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Carrion Luggage #1104343 added December 24, 2025 at 4:13pm
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Poison Pills
Pardon the mess while I experiment with new formats thanks to Our Glorious Leader's fun new editing interface.
Meanwhile, I think this is the first time I've highlighted a link from Snopes:
Well, it's simple, see: if it's a supplement, it's a scam.
Oh, sure, not always. But like getting phone calls from an unknown number, it's best to assume the worst rather than take chances.
Many supplement brands readers ask about use unethical business practices to sell products that simply do not work.
Or, worse, will actively make you sick.
While deepfakes may be difficult for many internet users to spot, many of the health supplement products that seek to trick people into parting with an excessive amount of money have common red flags in their online presence that take no research or special knowledge to be able to spot.
For starters, they advertise on the internet.
In this article, Snopes will guide you step-by-step through how to easily spot a potential health supplement scam.
Of course, these scams predated the internet by decades, the most famous one being the promotion and sale of fake snake oil.
Turns out actual snake oil may have some beneficial properties, but that wasn't the problem (except from the point of view of snakes). The problem was they weren't selling actual snake oil, but whatever ingredients they could obtain cheaply.
I also did an entry last month on a fun supplement containing radium: "It Got Glowing Reviews"  There, I also ragged on "supplements" being promoted today.
You should talk to your doctor if you think there is a supplement that might be beneficial to you.
These things always say "you should talk to your doctor." Bitch, I'm in the US. You know how hard it is to even get a chance to wait in the lobby?
Still, yes, you should talk to your doctor. Just remember that they're people, too, and they have enough knowledge to absorb without trying to keep track of every mostly-unregulated placebo (or worse) hawked by unscrupulous vendors.
It's worth noting that we were unable to reach out to the companies mentioned in this story to inquire about their business practices and the efficacy of their supplements because they all either did not list contact information or had nonfunctional contact links on their websites, a common practice for the sellers of unproven supplements.
Well, I'd consider that the third red flag, right after "it's a supplement" and "it's hawked in a popup ad": if they won't let you contact them, then they're almost certainly a scam.
The rest of the article is mostly about what Snopes considers to be the red flags. Personally, I prefer to keep things simple and avoid these products entirely. I think I can trust aspirin made by well-known manufacturers, but after that, my inner skeptic raises his ugly head.
And the link's there if you want it. I've spent all my energy this morning playing with the new text editor, which is very cool but there's a bit of a learning curve for those of us who have spent 20+ years learning the ins and outs of WritingML. Now I have low energy. Maybe I should go to a gas station and buy one of those untested, unregulated five-hour energy shots. |
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