Nayanthara lists ‘benefits’ of hibiscus tea, deletes post after The Liver Doc debunks claims: ‘Absolute BS, bordering on quackery’

“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. P.S. anyone who needs the recipe can check with @munmun.ganeriwal. Stay healthy. Stay happy. (sic)”

Nayanthara’s now deleted post about benefits of hibiscus tea

Now, this shout out to hibiscus tea has also fallen on the ears of The Liver Doc, who has exercised tremendous restraint considering “the larger fanbase” and given a step-by-step rebuttal to Nayanthara’s claims.

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Starting out by calling out Nayanthara for “misleading her 8.7 million followers,” the medical practitioner said, “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.”

Clarifying to his audience that this post by Nayanthara seems like “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”, Dr Cyriac minced no words and called it “absolute BS, bordering on quackery.”

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Backing his claims by listing out his medical experience, Dr Cyriac said, “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.”

Not stopping at just calling out Nayanthara’s post, he went on to list the aspects of the post that are lost without proper research. “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. The influenza does not clear this aspect,” said Dr Cyriac, going on to debunk each of the claims in the post by sharing scientific data, and sarcastically mentioning that “the claim from “Dr.” Nayantara is false.”

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Raising concerns about the prolonged use of hibiscus tea in men and women, The Liver Doc raised a few red flags about this red drink. In fact, he vehemently discouraged men and women in reproductive age groups from having hibiscus tea on regular basis because “there is insufficient evidence on its safety. Better to be safe than sorry.”

Further, dissing Ayurveda and the “absurd and unscientific theory of hot and cold foods principle,” Dr Cyriac urged people to follow “real doctors advice for bettering your health. Take care.”

While Nayanthara has deleted her post from her Instagram account, netizens are emphasising on the lack of scientific temper in such celebrity posts.