The wellness industry is worth $6.8 trillion annually, with UK consumers spending £3.6bn a year on supplements alone. But behind the fancy packaging, swish marketing and promises of a long life well lived, does any of it do any of the things it claims it does? That is the question Dr Xand van Tulleken seeks to answer in his new book, Make Me Well (Cornerstone Press).
As van Tulleken says, he hopes to “clear the fog, resolve the confusion and set you free” – no small feat, but one he manages to achieve.
In this pacy and compelling book, van Tulleken takes on titans of the wellness industry from vitamins to testosterone, wearable tech to collagen. He demonstrates time and time again that none of it really seems to do all that much. That is even the case for vitamin D, a favourite of the NHS.
Through tours of factories, meetings with experts and analysis of scientific data, van Tulleken gives a thorough overview of how the industry operates and how it makes money despite having little evidence to back up its claims.
Much of this has not changed since the days of Clark Stanley, the man who popularised snake oil in the US: all you need is a hopeful and unknowing consumer and a product that appears to resolve all their problems.
Van Tulleken has written an engaging book that makes the science accessible and the findings clear: if a product is working for you, then carry on. But, if like many, you are being bombarded with Instagram ads for expensive miracle cures, keep scrolling past.
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