https://www.bmj.com/content/390/bmj.r1543
Below are extracts from Kamran Abbasi's 'Editor's Choice' in tomorrow's BMJ:
'The world’s wellness industry is worth trillions of dollars. The non-profit Global Wellness Institute claims that the wellness industry is worth four times as much as the drug industry. That’s a lot of money being spent on stuff that doesn’t work and may even be harmful...
'At the heart of this onslaught isn’t anybody’s wellness but a desire to persuade people to spend, spend, spend. Often the target is young people, who are mostly healthy in any case, but every generation is susceptible to the subtle and unsubtle pull of wellness quackery. Vogue, for example, happily recommends sleep gummies, digestive “alchemy” capsules, and infrared sauna blankets. Throw in a few choice words—nutrition, data, energy—and the pursuit of beauty suddenly becomes essential. It becomes wellness.
'Consumer products that are lightly regulated, that claim health and wellbeing benefits, but are supported by scant evidence of clinical benefit, should be included in the definition [of healthcare]. As such, the more clinical end of the wellness spectrum reveals an array of consumer diagnostic tests, available at any major or minor supermarket, that promise to do a quicker job than the health service in identifying (among others) chronic kidney injury, vitamin D deficiency, menopause, or hypothyroidism. However, this short cut is both an overpromise and potentially hazardous. Two studies by Birmingham University researchers expose the reluctance of manufacturers to share the data underlying these tests, deficiencies in the data supporting claims of accuracy, and inadequate consumer information accompanying the tests (doi:10.1136/bmj-2025-085547 doi:10.1136/bmj-2025-085546)...
'How can an industry that is focused on keeping us well, is worth more than the drug industry, and sells products of doubtful benefit and possible harm directly to consumers, be so poorly regulated?'
COMMENT (NPW): Kamran Abbasi raises important questions. The 'Wellness' industry is clearly driven by misinformation, deception and manipulation, and is therefore highly relevant to HIFA. It is probably also a global phenomenon. What do you think?
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org