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January Jones with her son, Xander. The 'Mad Men' actress swears by placenta pills for energy. Besides the 'eww' factor, there's no benefit, doctors say.
Pop guru Simon Cowell carries pocket-sized inhalable oxygen shots, America's "Mad Men" actress January Jones favors dried placenta pills, and British soap star Patsy Palmer rubs coffee granules into her skin.
Celebrities rarely shy away from public peddling of dubious ideas about health and science, and 2012 was no exception.
In its annual list of the year's worst abuses against science, the Sense About Science (SAS) campaign also named former U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney for spreading misinformation about windows on planes, and Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps for false justifications for peeing in the pool.
To help set the record straight, SAS, a charity dedicated to helping people make sense of science and evidence, invited qualified scientists to respond to some of the wilder pseudo-scientific claims put about by the rich and famous.
It suggested Romney, who wondered aloud in September why aircraft crews don't just open the windows when there's a fire on board, should listen to aeronautical engineer Jakob Whitfield:
"Unfortunately, Mitt, opening a window at height wouldn't do much good," the scientist said. "In fact, if you could open a window whilst in flight, the air would rush out...because air moves from the high pressure cabin to the lower pressure outside, probably causing further injury and damage."
January Jones's dried placenta pills, which the actress admitted in March she consumed after giving birth, win no favor with Catherine Collins, principal dietician at St George's Hospital in London.
"Nutritionally, there's nothing to be gained from eating your placenta - raw, cooked, or dried," Collins said. "Apart from iron, which can be easily found in other dietary choices or supplements, your placenta will provide toxins and other unsavory substances it had successfully prevented from reaching your baby in utero."
Gary Moss, a pharmaceutical scientist, patiently points out to Palmer that while caffeine may have an effect on cellulite, rubbing coffee granules into the skin is unlikely to work, since the caffeine can't escape the granules to penetrate the skin.
Phelps's claim that it's fine to pee in the pool because "chlorine kills it" is put straight by biochemist Stuart Jones, who reminds him that "urine is essentially sterile so there isn't actually anything to kill in the first place".
And for Cowell, Kay Mitchell a scientist at the Centre for Altitude Space and Extreme Environment Medicine warns that very high levels of oxygen can in fact be toxic - particularly in the lungs, where oxygen levels are highest.
"Celebrity comments travel far and fast, so it's important that they talk sense," said Sense About Science's managing director Tracey Brown. "The implausible and frankly dangerous claims about how to avoid cancer, improve skin or lose weight are becoming ever more ridiculous. And unfortunately they have a much higher profile than the research and evidence."
To encourage more vigilance among celebrity pseudo-scientists in the future, SAS provided a checklist of "misleading science claims" it suggests should be avoided:
- "Immune boosting" - you can't and you don't need to
- "Detox" - your liver does this
- "Superfood" - there is no such thing, just foods that are high in some nutrients
- "Oxygenating" - your lungs do this
- "Cleansing" - you shouldn't be trying to cleanse anything other than your skin or hair.
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Has it ever occurred to anyone that these "celebs" are really just IDIOTS posing as people?
Has it ever occurred to anyone that 'celebrities' are totally disconnected from reality? The say what's in the script, act how they're told, wear what the director decides and get paid way too much money for their actual talent and contribution to society. They live in a play world and never have to interact with the real world, since they are kept isolated from the public, and they actually believe they are smarter than everyone else. Whoever sells these people all this stuff must be making a fortune off their inability to determine what reality is.
This is so full of misinformation!
MUCH can be gained from consuming your placenta! All other mammals consume theirs btw, why do you think that is?
Baby blues can effect up to 80% of women within the first week of birth. Women who consume their placenta report fewer emotional issues and a more enjoyable babymoon. Who wouldn’t want that?!
How about the info at the end about not being able to boost your immune sytem? I sure can.. by eating healthier, taking vitamins, especially D3 in large amounts. I can't clease or detox you say? Sure I can. I can fast, drink more water, there are colonics, on and on. I don't know where you found your so called 'experts' but they are clueless.
Not to be facetious, but what are your credentials?
Other mammals consume their placentas because they don't have ready access to protein sources in grocery stores like we do. Many animals like rabbits, hyraxes, gorillas eat their own poop to innoculate their digestive tracts with appropriate bacteria. Of course, under some conditions, this can be life saving to humans. You should be cautious in translating the benefits of a behavior across species unless you are keenly knowledgeable of comparative physiology. Dogs eat their own poop too, but it is doubtful that this provides anything nutritional, but rather provides a social benefit (other dogs like the odor). I'll go out on a limb and say that this social benefit is unlikely to translate to humans. Many mammals also engage in cannibalism, even filial cannibalism (eating their young). Again, this provides a nice source of protein. I'm not suggesting that placentas don't have nutritional value. I'm sure it is equivalent to eating the spleen or other organ meat, but I doubt it is necessary.
My degree is not in biochemistry but in microbiology and immunology and i assure you that urine is not sterile. It is produced in a closed and therefore considered sterile environment but it is not biologically sterile. Urine can be cultured and is full of all sorts of germs (not all of them are pathogens but often they are) and other unpleasant things like toxins. Please folks do not believe that urine is necessarily sterile. Do not use it to wash wounds or to wash with unless in dire straits such as out on the ocean in a life boat for weeks where you are going to die anyway. The native Alaskans and Siberians use their urine to wash wounds and clothes but then they have little choice and do not have the types of diseases that we generally do.
The sterile urine can and often does contain germs that it has acquired from either the cleansing processes of the body or from contamination as it passes out the bladder and urethra. Bladder infections for example cause germs to be picked up by the urine in the bladder where it is stored. Infections affecting the urethra also transfer germs to urine as it passes. Urine can be consumed but only on a limited basis and again for the purpose of saving your life.
Just because it won't kill you doesnt mean its sterile only that its non-pathogenic.
Celebs, Just a bunch of ignorant fools.
Now, if only people would quit listening to "expert" celebrity politicians. They usually know as much about politics as they do about science. Think about it... they make millions, yet they push for higher taxes and want more government social programs... am I the only one who sees the irony in them wanting to use "our" money to fund their agenda?
I love how everybody jumps all over the celebs for spouting nonsense and then proceed to tell us their "facts" on these matters by copying and pasting contradictory info from other non cited websites, or by going off on their own "know it all" ego-stroking diatribe. Seems like everybody's jockeying for intellectual superiority by making themselves feel like an expert by contradicting somebody else's statement by info they read on Wikipedia.