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 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. 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 [munmunganeriwal.com/about-mu…] 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 BS," bordering on "quackery." I know this, because I have expertise in modulation of gut microbiome and my department at the Liver Institute where I work, is the only one in the world that caters to stool transplant and microbiome modulation for patients with severe alcohol-related liver diseases. More on that here: theprint.in/health/poop-has-… Coming to the point, be very careful about having hibiscus tea on a daily basis. Firstly, to clarify, Hibiscus tea is made from Hibiscus Sabdariffa or Roselle. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosell… Do not confuse it with Hibiscus Macranthus [examine.com/supplements/hibi…] which is a herb claimed to promote male fertility and increase testosterone, which has been shown in at least one rat study; overall, understudied. The influenza does not clear this aspect. So 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. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/article… - so that claim from "Dr." Nayantara is false. 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. examine.com/supplements/rose… - so that claim too, is inaccurate. There are no studies to prove that hibiscus tea prevents acne or is antibacterial or prevents seasonal infections in humans. Evidence, or it did not happen. To claim otherwise, is delusional and disservice to public health. 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: examine.com/supplements/rose… 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. And lastly, "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 @krishashok and me have debunked long before here: instagram.com/_masalalab/p/C… As always, please follow real doctors advise for bettering your health. Take care. Hope not rude (because the fan base is much larger 🥲)

Ms. Samantha Ruth Prabhu has responded to my "provocative" criticism of her endorsement of unscientific, pseudoscientific and baseless alternative medicine therapies by playing the victim card and endorsing more alternative practices. Please note, she is a serial offender in the context of healthcare misinformation and she has been in the line of fire previously too. The reason why doctors like me have to spend (waste) time from our busy schedules to fight misinformation online is because it is peddled by large influential "celebrity" accounts that have no regard for public health. Engagement and monetization is their concern. Public health and disease prevention is mine. I (we) will be provocative, strongly criticise, be blatant, and brutal with facts because we have no time to waste, catering to emotions. I expected better from someone who claims that she wants to "improve." This is far from improvement. A rational and logical response would be to delete the public health endangering posts and apologize to her millions of followers and vouch to never quote or cite fraudulent practices or practitioners. I have absolutely ZERO hope for improving scientific temperament or rationalism in this country. Everyone role plays the victim of "scientific criticism" but will keep embracing and holding on to dogmatic views in healthcare, traditional untested observations or debunked dangerous therapies without shame or self reflection. If celebrity influencers really want to impact people positively, then start unlearning and re-learn, develop critical thinking skills, disregard logical fallacies and stand up for medical science instead of "playing victim" of the same science that is helping you, and all of us, survive into the future. I won't be commenting or debunking any of Samantha's future endorsements of pseudoscientific alternative public health endangering posts because, “You can’t help people that don’t want to be helped.” — John Armstrong