Inquisitive.me

I broke my Instagram algorithm.

Lately my feed is overflowing with “miracle cures” and “secret body hacks”—most of them from people with zero medical background. Anyone can toss a few ingredients into a jar, give it a catchy name, and sell it online. As long as the claims stay vague, it’s fair game.

One video was selling supplements for a “leaky gut.” It piled on claim after claim, calling itself a superfood that would “fix your gut in no time”—as if there were tiny minions inside the capsule, busily rebuilding your gut wall. Seriously?

Here’s the thing: if your gut is truly leaking, no supplement will fix that. Not even medication will—you’d need a surgeon.

On the flip side, I keep seeing people claim that drinking lemon water first thing in the morning—followed by celery juice—will “alkalize” the gut. Hello, chemistry. Lemon juice is acidic. So you acidify your gut first and then alkalize it with celery juice? You do know your body is perfectly capable of handling its own pH, right?

Your blood pH has to stay between 7.35 and 7.45. Drop out of that range and you won’t survive. Meanwhile, your stomach happily sits at a pH of about 2 and couldn’t care less how much celery juice you pour in. It regulates itself—no magic morning drink will change that.

And then there are all the “detox” supplements. We already have an organ for that—it’s called the liver.

What I really don’t understand is the double standard. These same people are (rightly) skeptical of medication and the pharma industry, yet accept claims from untrained influencers at face value. Why is the bar for skepticism so uneven?

Some will argue they are skeptical—they’ve “done their research.” But scrolling Facebook, reading opinions, or pulling papers from dubious websites and predatory journals isn’t research. Proper research means reading a lot of scientific papers and having at least a basic grasp of immunology, virology, statistics, biochemistry, anatomy, and physiology.

I have two degrees—physiotherapy and biology—and a solid understanding of how the body works. Even I wouldn’t claim to out-know the experts. Yet supplement sellers throw out sweeping statements as if a few Google searches put them on par with scientists.

During COVID we saw plenty of these ‘experts.’ Many who claimed they’d ‘done the research’ didn’t even know how a virus replicates or what mRNA is—yet they made bold claims and rallied followers. The supplement industry works the same way and, by the way, makes a lot of money doing it.

These same people call Big Pharma evil for making a profit and insist anything “natural” is automatically safe. But arsenic is natural—and not safe. The global natural-supplements industry is worth billions, with annual growth projected at nearly 9% through 2033, and virtually no oversight.

Yes, the pharmaceutical industry also makes huge profits—but at least it’s accountable. Companies must conduct multi-million-dollar research, run multiple phases of clinical trials, and get approval from regulators like the FDA before a single drug reaches the market. Meanwhile, someone named Karen can mix powders at her kitchen table, slap on a catchy label, and start selling with health claims. She’ll only face consequences if someone is harmed and actually reports it. To me, that’s far scarier than Big Pharma.

Am I still skeptical of the pharmaceutical industry? Absolutely—and we should be. Part of the industry’s job is selling, and I’m not a fan of how casually we sometimes reach for medication. But at least those medications are tested and shown to work for specific conditions. Supplements? Not so much.

Here’s the truth: if something has no side effects, it likely has no real effects either.

A real-life example from another corner of pseudoscience:

A neighbor once asked me about her shoulder pain. Before I could even answer, someone else chimed in: “You should try sound therapy.” It’s a certificate you can earn after a short online course, with no real knowledge of anatomy, physiology, pathology, or the complexity of the human body.

A quick Google search turned up the same familiar promises: It works when nothing else works. No side effects. Completely natural.

Even their course module on “science” made me raise an eyebrow:

“By mastering the scientific basics of sound therapy, you increase your credibility as a practitioner and strengthen your ability to inspire others about the impressive potential of sound as a healing method.”

If something truly works, you don’t need to work that hard to appear credible.

And no—“whoever heals is right” is not a valid argument. If you do nothing, your body will often heal on its own. Many of these treatments and supplements can actually interfere with that natural process and even prolong healing, because your body now has to deal with the extra nonsense you put it through. That statement isn’t wisdom. It’s just plain wrong.

I know this post might sound like I’m completely against alternative therapies and supplements—but I’m not. The body is remarkably capable of healing itself, and our mind plays a key role in that process. Used alongside treatments we already know work, some of these strategies can be supportive.

My problem lies with the horrendous, inaccurate health claims and sweeping healing promises pushed by supplement sellers and pseudo-treatments. That kind of marketing isn’t just misleading—it’s unethical and deeply irresponsible.

🧪 Let’s Experiment

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Science doesn’t ask for belief—it asks you to test
whether something truly works.

Science means exploring the unknown, not selling a holy grail—unlike so many supplement and pseudo-treatment peddlers.

🎯 Try This:

Here are the basics of how to know if something works:

• Gather enough people. The larger the group, the better—ideally 100+ participants so outliers don’t skew the results.
• Split them into groups. One group gets the treatment you want to test. The other is a control group—either no treatment or a treatment we already know works.
• Keep it blind. Neither group should know which treatment they’re getting (that’s how you control for the placebo effect). If possible, researchers themselves stay blind too (double blind studies).
• Watch for hidden bias. Where and how you recruit people matters. If you’re testing “the best beer in town” and only survey people outside one brewery, your results will be skewed.
• Look for meta-analysis or systematic reviews. Because one small study can be misleading, scientists pool multiple studies to see the bigger picture.

🧠 Final Thought:

You don’t have to prove how a supplement or treatment works—only that it works better than doing nothing or better than existing treatments. If repeated, well-designed studies can’t show that, it’s probably just placebo.

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Keep it simple, stay curious, and keep learning—you’ve got this.

Take care,

Carina 🦊