Carlon Colker
Encyclopedia
Carlon M. Colker, M.D., FACN (born June 21, 1965) is an American
physician
, author
, network reality TV personality, public speaker, and dietary supplement
industry consultant. He runs a private practice and consulting clinic in Greenwich, Connecticut
(Peak Wellness, Inc.) and is currently affiliated with the dietary supplement companies LifeVantage
and Atlas Therapeutics. In 2003, Colker sparked media controversy by attempting to defend the safety of ephedra
-based supplement products, which he had previously been involved in researching on behalf of various manufacturing companies. In 2008, Colker made news headlines after advising actor Jeremy Pevin to prematurely withdraw from David Mamet’s
Broadway
play Speed-the-Plow
due to alleged concerns of mercury poisoning from consuming excessive amounts of sushi
and Chinese herbal supplement products.
fellowship recipient. His mother, Elaine Galen, was a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania
and herself a noted abstract painter. As a child, Colker grew up around the diversity of his parent’s art world while being exposed to their penchant for healthy living, organic foods, and vitamin supplements.
He competed in a number of sports and was a junior league boxer up until his 16th birthday, when he sustained a double epigastric hernia during a fight. The injury necessitated surgical repair and put him on the rehabilitative track of structured exercise and weight lifting. This experience led him to competitive bodybuilding where he participated in a number of competitions including the NPO Mr. Apollo, NPC Mr. Long Island, NPC Mr. Metropolitan and East Coast Regional Bodybuilding Championships. With his interest in weightlifting grew an equal passion for mixed martial arts (MMA).
. He received his medical degree in May 1993 from Sackler School of Medicine. In June 1996 he completed his internship and residency training in internal medicine at Beth Israel Medical Center
in Manhattan.
In 1996, Colker was employed first at Park Avenue Medical Nutrition and then later that year, by Affiliated Physicians, both located in New York City. In January 1996 he established Peak Wellness, Inc., a company with locations in Greenwich, Connecticut
and Beverly Hills, California
that provides integrative medical services including diet and nutrition guidance, physical therapy and injury rehabilitation, exercise testing and physical performance optimizing, as well as preventive medicine and anti-aging interventions. In 1997 while building his practice, he functioned as a medical intensive care unit attending physician, emergency room attending physician, and hospitalist at St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Stamford, CT. He also worked as an internal medicine intensive care unit physician and outpatient clinic teaching attending at Stamford Hospital
in Stamford, CT. Colker is a medical staff affiliate with Greenwich Hospital
in Greenwich, Connecticut. and Beth Israel Medical Center
in Manhattan.
Colker has served on the advisory board of the supplement manufacturing company LifeVantage
since 2008, and as the chief medical officer and executive vice president of Atlas Therapeutics Corp. (OTCBB: ATTH; formerly Marvin's Place, Inc.) since February 2011.
advocate, has generated controversy regarding his opinions and research on the safety of ephedra
-based dietary supplements. Colker was the lead researcher responsible for studies and product development on behalf of supplement manufacturers such as Cytodyne Technologies, Inc., Muscletech Research and Development, and Metabolife International, Inc.
, manufacturers of the ephedra-based weight loss pills Xenadrine RFA-1, Hydroxycut
, and Metabolife 365, respectively.
Following the February 2003 heatstroke-related death of Baltimore Orioles
pitcher Steve Bechler
, in which ephedra was implicated as the cause, Colker and two other physicians, all speaking on behalf of the industry-affiliated Ephedra Education Council, disputed the role that ephedra played in Bechler’s death. Colker also defended the safety of ephedra, claiming that it "is not a health risk for most people".
In May 2003, a California Superior Court
judge handed down a $12.5 million judgment in a class action suit against Cytodyne Technologies for falsely advertising Xenadrine RFA-1, the product implicated in the death of Bechler. Referring to Colker's research, the judge concluded that Cytodyne had "not just exaggerated the findings of the clinical trials it commissioned, but had also cajoled some researchers into fudging results", and that those involved in the research on Xenadrine RFA-1 had set out "to create a study that justified the money being spent by Cytodyne and that would ensure that they received further work from the company". In June 2009, journalists for the New York Times commenting on Cytodyne's research noted that the legal case raised "serious questions about the way makers of ephedra and other dietary supplements use -- and often misuse -- the promise of scientific proof to market their products". Colker was also named in other lawsuits for allegedly conspiring with another ephedra company to produce deceptive ephedra research data.
