
I reviewed all 161 of GOOP’s wellness products for pseudoscience - okket
https://drjengunter.wordpress.com/2018/10/13/i-reviewed-all-161-of-goops-wellness-products-for-pseudoscience-heres-what-i-found/
======
tomcam
Talk about taking one for the team. Thank you, Dr. Gunter. The keyword list
contains some of my absolute most and least favorite things, a variety of
topics one often doesn’t see on HN:

> Keywords: jade, crystals, vagina, coffee, enema, supplements, toxins,
> medical conspiracy theories, Epstein Barr Virus, mediums, vitamin B12
> injections

Spoiler alert:

> The goop store is 90% quackatorium

~~~
Fnoord
I'm curious about the pseudoscience behind vitamin B12 injections? Correct me
if I am wrong but if a person is very B12-deficient, injections are a way to
_relatively quick_ fix that whereas tablets wouldn't do much at that point.
Supplements is another. If you don't eat certain foods, you _might_ get
deficiencies. The way to get that checked is via conventional science though.

~~~
sigi45
That's something a doctor will tell you. Not something a website should
suggest upon you.

~~~
Fnoord
Fair enough.

------
elyobo
> The majority of health products (90%) could not be supported by science.

10% could be? Outcome more positive for Goop than expected.

~~~
Fnoord
Looking at the mentioned prices on the review, I'll wager that for that 10%
which might (!!) be supported science you are better off going to a store
which is 1) cheaper 2) doesn't resort to pseudoscience.

Pharmacies here (NL) have two points of sale: one for prescribed medicine, one
for over the counter. But the over the counter also sells other stuff such as
a thermometer for babies, pads, tampons, and candy such as liquorice and
peppermint. IMHO a pharmacy should not sell candy, or any pseudoscientific BS
for that matter. Other than that you're better off going to such a store -if
they got what you need and are open, that is.

~~~
GiuseppaAcciaio
A lot of pharmacies I see in Europe and UK sell homeopathy, and by according
to a schoolmate who graduated in Pharmacy and inherited the license to run one
from his dad (Italy is weird like that), homeopathic products are among the
biggest cash cows for them, together with supplements.

~~~
tzs
> A lot of pharmacies I see in Europe and UK sell homeopathy

Same at major chain pharmacies in the US.

Worse, it is often placed to promote it over actual medicine.

Go in looking for over the counter relief for runny or itchy eyes or for a
runny or congested nose due to seasonal allergies, and you will often find
that the homeopathic crap is placed on the chest level shelves so it is the
first and easiest seen.

The real stuff is two or three shelves down.

------
dvfjsdhgfv
Dr Gunter did a good job here, although I find her analysis a little shallow.
A large part of the article is devoted to the discussion of what has been
excluded. Now, as for the included items, I'd expect a more in-depth
discussion.

For example, as for essential oils, she notes "a pleasant smell is not a
medicine." I know WebMD might not be the best source of health information,
but they sum up the current knowledge regarding aromatherapy use cases quite
well.[0] I'm not a fan of aromatherapy but you can't just say there is no
medicinal use for it in spite of evidence from several scientific papers (mild
cases of anxiety mainly, see the meta-research [1]) - you need to be very
precise, especially if you claim to do research.

[0] [https://www.webmd.com/balance/stress-
management/aromatherapy...](https://www.webmd.com/balance/stress-
management/aromatherapy-overview#1)

[1]
[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S135361170...](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1353611705800538?via%3Dihub)

~~~
GiuseppaAcciaio
Ignoring WebMD for a second because there are no citations in the article so
all we have is the word of the person who wrote the article, it's usually not
enough to cite a single contrary article to make a claim that someone hasn't
done research properly. I can't access the article you cite, however a single
meta-analysis from 1995 from a journal dedicated to alternative medicine in
nursery and midwifery doesn't sound like the ultimate source; a casual check
on Cochrane Review ([https://www.cochrane.org/CD009215/PREG_aromatherapy-for-
pain...](https://www.cochrane.org/CD009215/PREG_aromatherapy-for-pain-
management-in-labour)) suggests that there are simply too few scientific
studies to be able to say anything about whether it works or not (which is a
polite way to say that if it did work, we'd know by now).

~~~
dvfjsdhgfv
I casually browsed a few of them and from what I found is that aromatherapy
works for some people mainly in mild cases of anxiety, not for pain relief.
Some articles:

* [https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/gps.1688](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/gps.1688)

"In summary, lavender is effective as an adjunctive therapy in alleviating
agitated behaviours in Chinese patients with dementia."

* [https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/gps.473](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/gps.473)

"Post hoc analysis suggested that at this time of day the AM consistently
reduced motor behaviour when compared with CA (p = 0.05). This provides
preliminary evidence of a measurable sedative effect of aromatherapy massage
on dementia within a robust scientific paradigm."

* [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S152695230...](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1526952305003946?via%3Dihub)

"Our results suggest that aromatherapy-massage might be an effective
intervention for postpartum mothers to improve physical and mental status and
to facilitate mother-infant interaction."

* [https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1046/j.1365-2648....](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1046/j.1365-2648.1995.21010034.x)

"There were no statistically significant differences in the physiological
stress indicators or observed or reported behaviour of patients' ability to
cope following any of the three interventions However, those patients who
received aromatherapy reported significantly greater improvement in their mood
and perceived levels of anxiety They also felt less anxious and more positive
immediately following the therapy, although this effect was not sustained or
cumulative"

* [https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1046/j.1440-1819....](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1046/j.1440-1819.2000.00727.x)

"These results indicate that in chronic hemodialysis patients hiba oil is an
effective, non‐invasive means for the treatment of depression and anxiety, and
that lavender alleviates anxiety."

* [https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ptr.26500303...](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ptr.2650030306)

"Although the overall number of supervening infections and their
characteristics were not modified by the treatment, the frequency of relapse
at least appears to have been significantly lowered in the group receiving
treatment compared to the group receiving placebo."

* [https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/smi.1402](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/smi.1402)

"These findings suggest that peppermint aroma may be useful for relieving
stress. "

* [https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11695-007-9170-7](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11695-007-9170-7)

"Our results suggest that lavender aromatherapy can be used to reduce the
demand for opioids in the immediate postoperative period."

