An interesting article this morning: https://theconversation.com/how-religious-fervor-and-anti-regulation-zealotry-laid-the-groundwork-for-americas-36-billion-supplement-industry-165046

The Mormon church is not directly mentioned yet it is the heart of the supplement and vitamin purveyors in the US. For some reason I have been reading various publications about these businesses and the tremendous amount of money they are making. In one article, a supplement was found to contain 0% of the ingredients it claimed. This supplement is still on shelves. I do not buy any such product from a Utah manufacturer. There seems to be more fraud from Utah regarding supplements than from any other location outside of China. Orrin Hatch was a major supporter of these supplement manufacturers and maintained a hands off approach to them.

I think this group on RfM is careful of dubious claims from supplement manufacturers. There are a few good supplements such as vitamin D3, B12 or B complexes in my opinion. I use a protein drink after gym workouts, though I am not sure that really works, but I like the taste and I mix it with fruits so I know the fruits are good for me at least. There are likely a few other helpful supplements. I just stick to D3 and B complexes and exercise. I am curious through experience and facts what else could be of benefit to an old fart such as myself.

I agree with you about the supplement business in general (in which it pays to cast a wary eye,) and Utah based supplement companies in particular. Utah has a low regulation business environment for the supplement companies, and they get away with a lot.

I would also avoid nutritional products from MLM companies that are headquartered in Utah such as Q Science, LifeVantage, etc., or who have many reps in Utah such as Herbalife or It Works! At a minimum, the MLM structure is such that even good products will be grossly overpriced, but some are simply bad or ineffective products.

I would stick with the traditional vitamin supplements, and for products such as protein drinks, buy them through well-known retailers.

Good article.

Through his legislation, Hatch did extreme damage to the reputation of Utah and enabled scammy food and drug products to thrive with little accountability. I've been pissed about this for years. People are so gullible and naïve as it is. He gave the green light to take advantage of it. It's almost like being a Mormon provided a template for selling stuff based on BS claims.

The Utah supplement manufacturers were major donors to Orrin Hatch's Senate campaigns. Strange how that works.

Yeah. Go figure!

Anointing with essential oil is a big past time there. The big producers and firm of blessing oils is there.

Unfortunately, there is a lot of medical quackery that goes along with the oil sales from companies like doTerra and Young Living. The companies know to distance themselves from that, but it's hard to control their consultants. If you have a physical or mental complaint, they have something that will "cure" it.

From the article:

"A single promise wrapped in a pill

Since the mid-20th century, nutritional supplements have been promoted in a variety of ways within the United States. But acknowledging the differences in product, taste and price, they’ve generally been marketed based upon a single promise: This product will, in some way, improve your life. Whether this is true or not for the individual product – some supplements do, in fact, work, with creatine being one example – it has become problematic at a broader level. Federal agencies in the U.S. have continually been impeded from correctly overseeing the market. Private lobbying and public outcry about the government wanting to “take away your vitamins” have encouraged malpractice and dangerous messaging."

I made a comment on another thread a year or two back that the U.S. really is made up of salespeople; our institutions--from churches to schools to private tutoring--train us to be salespeople with the idea that we, too, can become rich if we can only find the "right" products that people want to buy. This is why, as the last sentence says: "Private lobbying and public outcry about the government wanting to “take away your vitamins” have encouraged malpractice and dangerous messaging."

Many members of the public are so uneducated (thanks, churches, schools and parents) that they are primed to believe all of these sales pitches they are given about these dietary supplements without any realization (or even wanting to know) that most of the claims have never been proven scientifically.

Unfortunately, the problems surrounding dietary supplements apply even to those that can actually assist individuals. When you purchase vitamins, you have absolutely no idea whether or not the ingredients listed on the label are actually used. This is why, after a brief usage of Vitamin C at the request of my primary care physician at the time, I stopped using it. The only medications I use now are items that have a specific written request from one of my physicians or over-the-counter items that are still considered a drug by pharmacies.

But, as the article points out, I am very much in a minority--my mom takes dietary supplements, and so do my sister and younger brother (though both of them have counseling degrees).

So, again to put it bluntly, we want to have the right to believe dubious claims and use dubious products even if they ultimately kill us!

>>I made a comment on another thread a year or two back that the U.S. really is made up of salespeople; our institutions--from churches to schools to private tutoring--train us to be salespeople with the idea that we, too, can become rich if we can only find the "right" products that people want to buy. This is why, as the last sentence says: "Private lobbying and public outcry about the government wanting to “take away your vitamins” have encouraged malpractice and dangerous messaging."


I used to work in professional sales. What I learned is that the first thing you need to do when considering a potential sales job is to analyze the product that you will be selling. Ideally, you are looking for a unique, quality product at a price that is competitive with similar products.

MLM products (along with the nutritional supplement companies,) are almost always a fail in this regard. If they have a quality product (which a few of them do,) then they are grossly overcharging for it compared to similar products. For instance, you can find good quality essential oils (if that is your thing,) for far less than doTerra charges. You can find nail strips that are equivalent quality to Color Street at a fraction of the price at Wal-Mart. Etc.

And some of them troll their sales reps and customers by selling complete and utter crap.

What the MLM companies are selling is not really the product, but a dream of "being your own boss" and wealth that few in the company will ever enjoy.

From my reading, it seems to me that there will always be problems with nutritional supplements and people selling them in the US until they are held to the same strict standards as medicines (which they claim to be). This would mean testing their composition and their efficacy. Currently, nutritional supplements in the US are subject to much less oversight than pharmaceutical drugs. That can't be right for a substance that you ingest for its reputed effects.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/21/2021 07:27AM by Soft Machine.