True struggles were finally outed for embattled Inner-western suburbs university student and influencer, Ketchup Sharmautar, as he opened up to his month long struggle to find anything ridiculous, yet natural, to post about trying to his 13,222 followers.
“It’s not easy being me.” confessed Ketchup, “And it’s not like you can just make these up. Getting the correct balance between something left-field enough to capture attention, while still being natural enough and marketable to make a decent margin through my online store.”
“The gold rush is over. The Good Old days of Urine Smoothies and Coffee Enemas are gone. You just can’t be original without risking organ failure these days.” He sighs.
When asked why he didn’t just promote good, healthy advice, Keshav had this to say. “You try selling people evidence-based advice. It’s boring. Like and follower suicide.”
While it is true that the best weight loss solutions involve a bit of work and conscious control of some dietary habits, the explosion of Instagram Stars online has fueled more and more misinformation. Cancer Researcher Nikhil Autar points out that cancer patients who took alternative medicines have a 2 – 5.7x higher rate according to numerous studies, with various factors to blame. But you don’t care about those peer-reviewed sources! Read on!
“I tried everything. From picking through compost mounds and pulling out random combinations of fruits and veg, to using Alternative Medicine Generators, nothing worked!” exclaims embattled 24 year old star, Ketchup. “Since my amazing vitamin company that I’m-not-allowed-to-say-the-name-of-in-public-but-am-allowed-to-if-you-DM-me went belly up, I’ve actually considered selling pharmaceutical products on Instagram.”
“I don’t have an obvious disability or anything. Apparently pharmaceuticals have enough ethics to insist on that.” scoffed the little prick, while examining his hairline on his phone’s front-lens camera. “But I’m sure I could pull a Gibson on people and call it a prank.” he laughed.
Instafamous Entrepreneur, Ketchup, Pictured here, understandably disappointed by an eggless sugarless cake he was forced to plug during birthday celebrations.
“You know how hard it is to get alternative cake that’s Vegan, Gluten and GMO free AND Organic these days??? Of course it tasted shit.”
Influencers are conflicted, however. “I’m not sure if something shown to work can be alternative enough to match our audiences.” pouts 80% of all Instagram models selling you a juice cleanse. “I mean I LOVE the fact that they cost followers thousands, as that generates large profits from me. But the whole ‘proven to be safe and effective through numerous clinical trial things’ doesn’t really sell as much as you think it does.”
This has not been Nikhil Autar (not the Nikhil Autar who was interviewed before, or who’s in the URL of this article), I swear, and you should definitely NOT subscribe to his infrequent email list if you approve of alternative medicines being able to make whatever claims they want. PS – next time, I talk to another legit Instagram Influencer who insists his pyramid scheme shaped business is actually just a triangle on this episode of #MedicalFactz
If you wanna learn about that time that I was almost killed by misinformation spread by a guy trying to sell me supervitamins from his “Not a pyramid scheme because pyramid schemes are illegal and we’re still being prosecuted right now” multi-level marketing company – click here.
To lend your voice against social media stars/alternative medicine practitioners who DON’T MAKE DISCLAIMERS THAT WHAT THEY SAY OR DO IS NOT MEDICALLY PROVEN OR SHOWN – something they legally should be doing – click here. If you wanna tweet about the change.org campaign – click here.
I wanna make it sure this is absolutely clear, this is NOT Nikhil Autar who wrote this and you should NOT check out his Instagram or social media accounts – @nikhilautar .
And you should DEFINITELY NOT listen to what he says just because he’s a researcher and is pictured in a lab coat in a certified lab. Because even he’d say to fact check EVERYTHING you see via credible sources!
I recently went on CoffeZilla’s podcast today, and outlined a few experiences I had with dodgy MLMers and alternative clinics who advertise on Facebook, netting them millions, and Facebook tens to hundreds of thousands. Here’s a bunch of evidence and screenshots of other conversations I’ve had with scammers/MLM grifters. It’s REALLY sad to see.
