A woman died in Spain after suffering an allergic reaction while undergoing live bee acupuncture - an alternative therapy promoted by Gwyneth Paltrow in which the patient is stung by the angered insects. 
 
 The 55-year-old woman had been undergoing the controversial treatment once a month for two years when she suddenly developed a severe reaction, according to a report by Spanish doctors. 
 
 She “developed wheezing, dyspnea, and sudden loss of consciousness immediately after a live bee sting,” the report, published in the latest issue of the Journal of Investigational Allergology and Clinical Immunology, said. 
 
 The woman, whose identity has not been revealed, was taken to the Ramón y Cajal University Hospital in Madrid but died some weeks later of multiple organ failure. She had suffered a “massive watershed stroke and permanent coma” due to severe anaphylactic shock, said the report’s authors, Ricardo Madrigal and Paula Vázquez Revuelta of the hospital’s allergy unit. 
 
 The 2015 case is believed to be the first reported death from live bee acupuncture - also known as bee venom apitherapy - of a patient who had previously not been allergic. The report said that repeated exposure to the allergen increased the risk of a severe reaction. ||||| Multiple sources have warned about the lack of proven medical benefits and the potential health risks associated with coffee enemas. 
 
 Actress Gwyneth Paltrow’s controversial lifestyle brand Goop is getting attention once again, thanks to the inclusion of a rather unusual product in its body detoxification package, a coffee enema kit sold for $135 on the company’s website. 
 
 The new controversy started earlier this week when the Goop website published an article listing several products as part of the company’s “Beauty and Wellness Detox Guide.” While most of the products didn’t look like the type that would immediately stick out in such a guide, many readers were piqued by the inclusion of the Implant O-Rama System At-Home coffee enema kit, which is priced at $135 and listed as detoxification specialist Dr. Alejandro Junger’s “pick for those who know what they’re doing.” 
 
 As explained by Forbes health news contributor Bruce Y. Lee, enemas are fluids that are injected into a person’s rectum up into the colon, thereby facilitating easier bowel movement by stimulating the intestines. They are typically recommended by doctors as a way to relieve constipation after dietary changes and other conventional remedies do not work, or to cleanse one’s colon ahead of a colonoscopy. While medical professionals have been known to prescribe a wide variety of enemas, including those that are made of sodium phosphate, mineral oil, and milk and molasses, Lee noted that coffee enemas have been gaining momentum as a popular colon cleansing method. 
 
 Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop is recommending a $135 DIY coffee enema kit – and one OBGYN is NOT happy about it https://t.co/CTyCoSGFpD — Daily Mail Femail (@Femail) January 5, 2018 
 
 Citing the Implant O-Rama website, Bustle wrote that the company touted its product as being capable of relieving symptoms associated with depression and allergies, easing confusion and nervous tension, and relieving “severe” pain. But just like Forbes’ Lee did in his op-ed, Bustle also warned that there are many reasons to stay away from coffee enemas, even if Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop website merely recommended the dispensing machine and not the actual enema, and also posted a disclaimer cautioning that the product is not a substitute for professional medical advice or treatment. 
 
 Aside from stating that the human colon can normally clean itself without the aid of any medical devices, Bustle cited a paper posted in The American Journal of Gastroenterology, which stressed that coffee enemas do not have any proven medical benefits, and could result in proctocolitis, or inflammation of the rectum and colon. Similarly, Forbes contributor Lee warned that the use of any kind of enema could result in a number of side effects, such as dehydration and electrolyte imbalances that could sometimes be life-threatening. Infections may also occur if enema users accidentally end up injecting bacteria, he added. 
 
 Coffee enemas come with several medical risks, including inflammation of the colon and rectum. Nobuhiro Asada / Shutterstock 
 
 Further highlighting the potential danger of such detoxification methods, the Forbes op-ed also linked to several medical case studies involving the use of hot coffee in enemas, including multiple papers detailing cases of rectal burn, and one that focused on “deaths related to coffee enemas.” 
 
 The ongoing coffee enema issue comes almost a year after Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop business was in the headlines for advertising another supposedly risky product. In January 2017, Goop published an article that advised women to place golf ball-sized jade eggs in their vagina, due to the purported benefits of better sex and “feminine energy.” According to the Washington Post, San Francisco OB/GYN Dr. Jen Gunter referred to the ideas discussed in the article as the “biggest load of garbage” she’s read on the Goop website, adding that the porous qualities of jade could lead to bacterial vaginosis or, in severe cases, toxic shock syndrome. 
 