In July 2003, Colker provided testimony to the United States Congress regarding his research on the safety of ephedra-containing products.
announced that he would be withdrawing from the lead role as Bobby Gould in David Mamet’s
Broadway
play Speed-the-Plow
. Pevin, who had previously sought an early release from the production, cited mercury poisoning
from eating sushi and taking herbal supplements as the reason for his decision to leave the show prematurely. Colker, who said that Pevin had come to him soon after the show had opened and complained of excessive fatigue and exhaustion, was responsible for making the diagnosis and providing Pevin with medical advice that “he should end his run immediately.” According to a letter sent by Colker to the show’s producers, he stressed that “it’s important to underscore that” withdrawing from the play was not Piven’s decision and said “it was my decision.” Some sources expressed skepticism about the legitimacy of Pevin’s excuse for withdrawing from the play, and Mamet wryly commented “my understanding is that he is leaving show business to pursue a career as a thermometer.”
According to a 2007 interview with Sports Illustrated
, Dr. Colker has trained elite professional and Olympic athletes. Colker is also a columnist and contributing editor for Muscular Development, and has appeared in such health magazines as Muscle & Fitness, Ironman, Mind & Power, Body, Runner’s World, Walking, Let’s Live, Self Magazine, Strive, Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, and Cosmopolitan. He has authored various media articles and columns and has published several books on health-related topics. He has been a guest medical correspondent on Fox News Channel’s Fox & Friends. and has appeared on shows such as ESPN Outside the Lines, NBC’s Health Segment, Court TV, Bloomberg, Good Morning America, and ABC’s World News Tonight.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
, author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, network reality TV personality, public speaker, and dietary supplement
Dietary supplement
A dietary supplement, also known as food supplement or nutritional supplement, is a preparation intended to supplement the diet and provide nutrients, such as vitamins, minerals, fiber, fatty acids, or amino acids, that may be missing or may not be consumed in sufficient quantities in a person's diet...
industry consultant. He runs a private practice and consulting clinic in Greenwich, Connecticut
Greenwich, Connecticut
Greenwich is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2010 census, the town had a total population of 61,171. It is home to many hedge funds and other financial service companies. Greenwich is the southernmost and westernmost municipality in Connecticut and is 38+ minutes ...
(Peak Wellness, Inc.) and is currently affiliated with the dietary supplement companies LifeVantage
Protandim
Protandim is a patented dietary supplement marketed by LifeVantage Corporation , a Utah-based multilevel marketing company...
and Atlas Therapeutics. In 2003, Colker sparked media controversy by attempting to defend the safety of ephedra
Ephedra
Ephedra refers to the plant Ephedra sinica. E. sinica, known in Chinese as ma huang , has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for 5,000 years for the treatment of asthma and hay fever, as well as for the common cold...
-based supplement products, which he had previously been involved in researching on behalf of various manufacturing companies. In 2008, Colker made news headlines after advising actor Jeremy Pevin to prematurely withdraw from David Mamet’s
David Mamet
David Alan Mamet is an American playwright, essayist, screenwriter and film director.Best known as a playwright, Mamet won a Pulitzer Prize and received a Tony nomination for Glengarry Glen Ross . He also received a Tony nomination for Speed-the-Plow . As a screenwriter, he received Oscar...
Broadway
Broadway (New York City)
Broadway is a prominent avenue in New York City, United States, which runs through the full length of the borough of Manhattan and continues northward through the Bronx borough before terminating in Westchester County, New York. It is the oldest north–south main thoroughfare in the city, dating to...
play Speed-the-Plow
Speed-the-Plow
Speed-the-Plow is a play by David Mamet which is a satirical dissection of the American movie business, a theme Mamet would revisit in his later films Wag the Dog and State and Main ....
due to alleged concerns of mercury poisoning from consuming excessive amounts of sushi
Sushi
is a Japanese food consisting of cooked vinegared rice combined with other ingredients . Neta and forms of sushi presentation vary, but the ingredient which all sushi have in common is shari...
and Chinese herbal supplement products.
Early life
Colker was born to parents of Russian Jewish and Lithuanian descent. Both of them were artists. His father, Edward Colker, was a graduate of NYU, a noted lithographer, a maker of rare hand-bound books, and a GuggenheimGuggenheim
Guggenheim may refer to:* Benjamin Guggenheim* Charles Guggenheim* Davis Guggenheim* Guggenheim Building* Guggenheim family* Guggenheim Fellowship* Guggenheim Museum * Harry Frank Guggenheim* John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation...
fellowship recipient. His mother, Elaine Galen, was a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
and herself a noted abstract painter. As a child, Colker grew up around the diversity of his parent’s art world while being exposed to their penchant for healthy living, organic foods, and vitamin supplements.
He competed in a number of sports and was a junior league boxer up until his 16th birthday, when he sustained a double epigastric hernia during a fight. The injury necessitated surgical repair and put him on the rehabilitative track of structured exercise and weight lifting. This experience led him to competitive bodybuilding where he participated in a number of competitions including the NPO Mr. Apollo, NPC Mr. Long Island, NPC Mr. Metropolitan and East Coast Regional Bodybuilding Championships. With his interest in weightlifting grew an equal passion for mixed martial arts (MMA).
