The ‘medfluencers’ flogging fake cancer tests, ‘cough syrup’ fertility ‘cures’ & deadly drugs… warning signs to look for

CANNABIS and apricot kernels to cure cancer, saffron to treat ADHD and dangerously high doses of vitamin D to combat common ailments from back pain to depression. These are just some of the unproven and unregulated treatments being promoted by self-described medical and wellness personalities on social media. As the number of “medfluencers” and AI docs flogging bogus cures has explodes, experts today warn of the massive danger they pose. Medfluencers have been blasted for peddling ‘dangerous’ drugs that don’t work Credit: Getty Mega celebrities like Kim and Khloe Kardasian get paid enormous sums for sponsored posts Credit: AFP In just a few clicks, users can find these online quacks offering cures for every illness from cancer to migraines Some appear on screen in scrubs and white coats – or even describe themselves overtly as a doctor. Many promote supplements, pharmaceuticals and other wellness products that can be purchased with just a few clicks. But experts are warning that some of these influencers – and the so-called cures they peddle – cannot be trusted and could even be harmful. Dr Emma Runswick, deputy chair of the British Medical Association, said the public must avoid “dangerous fake advice” from AI medfluencers that “peddle medical myths and promote so-called miracle cures”. And speaking to The Sun, Professor Raffael Heiss, who has been researching the emerging world of medical influencers, said they “blur the line” between well-intended “medical advice and commercialisation”. He added: “Some influencers try to create a demand for certain products – and this comes with anxiety in many people – and the perception that they have a condition which they may not actually have. “So, on the one hand, they’re creating a demand for something and then providing and selling a solution. Ellie Grey has given questionable medical advice to her 200,000 followers Credit: iamelliegrey/ Instagram She claimed that saffron, amongst other things, could cure cancer Credit: Getty “By making profit out of that solution, that’s a conflict of interest, which is of course a big issue.” A common example of this was vitamin D or testosterone supplements. He said 40 per cent of young people in the US had already bought a supplement based on an influencer’s recommendation. In his native Austria, the figure is 31 per cent among 15 to 25-year-olds. Professor Heiss said the power of influencers came from the “parasocial relationship” they built with their followers, that established a foundation of trust. “Influencers play around with personal experience, which is something which creates trust in many people,” he said. “If you tell stories about what’s happened to yourself, why would anyone lie about that, right? “But then, we know that influencers come up with personal stories. Some of them might be true, some of them might not be exactly accurate. One bizarre theory claimed that cough medicine could help women get pregnant Credit: Supplied Fashion influencer @savannahxraeee posted a video on TikTok saying: ‘The sun doesn’t cause cancer, sunscreen does’ Credit: Tiktok “But they are very persuasive because people think more in terms of stories and are persuaded with stories rather than pure statistics, which are sometimes very difficult for people to understand.” In a research paper published in the British Medical Journal, Heiss and his co-authors raised concerns about major influencers such as Khloé Kardashian, who promoted a prescription migraine medication to her 300million Instagram followers. Users who bought the product complained that the drug did nothing to stop their pain, making them feel that they had been duped into spending hundreds of dollars. One user commented: “This stuff is like eating a mint. That’s all it is.” Another wrote: “I was skeptical but I tried it. Does not work as promoted by celebrities. Should have known better.” Hooper HQ – a social media scheduler – estimated that Khloé Kardashian made around $608,000 (£450,000) per post around the time of the promotion, reported Fox Business. But the danger does not end with bogus advice being beamed into millions of phones. Health watchdogs are also sounding the alarm over what happens when people act on what they see online – particularly when medicines are bought from unregulated sellers with little clue about what is actually inside them. