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If you're feeling under the weather, what do you do? Do you, like most people, reach for some orange juice and Lemsip? Cut down on midweek drinking, maybe? Or do you, like Gwyneth Paltrow, make a smoothie containing such mysterious ingredients as "sex dust"?
According to lifestyle website Goop, owned by Paltrow, this morning smoothie is a vital part of a detox that can "reset your palate" and "give your gut a break". It contains ingredients such as ashwagandha, ho shou wu, cordyceps and "moon dust".
Moon dust, according to manufacturer California-based Moon Juice, "work[s] synergistically at the deepest levels to heal and enhance your beauty, brain, body, sexual energy, sleep and spirit". They're "transformative formulas", that are "alchemised with the most potent organic and wild-crafted herbs, adaptogenic plants and bioactive minerals available".
There's a whole range of different types of Moon Dust. If you want some pep, there's Action Dust. If you've got a hard day at work ahead of you and want to "combat mental fogginess", there's Brain Dust. Goodnight Dust helps you sleep, and Sex Dust euphemistically "ignites, excites and cultivates the sexual flow". If you want your breakfast to give you "extrasensory perceptions" then you can go for Spirit Dust.
The science
Daniel Commane, a human nutrition expert at the University of Reading told WIRED he was "rather sceptical" about the claims the being made by Goop and Moon Juice. "The products throw a lot of Chinese medicinal products together for which the evidence is primarily anecdotal," he told WIRED.
Cordyceps, which Goop claims "exponentially increases cellular oxygen absorption" apparently "supports thyroid, lung and brain function". But according to studies, it has "no effect on aerobic capacity".
Ho shou wu, a "herb tonic used for centuries to enhance youthfulness, reproductive function and sex drive" by Goop's reckoning, has a similar lack of scientific backing. Though stevia, another of the ingredients in the various dusts, is a "fantastic sweetener" according to Commane, there's no evidence it has health benefits.
It's a case, Commane said, of "clever marketing". "Although consuming cocoa is associated with a variety of health benefits, the effect is dependent on dose," he continued. "For now, I think I'll stick with my morning coffee and a balanced diet."
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
