Health
The wording that signals a questionable health product
Regulated claims and marketing language are different things, and the difference is detectable without any clinical knowledge.
The clearest signal is a product claiming to treat, prevent or cure a named disease without having gone through approval for that use. Regulators act on precisely this wording, and a supplement making a disease claim is making a claim it is not permitted to make.
Vague mechanism language — detoxifying, boosting immunity, balancing — does a lot of work because it sounds clinical and means nothing specific enough to be tested. The same is true of a claim that a product treats a long and unrelated list of conditions.
Appeals to suppression are a reliable marker: the claim that an established treatment is being hidden, or that the seller is the only source. So is evidence consisting entirely of testimonials, which select for the people who improved.
Regulators publish warning letters and consumer alerts, searchable by product and company, and checking a name against them takes a minute. Anything being considered alongside real treatment belongs in a conversation with the clinician treating you.
What to do next. Search the regulator's warning letters for the product and company name, and tell your clinician about anything you are taking.
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