Dr Cyriac Abby Philips corrected her claim and said that no study was there to back the "health benefits" of Hibiscus tea.
Published Jul 29, 2024 | 5:14 PM ⚊ Updated Jul 29, 2024 | 5:14 PM
Kochi-based Hepatologist Cyriac Abby Phillips has once again criticised a film actor for posting the health benefits of an alternate therapy that “does wonders”.
Commonly referred to as “Lady Superstar”, South Indian actor Nayanthara shared the “benefits” of Hibiscus tea in a now-deleted post on her Instagram handle with over 87 lakh followers.
However, Dr Philips, who goes by the username TheLiverDoc, corrected her claim and said that no study was there to back the “health benefits” of Hibiscus tea.
Earlier, he had criticised actor Samantha for endorsing an alternate therapy, hydrogen-peroxide recommendation for viral infection.
He, however, had applauded the approach of actor Aishwarya Lekshmi who shared that she used collagen supplements for her skin with a disclaimer that it was her personal experience and not based on any study.
In her post, Nayanthara claimed that consuming Hibiscus tea would help regulated blood sugar, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and heart-related ailments.
She wrote, “This has to be my most favourite Tea, And the most exciting one in the meal plan curated by the genius @munmun.ganeriwal. It has long been used in Ayurveda. It is high in antioxidants and is helpful in diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and heart related ailments. It is very cooling for the system hence it is great for those who have acne, heat boils on skin etc,” she shared.
“Hibiscus tea is great for the monsoon season as it is rich in vitamins and keeps our immune system in equilibrium. It has antibacterial effects that protects from seasonal infection/illness,” she wrote.
Well, within hours of sharing this post, she deleted it and put a status putting Mark Twain’s quote “Never argue with the stupid people, they will drag you down the level and beat you with the experience.”
Dr Philips on X said that if Nayanthara had stopped at hibiscus tea was kind of tasty, that would have been okay.
“But no, they have to go ahead and blow their health-illiteracy trumpet and also claim that hibiscus tea is helpful in diabetes, high blood pressure, acne, antibacterial and protects against the flu. Well, none of the above claims have been proven,” he wrote on X.
He said that it also seems like the post was an advertisement for her “celebrity nutritionist who has a masters in science degree in diet and nutrition who describes herself as “the only gut microbiome specialist in the world who combines traditional Indian foods, ancient Indian yogic practices and Ayurveda principles with gut microbiota study to understand and fight obesity and other diseases.”
“Which literally translates to “absolute **,” bordering on “quackery.” Dr Philips said.
This is cinema actress Nayantara who has more than twice the following of the other actress Samantha miselading her 8.7 million followers on a supplement called hibiscus tea.
If she had stopped at hibiscus tea is kind of tasty, that would have been ok. But no, they have to go… pic.twitter.com/d1fQCohsGU
— TheLiverDoc (@theliverdr) July 29, 2024
However, he asked people to be very careful about having hibiscus tea on a daily basis.
“Firstly, to clarify, Hibiscus tea is made from Hibiscus Sabdariffa or Roselle. Do not confuse it with Hibiscus Macranthus which is a herb claimed to promote male fertility and increase testosterone, which has been shown in at least one rat study; overall, understudied,” Dr Philips said.
Roselle (Hibiscus tea) supposedly has anti-diabetic and blood pressure lowering effects as per the post claim.
“First, the blood pressure lowering effects: A 2021 meta-analysis conducted by the Cochrane hypertension group concluded that currently the evidence is insufficient to establish if roselle, when compared to placebo, is effective in managing or lowering blood pressure in people with hypertension- so that claim from “Dr.” Nayantara is false(sic),” he said.
“Second, anti-diabetic properties: Studies are low grade (D) and analysis of presumably well-designed studies show that it has no blood glucose lowering effect. “Most of the positive studies were in animals other than humans and hence “benefits” skewed. so that claim too, is inaccurate(sic),” he added.
Further, he said that there are no studies to prove that hibiscus tea prevents acne, is antibacterial or prevents seasonal infections in humans.
“Evidence, or it did not happen. To claim otherwise, is delusional and disservice to public health,” he pointed out.
He also said one concern that does exist is damage to testes in males, which occurs fairly reliably at 200mg/kg or above in animals (= 2.2g dried flowers in 68kg human) but has not been investigated in humans.
“Roselle appears to be anti-fertility in men, inducing abnormal sperm morphology. In females, there was a series of studies suggesting Roselle could cause abnormal (higher) birth weights in offspring with a delay of pubertal onset; for the most part these are attributed to the appetite suppressing effect causing maternal malnutrition,” Dr Philips said.
“So men and women in reproductive age groups, please do not consume hibiscus tea on a regular basis as there is insufficient evidence on its safety. Better to be safe than sorry,” he said.
He said that “Vaidya” Nayantara quotes “Ayurveda” as the guiding principle to these claims. “She also talks about “cooling” effect of the “food. Well, Ayurveda is pseudoscientific garbage and “hot and cold” foods principle is an absurd and unscientific theory on diet and nutrition put forth by Ayurvedic practitioners which Krish Ashok and me have debunked long before,” Philips added.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil)
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