Are you dumb/naive if you take supplements?

In order to keep some semblance of sanity, the only social media platform I still visit is Twitter/X (which in itself is a cesspool unless you find a way to filter out political crazies). Recently, I saw this tweet:

I know Dave. He is a great guy, and I did not challenge him for a few reasons. One of those reasons? I have to admit that he has a point.

Many times in this newsletter, I have written about the way health supplements are marketed. Dave is right when he says that supplements are often (mostly?) sold with narrative (a flashy/compelling story) or anecdotal evidence (either historical precedent or testimonials).

There is a real weakness in either of those marketing tactics. Just because a herb was used by a tribe in South America 600 years ago does not mean it actually worked for them. And, just because an aunt recovered from an illness while taking an herb does not mean the herb was responsible for the recovery.

This is why, over and over, I talk about science here. The main way we know if a supplement actually works is with science.

Curiously, those who are skeptical of supplements often do not extend that same skepticism to pharmaceuticals. If you ask them why, they will tell you it is because of the science, and in particular, clinical studies.

They trust the clinical studies done on drugs, but do not seem to understand that the exact same kinds of clinical studies are done on herbs and supplements.

In fact, there are thousands of clinical studies being done at any given time on the kinds of products we sell. They are being released constantly. That is why I push Examine.com so much here. Examine.com has no industry ties; they simply keep track of clinical studies and evaluate supplements based on the data that comes out of those studies.

Using tools like Examine.com, I can say very confidently that there are countless studies that substantiate the value of specific supplements for specific health conditions. I have talked about this exact topic in the video here.

Now, I do want to say that just because I go to science for answers does not mean that science is the only place to go for answers. Science can be wrong, but even when not wrong, we may simply not have enough knowledge about the science yet. There are many studies that still need to be done.

That is why there is at least some value in searching for answers in other places. Historical precedent does sometimes give clues about health. Your aunt’s testimonial about a supplement may be useful as well. We all naturally look for this kind of validation when searching for answers about any topic, from health to buying a new refrigerator. There is a reason for that.

This is a complicated epistemological conundrum, but here is my point: Dave is right that supplements are often sold using dubious proof, but he is flat-out wrong to suggest that there is “never real proof” to support supplement use. Among other things, science provides the proof. If you are taking supplements, science is on your side.

Photo by Mika Baumeister on Unsplash