Supplements Are a $70 Billion Industry - Wall Street Journal

When Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. released his MAHA Report in May, a who’s who of the wellness world convened at the White House for the occasion. There was the influential physician Mark Hyman, who co-founded the direct-to-consumer testing company Function Health, recently valued at $2.5 billion. Also in attendance: Alex Clark, the host of the popular Turning Point USA podcast “Culture Apothecary.” Longevity influencer Gary Brecka, who’d recently had Kennedy over to get intravenous drips and use Brecka’s hyperbaric chamber, was present, along with the “medfluencers” Dr. Will Cole and Dr. Paul Saladino.

All of them support Kennedy’s ascent to the nation’s top health job. And all of them stand to gain from the spotlight he’s placed on alternative health. That’s because each of them has ties to the business of supplements, a $70 billion, lightly regulated U.S. market that could benefit from his support. On Brecka’s podcast, recorded after their wellness treatments, Kennedy vowed to end “the war on vitamins.”

No one in this country holds more sway over consumer health choices than Kennedy. As health secretary, he has promoted certain vitamins as treatments for infectious diseases such as measles. Supplements, including pills, powders, tinctures and IV drips, are not subject to Food and Drug Administration approval, which means they are not reviewed for safety or effectiveness. Manufacturers are also prohibited from making claims about treating or preventing disease. 

“Secretary Kennedy’s focus is on restoring trust and transparency in health policy, and HHS encourages people to speak with a doctor before using supplements,” Andrew G. Nixon, director of communications at the Department of Health and Human Services, said in a statement.

Brecka, who declined an interview request, owns a media company called the Ultimate Human whose storefront links to preferred supplements. He has partnerships with supplement brands, including BodyHealth and Rho Nutrition. Rho Nutrition co-founder George Padilla said in a statement that Brecka’s “involvement is limited to non-exclusive, disclosed brand marketing” and that the company isn’t political or involved with the MAHA movement. Brecka also has a partnership with a company that sells peptides—a broad category of substances including FDAapproved drugs, supplements and experimental treatments.

In ads that run during his podcast with Kennedy, Brecka tells viewers about “healthier for you” chips, a weighted vest and an NAD+ supplement. On other episodes, Brecka has had guests like Cole and Dr. Josh Axe, both MAHA allies with supplement brands. 

Cole, a functional-medicine practitioner, sells supplements by “protocol.” Among the conditions his website says his supplements can help treat are parasites and Lyme disease. Cole, on his podcast and social media, has discussed the theory that ticks carrying Lyme disease were used by the U.S. in bioweapon research during the Cold War. “You’ve been lied to about Lyme disease: A government experiment gone wrong?” Cole wrote on Instagram, telling viewers to respond to receive “the full story and a functional medicine approach on how to heal from chronic Lyme.” 

The theory has gained attention under the new administration. During his confirmation hearing, Kennedy was questioned on past comments about the Lyme theory. Rep. Chris Smith (R., N.J.) authored an amendment to the defense bill, signed by Trump in December and now law, that requires a Government Accountability Office investigation into tick weaponization research.

Axe, who also has a podcast, is the co-founder of supplement brand Ancient Nutrition along with Jordan Rubin, who is also the founder of supplement brand Garden of Life. Kennedy has said in podcast interviews that he takes “a ton” of vitamins and has trumpeted stories of people using vitamins to treat infectious disease. In his 2021 book, “The Real Anthony Fauci,” which critiques the government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, he writes about a Detroit-area holistic medicine doctor who treated Covid patients in their cars with vitamins A, C and D; iodine; and hydrogen peroxide. He quotes the doctor saying he also gave gluteal shots of “intramuscular ozone,” something the FDA has warned against.

