&Quot;Barbara O'Neill&Quot;

Does taking a shower prevent the skin from absorbing vitamin D from sunlight? No, that's not true: Medical experts confirmed to Lead Stories that vitamin D is made in living cells in the skin and thus cannot be washed off. The person giving this advice is Barbara O'Neill, a controversial naturopath who was banned from practice in Australia. The claim…

Is a video that shows naturopath Barbara O'Neill promoting a remedy for prostate inflammation authentic? No, that's not true: Multiple online AI detectors categorized the video as fake. They reported that the images and audio in this video post were most likely AI-generated. Lead Stories has previously debunked similar claims involving O'Neill, an unregistered health practitioner, and AI-generated video manipulation.…

Did the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services endorse a purported initiative from controversial wellness coach Barbara O'Neill called "US Without Diabetes," as a social-media post claims? No, that's not true: The Department of Health and Human Services has not endorsed the purported initiative. A promotion on Facebook for a dietary supplement used a faked image of a Fox…

Did controversial naturopath Barbara O'Neill give a $10,000 guarantee for her arthritis pain management strategies and were they endorsed by director Bruce Beresford, tennis star Margaret Court, and author David Malouf? No, that's not true: A false promotion of an herbal remedy that supposedly cured their joint pain used AI-generated voice-overs to put words in people's mouths. The fake voice-overs…

Does a still image in a video on social media show the daughter of naturopath Barbara O'Neill being sentenced to prison for supposedly revealing "health secrets"? No, that's not true: A tool used to detect AI-generated images found evidence that the image of a woman in an orange prison jumpsuit in a courtroom is not real and was likely created…

Did a video on Facebook genuinely show TV personality Tucker Carlson endorsing an anti-parasite pill promoted by alternative naturopath Barbara O'Neill? No, that's not true: The video is dubbed with fake audio; an AI detection tool found it was 70.6 percent likely it was created using AI. Lead Stories traced the original clip of Carlson: He was discussing the Foreign…

Did Barbara O'Neill guarantee that a hypertension medication will clear your vessels and cure the disease in three weeks or she will transfer $10,000 into your bank account -- and have Samuel Jackson, Jane Seymour and Tom Hanks all endorsed this treatment after it cured their hypertension? No, neither statement is true: This false promotion uses AI-generated voice-overs to put…

Can black pepper oil cure arthritis and rheumatism, as a post on Facebook implied? No, that's not true: There is no known cure for osteoarthritis, the most common form of arthritis, a spokesperson for the Thurston Arthritis Research Center told Lead Stories. Similarly, there is no known cure for the autoimmune disorder rheumatism. The Arthritis Foundation told Lead Stories that…

Does a viral image really show "Barbara O'Neill's cousin" in the courtroom being "sentenced to LIFE IN PRISON"? No, that's not true: It is AI-generated. The claim came from an account with a history of posting inauthentic images under the captions referring to made-up stories. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on Facebook by "Divina Vitals" on May…

Was the controversial wellness coach Barbara O'Neill filmed touting a supposed natural cure for diabetes? No, that's not true: A video promoting an unspecified natural cure is not authentic. The voice resembling O'Neill's was determined to be AI generated, and the whiteboard from a pre-existing footage of O'Neill giving a lecture was edited to feature a different message. The promotion…