The blog hosted by CEO Steven Bartlett has been criticized by health experts for promoting harmful health misinformation on his No-1 podcast, potentially putting cancer patients at risk.
The Den of Dragons star is facing questions after guests on the podcast proposed false cures, for example, that cancer can be treated by following a keto diet.
Health experts warned that the claims could have serious consequences for people who were seriously ill and urged listeners not to follow any of the advice.
The day you come, or . research by the BBC World Service He found that the guests were not at all engaged in any challenge. Experts told the BBC that because they could not question these unproven methods, it was dangerous because it created a distrust of conventional medicine.
In an analysis of 15 episodes of health-related podcasts, Broader found that each medium contained fourteen harmful health claims that ran counter to substantial scientific evidence.
However, Studio Flight, a podcast production company owned by Bartlett, said guests were offered “freedom of speech” and “research”.
The podcast, launched in 2017, has 7 million subscribers. Last year, its monthly views increased from 9 million to 15 million.
In an 18-month window analyzed by the BBC, some guests as expert health experts shared common misleading claims including anti-vaccine conspiracies, saying that Covid was an engineered weapon that could “reverse” poly-cystic ovary syndrome, autism and other disorders. with the diet and the fact that the drug from the tests is “toxic” for the patients, the success of the treatment is broken.
Heidi Larson, a public health trust expert, told the BBC: “They” [the guests] they are just stretching. It sends people away from evidence-based medicine. They stop doing anything that has any side effects, even if it could save their life.
In an episode in October, Dr Thomas Seyfried Bartlett said that cancer treatment can be helped by following a keto diet, the BBC said. He compared modern cancer treatments to “medieval care.”
In another episode of the podcast in July, doctor Aseem Malhotra said, “The Covid vaccine is a net negative for society.”
A spokesperson for Studio Flight stated that each episode’s guest is researched before the commission.
“DOAC offers guests the freedom to speak and believes progress, growth and learning comes from listening to multiple voices, not just Steven and the DOAC team who necessarily agree,” they added.
They said that the BBC had watched only 15 episodes of almost 400 broadcasts to date.
“Any report of less than 4% of episodes with a very limited proportion of guests – some of whom have entered the BBC – to make it wider, and in our opinion, a partial narrative is disappointing, misleading and, frankly, disjointed. they added.
In August, two nutrition ads on Facebook for the diet app Zoe and the food supplement supplement Huel were endorsed by Bartlett. banned by the advertising police for it “deceives.”
Bartlett praised the products in three sponsored posts shared on Facebook in February and March. However, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) stated that the adverts were being misleading in order not to make it appear that Bartlett was obsessed with Zoe and director Huel.