Celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Kate Hudson have undergone $2,500 MRI scans to find out about their health – should you too?

Celebrities such as Kim Kardashian are promoting expensive full-body scans that they claim can test for more than 500 diseases.

With cancer and other diseases on the rise across the United States, especially among younger people, companies that offer these services say the $2,500 price tag is worth it.

But experts have serious doubts about whether there is evidence the scans are effective, and worry that the uninsured procedures are giving today's health-conscious people the benefit of the doubt.

Prenuvo is one of a growing number of health startups offering $2,500 MRIs that it says can detect cancer and other chronic diseases years before symptoms appear.

The product was featured in a sponsored Instagram post by Kim Kardashian, who described it as “life-saving”. Prenuvo has also been promoted by Cindy Crawford.

“We're trying to give people the opportunity to be more proactive about their health,” Dr. Daniel Durand, a radiologist and chief medical officer at Prenuvo, told The Associated Press.

“Prenuvo's full body scan can detect diseases like cancer and aneurysms at the earliest stages before symptoms appear,” she wrote on Instagram. “It truly saved one of my friends' lives. [sic] I was alive and I just wanted to share it.”

But experts warn that the technology is of no value to the general population of healthy patients who have no symptoms.

MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) uses a magnetic field to produce detailed pictures of organs, bones and other structures inside the body without the use of radiation.

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They are usually ordered to help diagnose cancer, brain injury, vascular injury, and other medical conditions.

A full-body scan, with the patient lying motionless inside a cylindrical tube, can take an hour or more.

Most experts recommend regular full-body scans only for certain high-risk groups, such as people with a high genetic risk of cancer.

“MRI is great for what it's typically used for,” Dr. Ernest Hawk, vice president of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, told The Associated Press.

“But now we're moving them much earlier into the average-risk population, where we may be faced with questions that we couldn't answer before.”

Dr. Mina McCully, a radiologist at Ohio State Wexner Medical Center, said serious problems such as cancerous tumors or brain aneurysms are unlikely to be detected in people who have no symptoms.

Further tests, examinations and even surgery may be required to completely rule out the problem.

“You end up with a lot of contingencies being found,” she said, “which causes additional emotional stress and trauma for patients, including additional costs for tests and procedures that may be risky.”

Experts also worry that people who have MRI scans may stop going for other routine check-ups, such as mammograms.

The American College of Radiology does not recommend MRI scans for people without symptoms, saying there is “no documented evidence” that the technique is “cost-effective or effective in extending life.”

And while the FDA has not approved MRI machines for preventive screening, doctors are free to use the devices.

“This is not an appropriate tool to test for a range of human diseases and potentially emergency conditions,” Dr. Stuart Fisher, a New York internist, previously told DailyMail.com. “This is not a testing tool.”

Dr. Fisher said preventative MRIs miss many diseases that are on the rise in the U.S., including diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, hypertension and high cholesterol.

For example, the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) estimates that more than 400,000 people will die from diabetes worldwide in 2021.

“A screening MRI would never find these abnormalities,” Dr. Fisher says.

Prenuvo recently announced plans to test 100,000 people and conduct long-term health studies.

The research is not expected to be completed until at least 2034.

Most people who take part in the PreNuvo study are expected to pay a $2,200 participation fee, but eventually academic and government research may offer opportunities for individuals to take part in such studies at no out-of-pocket cost.

“This is a great area to get involved in research studies that can provide you with the information you're looking for and help you find answers to whether it would be beneficial,” Dr. Hawk said.

“But it doesn't make sense to do so outside of research.”