Stop Threatening Doctors: Liver Doc slams Liver Detox supplement company for misleading claims

New Delhi: "Stop threatening doctors, you fraud supplement companies," said well-known Kerala-based hepatologist, Dr Cyriac Abby Philips, popularly known as 'The Liver Doc,' who called out an Indian company for allegedly misleading people with their so-called liver detox supplements, which, according to Dr Philips, offer no health benefits.

Dr Philips made the remarks in a viral video after a supplement company allegedly threatened legal action against another doctor, who had criticised their product for misleading claims.

According to Dr Philips, the company behind the Miduty Liver Detox supplement forced another doctor to remove his video from Instagram after he pointed out that the product falsely claimed to "detox the liver," reduce pigmentation, improve skin health and also detoxes alcohol, which he said is "completely misleading".

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Dr Philips claimed that the supplement contains ingredients such as milk thistle (silymarin), N-acetylcysteine (NAC), beetroot extract and dandelion, none of which, he said, have strong scientific evidence to support such claims.

He said that the product is named 'Liver Detox" because it is a marketing technique that the company uses for promotion. He added that it is a promotional term made by the wellness industry to mislead consumers.

"They claim that it reduces pigmentation, improves liver and skin health and also detoxes completely misleading alcohol. Now they have mentioned it as liver detox, and they have actually claimed that it also improves skin health, which very well makes this product fraudulent. Not just this product, any liver detox claim that you see in the market is fraud because these are just marketing terms and promotional terms made by the wellness industry to mislead consumers into getting their money," he said in the video.

He further pointed out that there is no scientific terminology known as a liver detox. It is a wellness marketing term, and the only thing that detoxes our body is our liver and kidneys.

"The liver detoxes you, you don’t detox the liver," he said, adding that only the liver and kidneys naturally remove toxins from the body and do not require any supplement to do so.

He highlighted that there is no confirmed scientific evidence for silymarin and NAC as general liver protectants, especially in healthy people. NAC, he noted, is only proven effective in specific medical emergencies such as paracetamol poisoning and non-paracetamol poisoning and acute liver failure.

"For anybody other than that, any general person, apparently healthy people, taking NAC as a liver detox is a complete waste of your money. So basically, this product is utter nonsense, and it is completely fraudulent. Not just this, but every liver detox product in the market is actually fraudulent and a waste of your money, and some of them can actually harm you," he said.

Calling the product "complete nonsense," he criticized its price, which is Rs 1,500. He said consumers are being fooled into wasting their money.

He said, "The number one cause of liver failures, the upcoming cause of liver failures in the West, is because to herbal and dietary supplements. And there are supplements like this and more complex supplements that are really injurious to health. One of the biggest problems with Silmarin is that it contains a lot of fungal toxins. It is not standardised. It is unregulated. None of these actually pass any efficacy or safety standard clearances as per regulatory authorities from a scientific point of view."

Dr Philips asked the consumers to be careful of what type of supplements they purchase, as he said that he chose to name the product publicly because the company threatened the doctor for speaking scientific truth. "You don't threaten doctors when they talk about what is relevant for the public, patients and consumers from a health perspective," he said.

The hepatologist also challenged the supplement maker to sue him for defamation, stating he has the scientific authority and proof to demonstrate the product’s inefficacy in court.

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