Gwyneth Paltrow’s wellness series The Goop Lab has been criticised by a top health expert in the U.K. for spreading “misinformation”.
The Netflix show, launched earlier this month, follows the Oscar-winning actress and her team as they explore alternative therapies for physical and mental ailments, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, chronic diseases, and ageing.
During the six-part series, Paltrow speaks to doctors and alternative health practitioners to investigate radical practices including energy exorcisms, cold exposure, and using psychedelic drugs.
However, Simon Stevens, chief executive of Britain’s National Health Service (NHS), has now slammed Paltrow and her programme for posing a “considerable health risk” to the public.
Stevens blasted the star’s “dubious wellness products and dodgy procedures” at an academic event in Oxford, England on Thursday, and accused her of spreading damaging medical theories.
“Her brand peddles psychic vampire repellent, says chemical sunscreen is a bad idea, and promotes colonic irrigation and DIY coffee enema machines, despite them carrying considerable risks to health,” Stevens stated. “We all know that lies and misinformation can now be round the world at the touch of a button – before the truth has reached for its socks, never mind got its boots on.
“Myths and misinformation have been put on steroids by the availability of misleading claims online,” he continued, before accusing Paltrow of taking advantage of “people’s natural concern for their health” to promote “quacks, charlatans and cranks”.
A spokeswoman for Goop said the series was “transparent when we cover emerging topics that may be unsupported by science or may be in early stages of review.”
Launched in 2008, Goop originally began as a newsletter for Paltrow’s famous friends, but has since expanded into a lifestyle and beauty business worth more than $250 million (£190 million).
