Celebrity endorsements that are science fiction trashed in annual list

[mr blur]

Have you heard the one about the bracelet with holograms that can improve your strength and flexibility, or help you lose weight? Did you know that sperm was highly nutritious and something to be reabsorbed into the body, particularly before a fight?

For the past 12 months a range of celebrities have endorsed and promoted a whole range of scientifically dubious ideas. Fortunately, for anyone concerned that people might take the celebrity nonsense seriously, scientists and doctors are on hand to dispense some corrective wisdom on the dodgiest of these claims.

The campaign group Sense About Science (SAS) has collated scores of examples of scientific abuse from the past year and today publishes its annual list of celebrity-science shame. "When people in the public eye give opinions about causes of disease, cures, diets, or products we should buy or avoid, that's it, their opinion goes worldwide in seconds," said Lindsay Hogg, assistant director of SAS. "It gets public attention and appears in every related Google search for months. So if it's scientifically wrong, we're stuck with the fallout from that."

This year saw the biggest rise in dubious ideas among celebrities about the way our bodies work, said the campaigners. Olivia Newton-John, for example, told a newspaper in the summer that she took extra digestive enzymes and "plant tonics" to boost her immune system. Pop star Sarah Harding, meanwhile, extolled the virtues of sprinkling charcoal on to her meals to Now magazine, as a way of absorbing the "bad, damaging stuff" in the body.

"All the digestive enzymes you need are produced in a beautifully co-ordinated way by different structures in your gut," said Melita Gordon, consultant gastroenterologist at Royal Liverpool University hospital. "They work best at the exact location where they are produced. Your body makes all the enzymes you need, in the right place, at the right time."

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/dec/29/celebrity-endorsements-trashed-annual-list

Yeah, but...celebrities know everything, don't they?

[TZ]

1. I saw a story about those bracelets on ESPN of all places

earlier this year. It actually was quite good. And I have lots of respect for Oklahoma Thunder NBA player Kevin Durant who after trying the bracelet out prounounced it useless...Pretty smart guy..

[DavidDvorkin]

2. That's a slur on science fiction

Those endorsements are fantasy.