Are supplements and alternative therapies all theyre cracked up to be? – Starts at 60

When I started work as a doctor, my mentors taught me to recommend cranberry tablets for my patients with bladder infections, to use echinacea as a cure for the common cold, and to dish out fish oil capsules to ease the pain of osteoarthritis. However, over the years our scientific understanding of these products has changed dramatically. Despite being very popular remedies, cranberry tablets havent been proven to be useful for preventing or treating bladder infections, echinacea isnt effective for curing a common cold, and fish oil capsules arent very impressive when it comes to treating osteoarthritis.

Vitamins, minerals and supplements are constantly being studied. When a supplement is confirmed to work, we call it medicine. When theres not enough scientific evidence to confirm a supplement works, we call it alternative medicine, complementary medicine or fake medicine.

After supplements have been rigorously studied and found to be useless, medical professionals put it in the bin and move on. Unfortunately, once a health product has found its way on to a stores shelf, its difficult to remove. Even when weve been able to clearly prove it does absolutely nothing, its continually sold to unsuspecting customers.

Words like alternative, complementary, detox, holistic and natural are lovely and positive, so its easy to forget that they have been specifically chosen by a marketing team, he says. These disarming words are purposefully used to target a particular demographic and youre the target!

Words are powerful and were attracted to descriptions that sound familiar, caring and confident. We trust products that appear to be earthy and grounded in nature, but dont realise our emotional heartstrings are being manipulated by a supplement industry worth billions of dollars.

Acupuncture is an interactive performance that uses the elaborate theatre of needle positioning to create a therapeutic effect that only envies that of a placebo, he says. Moxibustion is the same thing, but the needles are set on fire.

Puncturing particular points around the body is supposed to release the flow of life energy called qi by unblocking meridians. However, there are at least two flaws in this theory meridians and qi arent real.

Cupping involves placing glass or plastic cups on the skin in an attempt to draw toxins out of the body. However these suction cups dont draw out toxins they only create giant bruises.

Alternative or complementary therapies are often thought to be harmless, especially when these remedies are framed as traditional or natural but useless products can cause harm by delaying appropriate medical care, he says.

If nothing serious is going on, then treating yourself with green smoothies, superfoods and ancient wisdom wont hurt but its a disaster to persist with futile treatments when you have something as serious as cancer.

An early diagnosis can be lifesaving, but a delayed diagnosis can be deadly.

In a perfect world, major companies wouldnt be selling nonsense or useless products to their loyal customers but we dont live in that perfect world, he says. Large corporations are allowed to manufacture placebo pills, start marketing these fraudulent products as the next essential cure-all, and then sell them from the shelves of otherwise reputable stores including pharmacies. If this is allowed to happen all around Australia in broad daylight, imagine what an online seller can get up to in their garage or from the anonymity of the dark web.

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Are supplements and alternative therapies all theyre cracked up to be? - Starts at 60