New Scientist - USA (2020-03-07)

7 March 2020 | New Scientist | 31

Podcast

The Dream – Season 2

Jane Marie and Dann Gallucci

WELLNESS is a booming industry

encompassing everything from

fitness and personal care to crystals

meant to interact with a person’s

“energy field”.

Season 2 of podcast The Dream

attempts to separate science from

pseudoscience by delving into the

scams, the regulation of vitamins

and supplements, and why people

find wellness so compelling.

Season 1 took a similar approach

in addressing the predatory nature

of multi-level marketing schemes.

Many of the products and

services mentioned in the new

season are straightforward enough

to debunk. Herbal sex supplements

that supposedly mimic Viagra

actually have Viagra in them.

An intra-vaginal jade egg,

purported to balance hormones,

led to the lifestyle brand Goop

being fined $145,000 for making

unsubstantiated claims. And, while

taking adaptogens — herbs and

other plants that theoretically adapt

to the needs of the body — probably

won’t do anything to harm you,

there isn’t much evidence to show

they will help either.

As producer Jane Marie narrates

with collaborator Dann Gallucci,

her cynicism is palpable, even

though she has tried out many

wellness “treatments” for herself.

Each episode explores a different

aspect of the industry, including

how inaccurate claims persist in

part because of a lack of oversight.

For example, in the US, although

the Food and Drug Administration

monitors herbs and supplements,

manufacturers don’t need FDA

approval before going to market.

Marketers also don’t have to explain

how supplements can interfere

with prescribed medications.

At times, the podcast can be

a little clunky, such as when

Marie says she is going to get ear

seeds – seeds that are placed on

specific parts of the ear, using

similar principles to acupuncture –

and Gallucci responds in a very

scripted way: “What are ear seeds?”.

But what The Dream does

particularly well is offer empathy.

Probably most of us, at some point,

have had concerns about health

or ageing. The shady parts of

the wellness industry capitalise

on these and on a distrust of the

medical establishment among

people who haven’t always been

treated well by it.

In the opening episode, for

example, Marie interviews

hercousin, whose painful

endometriosis was virtually ignored

by doctors — which raises the

question of why wouldn’t someone,

if their healthcare professional

won’t treat them with medication

or another intervention, try

out essential oils like Marie’s

cousin did? Or why wouldn’t

someone for whom conventional

antidepressants were unsuccessful

look for alternatives?

Indeed, discussion of health

and wellness can be fraught with

our personal opinions or biases.

Marie addresses this by bringing

on expert guests, including a

theoretical physicist (interviewed

because many wellness products

use words like “quantum”), a science

journalist and vitamin researcher,

and an obstetrician-gynaecologist,

to keep the conversation out of the

realm of just anecdote.

In pushing past her own

dismissiveness, Marie creates a

narrative that incorporates lived

experiences and actual science. It

is this model of inquiry — accessible

to both sceptics and believers — that

keeps listeners tuning in. ❚

US firms don’t have to state

how supplements can

interfere with medications

Wendy J. Fox is a writer based in

Colorado. Her latest book is If the

Ice Had Held

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Why people try wellness

In debunking the alternative health industry, The Dream offers

plenty of empathy for those caught up in it, finds Wendy J. Fox

“ The shady parts of

the wellness industry

capitalise on our

concerns about

health or ageing”

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