Gwyneth Paltrow has come under fire from a doctor after she espoused the benefits of rectal ozone therapy.
The Oscar-winning actress, 50, in 2008 founded her wellness website Goop, which has often raised eyebrows for its unconventional health recommendations including vaginal steaming and coffee enemas.
It was her practice of rectal therapy that made headlines again this week after she appeared on the latest edition of the The Art of Being Well podcast to talk about her often controversial approaches to her health and wellbeing.
"I have used ozone therapy, rectally. Can I say that? It's pretty weird. It's pretty weird, yeah. But it's been very helpful," the actress revealed.
Also known as rectal insufflation, the treatment uses ozone as an anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and anti-viral agent, according to holistic wellness center, The Life Co.
Ozone is a gas more commonly associated with its work in the earth's atmosphere, protecting us from the sun's harmful UV rays. Its thinning over the years has been caused by environmental damage, pollution and the mass use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in products including many plastics.
Rectal ozone therapy involves inserting a suppository into the anus for between 15 and 20 minutes. It is said to help in the treatment of rectal fissures, fistulas and hemorrhoids, prostate and gynecological illnesses and metastasis.
Proponents of the treatment claim it increases oxygen levels in the blood, which then oxygenates body tissue, leading to better healing, skin appearance, anti-aging, improving the immune system, and general detoxing.
But one gastroenterologist shut down the benefits of the treatment and begged "don't put coffee in your butts."
"Gastroenterologist here: Not that you would but please don't get 'rectal ozone therapy,'" tweeted Dr Kaveh.
The host of the health podcast, House of Pod, added: "Also, don't put coffee in your butts either."
The Cleveland Clinic describes ozone as a "highly unstable and explosive in liquid or solid form." Rectal ozone therapy uses ozone in its gas form, which the clinic suggested "may potentially have therapeutic qualities."
But the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warns ozone is a "toxic gas with no known useful medical application in specific, adjunctive, or preventive therapy."
It added that in order for ozone to work as a germicide against toxins in the body, "it must be present in a concentration far greater than that which can be safely tolerated by man and animals."
Paltrow is no stranger to recommending rectal treatments and came under fire when in 2018 Goop recommended an at-home coffee enema, which involves injecting the liquid into your large bowel via the anus.
Goop had published a beauty and wellness detox guide for the new year, which included an "Implant O-Rama System At-Home Coffee Enema."
The device cost $135 but some medical studies suggested colon cleansing is not safe.
A 2011 paper published in The Journal of Family Practice wrote: "Patients may look to colon cleansing as a way to enhance their wellbeing, but in reality they may be doing themselves harm."
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Shannon Power is a Greek-Australian reporter, but now calls London home. They have worked as across three continents in print, ... Read more
