Days after calling Samantha Ruth Prabhu a "health illiterate" for her health podcast, Dr Cyriac Abby Philips, known as "The Liver Doc", criticized Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath for his recent podcast discussion on the liquor industry in India. In a lengthy post on X, the Kerala-based doctor accused Mr Kamath and his fellow guests of ''glorifying the business of alcohol.''
Notably, the podcast named 'WTF, Alcohol is a $70B Business in India?' featured Abhishek Khaitan, MD of Radico Khaitan, Minakshi Singh, Co-founder of SideCa, Shuchir Suri, co-founder of Gin Explorer's Club and Suraj Shenai, Founder of Goa Brewing Co. In the podcast, Mr Khaitan remarked how countries that have banned alcohol have led their economies into shambles. He further said that ''drinking alcohol in moderation is very good,'' before discussing his favourite liquor. '
Angered by the irresponsible comments, Dr Philips emphasized his daily experience of treating patients afflicted with alcohol use disorders and acute liver diseases. He also slammed the prevalent notion that moderate alcohol consumption is beneficial, labelling it as ''health misinformation''.
''So far so good. Alcohol is a good business, a business that leeches out others' lives. It rakes in money for governments through taxation & monopoly; and fattens the bank accounts of those behind the industry (like this round table group) and makes barons out of those who sell well.
But when these businessmen, start glorifying their business of alcohol by equating it to "good healthcare intervention," it goes definitely into the realm of health misinformation, which is why, I have to keep discussing this garbage myth that "alcohol in moderation is good for you" and the absolute nonsense disclaimer to support that myth, which they call "drink responsibly,'' he wrote on X.
See the post here:
The doctor further stressed how alcohol use disorder has a devastating impact on families, who struggle to make ends meet for proper healthcare as their savings get depleted. He also cited several instances of alcohol-induced accidents, including drunk-driving incidents and shattered several myths and opinions shared by guests on the podcast.
''There is no safe level of alcohol that is good for human health and every person who claims drinking in moderation is good for you, is an idiot, intellectually depleted without any regard for fellow humans and lacks compassion. No amount of alcohol is safe because it is not just a liver poison, it is systemic poison. It gets to every part of your body. Even single to lowest exposure can wreck your DNA and promote cancer formation. There is scientific evidence to this,'' he added and shared links to articles to substantiate his statements.
The doctor ended his long rant by calling the podcast ''irresponsible''. 'Podcast discussions like these are helping no one here. Please, do something that helps people out here. Do something good for society, instead of goofing up like this. No one asked for this absolute bonkers of a podcast topic. Irresponsible. The whole team,'' he concluded.