For those who don’t know me… My name is Nikhil. I’m a medical researcher, medical student, and ex cancer patient.
I’ve been on both sides of the medical bed in my role as a patient, future doctor, and have also been in the background too – working on, and advocating for medical research. Again, in both my capacities as a professional AND a ‘consumer.’
I know what it’s like to be desperate. I know how crappy doctors can be when considering you as a COMPLETE patient, and person – and why and how complimentary medicine DOES make a difference. Indeed – a massage therapist, and dietician have changed my life. I’m on COQ10, Fish oil and am involved in other complimentary medicine too. Indeed – UpToDate, a tool pretty much every doctor uses every day to guide treatment actually recommends these two as first line therapy for lipid and cholesterol control.
But I also know the importance of medical science. I also know numerous friends who’ve been turned away from options which gave them a chance, and ended up dying. And in this post, you’ll read a story of HOW I MYSELF WAS ALMOST CONNED into trying Sodium Bicarbonate instead of real medicine when I’d relapsed, and given a 10% chance of surviving, and why we need to PROSECUTE PEOPLE WHO SPREAD MISINFORMATION FOR PROFIT – OR WITHOUT DISCLAIMERS (Click here to lend your voice to the the Change.Org campaign now)
Alternative medicine can be amazing. Many, if not most medical therapies DID come from nature, and knowledge of traditional medicine. And I’d say the majority of naturopaths, massage therapists and yoga teachers only encourage you to be more healthy, mindful individuals.
A video from my series – Medical Factz – that outlines the ridiculous “Cancer is a Fungus, and sodium bicarbonate is the cure” theory that started from fraud, and ended in jailtime for manslaughter, and millions of others being deceived.
Recently, Facebook took action after a natural birth Facebook Group urged an endangered patient to not seek medical treatment at a hospital. The baby passed away.
Right: Another pernicious danger seen often in Facebook groups… Toby is a juice advocate who sells juicing guides and products. He has no clue what cystic fibrosis is. Yet he is still trying to scam them to make a few Dollars. It’s sickening. Vertex is a pharmaceutical company who’s creating treatment for CF, by the way.
The picture below outlines a scam I almost fell for. When I’d relapsed, I was given a less than 10% chance of surviving. Palliative care was suggested as an option for me. A second bone marrow transplant was a long-shot, but the only curative option.
At this time, a family friend put my family in contact with a researcher and scientist named Dr J, who promised to have a cure for me.
I was desperate. Willing to try anything. But luckily, I also had a year of medical knowledge under my belt.
We went in to see ‘Dr’ J one day at his apartment. He went into this theory of how sodium bicarbonate could cure cancer. One common, popular alternative therapy promoted by many, is the idea that “cancer thrives in acid, and therefore making yourself more alkaline will cure it”. He also purported another common alternative therapy – that “cancer loves, and is fueled by glucose, therefore low-sugar diets will cure it.” The former is largely known to be false. Cancers, due to their rapid, anaerobic metabolism of energy emit large amounts of lactic acid which PRODUCE an acidic environment. Not the other way around. And in any case – ‘alkaline diets’ or alkaline water will only result in less acidic urine, and slightly more alkaline saliva (not associated with alkaline blood). Your body’s buffer systems keep your blood’s pH in a 0.1 window. Even 0.01 higher or lower than normal ranges result in medical emergency. There’s no way for alkalinity to make it TO the cancer.
When I asked him about how you could make tumor sites more alkaline… he had no response. And when I asked him a basic metabolism question any 1st year student in any health degree would understand (‘if cancer feeds off glucose… your body will produce glucose from elsewhere by breaking down fats and protein if need be. Why wouldn’t the cancer just keep using that glucose preferrentially?)… he again, couldn’t answer me.
