‘Why does Gwyneth Paltrow have to make money selling supplements to women?’ asks Jen Gunter

Dr Jen Gunter proved how frighteningly easy it is to make a fortune with zero effort in the wellness movement.

Jen Gunter. Picture: Talia Herman

You started practising in this field of medicine in the early 1990s. What inspired you to then start writing about women’s health? I was always fascinated by publications like People magazine that would spout things like “the cayenne pepper diet” and all this garbage. I’d see people reading them in doctor’s waiting rooms and think, “Really, that’s the content we’re leaving around?” The turning point for me was in 2003 when I had triplets born extremely prematurely. One of my sons died at birth, and my other two had a lot of health problems. I saw how hard it was to navigate the system – how could you do this without having a medical degree? People were only just starting to research information online. I found myself going down rabbit holes of disinformation. And I thought, “Wow, if that could happen to me, it could happen to anybody.”

It led you to a new career dispelling misinformation online. Do you believe the internet and social media have made accessing medical information better or worse? The internet is a tool. It has the potential to democratise information but I think as a society, we’ve done a very bad job of teaching people how to use it. We all take the first three hits off Google and if we don’t get what we like, we put a new search in. We haven’t taught internet literacy very well. And that’s where the danger and the opportunism [of purveyors of misinformation] come in.

You’ve been called Gwyneth Paltrow’s and Goop’s biggest enemy – how do you feel about that title? I think she’s emblematic of everything that’s wrong with looking for information online. You have a celebrity who gets elevated by the press, her quotes are breathlessly promoted which is free advertising for her website, and she’s a multi-millionaire. I question why she has to make money selling supplements to women. What is wrong with her life that she has beauty, wealth and privilege, but that isn’t enough? She then sells the allure of wealth and health. She has great taste, but great taste is not knowledge about health care.

Tell us about the time you and your husband exposed just how easy it was to create a “health supplement” and sell it to consumers. There are times I recommend people take supplements. For iron deficiency, for example. But for wellness, I found that you can make a fortune with zero effort. I looked at a very popular menopause doctor’s product and used the exact same formula. With a little bit of money we set up a Shopify site, went to one of these white-label companies to sell it to, and that was it. We did it so quickly but didn’t go through with it. Honestly, it’s like punching a hole in the floor and striking gold.

Why do you think people trust you? I think I’ve been doing this longer than any other doctor – there are all these people coming and going, but I’ve been consistent. Also, I don’t take any money from anybody in health care at all.

Really? I’m not even on YouTube because I don’t want a pharmaceutical company to buy ad space on my channel. That’s no shade to creators who do good content and do publish it on YouTube. I’ve just made a conscious decision that I don’t want any pharma money. People respect I’m not selling them anything, except a book if you want to buy it. That said, if Tiffany’s or Chanel wanted to sponsor me ...

Dr Jen Gunter will appear at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas in Sydney on Sunday, August 25.