Doctor's advice on wellness trends to avoid after mom left with brain damage from popular online supplement
A doctor has addressed safe supplement taking following a man speaking out following his wife being left with brain damage.
Ah the wellness industry. You can barely make it a few swipes through Instagram anymore, nor a few steps out the house, before spotting an advert for the latest vitamin or supplement which claims to provide you with a better quality of sleep or muscle-enhancing whatnot.
It's hard not to get sucked in to the idea of being the healthiest version of yourself you can be.
But here's the catch, the wellness industry isn't actually necessarily about your actual health and are the vitamins you're taking actually doing anything to help? Or could they be doing more harm than good?
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Doctor Xand van Tulleken has since addressed what actually does keep us healthy and what doesn't, offering advice and expertise on certain 'wellness trends'. Prepare to rethink
A doctor's warning that 'wellness' is 'not healthcare'
In an interview with New Scientist, Doctor van Tulleken stressed 'wellness practices are not healthcare'.
He believes the lines have ended up very 'blurred' by the modern wellness industry.
Where health is 'typically about a defined problem that is measurable' aiming to 'prevent and treat specific conditions' 'wellness is about the way we feel' and 'optimising out bodies' and 'performance' and 'looking better'.
And this matters, because 'the wellness industry doesn’t have to prove efficacy, because it doesn’t claim these products do anything,' he adds.
Essentially, Dr van Tulleken says wellness products aren't always as 'legally scrutinised' - they may not put claims on a bottle, but a podcaster or Instagram celeb could easily make one while talking about the product which could end up misguiding people.
And his approach to vitamins may surprise you.
Doctor urges 'healthy people don't need vitamin supplements'
Dr van Tulleken noted while 'you need vitamins' you 'don't need vitamin supplements'.
Despite many medical professionals being 'on board with supplements for a long time,' it's now widely believed that 'vitamin supplements don't work for healthy people'.
While noting they're a great way for addressing 'specific health problems,' the doctor noted vitamin supplements should only be taken on the advice of your doctor so you're being advised exactly which is best to take.
"There are different ways to think about the problem that a doctor is incentivised to look for that a company selling supplements isn’t," he adds.
His warning follows a mom ending up with brain damage following taking supplements she bought online for around a year.
What happened to a mom who took daily supplements from the internet
Lois, a mom-of-two from Cheshire, UK, had been taking ashwaganda-based products since July 2025 in a bid to help feel more relaxed.
However, the following year, she began feeling unwell and noticed her eyes and skin turning yellow - symptoms of jaundice.
She ended up collapsed unresponsive and was rushed to hospital where doctors discovered her liver was failing.
Doctors told her husband Ollie, 44, that they believed the liver failure was caused by the herbal supplement she'd been taking.
Ollie said: "When the doctors ran tests, one of the first things they asked us was if she was taking pills containing ashwagandha, which they later said they believed had caused the liver problems.
"They said there have only been 70 cases of livers failing following prolonged use of the pills."
Lois thankfully underwent a successful liver transplant, but due to complications during the operation, was left with brain damage.
Ollie has since been speaking out about his wife's experiences to warn others.
He resolved: "I want to spread awareness and warn people that even if you think the supplement you are taking is safe, there can still be serious health consequences."
Topics: Health
Poppy Bilderbeck