Influencers selling fake cures for polycystic ovary syndrome
Medically unqualified influencers like Kourtney Simmang (shown) – many with more than a million followers – are exploiting the absence of an easy medical solution for PCOS by posing as experts and selling fake cures.
BBC
For 12 years Sophie had been experiencing painful periods, weight gain, depression and fatigue.
She had been diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a hormonal condition that affects about one in 10 women, but she struggled to get medical help.
She felt her only option was to take her health into her own hands, and it was at this moment that Kourtney Simmang came up on her recommended page on Instagram.
Kourtney promised to treat the “root cause” of PCOS, even though researchers have not yet identified one. She offered customers laboratory tests, a “health protocol”- a diet and supplement plan - and coaching for $3,600 (£2,800). Sophie signed up, paying hundreds of dollars more for supplements through Kourtney’s affiliate links.
Dr Jen Gunter, a gynaecologist and women’s health educator, said Kourtney wasn’t qualified to order the tests she was selling, and that they had limited clinical use.
After nearly a year Sophie’s symptoms hadn’t improved, so she gave up Kourtney’s cure.
“I left the programme with a worse relationship to my body and food, [feeling] that I didn’t have the capacity to improve my PCOS,” she said.
Kourtney did not respond to requests for comment.
Medically unqualified influencers - many with more than a million followers - are exploiting the absence of an easy medical solution for PCOS by posing as experts and selling fake cures.
ADDITIONAL NEWS FROM THE INTEGRITY PROJECT
