Brian Johnson, better known as the Liver King, built a commercial empire by eating raw liver and preaching the supposed power of “ancestral living”. He claimed his extreme physique was the result of consuming raw meat, including organs, lifting weights and avoiding modern toxins like ultraprocessed foods. But as a new Netflix documentary, Untold: The Liver King released earlier this month, confirms the real secret behind his shredded body wasn’t testicle tartare, as he claimed, instead it was massive amounts of human growth hormone.
The documentary follows an increasingly familiar story, like scam influencer Belle Gibson in another Netflix hit, Apple Cider Vinegar. A wellness influencer seeks solutions to health issues – in Johnson’s case his sons were struggling with illness and allergies – and takes their new-found knowledge to social media. Pretty soon the desire to draw attention and profit trumps any kind of ethical responsibility and the grift booms before it begins to unravel.
Johnson claimed an extreme routine of 12 to 15 workouts a week and a restrictive diet of organ meat boosted his jacked body, his mental health and his self esteem. “I do this for my head,” he explains in the documentary, describing how the gym gave him a sense of belonging after his father died and how he felt inspired by hyper-masculine fictional icons like Conan the Barbarian and John Rambo.
Johnson launched his company Ancestral Supplements in 2016, selling freeze-dried liver and tallow (rendered animal fat) pills that promised ‘primal power’. He developed a philosophy that he called the Nine Ancestral Tenets comprising rules like “sleep,” “shield”, “connect” and “fight” – often symbolised by a wall of mounted firearms. But while some of his advice, like quality sleep and time spent in nature made sense, the majority of it veered into the territory of hyperbolic pseudoscience.
The grift went global when Johnson appeared on podcasts with the likes of Logan and Jake Paul, and within months he had become a bizarre modern-day thought leader. In the Netflix show, he admits to more than lying about steroids and discusses running scams early in his career and dabbling in international drug trafficking. “My perception of risk became distorted,” he says.
The documentary follows a bizarre redemption arc. We see Johnson, shirtless, holding a strawberry up to the sun admitting that the ancestral diet was starving his body, expressing his gratitude for being able to finally tell the truth. But while he has apologised for misleading his audience, he hasn’t exactly stepped away from the limelight, or the supplement business.
The fallout raises a broader question: even if Johnson was exposed, why do so many wellness influencers still push extreme carnivore diets? And is there any merit to the idea of “ancestral eating”?
What is the “ancestral diet” anyway?
Ancestral eating isn’t a very clearly defined concept. For some, it means following a carnivore diet comprising nothing but animal products. For others, it means following the paleo diet, which is a hazy term but is generally understood to include foods that would have been available during the Palaeolithic era – meat, fish, fruit, vegetables, nuts, and seeds, but no grains, dairy, or processed foods. Advocates of a primal or ancestral diet might also extol the benefits of intermittent fasting, raw eating and a range of pseudoscientific rules depending on the influencer in question.
Anthropologists and evolutionary biologists have painted a far more complex picture of early human diets. According to archaeological research, ancient humans were omnivores whose eating habits varied dramatically depending on region, season and survival need. In some parts of the world, there’s no evidence of meat consumption at all. Fossilised dental plaque from Neanderthals shows starchy plant-loving bacteria in their mouths that nonhuman primates lack so it’s fairly well understood that roots, tubers and seeds likely helped power the evolution of our large brains.
In other words, the real “ancestral diet” wasn’t a meat-heavy mono-diet. It was diverse, adaptive, and grounded in the environment, something modern influencers conveniently ignore.
“While both the carnivore and paleo diets claim to tap into the philosophy of ancient eating, they diverge significantly. The carnivore diet cuts out plant foods entirely, while paleo includes a variety of unprocessed, nutrient-dense whole foods.” says Dr Kezia Joy, a registered dietitian at healthcare platform, Welzo.
“Some paleo followers may experience positive effects, like better metabolism and blood sugar control, but both diets also pose risks, especially in the long term,” she adds.
Joy explains that interpreting the idea of ancestral eating too strictly can cause people to miss out on the proven benefits of dietary diversity. A lack of fibre, essential micronutrients and plant-based phytonutrients are critical for good gut and heart health and a limited diet can cause issues with digestion and increase the risk of ingesting pathogens.
Read more: Tim Spector: You don’t need a restrictive diet for good gut health – just follow my 80:20 rule
Is ancestral eating good for you?
The Liver King may have been an outlier in terms of scale, but he’s far from the only influencer capitalising on meat-based extremism. Raw egg smoothies, organ meat capsules and all-meat meal plans are still rampant across social media, often presented as a magic bullet for weight loss, muscle gain and mental clarity. But there’s a darker side to this trend. By promoting unsustainable and unproven diets, influencers encourage disordered eating, nutrient deficiencies and false expectations.
