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When we talk about pharmaceuticals, we talk about financial toxicity. Americans spend over $10 billion on nutritional supplements annually [1], most of which ha

When we talk about pharmaceuticals, we talk about financial toxicity. Americans spend over $10 billion on nutritional supplements annually [1], most of which have very poor supporting evidence. Should people be able to spend their money how they see fit? Sure. Are they getting utility from it? Not the utility they're hoping for. 1 = https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/02/04/americans-are-ignoring-the-science-and-spending-billions-on-dietary-supplements/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/02/04/ameri...

6stringmerc 11y ago
I'm not denying there's a lot of unsubstantiated or over-inflated advertising within the supplement market, not at all. It takes hours and lots of digging into personal reviews and other sources to begin to find things that are both 1) effective and 2) legal. It's not a quick fix, which is what most advertising claims to provide. If we're talking about wasting money and health though, then I think it's equally important to point out that homeopathy is apparently a multi-billion dollar industry as well in the US ($6B in 2012 [1]) and if we're going to rank things on effectiveness, I'm pretty sure homeopathy is just about on par with drinking water from a clean toilet. [1] http://www.nutraceuticalsworld.com/issues/2013-07/view_industry-news/us-sales-of-homeopathic-herbal-remedies-reach-64-billion http://www.nutraceuticalsworld.com/issues/2013-07/view_indus...
teslabox 11y ago
When we talk about healthcare, we talk about financial toxicity. Americans spent $3 trillion on healthcare in 2014 [1], much of which had very poor outcomes. Should the healthcare system get a defacto blank check to charge insurance companies as much as they want? Sure. Are the patients getting utility from it? Not the utility they're hoping for. 1 = https://www.cms.gov/research-statistics-data-and-systems/statistics-trends-and-reports/nationalhealthexpenddata/downloads/highlights.pdf https://www.cms.gov/research-statistics-data-and-systems/sta... (lol, sorry. $10 billion on supplements is a drop in the bucket.)

6stringmerc 11y ago

I'm not denying there's a lot of unsubstantiated or over-inflated advertising within the supplement market, not at all. It takes hours and lots of digging into personal reviews and other sources to begin to find things that are both 1) effective and 2) legal. It's not a quick fix, which is what most advertising claims to provide. If we're talking about wasting money and health though, then I think it's equally important to point out that homeopathy is apparently a multi-billion dollar industry as well in the US ($6B in 2012 [1]) and if we're going to rank things on effectiveness, I'm pretty sure homeopathy is just about on par with drinking water from a clean toilet. [1] http://www.nutraceuticalsworld.com/issues/2013-07/view_industry-news/us-sales-of-homeopathic-herbal-remedies-reach-64-billion http://www.nutraceuticalsworld.com/issues/2013-07/view_indus...

teslabox 11y ago

When we talk about healthcare, we talk about financial toxicity. Americans spent $3 trillion on healthcare in 2014 [1], much of which had very poor outcomes. Should the healthcare system get a defacto blank check to charge insurance companies as much as they want? Sure. Are the patients getting utility from it? Not the utility they're hoping for. 1 = https://www.cms.gov/research-statistics-data-and-systems/statistics-trends-and-reports/nationalhealthexpenddata/downloads/highlights.pdf https://www.cms.gov/research-statistics-data-and-systems/sta... (lol, sorry. $10 billion on supplements is a drop in the bucket.)