A Medical Director's Responded To Gwyneth Paltrow’s Tales Of Treating Long COVID With Herbal Cocktails & Sugar-Free Kimchi
We regret to report that Gwyneth Paltrow is at it again. Unfortunately, the actor and lifestyle company founder has weighed in on how to treat the lingering effects of COVID-19; royally pissing off the medical community in the process.
In a blog post for her lifestyle website Goop, Gwyneth says she contracted COVID-19 "early on" which left her with some "long-tail fatigue and brain fog."
On the advice of a "functional medicine practitioner", the actor has been engaging in a cornucopia of weird behaviour she refers to as "intuitive fasting". Her regime includes fasting until 11am, getting into sugar-free kimchi for some reason, downing herbal cocktails and sometimes doing an "infrared sauna" (as one does). "Everything I'm doing feels good, like a gift to my body," she writes.
Gwyn even implies that her bespoke treatment plan has a scientific basis, writing: "I've been doing major research and finding some great stuff to support what I'm doing," she wrote. At the time of writing, the actress has [checks notes] no scientific or health-related qualifications.
Paltrow's advice inspired a fact-check from Professor Stephen Powis, the national director for England in the UK's National Health Service (NHS). "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," Powis said.
He added: "We need to take long Covid seriously and apply serious science. All influencers who use social media have a duty of responsibility and a duty of care around that."
"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." Whoa. Sweet analogy, Stephen.
This isn't the first time Gwyneth's been under fire for making unscientific claims. In 2018, Goop had to fork over $145k USD in civil penalties for making outlandish claims about the benefits of vaginal yoni eggs. The settlement also related to the spruiking of a "flower essence" which Goop said could cure depression.
We wish Gwyneth a swift, misinformation-free recovery.
Written by Reena Gupta, a Melbourne-based writer for MTV Australia. Follow her on Twitter @purpletank.
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