Olivia Budgen, an Australian fitness blogger, in a controversial post on Instagram claimed that cancer is your body trying to save you.
Many social media users — as well as one of the country's senior cancer experts — slammed her post which was later deleted.
Absolutely horrified at the sheer ignorance of Olivia Budgen’s post.This charlatan claims that #cancer is our body’s way of trying to save us from bad lifestyle choices.’Wellness bloggers’ with no qualifications should not be able to hand out such scientifically unsound BS pic.twitter.com/YxcGcqwZM3
— Bahar Karimi (@Bahar_K89) November 23, 2017
The controversial post began with:
"Cancer and disease is your body trying to save you."
Then Ms. Budgen went on to explain that many people wrongly believe disease is an indication that your immune system is failing. It continues:
"What if these conditions were not actually bad at all? What if they were created by the body to help save you? What if disease is your body's survival mechanism? Being open-minded and changing your perspective around what disease actually is and why it's happening, will allow you to take back control of your health and realize that your body is always working for you, and never against you."
Her comments come just weeks after another Oz blogger Belle Gibson claimed that diet changes cured her of multiple cancers. Gibson was later fined £240,000 (US$319,636) after releasing a best-selling app and cookbook off the back of her claims.
It seems there's always another Belle Gibson wannabe waiting on Instagram pic.twitter.com/GmH7lViBpa
— Saman Shad (@muminprogress) November 22, 2017
The young health coach — who likes to flaunt her slender body on social media — has also been slammed by actual cancer sufferers.
So this seems to have hit a nerve with me. There has to be a special place in hell for Olivia Budgen, I’ve spend 13 years living with #cancer and if only I’d known that it was this simple to solve. #nutribabble https://t.co/PVMwvHAGzx
— Focused On Thriving (@sfsurvivors) November 23, 2017
@instagram sort your reporting rules out. Accounts like Olivia Budgen's are outright dangerous. Don't provide a platform for people with reckless disregard for the health of others. https://t.co/7pQ74u8nVI
— Ninya Maubach (@ninyamaubach) November 23, 2017
'Nonsense'
Cancer specialists were quick to refute Budgen's views insisting they were simply "ill-informed nonsense."
"The recommendations in Ms. Budgen's social media post bear no relation to any scientific facts about how cancer starts or how it can be treated. Her stance is extremely insensitive to people who have cancer and to those who have lost someone to cancer, as it implies that a few changes to diet will save them," said Martin Ledwick, Cancer Research UK's head information nurse.
Professor Sanchia Aranda, chief executive officer of Cancer Council Australia, was equally outraged over her comments and dismissed them.
"The suggestion that cancer is your body's way of trying to save you is not only factually incorrect, but also insensitive to over a million Australians who have been directly affected by the disease. These sort of posts are the reasons we created iheard.com.au — our website where we fact-check cancer claims and myths," the professor said.
