All Podcasts / Planet Money / Why is there a supplement craze if they don’t even work?
Planet Money
Planet Money

Why is there a supplement craze if they don’t even work?

June 05, 2026 • 34m

Summary

⏱️ 8 min read

Overview

Planet Money explores the largely unregulated supplement industry, revealing how easy it is to create and sell supplements in America. Through attempts to create their own supplement and interviews with experts, they uncover the shocking lack of FDA oversight, questionable ingredients, and the powerful consumer backlash that has prevented regulation for decades. Despite risks including liver damage and inaccurate labeling, the $70 billion industry continues to thrive on placebo effects and American belief in wellness products.

Creating a Supplement Is Surprisingly Easy

The hosts discover just how simple it is to launch a supplement product by consulting with Frank Cantone, CEO of S&P Nutra, a supplement manufacturing partner. Within a single conversation, they design a custom focus and hair-growth gummy complete with specific ingredients like creatine, lion's mane, and collagen. The ease and low barrier to entry reveals how entrepreneurs from various industries are flooding into the lucrative supplement market, attracted by recurring monthly revenue from customers who reorder regularly.

  • 75% of Americans take supplements from 100,000 different options available
  • Minimum custom supplement order costs $33,000 for 8,333 bottles, or $5,500 for stock formulas with your own label
  • Frank Cantone takes 6-7 different supplements daily including magnesium, berberine, and 15 grams of creatine
  • The supplement business attracts entrepreneurs because customers reorder monthly, unlike one-time purchases like yoga mats
" I think it would be cool to have like a little microphone shaped gummy or a little planet or a little money gummy. A money gummy. We could do those. Or maybe we do a powder that you just like add water to and down it real quick. And it's called the money shot. "
" So do we want something that helps people focus, right? Do we want to help people have more energy? Is that the type of product that we want to offer? That sounds great. I'm always tired. "

The Lax Regulatory History Behind Supplements

Supplements exist in a regulatory no-man's land between food and drugs, never properly addressed when the FDA was created in 1906. Multiple attempts to regulate supplements throughout the 20th century were thwarted by massive consumer backlash, including over 2 million letters to Congress in the 1960s - more than Watergate generated. The last serious regulatory attempt in the early 1990s was defeated by an industry campaign featuring Mel Gibson in a dramatic SWAT team ad, cementing supplements as politically untouchable.

  • In 1966, the FDA proposed disclaimers on supplement bottles saying there's no scientific basis for routine use - Congress received over 2 million letters opposing it, more than during Watergate
  • In the 1970s, the FDA's official position was that supplements are 'nutritionally irrational'
  • After a 1990s FDA raid on an alternative medicine clinic, the supplement industry launched a counteroffensive with Mel Gibson ads and health food stores putting black curtains over vitamin aisles
  • The 1994 Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act gave supplement makers more freedom, including legal rights to make health claims as long as they avoid keywords like 'diagnoses' or 'cures'
" Congress got more than 2 million letters, which was actually more than they ever got during Watergate. "
" Health food stores put black curtains over the supplement aisle in the vitamin aisle and said, this is the future you're looking at if Congress gets its way. "

📚 4 more sections below

Sign up to unlock the complete summary with all insights, key points, and quotes

Listen on Apple Podcasts More Episodes from Planet Money