So Steven Bartlett has set the internet alight with rage yet again. Last week the insufferable podcast presenter, estimated to be worth up to $70 million, got burned for admitting he pranged out over two glasses of wine that ‘derailed’ three days of his life. By derailed he meant achieving a suboptimal resting heart rate and failing to record an episode of his very important and world-changing podcast. Get a life, said the internet. Eye-rolling at Bartlett’s painfully earnest advice appears to be a trend of the moment. I have to say, I’m well and truly here for it.
As a health journalist and editor with a particular distain for pseudoscientific drivel, I have grown increasingly irritated by the grossly irresponsible nature of his podcast (which attracts around 3 million viewers/listeners per episode). The show has morphed into an unapologetic series of quackery sessions; ‘wisdom’ from health ‘experts’ who sit firmly on the fringes of the medical establishment. There’s the doctor who thinks biscuits are literally poison, the former 23andMe boss who thinks cuttin sugar will help a reproductive disease, the researcher who thinks life-saving cancer drugs do a ‘horrible job’ and some bloke who thinks the best way to cure lung infections is to swallow 8 cloves of garlic. Don’t get me started on Mr Antivax. Oh and of course there was the time that Bartlett and that guy from Love Island sought to get to the bottom of the global fertility crisis, concluding that womens’ reluctance to have babies must be because we’re just too goddam selfish these days. Nothing to do with the unaffordable childcare, nationwide housing crisis, record level economic instability and, erm, an unfortunate selection of male suitors, of course. At this point, Diary of A CEO is mostly a masterclass in clickbait.
We can laugh at his insane, tone deaf takes on societal challenges that don’t really affect him. But when it comes to the bogus health claims, I struggle to find it funny. At least half of Gen Z get their health information from Instagram and YouTube, studies show. A 2025 report found 18-34 year olds trust influencers and friends more than clinical providers when it comes to medical information. This means the words of Steven Bartlett and the guests he chooses to platform matter. It is not an exaggeration to say that, in some cases, the information they provide may be a case of life or death.
I am not suggesting that those with a view outside of the medical mainstream must be de-platformed. Only that their unconventional take should be challenged. The problem is our friend Steven is ill-equipped to do so, lacking medical qualifications, in-depth knowledge or training. Worse still, his enthusiastic reactions to some of the most spurious claims gives further credence to theories that could well be dangerous in the wrong hands.
I am not a medic, just a do-gooding journalist who has reported on health for almost a decade. This has provided a decent amount of scientific grounding. Working for a newspaper (and one with a campaign against fake health news) involves ensuring every story you write is accurate, balanced and with caveats in all the right places. Not only do I have the wrath of my editor to face should I present something spurious, but also the terrifying responsibility of imparting potentially life-saving advice to millions of readers. I have quite literally woken up with cold sweats if I’ve doubted the medical accuracy of a piece.
With this in mind, I trawled through a vomit-inducing number of episodes of Diary of a CEO, on the hunt for health misinformation. I watched 10 episodes. From this, I noted more than 100 incidences pseudoscience- or at least statements that weren’t akin to the medical consensus, but went almost completely unchallenged. I made a neat list of the majority below.
I also asked a senior GP friend of mine to look over the statements and tell which, if any, are steeped in some truth. She picked none, describing them all as ‘classic health fiction’. Here’s part one…
The statements are in regular type and my analysis is in bold
Dr David Unwin, GP, May 2026
Dr Unwin made a name for himself by successfully helping his type 2 diabetes patients put their condition into remission via a low-carb diet. He’s since written diet books about his special (but definitely not unique) eating plan.
Throughout the episode, Dr Unwin makes reference to his handy tool that he says helps explain the impact of foods on blood sugar. Extreme peaks in blood sugar are said, by some doctors to contribute to the development of metabolic diseases including diabetes. He equates carbohydrates to varying quantities of sugar. Cornflakes, for instance, is the equivalent of eight teaspoons. A potato is nine. A portion of rice is 10, he says.
‘I thought rice was healthy,’ exclaims Barlett to which Unwin smirks and responds, ‘it depends’.
It is a fundamental misrepresentation of science to equate the sugar in carbohydrates to teaspoons of table sugar in the body. This is because different carbohydrates are broken down at different rates by the digestive system, depending on the individual. In 2020, the paper I worked for conducted a novel investigation to test Unwin’s theory which ultimately disproved it. In the words of Professor Gary Frost, head of nutritional research at Imperial College London who specialises in carbohydrates, equating rice to teaspoons of sugar is ‘very misleading and unscientific.’ Unwin’s theory discounts the beneficial impact of different foods within the body (from fibre and vitamins and minerals).
