How To Create A Pseudoscientific Supplement: A Short Guide

Why many supplements are a total waste of time

Pictured: Mostly a waste of time Source: Unsplash

The supplement industry is huge. Truly enormous. By 2025, the global market for dietary supplements is projected to be worth nearly $200 billion, and it’s growing at an amazing rate. Even now, the industry is worth tens of billions of dollars, with some individual supplements being worth vast sums to the companies that produce them.

This is all a bit odd, because as I’ve written before, supplements mostly don’t work. There are certain specific supplements that work for certain specific conditions, like iron for menstruating women who are feeling tired*, but in general for most supplements we either know they don’t work or don’t have any evidence that they do.

Pictured: The main benefit of supplements Source: Pexels

So why do we have so many pills on the supermarket shelves that gently hint that they can improve health? Why can you find tablets to “improve liver function” in any pharmacy the world over, even if your liver is operating perfectly anyway?

Let’s take a look at the genesis of these supplements, and the shaky scientific foundation that they’re built on.