“We treated 715 patients and had ten hospitalizations and no deaths. Early treatment was the key,” the doctor is quoted saying. In March, during the measles outbreak in West Texas, Kennedy appeared on Fox News to talk about how he was responding to the situation. “We’re delivering vitamin A,” he said. He also touted cod liver oil as a measles treatment, citing its “high concentrations of vitamin A and vitamin D.” While Kennedy said the vaccine could prevent the spread of measles, he has also said it is not for everyone. His emphasis on supplements has given the false impression that the measles can be safely treated this way.

Relying on decades of medical consensus, physicians have used vaccines to eliminate measles in the U.S., as the country declared in 2000. Last year, however, outbreaks largely concentrated in unvaccinated communities have led to the highest number of confirmed cases in decades. In February, an unvaccinated child who tested positive for measles died, marking the first measles death in a decade. There were two other deaths and over 2,000 confirmed cases last year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. South Carolina is currently experiencing an outbreak around Spartanburg County that is quickly spreading, particularly in unvaccinated households.

Alternative approaches to medicine and health have been embraced by MAHA entrepreneurs who have skilfully marketed the promises of supplements to their millions of followers. “The narrative about being anti-Big Pharma and stepping in in place of pharma is a marketing tool for a lot of these people to then turn around and sell them an alternative solution,” said Jessica Knurick, a registered dietician and public health communicator who has been critical of MAHA. 

“We should be skeptical of that, as well,” said Knurick, who writes a Substack newsletter focused on nutrition and health policy. Kennedy’s agencies within Health and Human Services are now filled with pro-supplement voices. Dr. Robert Malone, a member of Kennedy’s remade vaccine panel at the CDC, has praised certain vitamins and supplements as “wonder drugs” on his website. The site notes that Malone does not take money for the endorsements. 

He is also the chief science officer of Curativa Bay, a natural products company that sells skincare, disinfectants and supplements. Dr. Mehmet Oz, whom President Trump appointed head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, was previously an adviser for iHerb, an online marketplace for vitamins and supplements. After his nomination, he pledged to divest his significant stock in the company. 

In a financial-disclosure form, Trump’s surgeon general pick Casey Means disclosed more than $250,000 earned from supplement companies in the form of newsletter sponsorships, partnerships or speaking fees alone and pledged to divest her stake as TruMed. Her brother Calley, a key adviser and ally to Kennedy who recently joined HHS as a senior adviser, cofounded TruMed, which allows for pre-tax HSA/FSA spending on wellness-related products including supplements.

Some prominent MAHA allies say Kennedy’s position hasn’t boosted their business. Vani Hari, a leading voice in the fight to remove artificial dyes from food, is the co-founder of the clean-ingredient brand Truvani, which has sold supplements since its launch in 2018. The brand can be found at major retailers including Target, Whole Foods and Kroger. “You’d think since the nation is getting so excited about being healthy and we have this national conversation, that there would be some benefit, but there really hasn’t been,” said Hari, who is known to her online followers as the Food Babe. Still, she said, “Secretary Kennedy absolutely elevated my voice to the national stage and elevated our issues that we’ve been working on for so long.” 

“The Real Anthony Fauci” is blurbed by Dr. Joseph Mercola, a doctor of osteopathic medicine who owns “natural health” information site Mercola.com and Mercola Market, an online supplement retailer. The book cites Mercola’s research and quotes him claiming ivermectin is a “safe and effective” treatment for Covid. Ivermectin, a veterinary drug also approved in certain doses and formulations to treat parasitic worms, head lice and skin conditions, developed a cult following during the pandemic despite warnings from the FDA and the vast consensus of doctors. 

Mercola has written for Children’s Health Defense, the nonprofit Kennedy founded. “Mercola’s sales were consistently high before Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s political rise, and they’ve remained strong since the mainstreaming of the MAHA movement,” Mercola CEO Laura Berry said in a statement. Still, she acknowledged that the health secretary and his supporters are driving a shift. “Where we’ve seen MAHA impact Mercola isn’t in the business,” Berry said. “It’s in the culture.”

Source: https://www.wsj.com/health/rfk-jr-supplements-industry-maha-ac8cc684