What was he smoking?
A health guru claimed puffing on cigarettes is linked to longer living — but now he’s trying to extinguish the controversy.
“The men in Sardinia have a seven year longer lifespan than the women because they’re smokers. That’s what brings them up,” Dr. Steven Gundry, a former cardiac surgeon and , insisted in a viral December interview with celebrity physician Dr. Mikhail Varshavski.
During the combative, , which has racked up over 2.4 million views on YouTube, the far-out physician also cited a that found a decrease in deaths from Parkinson’s disease among doctors who smoked.
“British doctors who smoke have a 30% less incidence of Parkinson’s and dementia,” Gundry said.
“Yeah, because they die of 10 other diseases beforehand,” retorted Varshavski — known as “Dr. Mike.”
Despite at one point stating that he tells people not to smoke, seconds later, Gundry꧂ again suggested the connection between smokers and longer life expectancies, insisting researchers should investigate “what is it in cigarettes that is a fact🅘or in these people who are long-lived.”
Gundry, 🐼however, now appears to be trying to snuff out his controve🦂rsial claims.
His team recently sent a cease and desist letter demanding Var🎐shavski remove an Instagram clip of the interview posted earlier this month, according to a copy of the note threatening legal action obtained byཧ The Post.
The reel was a “severe mischaracterization” of the surgeon’s views and “deceptive,” according to the letter.
Days later, the clip was no longer available on Varshavski’s Instagram page, although the longer interview and an p🌱osted in December are still live on YouTube.
A Gundry spokesperson denied the doc’s team sent a cease and desist letter and claimed the request was made due to the fact that the Instagram post was “heavily edited video taken out of context alongside a misleading caption that misrepresents what Dr. Gundry said in the interview.”
Gundry is the face of a, shilling $70 bottles of gut-health boosting pills and $50 bottles of “supercharged” olive oil.
The spokesperson denied the removal request was made because the Instagram post was impacting Gundry’s business.
Physicians burned Gundry for his retrograde arguments pushing smoking as having any heal𝄹th benefits.
“We know that tobacco causes cancer, causes heart disease, strokes, heart att𒀰acks, you name it,” Dr. Tim Tiutan, a New Yo﷽rk-based internal medicine physician, told The Post.
Gundry “uses a lot of random anecdotes and infers from a lot of things that he’s treating in his practice . . . which is kind of scary.”
Goop ༒and Varsh𒐪avski did not respond to requests for comment.