London - You might expect a breakfast smoothie to contain fruit such as bananas and berries.
But if it has been prepared by Gwyneth Paltrow, you can expect the ingredients to include Himalayan salt, a fungus called “cordyc- eps” and the root of an “ashwagandha” plant.
The actress, 43, also recommends adding a teaspoon of “moon dust” – sold on her lifestyle website Goop, at up to £45 (about R900) for a 56g pot. The bottled powders claim to have a range of benefits. One version, sold as “brain dust”, contains a mushroom called lion’s mane “for superior cognitive flow”. Another, labelled “beauty dust”, lists pearl as an ingredient “to preserve youthfulness”.
The website also sells “sex dust”, “spirit dust” and “action dust”. The total cost of products needed to make the smoothie, which also includes almond milk and coconut oil. Butdieticians cast doubt over many of the claims made by the more unusual ingredients.
Dimple Thakrar, a registered dietician of the British Dietetic Association, said: “I have worked with patients for 20 years and I have not heard of half of the ingredients listed on some of these products.I would question its effects, because if it was that good, it would be a prescription drug.”
There is not enough good quality scientific evidence to back up the claims. You could spend your money much more effectively on normal everyday healthy foods. She added: “There is some good stuff in there, like the almond milk, but you don’t need to have all of these things to be healthy.”
Gwyneth Paltrow won’t just be drinking this magic smoothie each day to be healthy. This one drink won’t fix it all.
Next to the recipe, posted by Miss Paltrow’s team on her website, there is a link allowing users to buy the “moon dust”, produced by California-based company Moon Juice. For other ingredients in the smoothie, Goop directs fans directly to Moon Juice’s website, which lists the supposed benefits. It states that vanilla mushroom protein powder “nourishes the heart and spirit”; powdered maca plant “delivers abundant energy, mental stamina, hormonal balance, enhanced libido and an elevated mood”; ashwagandha “soothes anxiety and contributes to virility”; and a herbal tonic called “he shou wu” gives a “natural glow” and can “balance hormones”.
A message posted with the recipe reads that mother-of two Miss Paltrow “drinks one of these every morning, whether or not she’s detoxing’”
Daily Mail