1,500 five star reviews. Zero evidence.
1,500 five star reviews. Zero evidence.
Someone sent me a supplement this week.
A DM with a screenshot. "Do I need this? Thinking of getting it for me and my husband."
£25 for 30 capsules. So £50 a month between them.
And 1,500 reviews.
I've never seen that many on a supplement before.
It stopped me for a second
So I did what I always do.
I went and had a proper look.
PubMed. The actual studies. Not the reviews, not the influencer who posted about it with a discount code, the actual science.
And there was almost nothing there.
A couple of studies......in mice.
Human trials still going.
Nothing back yet.
1,500 five star reviews and genuinely no evidence it does what it says on the tin.
Let me take you back for a second.
All the way back to 19 year old me, at the University of Leeds, starting my Sports Science degree.
I failed first year statistics.
Had to resit it over the summer.
My mate had to redo the whole year because of it.
I tell you that not for sympathy, but because it's the reason I know exactly how hard it actually is to prove something works.
It's not a feeling. It's not a review. It's not "I take it and I feel amazing."
It's studies. Proper ones. Peer reviewed, picked apart by other clever people, put through statistical analysis that decides whether a change is real or whether it's just noise.
That's what proof actually looks like.
Reviews aren't that.
Reviews are brilliant when you're buying a swimsuit and you want to know if it's true to size.
Reviews are brilliant when you're choosing a plumber.
Reviews are rubbish when you're trying to work out if a capsule is doing anything at all.
Because here's the thing nobody says out loud.
The people who feel nothing don't write a review.
They just don't order it again.
The people who feel amazing?
They tell everyone.
They leave the five stars.
They write the paragraph.
So you're never hearing from the whole room.
Just the loud half.
And then there's the placebo effect, which I don't think gets talked about anywhere near enough.
Electrolytes are a good one.
People buy electrolytes because they think they're not drinking enough water.
So they buy the electrolytes. And then, because you have to put electrolytes in something, they drink more water.
And they feel better.
Less sluggish.
Fewer headaches.
Is that the electrolytes?
Or is that just... the water?
Same with collagen. "My hair feels thicker."
You've spent the money.
You want it to work.
So you go looking for the difference, and you find it, because you're looking so hard.
That's not proof either. That's just what a brain does when it's invested.
I went back to that lovely lady and told her the truth. The evidence for what she wanted just isn't there. I can't tell you it's going to work, because there's nothing that says it will.
Save your money. Have this instead, and this, and this. Cheaper.
Actually backed by something.
This is exactly why I only ever do evidence-based nutrition and evidence-based psychology in my coaching.
Not because it's trendy to say.
Because I know how hard it is to actually earn that word. Proven.
And it's why it works for stopping emotional eating, for managing PCOS symptoms, for finally breaking the diet cycle instead of starting again every Monday.
I go into all of this properly in this week's episode of Chatting with Cara, the £50 supplement, the mice studies, the placebo effect, all of it.
Go and have a listen.
Link below, or search "Chatting with Cara" wherever you get your podcasts.
And if you're done falling for the next 10% off code and ready to actually do the thing that's proven to work, book a free 30 minute call with me.
Cara
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