Steven Bartlett shares well being misinformation on Diary of CEO podcast

The Diary of a CEO host Steven Bartlett is amplifying dangerous well being misinformation on his quantity one-rated podcast, a BBC investigation has discovered.

Current claims from company – together with that most cancers might be handled by following a keto weight loss plan, fairly than confirmed therapies – have been accepted by the Dragons’ Den star with little to no problem. Specialists instructed us it is harmful to not query these disproven claims as a result of it creates mistrust of standard medication.

In an evaluation of 15 health-related podcast episodes, BBC World Service discovered that every one contained a median of 14 dangerous well being claims that went in opposition to intensive scientific proof.

Flight Studio – the podcast manufacturing firm owned by Mr Bartlett – stated company had been supplied “freedom of expression” and had been “extensively researched”.

The podcast launched in 2017 focuses on entrepreneurship and enterprise. It gained recognition when figures corresponding to influencer Molly Mae and Airbnb founder Brian Chesky shared their suggestions for achievement.

However over the previous 18 months, Mr Bartlett has targeted extra on well being, with company billed as main specialists of their subject. Their opinions are little contested.

The interviews are additionally posted on Mr. Bartlett’s YouTube channel, which has seven million subscribers. Since this content material change final 12 months, its month-to-month views have elevated from 9 million to fifteen million.

Mr Bartlett instructed The Occasions in April that he anticipated his podcast to make £20 million this 12 months, primarily from promoting.

We reviewed all 23 health-related episodes aired between April and November this 12 months, fact-checking – with 4 medical specialists – 15 of them contained probably damaging claims.

The specialists we spoke to had been most cancers analysis professor David Grimes, healthcare professor Heidi Larson, NHS diabetes advisor Dr Partha Kar and surgeon Dr Liz O’Riordan.

We recorded dangerous claims as recommendation that, if adopted, might have destructive well being penalties.

Throughout this eight-month interval, some company billed as well being specialists shared correct info, however most unfold deceptive claims. These included:

• Anti-vaccine conspiracies, claiming that Covid was a synthetic weapon

• Polycystic ovarian syndrome, autism and different problems might be ‘reversed’ with weight loss plan

• Proof-based medicines are “poisonous” to sufferers, minimizing the success of confirmed therapies

Podcasters could declare to share info, however they’re really sharing damaging misinformation, says Professor David Grimes of Trinity Faculty Dublin.

“It is a very completely different and disempowering factor. It really places our complete well being in danger,” he says.

Within the UK, podcasts usually are not regulated by media regulator Ofcom, which units guidelines for accuracy and impartiality. Thus, Mr. Bartlett is just not breaking any broadcasting guidelines.

In a July episode, Mr. Bartlett spoke with Aseem Malhotra, a physician who rose to prominence in the course of the pandemic for spreading misinformation about Covid vaccines.

Within the episode, Dr. Malhotra claims that “the Covid vaccine was a web destructive for society.” Evaluation by the World Well being Group reveals it saved many lives in the course of the pandemic.

On the finish of the episode, Mr Bartlett, who has no background in healthcare, justified airing discredited views, saying he aimed to “current one aspect of the opposite aspect”, as a result of “the reality normally lies someplace in between.”

He added that: “The concepts of the suffragettes, Gandhi and Martin Luther King had been additionally acquired in an equally horrible approach…so we should be humble as a result of an thought that could be essential can set off us, nevertheless it can’t not be censored.”

In response to our inquiry, Dr Malhotra instructed the BBC that he “completely accepts[s] that there are nonetheless individuals who don’t agree with [his views]” and said that “this doesn’t imply they’ve been debunked.”

In lots of podcast episodes, company claimed to know a easy resolution to well being issues that they believed conventional establishments had been hiding from the general public. They typically marketed their merchandise on the podcast as effectively.

Most cancers researcher Dr. Thomas Seyfried appeared on the podcast in October. He’s a proponent of utilizing the ketogenic weight loss plan, a low-carb, high-fat weight loss plan, to deal with most cancers.

However Professor Grimes instructed us that medical doctors had warned sufferers in opposition to limiting their weight loss plan throughout most cancers remedy.

“You could possibly probably and really realistically get very, very sick and have a a lot worse well being end result than in case you adopted the recommendation really useful by your oncologists,” he stated.

Within the podcast, Dr Seyfried additionally urged that radiotherapy and chemotherapy solely improved sufferers’ lifespans by one to 2 months, evaluating fashionable most cancers therapies to “medieval cures”.

Mr Bartlett didn’t react to this assertion.

Statistics from Most cancers Analysis UK present that most cancers survival within the UK has doubled over the previous 50 years. In the US, the most cancers mortality charge has decreased by 33% since 1990, because of fashionable therapies.

Dr. Thomas Seyfried instructed us he “stands by the statements he made within the interview.”

The options supplied by these company are enticing to listeners as a result of they appear tangible and don’t have the negative effects of pharmaceutical medication, says Professor Heidi Larson, an knowledgeable on public belief in well being care.

“However they [the guests] are far too intensive. This drives folks away from evidence-based medication. They cease doing issues that might have negative effects, even when it might save their life. »

Cécile Simmons of the Institute of Strategic Dialogue, a suppose tank specializing in analysis on disinformation, believes that this sort of content material can assist improve audiences.

“Well being-related clickbait content material with scary headlines works very well in step with the algorithm amplifying that,” she stated.

Mr. Bartlett has beforehand made doubtful well being claims.

In January, on BBC Two’s Dragons’ Den – the place budding entrepreneurs pitch enterprise concepts to 5 multi-millionaire traders, together with Mr Bartlett – he invested in “Ear Seeds”, acupuncture beads positioned within the ear which falsely declare to remedy power fatigue, myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME).

After complaints, the BBC has since added a disclaimer within the episode and on iPlayer, stating that “Ear Seeds” usually are not supposed to be a remedy and that medical recommendation ought to be adopted for ME.

He’s additionally an investor in Huel, a meal alternative firm, and Zoe, which sells a personalised vitamin program involving the usage of glucometers.

“He has monetary pursuits in well being and wellness firms. And after you have a monetary curiosity, then you’ve got an extra curiosity in specializing in well being and vitamin,” Ms. Simmons says.

Two Fb advertisements that includes Mr. Bartlett were recently banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for selling two merchandise Huel and Zoe with out revealing that he was an investor.

The founders of each firms have beforehand been invited as company on The Diary of a CEO podcast.

A spokesman for Flight Studio, Mr Bartlett’s manufacturing firm, stated: “The Diary of a CEO [DOAC] is a long-form, open-minded dialog…with people recognized for his or her distinguished and distinguished careers and/or substantial life expertise.

They heard a variety of voices, they stated, “not simply people who Steven and the DOAC workforce essentially agree with.”

The BBC’s investigation targeted on a “restricted proportion of company” from round 400 reveals broadcast up to now, they added.

A BBC spokesperson declined to remark.