Hollywood actor and lifestyle brand Goop founder Gwyneth Paltrow said in a blog post recently that she suffered from “some long-tail fatigue and brain fog” after contracting Covid19 last year. In the same post, she also outlined her road to recovery, touting some questionable Covid19 healing practices such as “intuitive fasting” — which involved a “keto and plant-based” diet, sugar-free kimchi, kombucha, and herbal cocktails — and “infrared saunas.”
“I’ve been doing major research and finding some great stuff to support what I’m doing,” she wrote.
In response, the medical director of England’s National Health Service cautioned against the misinformation spread by influencers like Paltrow. “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,” professor Stephen Powis said.
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Referring to the type of Covid19 infection that lasts weeks, if not months — called long Covid — Powis added, “we need to … apply serious science. All influencers who use social media have a duty of responsibility and a duty of care around that.”
Paltrow, in line with her acquired celebrity around everything related to fitness and wellness, also gives advice and details regimens on a YouTube channel and podcast, in which she speaks to famed professionals and celebrities about health care and wellness. In the Covid19 pandemic, such kind of content soared in popularity online, not just by the likes of Paltrow, but also wellness influencers who spread misinformation about immunity-boosting merchandise as scientific cures and preventative measures against Covid19.
In addressing this infodemic that ran rampant in the pandemic, Powis adds, “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.”
