Dr. Cyriac Abby Philips, a Heptologist who goes by the name “TheLiverDoc” on X, called out Samantha and Alkesh saying they were “misleading” and “misinforming” 33 million followers on “detoxing the liver”.
Updated On – 11 March 2024, 08:27 PM
Samantha (Photo: Instagram)
Hyderabad: Samantha Ruth Prabhu has recently released a podcast on YouTube based on health, and named it ‘Take 20: Health Podcast Series’. While the podcast’s first episode titled ‘Understanding Autoimmunity’ came out 3 weeks ago on February 19, the second episode titled ‘Detox Pathways’ came out on February 29.
The star actor, in both the episodes discussed health issues with wellness coach and nutritionist Alkesh Sharotri on the show. Meanwhile, the second episode ‘Detox Pathways’, in which the podcasters discussed about a herb called Dandelion being the best medicine to improve liver health, has garnered some stern reactions from the medical community.
In one such reaction, Dr. Cyriac Abby Philips a Heptologist (liver specialist) who goes by the name “TheLiverDoc” (@theliverdr) on X (formerly Twitter), called out Samantha and Alkesh saying they were “misleading” and “misinforming” 33 million followers on “detoxing the liver”.
In an article which he posted on his account, the doctor rapped both Samantha and Alkesh for their podcast and said “I’m not sure how people with massive following very easily figure out the worst, science-illiterate people for them to talk on science, medicine and health on “health podcasts” that are in fact nothing to do with health or medicine. Its just two science illiterates sharing their ignorance. (sic)”
“The wellness coach guy is not even a real medical person and would probably have no idea about function of the liver,” the doctor said in his post and added that he (Alkesh Sharotri) has the “most rubbish content on his Instagram handle, including complete nonsense such as herbs to manage autoimmune disorders.”
Countering the alleged misinformation being spread by Samantha and Alkesh, Dr. Cyriac, adds that ‘Dandelion’ is a vegetable which is considered as a weed by most people and that it could be used in salads to provide about 10-15 percent of a person’s daily potassium requirements.
“Dandelion can increase urine output and work as a “diuretic” or like a “water pill” as per traditional medicine. But there is a lack of good human evidence for this effect,” the doctor added.
He also concluded his post saying that supplementation of Dandelion cannot be recommended now due to the lack of evidence at this point of time and warned against the consumption of Dandelions, especially the ones grown in the urban and suburban area citing heavy exposure to pesticide.
While some of the Samantha’s fans shared links of the apparent benefits of Dandelions for the human liver, doctors including Dr. Cyriac, schooled them by rightly pointing out that all the links shared by them only take into consideration lab tests done on rats and not human beings.
This is Samantha Ruth Prabhu, a film star, misleading and misinforming over 33 million followers on “detoxing the liver.”
The podcast feature some random health illiterate “Wellness Coach & Performance Nutritionist” who has absolutely no clue how the human body works and has the… pic.twitter.com/oChSDhIbu2
— TheLiverDoc (@theliverdr) March 10, 2024
