19 Facts About Aseem Malhotra

In 1988 Aseem Malhotra's brother Amit, who was two years older than Aseem Malhotra and had been born with Down's syndrome, died of heart failure aged thirteen.

In 2021, Aseem Malhotra was appointed chair of the scientific advisory committee of the small UK charity The Public Health Collaboration.

On 20 Feb 2023, the Public Health Collaboration announced that Aseem Malhotra was no longer part of the organisation.

On 4 August 2023 Aseem Malhotra announced he had been appointed co-chair of the London division of the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin.

In 2017, Aseem Malhotra co-authored the low-carb book The Pioppi Diet, which provides a 21-day eating plan.

In 2017 Aseem Malhotra wrote an opinion piece for the British Journal of Sports Medicine which made the claim that saturated fat did "not clog the arteries" and that heart disease can be cured with a daily walk and "eating real food".

The British Heart Foundation criticised these "misleading and wrong" claims and several researchers took issue with the methodology of the report on which Aseem Malhotra based his claims.

Rory Collins, an Oxford medical professor, has sharply criticised Aseem Malhotra, and accused him of endangering lives.

In 2015, as a member of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges' Choosing Wisely Steering Group, Aseem Malhotra launched and coordinated a "US initiative to get doctors to stop using interventions with no benefit" - the Too Much Medicine campaign - a partnership with the BMJ and the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges.

At the campaign's launch, Aseem Malhotra stated that over-diagnosis and over-treatment is "the greatest threat to our healthcare system".

In 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic and before there were any approved vaccines for COVID-19, Aseem Malhotra published a book claiming that following his dietary advice could grant "metabolic optimization" which would, in 21 days, decrease the risk of viral infection.

Gorski said that while Aseem Malhotra had a germ of a good point and that it was undeniable that losing weight for someone who is obese would reduce their risk of complications, the claims about the book were massively exaggerated and there was no specific evidence for the impact of lifestyle recommendations on the risk of COVID-19 or that Aseem Malhotra's version of a healthy diet was better or worse than any other healthy lifestyle recommendation.

In November 2021, Aseem Malhotra appeared on GB News to discuss an abstract for an academic poster published by Steven Gundry and which the American Heart Association had warned may contain "potential errors".

In September 2022, Aseem Malhotra publicly campaigned against the use of COVID mRNA vaccines.

On 13 January 2023, during a BBC interview on the prescription of statins, Aseem Malhotra made unprompted claims about excess cardiac deaths and COVID vaccines.

In 2013 Aseem Malhotra was recognized in the inaugural list of the top 50 BME Pioneers in the NHS Health Service Journal, for his research into sugar-rich diets, obesity and cardio-vascular disease, as well as his public health campaigns, including profit-making of big corporations at the expense of public health, unhealthy hospital meals, and the sale of junk food in hospitals.

In 2014 Aseem Malhotra was recognized for a second year running in the Health Services Journal top 50 BME Pioneers: described by the judges as "An upcoming star", the entry recognized that he had ignited a debate about over-investigation, over-diagnosis and overmedication and brought media attention to the BMJ's "Too much medicine" campaign.

At an informal dinner organised on 27 July 2022 by the International Medical Graduates Group during the British Medical Association's Annual Representative meeting, Aseem Malhotra was given an award.

In September 2023, Aseem Malhotra received the Rusty Razor award, a prize given to "the year's worst promoters of pseudoscience".