He showed me a few case studies from decades ago of 1 or 2 people who seemed to have had tumours regress after trying sodium bicarbonate. But even then I’d been reading on spontaneous regressions, and even then, I knew that if only a few case studies could be produced in the decades since we had this ‘common knowledge’ of how to cure cancer… then it was unlikely to be representative, or statistically significant. And after all this, he turned his attention towards my parents and started his sales pitch on why “Amway vitamins” could cure me. Again, no clear linkages as to why his vitamins were better (or why vitamins could cure cancer for that matter) were made. I later found out that Amway is a company with a pyramid-scheme model, designed to make money through the perpetual, impossible, addition of members who go on to onsell product, and earn commissions on all members they bring into the program. “Dr” J was probably locked in this trap himself.
John Oliver, in his brilliant style, breaks down the fraud that is the many mutli-level marketing companies that exist worldwide.
Family and friends pressured me down his pathway. They said it couldn’t hurt. They told me to believe in him. They took me to a seminar where he waxed on and on, and brought up people with chronic conditions cured by his miracle therapies (when likely, their changed lifestyle habits were the real fix), where he wanted me to speak, to endorse his treatments.
I didn’t.
If he, a scientist working at the University of Sydney, couldn’t answer the questions of a 1st year medical student, why should I believe him?
It’s likely because of that drug, and hundreds of thousands of hours of work from scientists, and doctors around the world, that I’m still here today.
Yet, if I hadn’t had the knowledge I did, “Dr” J above could have killed me.
If you’re in a similar position – but don’t have medical training, please, PLEASE do a simple search on ClinicalTrials.Gov and/or your national clinical trial database for options. When I was looking up my own therapy – it helped me see trends of new therapies and backed my case to my doctor to get me the drug I needed. It’s simple to use – I’ve suggested it to numerous patients who’ve found second options and benefited from REAL SCIENCE through this. Please – try this first!
So why does this happen? Isn’t it illegal?
Consumer law protection exists for this kind of stuff. Yet misinformation like the above is rife within the multi-billion dollar alternative medical industry. You can’t sell TVs or Fridges based off false statements and claims. But somehow, it’s OK to gamble with other peoples’ lives, in health.
Why? Well, I’m not a lawyer. I’d love to hear from any medical malpractice lawyers out there who’d like to offer their own perspectives. But one major issue is that legislation against this kind of thing, around the world often lacks teeth.
This great article discussing the UK’s Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 in regards to alternative medicine –goes into some of the issues. Interpretations of the law are often not as clear as their intentions, in the eyes of lawyers and judges. Though it seemingly is clear that the defendent, not accuser, has to prove the claims they make are true, in practice, it often is up to the accuser to prove something’s false. Proving a negative is very difficult. And in a field where not much research is done… this becomes tougher. In addition, a lot of the time, enforcement isn’t followed up on laws. The Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Australia), and numerous precedents and investigations done by the FTC also mark many of these practices as illegal.
Yet millions get away with this. Indeed, social media and fake news is a big proponent of this too. There are thousands of influencers with millions of followers making millions of dollars pedaling misleading, and often dangerous misinformation. Wellness is a half a trillion dollar, largely unregulated industry. Chinese Medicine, which I tried, were found to have 127 different types of fungal contaminants in just 15 herbal mixes. And innocuously, there are thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, advocating for unproven therapies in Facebook groups – turning people away from real therapies – sometimes profiting, sometimes spreading misinformation. People and groups like this, I see everyday in cancer groups where I talk and interact with other patients.
And often, this stuff goes unchecked on social media. Not just from unscrupulous people like Toby (pictured above), but also from “Influencers,” and “Wellness Gurus and Coaches” who post deliberately misleading posts to millions of followers to sell their own products, or that of other, often unproven, wellness therapies.
Things like this seem innocuous. But it literally kills millions every year. It scams people, many of whom are already under heavy financial strain following intense treatments, of tens of thousands. It’s taken the lives of at least 2 close friends who had other, better options still available to them, and likely many more people I’ve known too.
