When good marketing sounds like health advice…
Recently, I have written about the wellness industrial complex, what we are actually chasing when we pursue better health, and what happens when looking after ourselves becomes one more demanding and expensive thing on the to-do list.
We have considered the purple powders, the wearables, the elaborate morning protocols and the growing collection of half-used supplements in the “cupboard of hope”. But recognising the machinery does not necessarily make it easier to decide what is credible, what is relevant and what is simply very good marketing.
The wellness world is noisy. And it is getting a lot noisier. One expert tells us we should fast. Another says we need to eat within an hour of waking. One person says carbohydrates are the problem. Another insists we need more of them. There is a supplement for our sleep, stress, hormones, metabolism and mitochondria, and several bodily processes we had never thought to worry about until someone produced an alarming reel about them.
Much of this advice sounds scientific. Some of it is. But something can have evidence behind it and still be unnecessary, inappropriate or completely irrelevant to you. So, to finish this series, I thought it might be useful to leave you with a practical wellbeing bullshit filter.
A plausible answer is not necessarily the right answer
Good marketing often begins with a problem we recognise. Perhaps we are told that a collection of common symptoms means our cortisol is broken, that an ordinary response to food is evidence of metabolic dysfunction, or that our afternoon tiredness requires a particular supplement, test or eating protocol. The explanation may feel compelling, particularly if we have been feeling unwell and nobody has helped us understand why. Suddenly, the product appears to make perfect sense. But recognising the symptom does not confirm the cause…
Fatigue can be connected to sleep, nourishment, iron status, thyroid function, blood glucose regulation, infection, medication, hormonal changes, stress, pain or the sheer cumulative load of life. Quite often, several things are happening at once. And a product may genuinely help some people experiencing fatigue. That still does not tell us whether it addresses the reason you are tired. Otherwise, we are playing whack-a-mole in the dark: responding to each symptom as it appears without understanding what is driving the pattern.
A BS filter for health and wellness advice
Before buying the supplement, booking the treatment, adopting the protocol or reorganising your life around the latest wellbeing advice, ask:
1. What problem is this claiming to solve?
Can you describe the actual problem clearly, or has the information left you with a vague sense that your body is failing in some new way?
2. What makes me think this is the cause of what I am experiencing?
A symptom may fit the story being presented without confirming it. “I have fatigue and this is marketed for energy” is a match between a symptom and a promise, not necessarily between a cause and an appropriate solution.
3. Have I had this properly investigated?
Have you spoken to your GP, had an appropriate health check or discussed the broader pattern with a qualified practitioner? Before trying to correct a suspected imbalance, it is worth establishing whether there is a clinical issue requiring investigation.
4. Is there another explanation that needs to be considered?
A plausible explanation is not necessarily the right explanation. Be particularly cautious when one symptom, a broad checklist or an online quiz is being used to identify a complex health condition.
5. Is this supporting a foundation or promising to bypass one?
A targeted intervention may be useful. But a product that promises to replace nourishment, sleep, movement, recovery or appropriate healthcare deserves considerable scepticism.
6. What evidence supports this specific claim?
“Science-backed” can mean almost anything. Evidence that an ingredient influences a biological pathway does not automatically prove that a particular product, dose or combination will produce the promised outcome in a real person.
Equally, evidence that an intervention can help with a condition does not establish that you have that condition or that the intervention is appropriate for you.
7. Who is providing the advice and who benefits if I believe it?
Qualifications are not the only measure of credibility, and having something to sell does not automatically make someone untrustworthy. I sell professional services. Many excellent practitioners and ethical businesses sell services, treatments and products.
But expertise, scope of practice and commercial interests all matter. Does this person have the training and experience to interpret the problem they are discussing? Are they presenting a range of reasonable options, or claiming that their preferred treatment is the only one that works? Can they acknowledge limitations, uncertainty and situations in which their recommendation may not be appropriate?
A large following, an impressive title or an engaging communication style does not remove the need for those questions.
8. Is this appropriate for my biology, circumstances and priorities?
A strategy may be helpful for someone else and still be wrong for you. Your health history, medications, nutritional status, life stage, symptoms, capacity and goals all matter. So does whether the intervention fits into your actual life and supports what you want your health to make possible.
Follow the expertise and follow the money
Dubious health advice is not limited to unqualified influencers, multi-level marketing companies or the more colourful corners of the wellness internet.
A practitioner can have legitimate qualifications and still present one treatment as the answer to almost every problem. A medical intervention can be evidence-based and still be oversold, prescribed too broadly or presented without an adequate discussion of alternatives. A supplement company, pharmaceutical company, device manufacturer or health professional can all have a financial interest in the conclusion you reach. This does not automatically invalidate the advice or the intervention. It means transparency matters.
Be cautious when someone introduces a frightening risk, suggests that most people like you are vulnerable to it, creates urgency about acting and then offers a single, highly specific solution. The solution might be a supplement, hormone, restrictive diet, test, wearable device, therapeutic vest or expensive program. The category matters less than the certainty with which it is being sold.
Credible advice should help you understand the problem, consider the options and make an informed decision. It should increase your agency, not depend on fear, false certainty or the suggestion that one product or practitioner holds the answer for everyone.
Sometimes the missing step is professional perspective
Many people arrive at a consultation having spent months or years trying to solve their own health problems. They have changed their diet, added supplements, followed podcasts, ordered tests and trialled protocols. Often, they have accumulated a great deal of information.
What they do not necessarily have is perspective.
Even health practitioners know that treating ourselves is difficult. Knowledge does not make us objective about our own symptoms, assumptions or blind spots. We can become attached to one explanation, overlook something obvious or continue treating the symptom that is most disruptive without stepping back to examine the wider pattern.
That is why a credible starting point is often less exciting than the latest online solution: book an appointment. Speak to your GP. Have the appropriate health checks. If you want a broader or more integrative perspective, seek out a suitably qualified nutritionist, naturopath, allied health professional, integrative practitioner or specialist whose training and scope are relevant to the problem.
This is not an argument that conventional medicine always has the complete answer, nor that a complementary medicine approach is automatically better. Good care may and should involve both. The important thing is finding someone with the knowledge, experience and professional responsibility to investigate properly, recognise the limits of their expertise and refer when needed.
Information is not the same as direction
When you are tired, uncomfortable, worried or desperate to feel like yourself again, every possible answer carries a little hope. When you have collected years of conflicting advice, test results, half-used supplements and things that helped briefly but never resolved the problem, it can be hard to see the pattern from inside it.
More information is not always what is missing. Sometimes the next step is to pause, take stock of what is already happening and decide what genuinely warrants further attention. That may mean a proper clinical investigation. It may mean returning to foundational health behaviours. It could mean seeking another professional perspective or asking better questions before committing to another product, test or protocol. It might also mean deciding that some of the things in the cupboard of hope have served their purpose and can now go.
The goal is not to give yourself more to do. It is to make better sense of what is already there and direct your time, attention and money towards the things most likely to matter.
So, before asking whether the latest wellbeing solution and influencer claim works, ask: Do I understand what may be driving this problem well enough to know whether this is the right response?
If the answer is no, the next step may not be another product. It may be a proper conversation.
About the author
Mary-Leigh Scheerhoorn is a Nutritional Medicine Practitioner and founder of Genesis Health and Lifestyle Solutions. Her work sits at the intersection of nutritional medicine, lifestyle medicine and precision health, helping people make sense of what is happening in their bodies and create the conditions to live well.
If you would value professional support to step back from the noise, clarify what matters and decide where to direct your attention next, you can explore the current ways to work with Mary-Leigh here.