STORY UPDATED: check for updates below.
Did American physician and author Dr. Steven Gundry discover three "completely natural ingredients, and as a result, blood pressure disappeared forever"? No, that's not true: Gundry's publicist said that this post is a "total scam" and was not produced by his team. At the time of writing people who clicked the post's "Learn More" tab were taken to a page with an ad for a bookshelf made in Canada, not to a site that gives medical advice.
The claim appeared on Facebook (archived here) where it was published on January 14, 2024. The caption read:
Dr. Steven Gundry ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐๐จ๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐๐ญ๐๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ง๐๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐๐ฅ ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ซ๐๐๐ข๐๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ, ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ฌ ๐ ๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ญ, ๐๐ฅ๐จ๐จ๐ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐๐ฉ๐ฉ๐๐๐ซ๐๐ ๐๐จ๐ซ๐๐ฏ๐๐ซ. ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ก๐๐ฌ ๐ ๐จ ๐๐ฐ๐๐ฒ, ๐๐ฅ๐จ๐จ๐ ๐๐ก๐จ๐ฅ๐๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐๐ฏ๐๐ฅ๐ฌ ๐๐๐๐ซ๐๐๐ฌ๐, ๐๐ง๐ ๐ฌ๐ฒ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ญ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฌ ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐๐ ๐๐ฒ ๐ข๐ง๐๐ซ๐๐๐ฌ๐๐ ๐๐ฅ๐จ๐จ๐ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐๐ฉ๐ฉ๐๐๐ซ.
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Mon Jan 15 15:19:07 2024 UTC)
The Facebook page that posted this claim has a clothing website in their About (archived here) section under the URL, "struthless.com." Clicking on the "Learn More" button underneath the Facebook post leads to a webpage selling a bookshelf (archived here). This post is not giving information about how a person with high blood pressure could lower it, it is an advertisement for a bookshelf.
Blood pressure is essential for living organisms that produce blood because, according to Medlineplus.gov (archived here), "normal pressure is important for the proper flow of blood from the heart to the body's organs and tissues." Nearly half of American adults have high blood pressure, according to the American Heart Association, thus, any information about blood pressure would likely be of interest to many people. But there is no information to be had from this post or the page it links to.
A Google News search of the keywords, "Dr. Steven Gundry AND three AND completely natural ingredients AND blood pressure" (archived here) did not yield any relevant results that could corroborate this claim. Lead Stories reached out to Gundry, a former cardiac surgeon, and we will update this article when we receive a relevant response.
Lead Stories contacted Gundry's representation and received an emailed response from his publicist, Lanee Roth, on January 18, 2024:
That is a total scam, not produced by our team.
Bait-and-switch posts such as this one draw people to websites under the guise of a supposed missing or injured person or pet, reports about dangerous fugitives or purported information on health issues, only to lead users to a website that has nothing to do with the original post.
Other Lead Stories articles that debunk bait-and-switch claims are here.
Updates:
-
2024-01-18T19:09:36Z 2024-01-18T19:09:36Z Added a response from Gundry's publicist.