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How to Avoid Natural Health Scams

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Written by Lisa Barger   

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At a time when an ocean of health information is literally at our fingertips, you might think it would be easy to avoid natural health scams and the charlatans that promote them. Unfortunately, exactly the opposite is true. From an expert who works in the field, here are 3 tips that might just help you avoid some of the most common natural health scams.

STEP 1: Watch out for meaningless medical jargon. Terms like "toxins" and "pollutants" sound impressive but what do they really mean? What "toxins" are you actually removing? If your product can't identify exactly what toxin you're removing, it's safe to assume that the only thing it's "detoxing" from you is your money.

STEP 2: Trust your common sense. Ear candling, or ear coning, is a perfect example of a product that, when you think about it, just can't work. According to various web sites, ear candles use a "gentle vacuum" to "pull" excess ear wax, germs and various "toxins" from your system. But just a moment of common-sense thinking will make you realize that your eardrum is extremely fragile. Any "vacuum" strong enough to "pull" out ear wax would damage that delicate membrane.

STEP 3: Look out for completely made-up (and non-existant) diseases and conditions. Ever heard of "mucoid plaque"? This is the "built-up" fecal matter that is supposedly lining the wall of your colon and the reason you need to pop $30 or more for a fancy herbal cleanser. The truth, though, is mucoid plaque is a completely bogus term made up by a guy who sells colon cleansers and "detoxing" books. The term doesn't appear in any legitimate medical text and I don't know of any licensed natural practitioner who uses it either.

STEP 4: Keep an eye out for scams that twist science. Himalayan salt inhalers sound like a good idea but when you look at them a bit closer you realize one very basic scientific fact--they cannot possibly produce "tiny particles of salt" in steam because--as every high school chemist knows--salt is never carried in steam. If it was, the very old (and extremely efficient) water purification method known as distillation would not work.

From outright lies like salt inhalers to scams that rely on shaky science, natural health scams are all around us. Taking just a moment to think about the outrageous claims and trusting your own instincts will go a long way toward helping you avoid the most common ones.

TIP: If you're taken in by a scam, know that it's not your fault. Those folks spend years perfecting their sales spiel and even for a seasoned skeptic, it's hard to stay on top of all the scams.

WARNING: No "natural" practitioner will ever try to isolate you from your doctor or your family. Anyone who does should be regarded with suspicion.

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