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) warned people to be deeply wary of drugs being flogged online, where slick websites and social media adverts can mask potentially dangerous products. A spokesperson for MHRA told The Sun: “You need to be careful where you buy medicines from online. “They should not be from pharmacies that are not registered. “You just don’t know what’s in it and where it’s come from.” And behind some of the apparently easy online purchases is an even murkier trade, with regulators uncovering huge quantities of drugs allegedly being stored and sold outside the legitimate medicines supply chain. The spokesperson said: “We took out a massive criminal network of people selling drugs online operating in a warehouse and removed 50,000 doses of GLP1’s” The regulator has also found the drugs being offered far beyond conventional pharmacies including beauty salons and gyms. “Just always keep in mind that if they’re not licensed then it’s probably not safe,”they added. Kim Kardashian, who has 360million followers, has also veered into medical influencing. The superstar socialite promoted full body screening with magnetic resonance imaging, a test which has no proven benefits and can lead to overdiagnosis, Heiss’s paper said. Some influencers have advised their followers to ditch medically-backed sunscreen, which they claim causes cancer. Instead, they have pointed them towards suet – a raw fat used in Christmas puddings and pie crusts – alarming dermatologists and cancer experts. Videos from social media stars and even celebrities with hundreds of thousands of followers have flooded social media, arguing that the “natural” tallow sunscreens are “deeply nourishing” and free of “harmful” and “toxic” chemicals found in high street suncreams. Ex-Towie star Samantha Faiers has claimed that she and her family swear by tallow sunscreens when away on holiday. Fashion influencer @savannahxraeee also posted a video on TikTok to her 36,000 followers saying: “The sun doesn’t cause cancer, sunscreen does.” She added: “Organic beef tallow sunscreen for the win. Protect your largest organ and stop using toxic sunscreen.” Controversial former nurse Kate Shemirani has been accused of spreading misinformation Credit: Alamy A Coroner ruled that Kate had influenced her daughter into refusing conventional medical treatment and led to her death.Credit: Refer to source Experts advise that there is little evidence to support the effectiveness of tallow sunscreen and that many products advertised online were “highly dangerous” and even “nonsense”. Professor Antony Young, an expert on the skin and suncream at King’s College London, told Sun Health: “SPF testing by an accredited laboratory is a legal requirement for an SPF claim. “Brands exploit a loophole by calling their product a ‘Sun Balm’ or ‘body cream with zinc oxide’ while explicitly disclaiming it as a sunscreen. “Without independent laboratory SPF testing, selling this as sun protection is possibly illegal and highly dangerous for the consumer.” Professor Brian Diffey, a professor of photobiology and member of the the British Association of Dermatologists, also told Sun Health: “Beef tallow, coconut, or botanical oils do not protect against UV radiation and cannot function as a sunscreen on their own.” Brit wellness influencer Ellie Grey has also been accused of sharing bogus alternative health views to her 200,000 followers. She has made unsubstantiated claims that cannabis, intravenous vitamin C, apricot kernels and alkaline diets can cure cancer. Grey has also promoted anti-vaccine views, and falsely claimed that measles isn’t a dangerous disease. Liverpool’s public health chief Matthew Ashton slammed the “misinformation”, saying: “For those of you that don’t know, measles is a really nasty virus.” Despite making a string of unsubstantiated claims, Grey sells her own range of wellness products including supplements and toiletries online. Another British influencer Chantelle Knight promoted SaffPro, a saffron-based supplement, as a natural alternative to ADHD medication. The content was ruled to be misleading and potentially harmful by the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority. In the US, chiropractor Eric Berg, who describes himself as a “doctor” on his YouTube channel of 14million subscribers, has told his followers to take 10,000 IU of vitamin D3. Taking more than 4,000 IU of vitamin D a day can be harmful, according to the NHS. Dr Berg also sells his own range of supplements online. Health organisations are warning that some of the medication being sold without a license can often be produced in grim and unsafe conditions. MHRA said: “We’ve carried out a raid where we took photos and it was absolutely filthy. “We’ve done operations where there’s dogs running around. It’s not sterile.” But filthy surroundings are only one part of the risk. Regulators warn buyers may have no reliable way of knowing a drug’s journey, its strength or even whether the substance inside is what its packaging claims. The spokesperson said: “It could have none of what you think you’re buying actually in there. “You don’t know where it’s been on the supply chain, because it hasn’t been authorised you don’t know how much of a specific ingredient is in there and you can end up overdosing. “Another case for example was when someone thought they were buying semi-glutide but actually it was insulin and people were injecting insulin.” German influencer Alina Walbrun made headlines when she was ensnared in a YouTube prank designed to expose the willingness of content creators to promote cures without proper research. YouTube personality Marvin Wildhage invented a fake disease called “post-viral nasal hypersensitivity” and