47. Bad Influencer: Can you spot pseudo-scientific health claims?

Bad People

In 2009, Belle Gibson shared on her blog that she was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer and had only four months to live. She then began documenting her journey of healing via clean eating. When Instagram launched a year later, she quickly amassed a following of 200,000 people, becoming one of the very first wellness influencers. But was she just taking advantage of people's wishful thinking?

In this episode of Bad People, Dr Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen discuss how “wellness” has been conceptualized as a concept that remains forever out of reach, why the veneer of credibility can be so hard to break through, and the famous sceptic Barry Beyerstein’s advice on how to identify pseudo-scientific health claims.

Warning: This episode includes descriptions of cancer treatment, and mentions a threat of suicide.

CREDITS Presenters: Dr Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen Producer: Simona Rata Music: Matt Chandler Editor: Rami Tzabar Academic Consultants for The Open University: Lara Frumkin and James Munro #BadPeople_BBC Commissioning Assistant Producer: Adam Eland Commissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins Bad People is produced in partnership with The Open University and is a BBC Audio Science Production for BBC Sounds.