I often wonder who Gwyneth Paltrow’s ideal Goop-consumer really is? The ideal Goop-consumer is obviously a white woman, probably in her 30s or 40s, possibly married, possibly divorced. I picture this ideal consumer as a blonde, obviously. Someone who either has family money or someone who is nouveau riche but wears it well. She will be no bigger than a size 6, preferably a size 2. Some plastic surgery alterations, but not too many. Someone who went to college, maybe, but would never really use her degree. There should be an air of gullible neediness about the consumer, because otherwise, the consumer wouldn’t be looking at Goop for medical advice.

I was trying to picture this ideal Goop consumer – who probably looks and acts a lot like Gwyneth – because who is buying Gwyneth’s horses–t at this point? You know there probably is someone out there with a jade egg stuck up her vajayjay as she burns her bras to rid herself of bad boyfriend vibes. Well, that consumer is about to have a new thing to do: consume more iodine. Goop published an article about “medical medium” Anthony William and his quest to get people to consume more iodine. You know why? Because he’s a MEDICAL MEDIUM. He talks to ghosts, and the ghosts are like “you guys should consume more iodine.” You can read the whole Goop post here – I feel like it would be irresponsible to actually quote from it.

This “don’t dismiss iodine, so says a ghost whisperer” story is just one of many bizarre pieces on Goop, obviously. Gwyneth’s whole thing is that she loves to embrace weird pseudo-science, as if following the advice of actual medical doctors is for mere peasants. Why speak to someone who went to medical school when you could get diet advice from a medium? Huffington Post got an actual doctor to write a scathing takedown of the Goop piece too – you can read the full piece here. It’s a very effective, informative and educational piece about why the body really does need iodine to function, but not in some weird pseudo-science, it-will-help-with-good-vibes way.

The TL; DR version is that while iodine deficiency is a real thing, almost everybody in the developed world gets enough iodine from food anyway, and if you’re eating food seasoned with half a teaspoon of iodized salt each day, you’re getting enough iodine in your diet. There’s also iodine in dairy, eggs, fish and meat. So medical doctors would have you believe! Then again, I get all of my dietary advice from ghosts.

Photos courtesy of WENN.