Education
Colker received a baccalaureate degree in June 1988 from Manhattanville College in Purchase, New YorkPurchase, New York
Purchase, New York is a hamlet of the town of Harrison, in Westchester County. Its ZIP code is 10577. Its name is derived from Harrison's purchase, for Harrison could have as much land as he could ride in one day...
. He received his medical degree in May 1993 from Sackler School of Medicine. In June 1996 he completed his internship and residency training in internal medicine at Beth Israel Medical Center
Beth Israel Medical Center
Beth Israel Medical Center is a 1,368-bed, full-service tertiary teaching hospital in New York City. Originally dedicated to serving immigrant Jews living in the tenement slums of the Lower East Side, it was founded at the turn of the 20th century. The main hospital location is the Petrie...
in Manhattan.
Professional
Greenwich, Connecticut
Greenwich is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2010 census, the town had a total population of 61,171. It is home to many hedge funds and other financial service companies. Greenwich is the southernmost and westernmost municipality in Connecticut and is 38+ minutes ...
and Beverly Hills, California
Beverly Hills, California
Beverly Hills is an affluent city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. With a population of 34,109 at the 2010 census, up from 33,784 as of the 2000 census, it is home to numerous Hollywood celebrities. Beverly Hills and the neighboring city of West Hollywood are together...
that provides integrative medical services including diet and nutrition guidance, physical therapy and injury rehabilitation, exercise testing and physical performance optimizing, as well as preventive medicine and anti-aging interventions. In 1997 while building his practice, he functioned as a medical intensive care unit attending physician, emergency room attending physician, and hospitalist at St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Stamford, CT. He also worked as an internal medicine intensive care unit physician and outpatient clinic teaching attending at Stamford Hospital
Stamford Hospital
Stamford Hospital is a private, nonprofit, community and teaching hospital in Stamford, Connecticut, with 440 affiliated doctors.The hospital has 305 inpatient beds in medicine, surgery, obstetrics/gynecology, psychiatry, and medical and surgical critical care units.As of 2005, Stamford Hospital...
in Stamford, CT. Colker is a medical staff affiliate with Greenwich Hospital
Greenwich Hospital
Greenwich Hospital can refer to:*Greenwich Hospital , USA*Greenwich Hospital , UK...
in Greenwich, Connecticut. and Beth Israel Medical Center
Beth Israel Medical Center
Beth Israel Medical Center is a 1,368-bed, full-service tertiary teaching hospital in New York City. Originally dedicated to serving immigrant Jews living in the tenement slums of the Lower East Side, it was founded at the turn of the 20th century. The main hospital location is the Petrie...
in Manhattan.
Colker has served on the advisory board of the supplement manufacturing company LifeVantage
Protandim
Protandim is a patented dietary supplement marketed by LifeVantage Corporation , a Utah-based multilevel marketing company...
since 2008, and as the chief medical officer and executive vice president of Atlas Therapeutics Corp. (OTCBB: ATTH; formerly Marvin's Place, Inc.) since February 2011.
Ephedra Controversy
Colker, a health freedomHealth freedom
The term health freedom movement is used to describe a loose coalition of organizations, consumers, activists, alternative medicine practitioners and producers of products around the world who are campaigning for unhindered freedom of choice in healthcare...
advocate, has generated controversy regarding his opinions and research on the safety of ephedra
Ephedra
Ephedra refers to the plant Ephedra sinica. E. sinica, known in Chinese as ma huang , has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for 5,000 years for the treatment of asthma and hay fever, as well as for the common cold...
-based dietary supplements. Colker was the lead researcher responsible for studies and product development on behalf of supplement manufacturers such as Cytodyne Technologies, Inc., Muscletech Research and Development, and Metabolife International, Inc.
Metabolife
Metabolife International, Inc., is an multi-level marketing company based in San Diego, California which manufactures dietary supplements. Metabolife's best-selling product, an ephedra-based supplement called Metabolife 356, once generated hundreds of millions of dollars in annual sales...
, manufacturers of the ephedra-based weight loss pills Xenadrine RFA-1, Hydroxycut
Hydroxycut
Hydroxycut is the brand name of a series of dietary supplements marketed as an aid to weight loss. According to a 2009 paper in the World Journal of Gastroenterology, Hydroxycut is the most popular brand of weight-loss supplement, selling approximately 1 million units per year. On May 1, 2009, the...
, and Metabolife 365, respectively.
