Don’t spend a lot on health products, herbal pastes, or tonics to “tone the body”

Multivitamins, fish oil, vitamin D, and other common ingredients have already been checked one by one in the first six items of this section; none showed a benefit. The line on the pack — “Health food is not a drug and cannot replace drug treatment of disease” — is required by the agency that regulates health foods. If the money is meant as a gift for parents brought to the door, the intention is fine; only the product is the wrong choice.

Cost

From a few hundred yuan to over 10000 yuan. Packaged as gifts, the price often multiplies several times.

Benefit

What you get back is the money saved. The reasons are in the first 6 items of this section. The most common ingredients in health products — multivitamins, fish oil, vitamin D, antioxidants, glucosamine, vitamin C — showed no expected benefit in randomized controlled trials. The numbers for each are in those 6 items’ Benefit lines. Regulatory rules only say what may be claimed; they are not evidence that a product is useless. The State Administration for Market Regulation requires that the front of a health-food pack dedicate no less than 20% of its area to one sentence: “Health food is not a drug and cannot replace drug treatment of disease.” The same rules lock the use of health foods to “supplementing dietary nutrients, maintaining or improving the body’s health state, or lowering disease risk factors.” It looks worthwhile because “does not treat disease, only tones” is hard to falsify, and when the money is spent as a gift it rides on reciprocity, not evidence.

Notes

The conclusion is “no evidence in support,” not “already proven useless,” so the grade is only C. For products with clear ingredients, check the matching studies in the earlier items. People confirmed nutrient-deficient or under treatment should follow the doctor. What to reject is the product, not the goodwill. If an older person already bought and is taking them, and is not using them to replace prescribed medicine and has no problems from them, there is no need to start an argument at the door. Arranging the vaccines and screenings that are due matters more. The same money spent on the items below each has a source elsewhere in the book. Go with an older person for the yearly flu shot — Section 1, Item 20. Shingles vaccine after 50 — Section 1, Item 21. Pneumococcal vaccine at 65 and above — Section 1, Item 22. Buy a blood-pressure monitor and see that they take blood-pressure medicine as prescribed until the reading is on target — Section 1, Item 7. Adapt the bathroom and stairs at home and practice balance and leg strength with them — Section 1, Item 13. Age-appropriate cancer screening, go with them once — Section 1, Items 17 to 19. For someone already long-term bedridden, pressure-ulcer prevention and long-term care insurance are in Section 17, Items 7 and 8. If you want to bring something to the door, swap in fruit, rice and noodles, or foods they like — more solid than a herbal paste. What really needs stopping are two kinds: prepaid “invest for retirement” schemes, and products that would replace medicine — see Section 17, Item 5.

Sources · 1

1. 国家市场监督管理总局 (2019). 市场监管总局就《保健食品标注警示用语指南》和《保健食品原料目录与保健功能目录管理办法》有关情况举办专题新闻发布会. samr.gov.cn/tssps/sjdt/tpxw/art/2023/art_4b65…