Interest in good health and a desire for quick and easy answers to chronic health problems makes us vulnerable to health fraud. More than 28 billion dollars are spent on health fraud each year, and the added human cost due to delayed treatment, poor diet, poisoning and emotional pain cannot be measured. Health fraud promotes products and cures that do not work or are not safe. It often makes victims of people who have the most to lose, such as the elderly and the chronically ill. Also popular were ads for products to stop baldness and wrinkles.
Many health frauds become fads.
A fad is anything followed with a great deal of excitement for a short time. Because a fad is short-lived, little harm to the health of the followers is usually done. Commonly, the same people jump from fad to fad looking for a quick fix, but some faddists use a diet or magic potion so long that they damage their health. People want to be perfect. We want to be healthy, good looking, athletic and sexy, but often, our genes and our environment work against us.