We’ve all heard about the keto diet – the high fat, low carb diet that has found massive favour in the fitness community. There are claims that it also helps people lose tons of weight, especially because it seeks to eliminate one of the most harmful ingredients in our food – sugar.

The Magic Pill is a documentary that was made in 2017 but was only just added to Netflix and hence, has garnered a lot of reviews, debates and discussion recently. “The documentary follows the lives of an indigenous tribe in Australia, families of autistic children, and individuals with many health complications in addition to obesity as they learn how to make drastic changes to their diets by adopting the ketogenic way of eating,” reports Keto Mojo.

The documentary, of course, comes with a disclaimer: “While we emphasize the science behind the dietary advice, the personal stories portrayed in the film are anecdotal, and we make no claims that these experiences are typical. ALWAYS consult a doctor or healthcare professional before starting any diet”.

This is wise advice. Not everybody is the same and while the Keto diet can be extremely beneficial for certain people, it can also cause massive discomfort and severe health issues to others. Now, the documentary does tend to show accounts where a woman claims to have cured her cancer at least partially by going on the keto diet and another family claims that their autistic daughter is doing much better since she went on the same.

However, the documentary has multiple critics who believe that not only does it contribute zilch to public health, it also tends to give bizarre hopes to people about curing their diseases.

“I enjoy [the] emphasis on protein because there’s no question that lean meat, eggs, and fish are superfoods…but exclusion diets never work,” said Australian Medical Association (AMA) president Michael Gannon to The Telegraph.

Watch the trailer below: