A Pseudoscience Triple-Header Expose'

Consumer protection from life coaches found lacking

A report from ProPublica in partnership with The Salt Lake Tribune notes Utah’s Division of Professional Licensing (DOPL) receives about one complaint per month about life coaches, but the staff can do little in response. Life coaching is unregulated across the U.S. which means no qualifications are required to be a life coach. Yet many of them claim to help with a broad range of issues including weight loss, parenting, improving sex, “emotional chaos,” anxiety, and running businesses. Utah licensers can cite life coaches who diagnose clients or develop plans to manage mental health conditions with unauthorized practice, but a records analysis shows citations and fines are seldom used and aren’t always effective. [Schreifels J. When therapists lose their licenses, some turn to the unregulated life coaching industry instead. ProPublica, June 17, 2024] The report notes:In Utah during the last decade, of the 25 people cited for unauthorized practice, four were life coaches.

One life coach in Utah was cited twice for unauthorized practice. He was fined $1,000 the second time he was cited for advertising himself as a psychotherapist after his license expired. He now runs a program training life coaches.

Another life coach was cited and fined $250 three months after he surrendered his therapy license for advertising that he performed “Lifespan Integration Therapy” and could treat trauma in his life-coaching business. DOPL cited him after it received reports he engaged in inappropriate conduct with female clients. A year later, he was cited again for continuing to advertise that he treated mental health issues.

Of at least 43 Utah mental health professionals who have surrendered their licenses, let them expire on suspension, or have had them revoked or denied since 2010, about one-third have continued to promote themselves as mental health “associates,” motivational speakers, or life coaches.

In 2022, active life coaches generated more than $4.5 billion in revenue worldwide, according to an estimate by the International Coaching Federation.

A woman sued her life coach in California in 2020, claiming the coach convinced her to sign over her home to the coach’s nonprofit organization. She got the title to her home back when the case settled.
A Connecticut life coach charged last year with stealing money from a client with a traumatic brain injury was given probation.

In January, a Nevada life coach was sentenced to a year in jail and ordered to pay back $282,980 after he admitted to spending money at casinos he was supposed to use for investments on behalf of his clients.

Therapist-turned-life-coach Jodi Hildebrandt was sentenced to prison for abusing two of her business partner’s children.

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Wellness influencers commonly oppose COVID-19 vaccines

University of Michigan researchers identified 161 “wellness influencer” accounts of individuals on Twitter (now called X) in 2019 based on their use of wellness-related words and high counts of retweets of their wellness advice. The self-descriptions in their Twitter bios included such terms as spiritual guide, tech executive, food blogger, lifestyle medical consultant, alchemist and herbalist, metabolic health coach, psychic, motivational coach, writer, and pop-culture fan. The influencers’ 3,045 posts on COVID-19 vaccines from 2020 through 2022 were compared to the 7,584 posts of a control group consisting of X accounts addressing similar topics but that don’t personify individuals or dispense wellness advice. The control group accounts included medical professionals and scientists who refrain from giving health advice on X, public health campaign initiatives, various media organizations that feature wellness segments, advocates for mental health awareness, and commentators on public health. [O’Brien G, and others. Wellness influencer responses to COVID-19 vaccines on social media: A longitudinal observational study. Journal of Medical Internet Research, Nov 27, 2024] The researchers reported:“Among wellness influencer accounts for which we could estimate vaccine stance, roughly half (48%) were identified as opposing vaccines, compared with 16% of accounts in the control group.”
“Our topic modeling approach provides further evidence that anti-establishment messaging comprises a core part of many wellness influencers’ rhetoric. These accounts invoked themes like parental rights, government overreach, and distrust of corrupt pharmaceutical companies when opposing vaccination.”
“Pro vaccination influencers, on the other hand, encouraged followers to get vaccinated and shared scientifically framed information about vaccine safety, efficacy, and its relationship with immunity. Their use of scientific framing suggests these influencers recognize the cultural authority science holds.”

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Almost all TikTok posts on weight-loss, muscle-building, and cleansing/detox found to mislead

Researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard University analyzed the promotional features of the 233 most-viewed TikTok videos as of June 2022 in the U.S. with the hashtags #dietpills (78 videos), #preworkout (86 videos), and #detox (69 videos). [Raffoul A, and others. Diet pills and deception: A content analysis of weight-loss, muscle-building, and cleanse and detox supplements videos on TikTok. Eating Behaviors, Dec 2024] They found:93.6% of the videos did not disclose the credentials of the content providers

95.7% did not identify whether the promotion of the product was sponsored by the retailer

97% did not provide any scientific evidence to support health- and appearance-related claims

The researchers concluded:

The findings echo concerns from social media researchers and public health officials about widespread misinformation regarding nutrition, weight, and eating disorders on social media, and emphasizes the need for more research on the harms of social media posts and advertisements that promote weight-loss, muscle-building, and cleanse and detox products to vulnerable users.
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Stephen Barrett, M.D.
Consumer Advocate
7 Birchtree Circle
Chapel Hill, NC 27517


Telephone: (919) 533-6009

The Latest Science of Weight Loss

"Lesley Stahl reports on how obesity is misunderstood, and the struggle to get new weight loss drugs to people who need them."

Click on the link below for a 60 Minutes segment video presenting the latest research on the causes of obesity and the problems get the best treatment for such:

Promising new weight loss medication is in short supply and often not covered by insurance 

(And, then there is this typical pseudoscience.)

Metabolism Boosters For Weight Loss?

"It's an adage that gets repeated again and again: you can speed up your metabolism and lose weight by eating certain foods or taking supplements.

"There's just one fairly large problem with that statement. Namely, that it's not true at all.

"No matter what the claims on that bottle of raspberry ketone supplements say, nothing you eat can speed up your metabolism to the point of slimming down. What's more, obese people don't necessarily have slower metabolic rates than thin people. And science can prove it."

Click on the link below for a debunking of one of the most common advertisements on the internet (Sorry, Dr. Oz):

Why "metabolism boosters" are bullshit

Non-Science Based Weight Loss Attempts

A Study:

"Dietary supplements and alternative therapies are commercialized as a panacea for obesity/weight gain as a result of the minimum regulatory requirements in demonstrating efficacy. These products may indirectly undermine the value of guideline-driven obesity treatments. Included in this study is a systematic review of the literature of purported dietary supplements and alternative therapies for weight loss." (link)

Intermittent Fasting: The Evidence

 Like popcorn, there is a kernel of truth surrounding the use of intermittent fasting for weight loss. But, much of it may be just hot air. Click on the link below for what the science says about it presently: 

Intermittent Fasting for Weight Loss isn't a miracle

A Promising Legitimate Obesity Treatment

"New study in The New England Journal of Medicine finds impressive evidence that weekly semaglutide injections produce clinically significant weight loss as well as many other benefits, approaching the improvements seen with weight loss surgery. Not a definitive answer to obesity, but a very encouraging step in the right direction. Science works."

Click on the link below for more on this promising addition to legitimate treatment for clinical obesity, as well as an overview of treatment for obesity, good and bad, from a science-based perspective:

A New Medication to Combat Obesity

Body Sculpting to Reduce Body Fat

One on the newer treatments in the effort to get rid of unwanted fat deposits from localized areas, CoolSculpting may reduce a small amount of fat deposits.  However, the treatments are expensive and requires attention to the causes of the fat deposits.  In addition, there is a small risk of fat cells returning after the procedure.

You Can Freeze Your Fat and Poop It Out

You can also heat it and vibrate it.

The effect of Heat, and Other Measures

Why Dieting For Weight Loss Is A "Soft" Science

"Tobias urged dieters not to lose sight of the bigger picture. "Low-carb versus low-fat should not be the focus for people selecting a weight loss diet." The focus, she said, should be on improving the quality of food that people eat instead."

We’ve long blamed carbs for making us fat. What if that's wrong?