Alternative and complimentary medicine can be amazing. The fact that practitioners actually sit down, and take the time to listen to you as a whole person is a big reason why it’s so popular. There are many massage therapists, yoga instructors, aromatherapists, dietitians and naturopaths out there who do know their stuff, work with doctors, abide by laws – and they help DO help millions. I benefit from many of the above.
But it’s when they do things like this that they become dangerous.
I believe we need to crack down on this industry, and the crooks who lead millions astray every year. We need to #MakeAlternativesGreatAgain – and when people make false health claims – we need to #LockEmUp – for the good of society – if they make unfounded health claims. If you agree – check out this change.org campaign I’m running soon.
1) IF YOU MAKE CLAIMS PERTAINING TO HEALTH – claiming a therapy WILL cure or fix a condition, or encourage others to try such therapies, without any evidence to back up your claims, without inserting disclaimers or saying “May” – YOU SHOULD BE CULPABLE, AND YOU SHOULD GO TO JAIL if your advice ends up harming someone.
2) – If you profit from the sales, in any way, of products with purported health benefits, YOU SHOULD HAVE TO MAKE THAT CLEAR, and it SHOULD BE YOUR RESPONSIBILITY, to check the validity of those health claims.
I’ll even go so far as to say:
3) If you share misinformation, without any reasonable scientific or other evidence behind it, and it ends up harming someone – YOU SHOULD BE PROSECUTED AS WELL.
If not… scumbags like these will continue to exist, and prosper off the suffering of good people. Check out the Change.org campaign I’ve made and add your voice to this campaign for science and reason.
Bell Gibson fraudulently made millions after faking that she cured brain cancer with diet and alternative therapies. Millions of dollars escaped fines. But how many she led astray of real options will probably never be known. Full article here. She joins other fitness and wellness ‘experts,’ such as Sarah Stevenson who’ve falsely claimed they’d beaten a cancer which spontaneously regresses in over 1/4 people due to diet and wellness alone, and then gone on to fraudulently provide wellness coaching sessions, for $300 per 50 minutes (rates doctors who’ve studied for decades don’t charge).
There are numerous examples of scumbags like this out there. You may well already be following them. If you are, and you don’t see links to journals, or any kind of evidence which backs up their claim – do me a favour. Unfollow them. And if they say something which you feel may be harmful to society – tag me, @nikhilautar, or use the #LockEmUp to help bring them down.
What I’m doing about it.
I’ll be running this campaign soon, this is one thing. But my Startup – Centered Around You – actually aims to be the first app of its kind to not just provide evidence based wellness advice – but TEST IT TOO. A combination of machine learning, my own passion for research, and inputs from world leading clinicians, researchers, and coders/designers, advised by CEOs, senior VPs and heads of national operations of international and ASX listed firms advise us. We won Australian Student Startup of the Year not long ago. Along with numerous other prizes (we made the finals of the Global Impact Challenge, won NSW Student Startup of the Year in a separate competition, and have received numerous other grants and rewards for our work).
Our medical devices will also make life safer and easier for elderly and disabled patients. We are testing with some of Australia’s largest nursing home chains in the near future.
And our products have also generated interest and pre-sales from people interested in getting a better night’s sleep too!
Check out www.GetToSleepEasy and CAroundYou.com for more information.
I’m always here to talk. You can reach me (I am incredibly busy, but strive to read all my emails) at info [at [ nikhilautar.com – or via this contact form.
Wanna report a dodgy influencer who may be breaking the law?
Could it help? Possibly – early studies have shown some improvement. Almost no cures. It it generally well tolerated. But toxicities have also been noted. I’ve been in a desperate position before… There are many options MUCH higher on my list of things I’d try if things got more dire.
Cancer patients who take alternative treatments are more l
Some alternative treatments also reduce the efficacy of treatments or prom0te tumour growth! For example, antioxidants may actually cause cancers to grow once established by reducing cancer-killing, toxic reactive oxidative species (ROS). Some drugs which mediate tumour cell death through inducing more ROS’s will also be less effective if you’re on a high antioxidant diet.
Wanna report a dodgy influencer who may be breaking the law?