 Likewise, Gunter also took to her blog earlier this week to criticize Gwyneth Paltrow and Goop, referencing last year’s jade egg issue and suggesting that January is Paltrow’s “go-to-month for promoting dangerous things.” She referred to the coffee enema kit as a “f**ked up way to make money” and an example of “fake medicine,” stressing that even the board-certified doctor Alejandro Junger’s advice contains information that isn’t supported either by medical literature or by “human anatomy and physiology.” ||||| Hundreds of people stung in Shaanxi province by swarms of giant insects believed to have multiplied over warm summer 
 
 Twenty-eight people have died and hundreds have been injured in a wave of attacks by giant hornets in central China, according to reports. 
 
 Victims described being chased for hundreds of metres by the creatures and stung as many as 200 times. 
 
 Most of the attacks in the past three months were in remote, rural, wooded areas in southern Shaanxi, the province's China Business newspaper reported. 
 
 In the city of Ankang alone, 18 people have died from the stings, health official Zhou Yuanhong told Associated Press. People in the cities of Hanzhong and Shangluo have also been injured. 
 
 The insects' highly toxic stings can lead to anaphylactic shock and renal failure. An official from Ankang's disease control centre urged people to seek medical help if they received more than 10 stings, and warned that emergency treatment was required for those stung more than 30 times. 
 
 One woman in her 50s said she had spent almost a month in hospital and was still incontinent after receiving more than 200 stings. A man from her village died of kidney failure. 
 
 The hornet attacks are a recurring problem in the area from May to as late as November. According to Ankang police, 36 people died in the city and 715 were injured by the creatures between 2002 and 2005. But Zhou said the issue had been particularly severe this year, possibly because of weather changes. 
 
 Experts have suggested in the past that warmer temperatures in the area have led to hornets breeding more successfully, that labourers have been moving deeper into areas where they may disturb nests, and that the insects are sensitive to chemicals found in food and cosmetics. 
 
 Li Jiuzhou, deputy director of the Shaanxi Bee and Wasp Industry Association, said that hundreds or even thousands of hornets could live in a single nest. They attack humans only if disturbed, he added. But they are carnivorous and can quickly destroy bee colonies. 
 
 Ankang's fire service has removed over 300 hornet nests this summer, but experts said that the problem was unlikely to end entirely until the temperature drops. 
 
 Wang Zhengcai, an official from one of the affected villages, said authorities had warned people to be careful if they enter the woods. Local authorities have also promised to help patients pay for the treatment, because of the heavy cost for the rural poor. 
 
 The culprit appears to be the Asian giant hornet or Vespa mandarinia, which grows up to 5cm long with a 6mm sting, although the area is also home to the smaller Asian hornet, Vespa velutina nigrithorax.
– It may not surprise you to learn that Gwyneth Paltrow has sought to treat her ailments—in this case inflammation and scarring—by subjecting herself to the stings of live bees. "It's a thousands-of-year-old treatment," the Goop mastermind told the New York Times in 2016. "It's actually pretty incredible if you research it. But, man, it's painful." Now a report published in the Journal of Investigational Allergology and Clinical Immunology reveals what's believed to be the first death related to bee-sting therapy—aka live bee acupuncture, aka bee venom apitherapy—in someone who had previously shown tolerance for the treatment. In the case from 2015, a 55-year-old Spanish woman died of multiple organ failure after two years of the treatment to relieve muscular contracture and stress. In bee-sting therapy, bees placed on a patient's body have their heads squeezed until they extend their stingers, the Telegraph reports. The idea is that the stings cause inflammation and lead to an anti-inflammatory response from the body. The unnamed woman started wheezing and having shortness of breath during one of her monthly treatments at a private clinic before losing consciousness. She died weeks later at the hospital. Researchers say severe anaphylactic shock caused a "massive watershed stroke and permanent coma," as well as the multiple organ failure. "The risks of undergoing apitherapy may exceed the presumed benefits, leading us to conclude that this practice is both unsafe and unadvisable," one researcher says. (Doctor accuses Goop of pushing "fake medicine" with $135 coffee enema.)