Ian Somerhalder is facing backlash after an Instagram Story he posted on July 1 raised concerns about his supplement business’s promotion of potential cancer cures. The post included screenshots from customers claiming their tumors were shrinking after using his company’s berberine supplements, with comments like one woman stating her husband’s tumor masses had stopped growing and were even shrinking.
While Somerhalder did not explicitly claim that the berberine supplements he co-owns with his wife, Nikki Reed, cure cancer, he deleted the posts shortly after they were shared. The rapid response from critics included a Reddit user whose mother is battling cancer, warning against promoting unproven supplements for oncology treatment, emphasizing that these claims can mislead patients and undermine conventional treatments like chemotherapy.
Health experts at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center caution that berberine can interact with chemotherapy drugs and is mainly studied for other conditions rather than cancer. This controversy comes amidst Somerhalder and Reed’s efforts to rebrand themselves post-Hollywood, with Reed discussing her health journey on various media platforms and Somerhalder embracing a lifestyle focused on regenerative agriculture.
