As we age, some of the things we used to do normally are now much more difficult, such as losing weight. 

There used to be a time when we could go on the Atkins diet and the pounds would just drop off, but this diet has not worked as well since we aged. (Of course, our sneaky snacks of crackers and cheese or potato chips and dip derail it.)  Hubby, whose tummy has blossomed, is desperate to lose weight, so he has searched the internet for a miracle cure.  His choice of diet includes a simple cup of coffee in the morning, just with added honey, fresh lemon juice, cinnamon and ginger.  While he loves gingersnap cookies, adding this spice to his coffee is over the top.  Every morning, he sits on the couch watching the local news, and sips his potentially slimming cup of yucky coffee. He has been doing this for a month now and nary a pound has dropped. 

There are many miracle cures touted out there.  Such «health» products are fraudulent if they are promoted to treat a condition or disease that has not been scientifically proven safe and effective. These rip-offs promise “guaranteed results,” something no regular medication is allowed to do without producing scientific data along with the long list of possible side effects.  An ad for weight loss might promise “Lose 30 pounds in 30 days,” along with the promise of a money back guarantee.  Often, these ads are touted by famous people, whose picture may be seen with the caption, «She dropped three dress sizes in one month.»

The media ads for these items often contain an abundance of fake positive reviews.  It must be true if 165 random people say that it is...even if they were paid to say something nice and use fake names.   

There are also many conspiracy theories: “this is the cure big pharma doesn’t want you to know about.»  Scammers fake miracle cancer fighting drugs, taking advantage of emotions involved with having cancer where often people are desperate to try anything to help.  Using fraudulent products can cause injury or death, waste money that could be used for proven products, and potentially delay other life saving treatment.

Any statement such as “shrinks tumors, cures impotency and prevents memory loss” are suspect. If such a cure is true and available, the news would have promoted it to make headlines, not be stuck as a Facebook ad. 

Some products promote themselves as «natural,» suggesting that natural products are safer than conventional treatments. The general public does not understand that «natural» is not necessarily safe; natural mushrooms, mercury, snake venom and ricin from castor beans. Also, many recommended “healthy” food items are not healthy at all, such as sweetened yogurt, a cup of which has 7.5 teaspoons of sugar, bran muffins, which have 400 calories and 9 teaspoons of sugar, sushi with soy sauce and rice have a lot of refined carbohydrates and sodium, and veggie sticks are made from corn flour and potato starch with a just a dusting of spinach or beet powder for color.

Just be wary of miracle cure claims. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.