Goop, the lifestyle brand run by Gwyneth Paltrow, is under fire again.
This time, the company has been accused of breaching British advertising law 113 times and issuing "potentially dangerous" advice concerning "unproven" health products, Britain's The Sunday Times reports.
According to the newspaper, the Good Thinking Society, a nonprofit that promotes rational enquiry, has addressed several Goop products it says experts believe could be dangerous to the public in a report sent to the National Trading Standards and the Advertising Standards Authority.
One of the products called out is Goop's Mother Load vitamin supplement. The packets, which cost $90 in America and are also sold in the U.K., are also marketed to pregnant women as those hoping to become pregnant (Goop's website calls them "the Rolls Royce of prenatal vitamins").
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, however, claims that the amount of vitamin A in the supplements is more than double the recommended limit, which could potentially harm unborn children, reports the New York Daily News. Further, an expert — clinician scientist and University of Leeds professor Julia Newton-Bishop — told the Times, "I find it absolutely extraordinary that anyone would contemplate selling these kinds of supplements to pregnant women."
A Goop rep has denied that the supplements are harmful. "When used as recommended, Goop's The Mother Load supplements are safe during pregnancy," a company spokesperson told Us Weekly. "The Mother Load contains a very moderate 450 mcg (1500 IU) of vitamin A (preformed vitamin A as retinyl palmitate), which is less than the recommended daily intake of 600 mcg per day (per NHS). The 4000 IU beta-carotene included in Mother Load is only converted in the body to vitamin A as needed, and there is no safety concern for eating this, as there would be no safety concern for eating a large number of carrots containing beta-carotene. The Mother Load package contains a warning that pregnant women should not consume more than 10,000 IU vitamin A daily due to risk of birth defects."
The allegations come a month after Goop was ordered to pay a $145,000 fine in California because of unproven health claims related to three products: its jade and rose quartz vaginal eggs and its Inner Judge Flower Essence Blend, which it claimed prevented depression, Vox reported.
Other projects called out by the Good Thinking Society include Goop's sun protection products, which are sold with a disclaimer alleging that sunscreen doesn't help prevent cancer, a claim dermatologists have disputed.