Philippine social media posts falsely claim unregistered barley product cures cancer
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on August 22, 2023 at 09:07
- Updated on August 23, 2023 at 03:45
- 5 min read
- By Lucille SODIPE, AFP Philippines
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"After 186 long and difficult days, Zoey, the daughter of Anthony Taberna, is now back to normal health," reads a post shared on July 19 on a Facebook page called "Anthony Taberna Family".
Taberna is a popular broadcaster, who hosts a radio programme for the Manila Broadcasting Company.
The posts surfaced after his daughter -- Zoey -- was declared cancer-free in 2022, two years after she shared the news that she was diagnosed with leukemia (archived link).
The false post's captions claim Zoey's health failed "because she had high cholesterol and hypertension".
"After she drank barley grass powder for two months, her entire family was surprised because her health improved," the caption goes on to say. "In the third month, all her health markers were normal."
The post also contains several pictures of Zoey and her family members holding glasses of green drinks and boxes of a barley drink product.
The post has been shared more than 1,500 times.
Similar posts were also shared on Facebook here and here.
Some users' comments indicated they believed the claim.
"Where can we buy this and how much?" a user asked in the comments.
"I hope this herbal [treatment] that cured your child will also help our other brothers and sisters who are sick. Good luck to your daughter," another said.
However, the claim is false.
Product warning
Taberna told AFP on August 3 the product "Navitas Pure Organic Barley" was not part of his daughter's treatment.
"She underwent aggressive chemotherapy," he said. "She received a bone marrow transplant with her younger sister as the donor."
The broadcaster added his daughter was not diagnosed with high cholesterol or hypertension as the posts claim.
"People are being fooled into buying this because they think Zoey recovered because of this product," he said.
A representative for the Philippine Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has also said the product is not registered and should not be consumed.
"Please be informed that the product NAVITAS PURE ORGANIC BARLEY is NOT registered with this Office as per the Center for Food Regulation and Research database," the representative said.
The FDA warned in a statement in July that the product did not go through the agency's evaluation process, and warned against purchasing and consuming the drink as the regulator could not "assure its quality and safety" (archived link).
AFP debunked a similar claim in December 2022 that another brand of barley drink falsely claimed it could cure medical conditions, including cancer and AIDS.
Dr Joseph Gancia, a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine at the Healthdev Integrative Clinics in Manila, told AFP at the time that barley grass may be beneficial for digestive issues because it is rich in fibre, but there is no evidence it can help with other medical conditions, especially cancer.
"Barley grass is not a cure-all. This is just a supplement to an existing treatment. But it's not even the first thing I recommend to a patient with digestive issues," he added.
Altered photos
The pictures in the posts were altered to make them appear as if Taberna and his family were holding the drink or its packaging.
The original pictures could be seen on Taberna's verified Facebook page, which bears a blue verification badge. It was created in 2010 and has amassed 2.2 million followers.
The page of the misleading claim was created on July 19, 2023 and has 723 followers, but does not have the verification badge.
The girl in the photos seen on the left and lower right-hand side of the false Facebook post is not Zoey. In fact, she is Zoey's sister -- Helga -- during the latter's workup as a donor for the bone marrow transplant.
The original images were posted on March 22 and do not show them holding the barley drinks as seen in the misleading posts (archive link).
Below is a screenshot comparison of the altered image (left) and the original (right):
The picture at the upper right-hand side of the false post was taken from a February 28 post by Taberna where he is seen holding a Filipino puff pastry biscuit called Otap (archived link).
Below is a comparison of the altered photo seen in the misleading posts (left) and the original (right):
The photo at the centre right-hand side shows Taberna with Zoey and was posted in 2019 with a birthday greeting in the caption (archived link).
Below is a comparison of the photo seen in the misleading post (left) and the original (right).
AFP has repeatedly debunked similar health misinformation circulating in the Philippines here, here and here.
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