Banned Australian Health Influencer Barbara O’Neill Face Criticism Over Dangerous Advice at UK Retreat

PothikTV News Desk: 18 October 2026, 7:34 am

Controversial Australian health proponent Barbara O’Neill has drawn sharp criticism from medical experts after telling attendees at a UK retreat to reject conventional medicine, surgery, and prescribed medications. An undercover reporter for The Guardian attended a day of a five-day residential wellness event held at the De Vere Cranage Estate hotel in Cheshire, where tickets cost up to £1,300.

O’Neill, who has 3.6 million followers on Instagram and 1.7 million on Facebook, was banned from providing health services in Australia in 2019. Health authorities in her home country determined that she posed a risk to public safety by making misleading and dangerous claims unsupported by scientific evidence. Following the ban, she expanded her unregulated services internationally, including recent tour appearances across the UK and Ireland.

During a question-and-answer session at the event, O’Neill routinely dismissed scientific treatments. When a participant with a stomach tumour revealed that two specialists recommended surgical removal, O’Neill suggested the woman apply a castor oil compress to the outside of her body instead. Medical experts stated there is no evidence that castor oil compresses treat stomach tumours, nasal polyps, endometriosis, carpal tunnel syndrome, or bile duct stones—conditions for which O’Neill recommended the same remedy.

In other instances, O’Neill advised against taking folic acid during pregnancy, called antibiotics “the worst thing to give” for infections, and suggested that a woman with high blood pressure and glaucoma place castor oil mixed with cayenne pepper into her eye. Prof Gus Gazzard, a leading glaucoma expert, warned that there is no evidence supporting such claims and noted that doing so could cause actual harm.

O’Neill also told an attendee without a functioning thyroid to gradually stop taking prescribed thyroxine to “see what the body does.” Martin Whyte, a professor of metabolic medicine at the University of Surrey, clarified that individuals without a functioning thyroid cannot produce thyroid hormone and stopping the medication risks life-threatening illness. Additionally, O’Neill advised a diabetic attendee to stop monitoring blood glucose levels, a recommendation described as “very dangerous” by Prof Gill Livingston of UCL, who noted that untreated diabetes greatly increases the risk of organ damage, blindness, and death.

Responding to her teachings, Prof Liam Smeeth, director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, called her claims extraordinary and warned that following them could cause substantial harm or death. Biostatistician Dr David Robert Grimes noted that patients seduced by complementary alternative treatments fare objectively worse when delaying or rejecting proven medical therapies.

The event was co-hosted by O’Neill’s husband, Michael, who manages her company and tours. In a session titled Barbara Under Attack, he claimed there was a “war” against them and accused the media and medical establishment of conducting a modern-day witch-hunt to protect the pharmaceutical industry. The couple maintained they have received no complaints from attendees and pledged to continue hosting events globally.