Following the February 2003 heatstroke-related death of Baltimore Orioles
Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles are a professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland in the United States. They are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's American League. One of the American League's eight charter franchises in 1901, it spent its first year as a major league...
pitcher Steve Bechler
Steve Bechler
Steven Scott Bechler was a Major League Baseball pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles in 2002.Steve Bechler died of heatstroke at the beginning of spring training with the Orioles in 2003. An autopsy performed by Dr...
, in which ephedra was implicated as the cause, Colker and two other physicians, all speaking on behalf of the industry-affiliated Ephedra Education Council, disputed the role that ephedra played in Bechler’s death. Colker also defended the safety of ephedra, claiming that it "is not a health risk for most people".
In May 2003, a California Superior Court
Superior court
In common law systems, a superior court is a court of general competence which typically has unlimited jurisdiction with regard to civil and criminal legal cases...
judge handed down a $12.5 million judgment in a class action suit against Cytodyne Technologies for falsely advertising Xenadrine RFA-1, the product implicated in the death of Bechler. Referring to Colker's research, the judge concluded that Cytodyne had "not just exaggerated the findings of the clinical trials it commissioned, but had also cajoled some researchers into fudging results", and that those involved in the research on Xenadrine RFA-1 had set out "to create a study that justified the money being spent by Cytodyne and that would ensure that they received further work from the company". In June 2009, journalists for the New York Times commenting on Cytodyne's research noted that the legal case raised "serious questions about the way makers of ephedra and other dietary supplements use -- and often misuse -- the promise of scientific proof to market their products". Colker was also named in other lawsuits for allegedly conspiring with another ephedra company to produce deceptive ephedra research data.
In July 2003, Colker provided testimony to the United States Congress regarding his research on the safety of ephedra-containing products.
Jeremy Pevin and Mercury Poisoning
In 2008, actor Jeremy PivenJeremy Piven
Jeremy Samuel Piven is an American film producer and actor best known for his role as Ari Gold in the television series Entourage for which he has won three Emmy Awards as well as several other nominations for Best Supporting Actor....
announced that he would be withdrawing from the lead role as Bobby Gould in David Mamet’s
David Mamet
David Alan Mamet is an American playwright, essayist, screenwriter and film director.Best known as a playwright, Mamet won a Pulitzer Prize and received a Tony nomination for Glengarry Glen Ross . He also received a Tony nomination for Speed-the-Plow . As a screenwriter, he received Oscar...
Broadway
Broadway (New York City)
Broadway is a prominent avenue in New York City, United States, which runs through the full length of the borough of Manhattan and continues northward through the Bronx borough before terminating in Westchester County, New York. It is the oldest north–south main thoroughfare in the city, dating to...
play Speed-the-Plow
Speed-the-Plow
Speed-the-Plow is a play by David Mamet which is a satirical dissection of the American movie business, a theme Mamet would revisit in his later films Wag the Dog and State and Main ....
. Pevin, who had previously sought an early release from the production, cited mercury poisoning
Mercury poisoning
Mercury poisoning is a disease caused by exposure to mercury or its compounds. Mercury is a heavy metal occurring in several forms, all of which can produce toxic effects in high enough doses...
from eating sushi and taking herbal supplements as the reason for his decision to leave the show prematurely. Colker, who said that Pevin had come to him soon after the show had opened and complained of excessive fatigue and exhaustion, was responsible for making the diagnosis and providing Pevin with medical advice that “he should end his run immediately.” According to a letter sent by Colker to the show’s producers, he stressed that “it’s important to underscore that” withdrawing from the play was not Piven’s decision and said “it was my decision.” Some sources expressed skepticism about the legitimacy of Pevin’s excuse for withdrawing from the play, and Mamet wryly commented “my understanding is that he is leaving show business to pursue a career as a thermometer.”
Media
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...
, Dr. Colker has trained elite professional and Olympic athletes. Colker is also a columnist and contributing editor for Muscular Development, and has appeared in such health magazines as Muscle & Fitness, Ironman, Mind & Power, Body, Runner’s World, Walking, Let’s Live, Self Magazine, Strive, Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, and Cosmopolitan. He has authored various media articles and columns and has published several books on health-related topics. He has been a guest medical correspondent on Fox News Channel’s Fox & Friends. and has appeared on shows such as ESPN Outside the Lines, NBC’s Health Segment, Court TV, Bloomberg, Good Morning America, and ABC’s World News Tonight.
Books
- Extreme Muscle Enhancement: Bodybuilding’s Most Powerful Techniques (1st edition). Prosource Publications, Inc.; Manasquan, N.J.,; January 9, 2005.
- The Greenwich Diet, Advanced Research Press, Ronkonkoma, New York; Publication: May 1, 2000.
- Sex Pills: From Androstenedione to Zinc, What Works and What Doesn’t, Advanced Research Press, Ronkonkoma, New York; Publication: March 1, 1999.