Another point worth making; there is not yet a widespread academic consensus that sugar (whether the type broken down from carbohydrates or not) is the culprit that causes type 2 diabetes, or other chronic health problems for that matter. Rather, experts believe the condition is most likely the result of excess fat surrounding the liver and pancreas, which is thought to interfere with sensitivity to insulin (the hormone that helps turn sugars in food into energy). Yes, an excess of sugary foods can result in this type of harmful excess fat. But so can a surplus of calories that come from any food source. In other words, there is nothing particularly special about carbs. A 2020 report from the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition concluded there was no difference between low and high carbohydrate diets when it came to weight loss beyond 12 months.
Also, while Dr Unwin’s infographics conflating carbs with teaspoons of sugar were once endorsed by NHS watchdog the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), the body dropped said endorsement six years a go as Unwin’s theory ‘needed further investigation’.
Another dubious claim: Jen Unwin, his wife - a clinical psychologist and big proponent of beating ‘food addiction’ - is a reformed ‘ultra processed food addict’. He adds that it’s not an uncommon problem; ‘people are addicted to bread’.
Whether or not food addiction is actually a thing is still debated among medics. Back in 2012 two separate teams of UK experts concluded there isn’t sufficient evidence to support the idea that we crave food in the same way we do drugs and alcohol.
‘There is no scientific evidence for a single nutritional compound or a mixture exerting addictive-like behaviour, as nicotine, alcohol or heroin would,’ said Professor Julian Mercer from the University of Aberdeen Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health.
More recently, a 2025 review of 37 studies on the subject by experts at the University of São Paulo noted that more research was needed before food addiction can be seen as a distinct and scientifically valid phenomenon.
Notably, the DSM 5 (manual that lists ever psychiatric disorder) does not identify food addiction as a diagnosis. In fact the term doesn’t feature at all.
[how can you be addicted to something we all need to survive???]
Dr Rhonda Patrick, March 2026
‘The body needs to be in a fasted state to repair.’
Dr Patrick is, like many of Barlett’s guests, a fan of fasting diets. Here’s the thing about fasting; there is a decent amount of animal research that shows a certain amount of ‘regeneration’ in the cells of mice after fasting, which has anti-dementia benefits. But the same hasn’t been shown in humans. According to numerous NHS sources, energy, protein, vitamins, minerals, fluids, and appropriate movement/rest balance are needed to repair injuries. Fasting, oddly, doesn’t get a mention.
‘PFAS [chemical in non-stick pans] accelerates the age at which you’ll enter the menopause… [they] accelerate ovarian ageing.’
Studies have shown an association between high exposure to so-called ‘forever chemicals’ and earlier menopause onset. There’s no proof that one thing causes the other. In fact one recent review found no association when other important factors were taken into account.
‘Pregnant women exposed to BPA [chemical in plastics such as water bottles and drink cans] are six times more likely to have an autistic child.’
I think she’s referring to the outcome of a 2024 study that showed an association between high BPA exposure in pregnancy and autistic male offspring. Again, it’s an association, not a causal relationship. Scientists’ reaction to a 2018 mouse study making similar claims is telling; ‘What is the evidence that numerous chemicals in the environment can interfere with human development? Not much.’ All the major international authorities on autism clearly state the disorder is a result of a mixture of many complex factors; genetic and environmental.
‘Taking a supplement called Sulforaphane rids the body of BPA and helps with autism symptoms.’
Studies that find benefits of the supplement sulforaphane [found in some vegetables] involve very small numbers of participants, and have produced mixed results. It’s not recommended in UK clinical guidelines.
‘Multivitamins can reverse brain ageing by five years.’
I couldn’t find any decent research that suggests as such. Here’s the conclusions of three major reviews of the impact of multivitamins on brain health/dementia risk:
We did not find evidence that any vitamin or mineral supplementation strategy for cognitively healthy adults in mid or late life has a meaningful effect on cognitive decline or dementia.
Supplementation of B Complex vitamins, especially a supplementation of folic acid, may have a positive effect on delaying and preventing the risk of cognitive decline. [note the term MAY and B vitamins…not multivitamin]
Universal cognitive enhancement cannot be concluded…from the use of multivitamins.
