.
5. Llaila Afrika has no military medical experience indicated on his application.
6. Llaila Afrika was certified by an organization named the "International Board of African Thinkers, Traditional Priest, Priestesses, Healers and Religion, Inc." as an "Expert Holistic Health Consultant." This is as closest that Afrika seems to come to being an actual nutritionist or dietician. His professional experience indicates that he taught at this organization during the same year that he was certified by it.
7. Llaila Afrika has no indication of training as an HIV/AIDS clinician. In addition to the "International Board of African Thinkers, Traditional Priest, Priestesses, Healers and Religion, Inc.," Afrika's addictionology certification comes from Life College School of Chiropractic and the American College of Addictionology and Compulsive Disorders. He acquired this certification in 1996 and it expired in 1997. He is also certified as an Acupuncture Detoxification Specialist by the National Acupuncture Detoxification Association. Afrika worked in a nursing home.

Booker  concluded, "At best, Llaila Afrika is an accupuncturist that can help you shake an addiction. Nothing in the professional and/or academic history of "Dr. Afrika" indicates that he is qualified to speak on AIDS, diabetes, cancer, arthritis, melanin, and the various other "80 topics" that Afrika "lectures" about."

Look, I have read stats that shown disproportionate rates of diabetes among the African-American community. I wasn't arguing with that. I was arguing with the unsupported notion that it is due to  a genetic inability to handle a diet that NO ONE should be following. I don't like junk science, I don't like fraudulent experts, and I don't like people who parrot absurd notions based solely on their wish that they be true. And most of all, I don't like people resorting to ad hominem attacks on me when their logic won't hold up. I de-friended the guy.  
And trust me when I say that my disdain for quacks knows no racial or geographical boundaries - because I also find the work of "Dr." Robert Young contemptible: