Many people roll their eyes at the questionable health advice doled out by Gwyneth Paltrow and her lifestyle site, Goop.
Putting stones in your vagina, taking advice from a man who claims he can speak to ghosts, vagina steaming and more have all been recommended.
But one doctor is taking it upon herself to debunk Paltrow's claims and expose any advice by Goop that she believes could be potentially dangerous.
Dr Jen Gunter's latest post came about in response to Paltrow's declaration: “If you want to f*** with me, bring your A game.”
"If you want to f**k with me, bring your A-game," Gwyneth Paltrow said during an interview with Fast Company's Nicole LaPorte yesterday. Speaking at Goop's headquarters during our FC/LA conference, the Oscar winner was more than a little frank when discussing the challenges of running her lifestyle website. "It took me many years to get to the point where I felt confident enough to monetize the business," she said of her company's recent success "I really didn't give myself permission to say what I wanted to do for a really long time until it was kinda clear that I just should just do it." Paltrow also gave some insight into the inner workings of her business methods, including how she utilizes her network of startup mentors. She has "an amazing group" of people she calls "all the time," including @Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky, "even though he could like be my son," she jokes. "He has an incredibly sharp mind. His advice is incredibly practical." The Goop CEO also isn't afraid to pick up the phone and call Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger, Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn, or Creative Artists Agency president Richard Lovett and simply ask, "Hi, is there any way I could just talk to you for one hour?" "I'm very lucky that people will take my calls," she says. Watch the full interview on our Facebook page. #FastCompanyLA
“I have taken this A game thing seriously as her pseudoscience and chicanery are lowering the medical I.Q., are harmful, and causing people to spent money on pointless ‘therapies,’” Dr Gunter writes.
She explains how she went to try one of Goop's recipes and found one of the ingredients contained arsenic and could thus be seriously harmful.
The Morning Matcha Smoothie recipe on Goop calls for an unusual ingredient called tocos. Dr Gunter, like most people, didn't know what tocos was (were?) so decided to do some research.
Tocos is “raw bran rice solubles,” Gunter found out by clicking the shopping link on the recipe.
“Not one to take Goop’s word for anything I decided to do some research,” Gunter writes. “Rice bran solubles are the husk of brown rice that has been discarded when rice is polished to make white rice. So rice offal.
“Apparently it was once animal feed until some enterprising people in Big Transformative Foods figured out they could rebrand it and charge out the yoni.
“At first blush it does sounds healthy as brown rice has a better nutritional value than white. Apparently, it is very high in vitamin E which is tocopherol hence the catchy name tocos.”
Whilst some people claim rice bran solubles have health benefits, Dr Gunter found a study that had concluded they contain high arsenic levels.
“Arsenic is a carcinogen and a poison, so that’s not transformative in a good way,” Dr Gunter says.
“This made sense as there is arsenic in rice and there is much more in brown rice. Rice bran solubles have 10-20 times the amount of arsenic as rice.”
Dr Gunter has criticised Goop for “ignoring the science when it’s convenient for their brand and their brand partners.”
She says she found the science behind tocos in just five minutes of research, so believes Goop's writers probably didn't even look into it:
“Goop editors either knew and didn’t give a s*** because ‘tocos’ are trendy (i.e. they sell) and they were counting on no one checking or they actually never researched it. I am honestly not sure which is worse for a health and wellness site.”
Dr Gunter concedes that a drinking the smoothie a few times a month is probably safe, but she says parents should be wary of making it for their children.
“I think it’s f***ing hypocritical to be all about ‘toxins’ and cleanses and cancer fear and then promote and sell a product that is illegal in China because of its arsenic,” she writes.
Goop are yet to respond to our request for a comment on the matter.
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