‘Creatine makes your brain sharper and combats signs of sleep deprivation.’
A 2024 in-depth report by the UK Nutrition and Health Claims Committee concluded that a cause-and-effect relationship has not been established between the consumption of ≤3g per day creatine (a typical dose) and improved cognitive function.
Dr David Sinclair, March 2026
[Just an FYI re Dr Sinclair: In 2024 he was forced to resign as president of the Academy for Health and Lifespan Research after he was accused of pushing a bogus pill that promised to reverse the age of dogs. The Pharma giant GSK also said his promotion of anti-ageing ingredient resveratrol was based on ‘underwhelming evidence’ and he’d failed to properly recognise significant side effects like vomiting and diarrhoea.]
‘We’re probably going to live into the 22nd century if we do all the right things.’
I don’t think much analysis is needed to scrutinise the above comment. The average person in the UK lives to 81-82. I’d have to live to 110 to see the 22nd century. Over the last 50 years life expectancy has only risen by about a decade so, according to those figures, most of us are quite a way off…
‘Flying [in an airplane] makes us age faster by altering our DNA.’
I mean, there is some evidence that frequent exposure to ‘cosmic radiation’ could cause DNA damage, potentially increasing disease risk. But it’s very unlikely the amount of air miles travelled by the average person has this effect.
‘Fasting turns on “DNA repair systems” that help slow down ageing…try to aim for 14 hours [fasted]. Hopefully you can do that most days, five days a week.’
Addressed partially above. Tara Spires-Jones, Professor at the UK Dementia Research Institute at the University of Edinburgh and President of the British Neuroscience Association, says of supposed anti-dementia benefits: ‘We still do not know whether restricting the times in the day you eat will be helpful in humans.’
‘The idea that breakfast is the most important meal of the day is just marketing from the early 20th century…for most people, especially if you’re not hungry when you wake up, there’s no point in eating if you’re not hungry in the morning.’
Studies consistently show that people who regularly eat breakfast tend to have a healthier body weight across their lifetime. Breakfast is also recommended by the British Dietetic Association.
Dr Benjamin Bikman, January 2026
‘You can help many brain disorders with a ketogenic diet…whether it’s schizophrenia, whether it’s bipolar, whether it’s depression, dementia, like Alzheimer’s disease…multiple sclerosis…eating disorders.’
Keto is another favourite of Steven’s and, predictably, most of the guests he invites on. So lets get into it. For the uninformed, ketogenic diets are basically just low-carb with a creative PR campaign. Preliminary studies involving small numbers of participants and/or questionable methodology have found potential benefits of the eating plan for the above BUT every review I read stated clearly that far more research is needed before we can draw firm conclusions. ‘There is no high-quality evidence of low carb/keto efficacy in mood or anxiety disorders,’ concluded one 2023 paper by international experts, including some from the UK.
‘Cancer is fuelled by sugar’
Ok sort of, via something called the Warburg effect (v complicated but basically cancer cells use a shit load of glucose to survive, compared to healthy cells). HOWEVER. This doesn’t mean that the sugar we eat encourages tumours to grow (literally no studies have found this), or that ‘starving’ the body of sugar will destroy or shrink them. Really great explanation of this common misunderstanding by American surgical oncologist David Gorski here.
‘Normal interventions like chemotherapies have terrible rates of success.’
Really? For some cancers, like certain leukaemia, chemotherapy can cure 90% of patients. Thanks to targeted chemotherapy the five year survival rate for early stage breast cancer is around 90%. It can also reduce the risk of the disease coming back by at least a third.
‘Let’s admit what we think we know about cancer isn’t working. Cancer rates continue to climb. Cancer mortality continues to climb.’
Data from more than 10 million adults found that the 10 year survival rate has doubled over the last 50 years, mostly due to advances in treatment. Cervical cancer mortality has dropped 75 per cent since the 1970s. A woman diagnosed with breast cancer today is roughly 80 per cent more likely to survive a decade than a woman diagnosed in the 1970s. According to Cancer Research UK, mortality rates for all cancers combined decreased by around a tenth between roughly 2012–2014 and 2022–2024.
‘Low carb diets are better than GLP-1s [Ozempic etc] for weight loss.’
