A British health official has come out against Gwyneth Paltrow after she promoted using “infrared” saunas and eating kimchi to fight the coronavirus.
“In the last few days I see Gwyneth Paltrow is unfortunately suffering from the effects of COVID,” Professor Stephen Powis, the national medical director of England’s National Health Service, told the BBC on Wednesday. (RELATED: ‘It Felt Like I Cracked A Rib,’ Ellen DeGeneres Explains About Having COVID-19 During Return To Show)
NHS warns against Gwyneth Paltrow’s ‘kombucha and kimchi’ Covid advice https://t.co/eKfcsPCoyc
— The Guardian (@guardian) February 24, 2021
“We wish her well, but some of the solutions she’s recommending are really not the solutions we’d recommend in the NHS,” 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,” Powis continued. “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.”
The 48-year-old actress shared in a blog post on her Goop website that she had contracted COVID-19 “early on” and suffered from “long-tail fatigue and brain fog.” (RELATED: ‘It Was A Matter Of Life And Death’: Tom Brady’s Father Reveals He Was Hospitalized With COVID-19)
She talked about how a “functional medicine practitioner” put her on a fasting diet that included kombucha and kimchi, a traditional side dish of salted and fermented vegetables, such as napa cabbage or Korean radish.
“So we’ve been doing a version of a protocol he outlines in his forthcoming book, Intuitive Fasting,” Paltrow explained. “It’s keto and plant-based but flexible (I’ve been having fish and a few other meats), and I fast until 11 a.m. every day.”
“Everything I’m doing feels good, like a gift to my body,” she added. “I have energy, I’m working out in the mornings, and I’m doing an infrared sauna as often as I can, all in service of healing.”
Paltrow made headlines back in June 2020 when she released a candle called “This Smells Like My Orgasm” on her Goop website. She also faced backlash after donating an Oscar dress, which she described as “okay,” to raise money for coronavirus relief.