Although new to this forum, I have studied the sciences for a long time, partly because I wanted to find out why I was having symptoms and disorders (that turned out to be PFS and other bad reactions to medications). I worked in the clinical research/clinical trials world for many years, and I spent a lot of time researching scientific articles.
Very little scientific research is done on supplements. Governments do not spend years and companies do not spend millions of dollars researching, testing, perfecting, then marketing supplements the way they do with medications. Regulations on and regulator resources are small compared to those for drugs.
If someone takes a supplement, does it mean he has a deficiency of a certain substance?
If so, how do we know that he has a deficiency of the substance? Is there a test for it?
How do we know what is in the supplement? What are the chemicals used to get the supplement chemical into a format that it can be put into a capsule?
Who is watching the way the supplement is made and what goes into it? Are there bad or toxic things that end up in the supplement? Does it depend on which country is producing it? What are the laws or regulations in those countries? Do we consumers ever know the truth about any of this?
Does anyone measure exactly how much of the substance is really in the supplement? How do we know what we are getting? If we are getting a certain amount, how do we know that our body can digest and process it past our stomach? In other words, it is really doing any good? Is it a waste of time or harmful?
Having a new idea or hope when you are suffering or anxious or angry can be very therapeutic. It’s part of the placebo effect. Example: if Horny Goat Weed was called Simple Sloth Serum, do you think any guy would ever buy it? How does marketing and advertising play into or control the things we think will work?
Discuss.
I am a 22yearlong suffering with PFS and Post Isotretinoinin Syndrome. I myself as skeptical and scientific as I am, almost went out and bought Prevagen. Then my weekly newsletter told me how the company who makes it is in trouble with the law, since Prevagen does not do what the ads say it does. And my key symptom/problem is cognitive impairment. The experience reminded me of how supplements are really not doing anything except giving us false hope, even if we do have real hope for a little bit maybe in the beginning.