How to spot a Quack

Quack medicine is everywhere. For some reason, it seems to be acceptable for anyone to come up with anything and sell it as some kind of treatment for whatever they want. These normally don't come in the form of a cure for a specific ailment (tho sometimes they do). But are normally marketed as supplements or detox treatments or other such things.

Biology is massively complicated and it should come as no surprise that there is still so much that we just don't know about the body. Then again. more than a hundred years of science based medicine had given us an absolutely enormous amount of information. The state of medical science is far advanced and our knowledge is such that we have a very large base to draw upon in order to assess what is likely to work and what is likely to be crap.

So let's begin. Here are a few general rules that will allow you to spot a quack or a crappy product.

1) The use of the naturalistic fallacy.
This crops up all the time in CAM. The idea that our modern society is far to reliant on artificial thingys. And that you will be more healthy by eating or using or taking only natural products. There is no evidence to support this hypothesis for any of the products it's usually used to market. More often than not. The active ingredient is exactly the same in the artificial product as it is in the natural alternative. But the artificial product has the advantage of being carefully developed, formulated and tested to give the best result with minimum downside. Many things are natural. Including plenty of deadly poisons. Being natural does not automatically equal good for you.

2) The products benefits are only upheld by the person or company selling it.
This one is usually a dead give away. If there is a good medical product that works as advertised. Then there will be positive information about it provided by a neutral party. It is a sure sign of a quack treatment when the only evidence of it's efficacy comes from the sellers and testimonials of users. The bigger the claims of the product. The more likely this is to be true. A product that claims to cure cancer and yet is completely ignored by the medical profession doesn't work.       

3)There is a "one size fits all" method.
As I mentioned in my opening. Biology is so stupidly complicated that there is no possible way that one particular thing will work all the time for everybody. Any real doctor will tell you that medicine is all about the individual needs of each patient. When there is a product or method the claims to work the same way for everyone. It is surely a quack remedy.

4) Anyone that tells you loosing weight and keeping it off is easy.
The medical literature is very clear on this point. Diets don't work. There is no universal solution to loosing weight and keeping it off long term. The simple fact is that people need to reduce their intake of food and get more exercise. It requires a lifestyle change. And that's hard. It takes determination and persistence in order to affect these changes. There is no miracle cure for over weight individuals and anyone who says otherwise is trying to take your money and run.     

5) Anecdotal evidence.
Anecdotal evidence is absolutely useless as a measure of efficacy. When the only proof that something works is some people saying it is so. You should walk away. Truly effective medical interventions will be backed up by actual data. Trials and studies that are of a sufficient quality to judge if the thing actually works. Stories told by people are not useful as real evidence.     

6) There is mention of toxins.
Toxins is a quack remedy buzz word that they like to throw around because it sounds dangerous and scary. But it's absolutely meaningless when used in this way. The usual claim is that our body is being assaulted by toxins. And that we need to detox in order to remove then all. This is all just a load of crap. Any detox program or product is not worth the packaging it comes in.

7) There is mention of big pharma. Or they tell you to not trust your doctor.
This is run on the mill conspiracy type thinking. Or possibly some sort of scare tactic. Quacks usually like to encourage the idea that doctors don't care. Or that they are ignorant of some special knowledge that they alone posses. Or some other such ridiculous notion. Steer well clear of anyone that would take such a point of view.

And finally
8) The ancient secrets fallacy.
This is the idea that some old culture practiced this particular modality and so it must work. This is always a huge red flag. There is no evidence so support the notion that older cultures had any advanced medical knowledge beyond what we know today. When such claims are tested. They come out wanting. Acupuncture for example shows time and time again to have no effect beyond placebo.


This list is by no means complete and comprehensive. But it gives some idea of the sort of things to look out for when evaluating the claims of people pushing alternative medicine. If I want my car fixed. I take it to the mechanic. If I wanted a house built. I would hire a builder. If I have an issue with my health. I go and see a Doctor. Seems to make sense.