UK health service chief warns against wellness products promoted by Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop

By MiNDFOOD

UK health service chief warns against wellness products promoted by Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop
The head of the UK’s National Health Service has criticised Gwyneth Paltrow’s brand Goop and the alternative therapies it promotes.

While discussing “dubious wellness products and dodgy procedures” during a speech in Oxford, Sir Simon Stevens warned some procedures recommended on Paltrow’s new Netflix series The Goop Lab pose “considerable risks to health”.

“Goop has just popped up with a new TV series, in which Gwyneth Paltrow and her team test vampire facials and back a body worker, who claims to cure both acute psychological trauma and side-effects by simply moving his hands two inches above a customer’s body,” said the chief executive.

“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.”

The Goop Lab is a six-part series looking at the effectiveness of alternative therapies for physical and mental illness.

Goop has grown in popularity despite receiving criticism for making unsubstantiated health claims. The lifestyle and beauty business is reportedly worth $US250 million.

Regarding the criticism of The Goop Lab, a Goop spokesperson said the brand is “transparent when we cover emerging topics that may be unsupported by science or may be in early stages of review”.

“When products are available for retail sale, we have a robust legal and compliance team that works closely with our science and research group to vet product claims,” said the spokesperson.

Meanwhile, Netflix says the series is “designed to entertain, not provide medical advice”.

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