Actor Nayanthara upon her arrival to attend Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant’s wedding, at Jio World Convention Centre, in Mumbai; picture of the Hibiscus tea that was shared by the actor
| Photo Credit: PTI and @nayanthara/Instagram
In a post, which the actor has now deleted from her Instagram handle, she credited nutritionist Munmun Ganeriwal and wrote, “Hibiscus Flower Tea. This has to be my most favourite Tea And the most exciting one in the meal plan curated by the genius @munmun.ganeriwal
“It has long been used in Ayurveda. It is high in antioxidants and is helpful in diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and heart-related ailments. It is very cooling for the system hence it is great for those who have acne, heat boils on skin etc. Hibiscus tea is great for the monsoon season as it is rich in vitamins and keeps our immune system in equilibrium. It has antibacterial effects that protects from seasonal infection/ illness (sic)“
Calling out the post as an advertisement for her “celebrity nutritionist,” Dr Cyriac Abby Philips wrote on his X handle, “If she had stopped at hibiscus tea is kind of tasty, that would have been ok. But no, they have to go ahead and blow their health-illiteracy trumpet and also claim that hibiscus tea is helpful in diabetes, high blood pressure, acne, antibacterial and protects against the flu..”
The doctor noted how the post doesn’t clarify if the tea is made from “Hibiscus Sabdariffa (or Roselle), or Hibiscus Macranthus.” Further, he stated how there is insufficient evidence to suggest that the tea has blood pressure-lowering effects; and that it has no blood glucose-lowering effect, and hence cannot help with diabetes. “There are no studies to prove that hibiscus tea prevents acne or is antibacterial or prevents seasonal infections in humans,” he added.
“One concern that does exist is damage to testes in males, which occurs fairly reliably at 200mg/kg or above in animals (= 2.2g dried flowers in 68kg human) but has not been investigated in humans. Roselle appears to be anti-fertility in men, inducing abnormal sperm morphology. In females, there was a series of studies suggesting Roselle could cause abnormal (higher) birth weights in offspring with a delay of pubertal onset; for the most part these are attributed to the appetite suppressing effect causing maternal malnutrition,” said the doctor while also citing links to the sources and researched mentioned in the post.
After the doctor’s post, Nayanthara posted a cryptic message on her Instagram stories, which many seem to have taken as her response to the doctor. “Never argue with stupid people. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience,” read the post.
Earlier, Dr Cyriac had criticised actor Samantha after she hydrogen peroxide nebulisation for the treatment of viral infections. In response to her suggestion, he called her a “health and science illiterate” and said the treatment could have adverse effects on health.
