Robert Young, PhD, the creator of the alkaline diet, that became popular among celebrities like, Kate Hudson and Jennifer Aniston is in the news for the wrong reasons.


Young faces prison time for practicing medicine without a license, the BBC reported. He also allegedly defrauded terminally ill cancer patients, treating them with baking-soda infusions instead of traditional medical treatments.

Young co-wrote the book ‘The pH Miracle’ in 2010, claiming that diseases are caused by acidity in the blood. His theory inspired a series of high-alkaline diets and cleanses, aimed at balancing pH levels by eating fewer foods that metabolize into acidic compounds in the body, and more that metabolize into alkaline ones.

In 2016, Young was convicted of practicing medicine without a license, a charge that carries a prison sentence of up to three years and eight months.

A jury was deadlocked on several other charges against him, including defrauding patients out of money.

Prosecutors argued that he led terminally ill cancer patients to believe he could cure them with expensive baking-soda treatments to flush dangerous acid out of the body, he told them at his California ranch.

Young has touted himself as a doctor and a naturopath over the years, but his doctorate in nutrition is from a non-accredited, now-defunct correspondence school, and he does not have a medical degree, according to the BBC.

The BBC reported on one of those cancer patients, a 27-year-old British woman who flew to California and paid Young more than $77,000 in 2012, in hopes that his treatments could save her life. She died after spending about three months at Young’s ranch.

When reporters asked Young if he felt remorse for his actions, he told them he did not, “because of the thousands if not millions of people that have been helped through the alkaline diet program.”