How influencers and politicians built an unregulated supplement empire

If you search social media for workout tips or healthy meal ideas, you’ll likely be bombarded with ads for supplements. “Bloom will boost your energy and make your skin glow,” “AG1 Athletic Greens will fill any gaps in your diet,” “Magnesium will improve your mood and your sleep,” “Lion’s mane will enhance your memory,” and somehow, all of them promise to increase cognitive function. Influencers are quick to assure us: “You can’t trust anyone when they talk about supplements, but you can trust me.”We’re trapped in an increasingly dangerous — and mind-bogglingly dull — supplement hell online, all thanks to politicians. And it’s probably going to get worse (sorry!). View this post on Instagram View this post on Instagram This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. The nutritional and dietary supplement industry has exploded in recent years, fueled partly by social media influencers and branded content. But with the Trump administration’s enthusiastic push for deregulation, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy’s anti-vaccine and pro-supplement views, the rise of an alternative health movement, social media platforms moving away from fact-checkers, and a healthcare industry that continues to fail its most vulnerable, the fight against the supplement industry has reached a boiling point. There are plenty of reasons the supplement industry has become a multibillion-dollar powerhouse. Americans facing a dysfunctional medical system and soaring healthcare costs often turn to supplements as a solution, creating a clear pathway to the industry’s waiting arms. However, there are other legislative factors at…How influencers and politicians built an unregulated supplement empire