Once again, Gwyneth Paltrow and actual scientists are going to have to agree to disagree—this time on the best techniques to deal with the side effects of contracting the coronavirus.
Last week, the Goop founder revealed that, as with everything in her life, she was also an early adopter to COVID-19. Since coming down with the illness towards the beginning of the pandemic, she said she’s noticed that “it left me with some long-tail fatigue and brain fog. In January, I had some tests done that showed really high levels of inflammation in my body.” So being the woo-woo problem solver that she is, Paltrow turned to her “functional medicine practitioner” for some product recommendations to help ease her symptoms, including supplements, infrared sauna blankets, and various serums, all of which are available to purchase directly from the Goop website, naturally.
But according to NHS England’s national medical director, Prof Stephen Powis, there’s not a whole lot of “serious science” involved in Paltrow’s list of new age convalescent must-haves. Powis told the BBC that parts of the former actress’s post-COVID regime, which involves keto and plant-based “intuitive fasting,” are “really not the solutions we’d recommend.” He explained, “Like the virus, misinformation carries across borders and it mutates and it evolves. So I think YouTube and other social media platforms have a real responsibility and opportunity here. In the last few days, I see Gwyneth Paltrow is unfortunately suffering from the effects of Covid. We wish her well, but some of the solutions she’s recommending are really not the solutions we’d recommend in the NHS.”
“We need to take long Covid seriously and apply serious science,” Powis concluded. “All influencers who use social media have a duty of responsibility and a duty of care around that.”
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