I’m not sure there’s a good study that’s looked at this directly (if you find one pls hmu). But major reviews have found that low-carb diets are no better than any other weight loss diet for fat loss and reducing heart disease risk. GLP-1 drugs result in roughly twice the weight loss of diet and exercise alone, so…
Dr Bikman endorses a range of supplements; Yerba mate, Iron feather, Omega 3 and Creatine.
Randomised trial evidence does not support use of vitamin, mineral, and fish oil supplements to reduce the risk of non-communicable [chronic] diseases, according to a 2020 paper published in the prestigious British Medical Journal.
Dr Robert Lustig, October 2025
‘Diet sweetener consumption correlates with dementia…the evidence is pretty damn strong.’
Some studies have found correlations but haven’t established cause and effect. It could be the case that people with unhealthier lifestyles and therefore more prone to dementia are more likely to drink diet drinks to try and lose weight. A very high quality review from 2018 found no link between sweetener intake and mood/behaviour/neurocognition.
‘Fructose [fruit sugars] is a poison.’
Don’t think much explanation is needed here. Obviously it isn’t.
‘Ultraprocessed food is loaded with poison…it has been associated with every single mental health disease, especially dementia.’
The term poison is a red herring. Pretty much everything is poisonous at a certain dose. Yes, it has been associated with most mental health conditions but, currently, it’s just a link - it’s not the case that one causes the other. People who eat UPF are also more likely to be hard-up, do less exercise and have more stressful lives…maybe these things are increasing the risk of mental illness rather than just the food.
‘We are unable to love because are brains are inflamed as a result of eating ultra processed food.’
I know at least five people who regularly nail McDonald’s and are absolutely obsessed with their romantic partner. One study found two thirds of participants eat junk food in the five weeks after a break-up (which usually involve a person having been in love)
Stress during pregnancy makes the mother’s offspring bad at relationships: ‘There’s a causal probability [you] might be less good at bonding with people.’
Some studies link maternal stress to aggressive behaviour in young kids which I guess could affect relationships but, again, this could be because these families have particularly stressful lives which doesn’t bode well for calm, well-behaved children. A 2025 Norweigan study of 114,500 children and their parents concluded: ‘Links between prenatal maternal stress and variation in early offspring outcomes are more likely to be confounded [i.e due to other factors] than causal.’
‘People who eat a lot of ultraprocessed food are going to be serotonin deficient, which makes them somewhat irritable and also somewhat lonely.’
Studies have found people on high UPF diets can have lower circulating serotonin (this doesn’t mean they’re ‘deficient’ though). Again, just an association, so it could be that depressed people with reduced serotonin are more likely to eat crap because they feel crap. Also, the serotonin hypothesis of depression has been somewhat debunked anyway.
’73 per cent of the items in the American grocery store are poison.’
Oh come on.
‘The rise in bowel cancer in younger people [in their 30s and 40s] is because of sugar.’
I’ve been reporting on the alarming trend of young bowel cancer patients for three years, which has involved interviewing some of the world’s most respected oncologists about the reason behind the phenomenon. They all say the same thing; we don’t know yet. The likelihood is it’s multifactoral; a mixture of changing diets (less fibre), more inactivity, chemicals in the environment etc. No one respectable says sugar.
Dr Alan Goldhamer, September 2025
‘A 40-day fast results in weight loss, but also can improve symptoms of ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, chronic constipation and irritable bowel syndrome.’
It appears only two human trials on fasting and inflammatory bowel disease have been published - one as recent as February this year. Both look at intermittent fasting (eating within an eight hour window), rather than not eating for several days on end. All participants in the latest trial had weight to lose, so it’s likely the weight loss was responsible for the symptom improvement, rather than the fasting itself. The other trial was ‘small and uncontrolled…making it difficult to draw conclusions’.
‘One patient with lymphoma [a type of immune system cancer] rejected chemotherapy and fasted for three weeks. Three years later she’s cancer free.’
Depending on the type of lymphoma, chemotherapy results in remission for between 65-95 per cent of patients. While small, early studies have indicated short-term fasting could boost the benefits of chemo, ‘most of the studies on humans are small and based only on selected people with certain cancers. We need more research,’ says Cancer Research UK. Medics estimate that around 10-23 per cent of early stage lymphomas go into remission without treatment, for no known reason.
‘Leaky gut causes autoimmune conditions like arthritis.’
Let me direct you to this 2024 paper by experts at Mayo Clinic that explains why leaky gut is not really a thing.