created a fictitious pharmaceutical company. Marvin Wildhage created a fake disease to lure content creators Credit: Marvin / Youtube Alina Walbrun posted about the mythical illness, drawing criticism from her followers Credit: alina.walbrun/ Instagram Walbrun later posted several Instagram stories about the mythical illness, claiming that she had just come from the doctor and had learnt about the condition in her medical studies. Following fierce public backlash, Walbrun admitted the mistake to her followers saying she didn’t “sufficiently verify” the illness and her claims to have learnt about it at university were “wrong and misleading”. The controversy prompted the influencer, who has 281,000 Instagram followers, to remove references to herself as “Doc Alina” from the platform, following questions about her qualifications. Walbrun later said in an Instagram story that she had never accepted her medical licence. She also updated her profile picture from one showing her with a stethoscope around her neck. Walbrun also promotes a company selling supplements, matcha and electrolyte products on her Instagram page. When he published the findings of his experiment in June, Marvin told Bild: “For good reason, doctors are legally prohibited from engaging in every form of advertising, because they are supposed to remain as independent and impartial as possible in their recommendations”. British influencer Kate Shemirani, also known as Kay, rose to fame during the Covid pandemic when she was struck off as a nurse over her conspiracy views. The outspoken critic of vaccines and Covid restrictions, again made headlines when her daughter, Paloma, died of cancer at 23. Kate and Paloma had instead arranged for her to intake alternative therapies, including juices and coffee enemas, while refusing chemotherapy for the non-Hodgkin lymphoma. A Coroner ruled in October last year that Kate had influenced her daughter into refusing conventional medical treatment and led to her death. Kate continues to peddle unproven medical theories to her almost 65,000 Instagram followers and on her podcast. She also sells her own line of vitamin supplements online. With an endless stream of supposed miracle products and quick fixes, the MHRA urged consumers to treat spectacular promises as a warning sign rather than a reason to reach for their bank card. Their tip is: “Make sure things aren’t too good to be true in terms of offers.” “Don’t fall for closing down sales.” “If it sounds too good to be true and a lot cheaper than everything else, then definitely don’t fall for that red flag.” “If it’s not a registered company then none of these people should be selling anything. It is illegal.” Warning signs to look out for How to spot a dodgy website (advice from Gov.uk): Unusual web address – legitimate retailers will not use a product name in the URL Poor website design with spelling or grammatical errors Pop-up ads Exaggerated claims like ‘100% safe’, ‘no side effects’ or ‘quick results’ Promise of quick ‘next day’ delivery. Taking shortcuts could expose you to unlicensed medicines, identity theft and credit card fraud. Advertising prescription-only medicines and prices on the ‘home page’ (illegal in the UK) No prescription required for prescription medicines Payment accepted in crypto currencies You are asked not to name the medicine or website in your banking transaction reference No physical or street address available How to spot fake medicines or medical devices: Poor quality capsules or crumbly tablets Medicines with a homemade appearance or where the packaging is open or damaged Bad packaging Package missing ‘UK Only’ label Active ingredient(s) not listed on the packet Missing Patient Information Leaflet Missing or past expiry date Poor quality colour printing on packaging Spelling mistakes on packaging/Instructions for Use (IFU) Lot numbering not in keeping with original formation Incorrect UKCA/CE marking format No Instructions for Use (IFU) leaflet No manufacturers details on packaging (i.e. just states made in China) Warning signs from a licensed medical group: Be wary of claims promising a “miracle cure” or a quick fix for a health condition, particularly where there’s little or no evidence provided to support the claim. If a claim sounds too good to be true, it’s worth treating it with caution. There are specific rules around the use of health professionals in ads: for example, health professionals can’t be used to endorse medicines and ads supplements can’t make health claims that refer to the recommendation of an individual health professional, so be wary of this. Exercise caution and research whether the medfluencer has any professional/medical qualifications and/or if they are accredited by a professional body Don’t rely on an ad as a substitute for speaking to a qualified medical professional, particularly if you have concerns about your health. If you think you’ve seen an ad making a misleading health or medical claim, you can report it to the ASA via our website. You can also report concerns to medicines and healthcare regulatory bodies (MHRA, NICE and CQC)