Gwyneth Paltrow Hypes Goats Milk Diet, Weight Loss Supplements: Are They Safe?


In addition to her roles as an actress, Gwyneth Paltrow has become famed for revealing the details of her passion for what she terms a “healthy” lifestyle. Paltrow has hyped cupping, shared the concept of steaming her lady parts, and dished up various aspects of her diet for staying slim. Gwyneth’s revelations have resulted in some backlash, however.

Now Paltrow is touting her new raw goats milk diet cleanse, along with her new line of nutritional supplements from her Goop website, noted Bravo.

Gwyneth supposedly cleansed herself by sipping only goat milk for eight days. Forget the vegetables, granola bars, caffeine-free lattes, or broth — Paltrow stuck to her cleanse guidelines.

Gwyneth Paltrow describes her recent diet cleanse. [Image by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images]

As for Gwyneth’s motivation to sip goat’s milk, the actress explained that it has to do with parasites.

“I’m really interested in the impact of heavy metals and parasites on our bodies,” Paltrow shared. “I think they’re two of the biggest culprits in terms of why we feel bad.”

So is it safe to follow Gwen’s lead and go on a raw goat’s milk cleanse, and does the diet really live up to Paltrow’s claims?

Business Insider cautioned that going on a raw goat’s milk cleanse like Paltrow can cause excess gas. And while Gwyneth claimed that following a goat’s milk diet for eight days can cleanse heavy metals and parasites from the body, an expert told the publication that there is no such evidence that Paltrow’s hype is true.

Dr. Kyle Staller, a gastroenterologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, warned about the excess gas that could result from trying to copy Gwyneth’s cleanse.

“You would probably have more flatulence.”

Just like cow’s milk, raw goat’s milk contains lactose, which the bacteria in the body ferments into gas. “All of us” become gassier, according to the expert, who warned that an eight-day diet of goat’s milk could produce smelly amounts of excess gas.

“Some of your bacteria may be happy, but people around you may not be as happy,” summed up Staller.

Gwyneth Paltrow went on a goat milk cleanse, but is there any science to her claims? [Image by John Moore/Getty Images]

In addition, as for the “cleansing” benefits touted by Paltrow, there are no significant trials to show such an effect, according to the expert.

“I love a good goat cheese,” added Staller. “But the idea it’s going to cleanse you from parasites is fraught with problems.”

In addition to cleansing her body with that cleanse, Gwyneth has been focused on Goop Wellness, her new nutritional supplements. It’s $90 for a month’s helping of supplements that are touted as focusing on the four key wellness problems faced by many women.

“We’ve built our brand by turning to the best doctors and experts in the field for advice and solutions,” says Paltrow’s Goop website.

“We’ve partnered with… practitioners to deliver health-defining vitamin and supplement regimens that address the acute needs of modern women.”

For example, the Goop weight loss supplement is called High School Genes. It promises to help those women “who feel like their metabolism might be slowing down, and whose bodies are no longer responding to the exercise and diet levers that they’ve always pulled” by tending to “systems in the body that may contribute to weight gain when not functioning properly.”

Gwyneth’s High School Genes supplement itself has a long list of ingredients, ranging from green coffee bean extract to green tea leaf extract to taurine. Are any of these ingredients shown to be effective, and are they safe?

Weight loss guru Jillian Michaels’ website cautions that “taurine does not directly cause weight loss,” citing a study in the Journal of Applied Physiology that determined taking taurine supplements did not help to burn fat or calories during exercise. However, another study in the journal Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology indicated that consuming taurine could boost endurance, thereby helping some to burn more calories by exercising for a longer period of time.

As for green coffee bean extract, Dr. Mehmet Oz famously publicized the alleged weight loss benefits of the supplement on his talk show several years ago. Researchers subsequently retracted the study used to support claims that green coffee bean pills boost weight loss, noted the Washington Post.

Dr. Mehmet Oz promoted ‘magic’ weight loss supplements. [Image by Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images]

The study first alleged that those who took the supplement lost 16 percent of their body fat regardless of diet and exercise. Dr. Oz cited the research on his talk show, describing the weight loss supplements as “magic.” He subsequently referenced the retraction on his website.

“Recently the authors of the peer-reviewed research paper on which our coverage had been partially based formally retracted their study,” noted Dr. Oz.

“Further study is needed regarding any potential benefits of Green Coffee Extract.”

When it comes to the green tea extract included in Gwyneth’s weight loss supplements, experts at Consumer Reports cautioned that supplements containing green tea extract powder can be risky, according to ABC News. Among the dangers are the elevation of the blood pressure and heart rate, and Consumer Reports has listed green tea extract powder on its list of 15 supplement ingredients to avoid.

“The herb itself has been found to alter the effectiveness of a long list of drugs, including certain antidepressants and anti-clotting medications,” warned Jeneen Interlandi of Consumer Reports.

“Higher concentrations of green tea extract can be really dangerous, because it can potentially cause serious liver damage.”

Interlandi also cautioned that because supplement manufacturers aren’t “required to prove to federal regulators that their products are safe, that they’re effective or even that they’re accurately labeled,” consumers “don’t know what you’re buying.”

[Featured Image by Layne Murdoch Jr./Getty Images]

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