‘PCOS is a condition that responds consistently to fasting...and removing sugar corrects an irregular menstrual cycle.’
There’s some evidence that intermittent fasting helps improve insulin sensitivity in women with PCOS, usually because it helps patients lose weight. But ‘consistently’ is somewhat of a stretch. In 2019 a major review of lifestyle interventions in PCOS (including diets) concluded that ‘no studies have looked at the effect of lifestyle intervention on menstrual regularity.’
Simon Mills, August 2025
‘[Herbs such as] milk thistle, bupleurum, artichchoke leaf and an Indian remedy called gymnema can help treat panic attacks and erratic menstrual cycles.’
Re herbal remedies for mental health conditions, The Royal College of Psychiatrists say: ‘There is little good evidence to support their use. Some of these treatments may work, but most have not been thoroughly tested. The studies have often been too small to give a clear answer.’
‘A mixture of ginger and cinnamon with hot water is a cold remedy [useful for loosening mucus in the nose and throat.]’
I recently spent roughly a week diving into the research on colds and flu and found that basically the only thing that works to reduce symptoms is nasal irrigation…so maybe the hot water helps loosen mucus??? Who knows. Please don’t snort cinnamon.
‘Zinc, vitamin D and C can prevent colds.’
A Cochrane review is generally considered the Godfather of all medical research. In 2024 Cochrane concluded zinc supplementation had ‘little or no effect on cold prevention’, but may reduce the duration of sniffles. Guidance for GPs published in the British Medical Journal states: ‘Viitamin C supplementation has been found to have no benefit in preventing colds and vitamin D3 supplementation does not prevent upper respiratory tract infection in children or adults, even at high doses’.
‘Eating eight garlic gloves is particularly good for chest infections.’
‘There’s little evidence that supplements such as vitamin C, echinacea or garlic prevent colds or help you get better more quickly,’ as per the NHS. As for infections, it looks as though studies (mostly small) have only been done in petri dishes, using garlic supplements rather than cloves and animals.
‘[When it comes to healthy fruit]…the darker the better. We talk about purple…eyesight, brain health, circulatory health can be improved by having more purple in our lives.’
The only factual thing I can say about a purple carrot is that it is a lot more expensive than an orange one. If evidence exists that purple is better for me than orange I’d love to see it.
‘The modern man and woman has a whole string of burdens to carry because we have too much sugar.’
There’s little solid evidence that it’s the sugar rather than excess calories that’s behind surging cases of metabolic disease. This statement is misleading because it implies there’s something inherently toxic about sugar when it’s more likely the case that it’s just easier to eat more sugary foods.
‘[If you have] difficulty conceiving…I would be looking at reducing your sugar intake at the very least.’
The British Dietetic Association does recommend reducing sugar (mostly because of sugar-related compounds called AGEs that can form on the ovaries of overweight women), but also reducing saturated fat, increasing dietary sources of non-heam iron, folate and plant protein.
‘Extraction of fennel and echinacea can stabilise the menstrual cycle.’
I couldn’t find any evidence whatsoever to substantiate this. But I did find a 2020 review that concluded ‘low‐ to very low‐quality evidence to show that taking an antioxidant [such as fennel] may benefit subfertile women’.
‘Dark chocolate is one of the best medicines around…for brain health and cardiovascular health.’
Dark chocolate is food. Medicine is medicine. Dark chocolate contains chemicals called flavanols that have been shown to have benefits for heart health. BUT benefits have been seen with levels of flavanols much higher than the amount in commercial chocolate. And all chocolate, no matter how dark, is high in sugar and fat. It’s for this reason the British Heart Foundation says dark chocolate should not be seen as a health food, but a ‘treat’ that may be beneficial for health.
‘The impact of stations is still modest in terms of the overall scheme of things. The numbers of people’s lives it saves is probably fairly minimal.’
High quality data show the drugs reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke in people with high cholesterol by at least a quarter. Statins are thought to save around 7,000 lives every year, according to NHS estimates.
Stay tuned for more DOAC nonsense!
Thank you this!
Thank you for your service because I couldn’t bear 10 minutes let alone ten HOURS, this was a rightful and necessary call out of utter waffle that has become insidiously convincing to far too many…there’s also the issue of nonsense being promoted as “good” cough…AG1…cough, when it turns out it’s one of many investments by the grifting elite, and not grounded in a falsifiable reality.