Married At First Sight star Ella Ding is under fire for making false health claims about curing cancer through the power of positive thinking.
Ding made the shocking comments earlier this month on her podcast, Sit With Us, which is co-hosted by her fellow MAFS star Domenica Calarco.
During an episode about gratitude and mental health, Ding said, ‘Your mind can kill you. It can make you sick.
‘If you’re sick in whatever way it may be, whether it’s with illness, if you have cancer, or if you have depression, you can literally make yourself sicker by focusing on how sick you are,’ she continued.
‘You can end up terminally ill,’ the 29-year-old added.
Married At First Sight star Ella Ding (pictured) is under fire for making false health claims on her podcast about curing cancer through the power of positive thinking
‘We can program our brains to do pretty much anything,’ said Calarco.
According to the Cancer Council, some scientific studies do suggest that mind–body techniques can benefit people who have cancer by reducing the symptoms and side effects of cancer and its treatment, such as helping with pain and anxiety.
However, there is absolutely no scientific evidence that these techniques can cure the disease.
Ding then went on to tout the work of chiropractor Joe Dispenza before referencing his book, How to Rewire Your Brain.
‘He has hundreds of case studies of people who were sick with cancer, and he literally trained them to just imagine not being sick,’ she claimed.
‘Imagine the cancer is leaving your body. Imagine the cells are going away. He’s literally cured patients without chemotherapy,’ she added.
During the episode, the 29-year-old influencer said that ‘your mind can kill you’ and urged her followers to think positively when battling depression or cancer
Ding then went on to tout the work of chiropractor Joe Dispenza and claimed that he had ‘cured patients without chemotherapy’
She then gushed about Dispenza’s recent appearance on the popular Jay Shetty podcast and urged her listeners to check it out for themselves.
Her co-host Calarco than praised the power of positive thinking, saying, ‘It is actually up to you in every thing that you do.’
She continued, ‘You can either focus on the negatives. You can go and be depressed and sad about that certain thing, or you can choose to be like, “Nah, I’m not allowing this to control my life”.’
Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Ding, NSW Health, and the Cancer Council for comment.
‘We can program our brains to do pretty much anything,’ added Ella’s co-host Domenica Calarco
Ding has received major backlash since the controversial episode went live earlier this month.
Not only is her Instagram page now flooded with negative comments, listeners of her Sit With Us podcast have also left scathing one-star reviews.
‘Telling people that their cancer became terminal because they didn’t practice mindfulness? Dangerous and offensive,’ raged one listener.
‘This is quite offensive and just totally wrong. Not sure how this podcast was even released. Big public apology needed. Cancelled!’ wrote another.
Sit With Us is currently one of the most popular podcasts in the country.
Domenica and Ella’s Sit With Us podcast is one of the most popular in the country
Listeners have flooded the podcast with one-star reviews since the episode about cancer dropped earlier this month
It previously topped the Spotify charts, beating out Joe Rogan, and has racked up millions of downloads.
Ella’s former Married At First Sight co-star Lyndall Grace, who suffers from cystic fibrosis, has also weighed in.
‘Listen to your doctors. It is not your fault, it is not your choice, and it will not change,’ she said on Instagram.
She also stressed that mindfulness are tools to help people, but ‘they are not cures’.