NHS medical director Prof Powis has advised caution over Gwyneth Paltrow’s “intuitive fasting” regime to heal from long Covid.

After Paltrow opened up on her website detailing her healing methods, including a “keto and plant-based diet” which involves her fasting until 11:00 every day, Powis said that “serious science” should be applied.

• Read more: “I’m gonna collect your golden broth”: Can you guess which of these ‘The Goop Lab’ quotes are real or fake?

“Like the virus, misinformation carries across borders and it mutates and it evolves,” he told the BBC. “So I think YouTube and other social media platforms have a real responsibility and opportunity here.

“In the last few days I see Gwyneth Paltrow is unfortunately suffering from the effects of Covid. We wish her well, but some of the solutions she’s recommending are really not the solutions we’d recommend in the NHS.”

He added: “We need to take long Covid seriously and apply serious science. All influencers who use social media have a duty of responsibility and a duty of care around that.”

Last week, Paltrow detailed her lingering symptoms including “brain fog” and “long-tail fatigue” and elaborated on her coping methods.

“I turned to one of the smartest experts I know in this space, the functional medicine practitioner Dr. Will Cole,” she said. “After he saw all my labs, he explained that this was a case where the road to healing was going to be longer than usual.”

She added: “Everything I’m doing feels good, like a gift to my body. I have energy, I’m working out in the mornings, and I’m doing an infrared sauna as often as I can, all in service of healing.”