“Meat is an excellent source of protein and protein has many important functions – it’s key for growth, repair and maintenance.” says Dr Sammie Gill, Registered Dietitian and British Dietetic Association (BDA) spokesperson. “It plays a key role in structure and support of body tissues and organs, powering many chemical reactions, and forms the basis of hormones, enzymes and antibodies of the immune system. But eating too much protein is likely to displace key nutrients that are crucial for gut health, including fibre.”
“Emerging research shows that eating too much protein and too little fibre can negatively impact gut health by altering gut microbiome composition and function. When gut microbes ferment excess protein they release harmful compounds, such as trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO), that have been linked with colon cancer and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD),” she adds.
The idea that an all-meat diet will help you reach your health goals peddled by influencers is misleading because we know that eating fibre helps with balancing the gut microbiome and prevents chronic diseases. “Compelling research also highlights the important role of fibre in mental health disorders, such as depression,” says Dr Gill.
Forgoing fruits and vegetables can also cause deficiencies in vital nutrients. “A deficiency of vitamin C, important in the synthesis of collagen, can cause dry skin and wrinkles. Regarding immunity, a lack of some of the vitamins and minerals, like vitamin E and zinc present in plant foods, may limit the capabilities of the body in defending itself against infections, thus exposing one to illnesses,” says Dr Joy.
Whether you your diet is carnivore, keto or paleo, consuming animal-based products raw is an unexpected health trend that’s ripped through social media. Influencers will post viral clips of them gnawing at chunks of raw beef and drinking gallons of raw milk. In some cases, certain users will allow meat to age or ferment before eating it, which doctors strongly discourage.
Should you eat raw meat?
Food safety is a real concern with eating raw meat explains Dr Gill. “Eating raw meat greatly increases your risk of food poisoning and cooking meat destroys potentially harmful pathogens such as salmonella, E.coli and campylobacter (diarrheal diseases). You are also four times more likely to develop post-infectious irritable bowel syndrome (PI-IBS) in the year following a bout of food poisoning.”
“We know that cooking impacts the nutritional value of any food. Levels of certain vitamins and minerals may increase or decrease and different cooking methods will yield different results. As an example, B vitamins are heat sensitive. Studies have shown cooked meat can contain lower levels of certain B vitamins, but do these small differences justify eating raw meat? I’d say no,” she adds.
Dr Joy also points out that while some believe that eating raw meat, eggs and dairy products has the power to improve wellbeing, “people who consume raw food in the name of culture tend to have strict food safety laws aimed at reducing risk, though not applicable in modern society. Anyone who is in a position to eat these foods has to take extra measures to ensure that they are safe from possible hazards.”
“The organ meats’ high nutrient value, such as liver and kidneys, is good, but the danger of disease for the sake of eating them raw is terrifying. Raw dairy is the biggest threat to health because it can be harmful due to unsafe contamination by dangerous bacteria like listeria, salmonella or campylobacter. Such organisms may cause severe diseases,” she explains.
Of course, a raw egg won’t kill you and many people consume them in cocktails, baking and as a delicacy in certain dishes. By the same token, raw meat might seem appealing as part of a balanced diet. The expert advice is to look for safe and credible provenance and consume raw animal products in moderation as part of a varied diet.
A cult of extremes
Influencers who encourage primal eating tend to fall into two categories. Some are harmless and encourage consuming seasonal, local, unprocessed foods that are good for gut health and longevity. Others promote a return to a time in history when even natural food could kill you, particularly if consumed raw. It’s also likely these sorts of influencers, like the Liver King, will have something to sell you.
Dr Gill maintains that organ meat supplements are an absolute waste of money. “Don’t bother,” she says. “In the UK, most people easily meet their protein needs if they are consuming a varied diet with animal and/or plant-based protein sources.”
It’s always better to just consume whole foods than look to supplements in the long run so if eating liver is something you want to do for your health, you can incorporate it into your diet. However, experts recommend cooking it first and putting some plants on your plate too.
“What works on you might not work on others,” says Dr Joy. “Nevertheless, moderation is still important. Stimulation of simplistic approaches to the utmost degree can be risky. That is why it is essential to consider long-term and evidence-based nutrition practices and stop using restrictive diets. The best way of encouraging good health is through diversified nutrition.”
Instead of chasing a fictional past with one-size-fits-all rules and consuming raw liver for breakfast, lunch and dinner, the key to good health is likely embracing a more balanced, evidence-based and inclusive view of health – one that doesn’t rely on charismatic grifters to tell us what to eat.
Read more: How to look after gut health through every life stage, according to a nutritionist
