Fitness Startup CEO Blasts Zomato CEO's Gravity Ageing Theory — 'Sci-Fi', 'Pseudo-science', 'Plain Deception'
Fitness startup Fittr’s CEO Jitendra Chouksey criticised Eternal Founder Deepinder Goyal over his project, Continue, which is linked to gravity-based ageing.
Fitness startup Fittr’s CEO Jitendra Chouksey has criticised Zomato parent Eternal’s Founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal over his recently proposed theory, which links gravity and human ageing. Taking to social media, Chouksey highlighted that the issue is not the hypothesis itself, but the way it has been marketed without any supporting data.
"We live in dangerous times. When I forwarded Deepinder’s "gravity theory of ageing" to Dr Lauren Colenso, a scientist who actually works in this field, she joked that she wanted to delete her social media," the CEO said in a LinkedIn post on Sunday.
His comments come in the wake of Goyal's announcement that his project, Continue, is exploring whether gravity plays a major role in ageing.
On Goyal’s hypothesis that bats hang upside down so they live longer, Chouksey said, "This falls apart instantly. Parrots have similar or longer lifespans without hanging upside down. Most vertebrates and marine animals have wildly different lifespans regardless of orientation.
'This is Plain Deception'
He noted that Goyal’s "short people supposedly live longer" is a claim that is not backed by proper data. Chouksey also flagged the proposal’s attempt at citing yoga poses over "science-backed" evidence to support his claims.
"His first slide says "backed by science," and then he immediately uses an appeal-to-tradition argument. If that’s the standard, every historical belief becomes "evidence" for pseudoscience!" the CEO noted.
He also added that Goyal’s claim that blood flow to the brain declines with age is only partially true, as there’s “no evidence it's caused by gravity".
In his LinkedIn post, Chouksey warned that Goyal’s presentation reads more like "sci-fi marketing", which could be aimed at promoting gadgets that claim to enhance or monitor blood flow to the brain.
"The commercial angle isn’t subtle. The device will likely be called 'Temple'," he noted, sharing a purported associated link to the website. The term 'Temple' is being associated in media reports with a new health-monitoring device venture by Goyal.
The website link shared by Chouksey read, "TEMPLE. The future of health starts where no one’s looking. Inside your brain. Coming soon."
"All in all, this theory insults the work of scientists who actually study ageing: genomic stability, DNA repair, mitochondrial decline, proteostasis, epigenetic drift, stem-cell exhaustion. None of these processes have any evidence linking them to Earth's gravitational field. Zero," Chouksey said, calling Goyal’s proposal a "deception".
Pointing to Goyal's claim of conducting a supporting study linked to brain blood flow, Chouksey concluded his post, "If Deepinder has any integrity, he’d release the six-week study and raw data for peer review before making outlandish claims."
