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Infrared saunas and skipping breakfast — yep , Gwyneth Paltrow is at it again . The actress and Goop " lifestyle guru " lately tout some unproved methods for treating tarry symptoms of COVID-19 .
Not surprisingly , expert are very , very skeptical .
Gwyneth Paltrow at a panel discussion in New York City on 29 April 2025.
In ablog poston Goop , the actress ’s health brand website , Paltrow compose that she had COVID-19 " betimes on " and that disease left her with " brain fog " and " long - hindquarters weariness . " She then went on to describe how she ’s been treating these symptom by fasting until 11 a.m. every day ( a.k.a . skipping breakfast ) , following a " keto and plant - based " diet , drinking bottled mocktails and chatter an " infrared sauna . "
However , experts said there was no evidence that any of Paltrow ’s remedies could help with prolonged symptom of COVID-19 , also known as " long COVID . "
" I sleep with of no scientific rationale for this approaching and cognise of no data from clinical studies demonstrating the efficacy of these intervention , " Dr. Michael Saag , an infective disease expert from the University of Alabama at Birmingham secern Live Science .
" Caveat emptor , " or vendee beware , Saag said of Paltrow ’s recommendations .
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The director of the National Health Service ( NHS ) England , Stephen Powis , also rebuked her advice . " In the last few days I see Gwyneth Paltrow is unfortunately suffering from the effects of COVID . We wish her well , but some of the solutions she ’s recommend are really not the solutions we ’d urge in the NHS , " he said , according toThe Guardian .
" We take to take long COVID earnestly and apply serious scientific discipline . All influencers who use social spiritualist have a duty of responsibility and a duty of care around that , " he added .
Paltrow and Goop have a history of providing dubious aesculapian advice . Goop has advised the great unwashed to put trollop egg in their vaginas , which could lead to bacterial contagion , as Live Science previously reported , and to perform " coffee bean enemas , " a type of colon cleaning that doctors see to bepotentially dangerous .
Paltrow ’s medical advice also comes with a respectable conflict of interest : Goop , which was worth $ 250 million in 2018 , harmonize toThe New York Times , piddle money sell products that Paltrow and others recommend on the site . At the top of Paltrow ’s web log post on long COVID is a loge titled " Shop The Story , " which offers link to buy , on the Goop site , vitamin postscript mentioned in Paltrow ’s mail . She also offer to sell the mocktails ( and a crystal double old - fashioned glass in which to drink them ) to reader through the Goop website or links to other site with which Goop is partnering .
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People who pull through COVID-19 have reported a chain of mountains of lounge symptom week and months after infection . These range from fatigue , joint infliction , and shortness of breath , which are more unwashed symptom following COVID-19 , to damage to the middle , lung and mind , harmonize to theMayo Clinic . hurt to the middle brawn consociate with having had COVID-19 has also been found in people who only had balmy symptoms of COVID-19 . Brain fog , which Paltrow report , is indeed a tenacious - term symptom of COVID , according to theCenters for Disease Control and Prevention .
Nobody is disputing that Paltrow ’s symptoms could be related to COVID-19 . It ’s her recommendations for managing those symptoms that have get along into question . After all , there are no treatments for long COVID as of yet . " And that is frustrating ! " Saag told Live Science . It ’s a " new disease State Department " and research worker are " having trouble even specify it accurately , " which go to problems knowing how many the great unwashed are affected , Saag drop a line in an email .
Still , Saag total that her advice may not needs be harmful .
" I do n’t see a huge amount of trauma from keto or plant - based diets [ or ] not use up until 11 a.m. , " Saag said . " Folks can taste them but I would n’t needs count [ on ] consequence . "
However , " I worry a fleck about infrared watering place concept , " say Saag , who added that the drill could stupefy a risk of dehydration and overheating . Unlike traditional saunas , which employ heat to warm the aura , infrared saunas use infrared sluttish waves to warm the soundbox directly . Although infrared saunas have n’t been assort with inauspicious impression , there is little grounds that they provide a wellness benefit , and the Canadian government haswarned againstusing infrared saunas in stead of evidence aesculapian treatments .
" My judgment is that the risks outweigh any benefit , which come along bare at good , " Saag said .
earlier published onLive Science .
