#45 Over Our Skis: Hype Beyond Evidence

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Dr. Bobby examines how legitimate medical treatments often get overextended into unproven health claims—why it happens, why it matters, and how to spot it.

Building on last episode’s theme of health hype, this installment digs into examples where therapies with real medical uses (like vitamin C, B12, hyperbaric oxygen, and stem cell therapy) are being promoted far beyond what the evidence supports. Dr. Bobby unpacks the flawed logic of “theory plus anecdote plus expert equals evidence” and explains why even well-intentioned health advice can go too far when it skips the evidence.

You’ll hear about the historical rise and modern misuse of vitamin C—from preventing scurvy to overstated claims of immune boosting. The episode dives into vitamin B12, which has real benefits for those with deficiencies but is often marketed as a cure-all without support. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy, which is FDA-approved for very specific conditions like carbon monoxide poisoning and diabetic ulcers, is another example—now advertised for fatigue, brain fog, and aging without strong data to back it. And stem cell therapy, which truly helps in leukemia and bone marrow failure, is being extended to treat everything from dementia to heart disease—despite the lack of proven efficacy in these areas.

Dr. Bobby then addresses why this happens: patient desperation, the placebo effect, and the sheer momentum of what has been called “Big Wellness”—an industry now worth hundreds of billions. Social media only amplifies these trends, creating fear of missing out and distorting what counts as credible.

To help listeners navigate this landscape, Dr. Bobby shares questions to ask when encountering bold health claims. Has the treatment been proven in your condition? Are there peer-reviewed studies in humans? What are the risks and costs—not just financially, but in delaying evidence-based care? Are the promoters benefiting from those beliefs?

He encourages all of us to remain open-minded skeptics: curious, informed, and protective of both our health and our wallets.

Takeaways:
Ask whether the health claim is backed by solid evidence, not just theory and anecdote.
Don’t assume treatments with real uses are effective for everything they're marketed for.
Before trying the latest therapy, ask: Is this proven for my condition, and what’s the real cost?

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
You may have heard that vitamin C prevents scurvy,
but does that mean it alsoboosts immunity in healthy
people?
What about those IV clinicsthat will replenish your
vitamins?
Or you may have heard thathyperbaric oxygen heals

(00:23):
particular wounds, but can itfix brain fog?
Sadly, evidence doesn't supportthese uses.
So why do treatments thateffectively work for some uses
get promoted for far too manyunsupported uses?
Let's find out.

(01:00):
Hi, I'm Dr Bobby Du Bois andwelcome to Live Long and Well, a
podcast where we will talkabout what you can do to live as
long as possible and with asmuch energy and figure that you
can shoot.
Together we will explore whatpractical and evidence-supported
steps you can take.
Come join me on this veryimportant journey and I hope
that you feel empowered alongthe way.

(01:22):
I'm a physician, ironman,triathlete and have published
several hundred scientificstudies.
I'm honored to be your guide.
Welcome, my dear listeners, toepisode 45, over Our Skis hype

(01:43):
beyond the evidence.
Well, last episode we talkedabout hype in health more
generally and I talked about whythere's so many claims for what
works in the longevity andwellness space but really little
evidence to support most ofthose claims.

(02:03):
We focused on treatments builtaround a good theory, but a
theory like mitochondrial damageor the problem plus anecdote
well, john felt better when hedid this plus an expert saying
it works doesn't equal evidence.

(02:25):
So, again, theory plus anecdoteplus an expert is not evidence.
And we finished with a sort ofcall to action for all of you to
be like me, if you can, to beopen-minded skeptics or curious
skeptics Listen but question.

(02:46):
Now, today we're going tocontinue the theme Now focusing
on being over our skis.
What do I mean by that?
Well, promoting wellness orlongevity approaches beyond what
the evidence supports.
Specifically when experts claimwell, this works for this group

(03:08):
of patients, but then theybroadly hype it to far other
uses.
Now this is becomingincreasingly common, whether
it's red light therapy,microbiome treatments,
nutritional supplements.
There is truth for some uses,but unfortunately, the vast

(03:29):
majority of uses there reallyisn't credible evidence.
So why now?
Why do I want to talk aboutthis?
Well, it's because I care aboutyou.
It really, really hurts me whenpeople get excited, they flock

(03:49):
to therapies when the evidencedoesn't support it and it's
almost kind of a religiousfervor that folks might have.
And this deeply hurts mebecause I know there's not
evidence to support it.
And not only is there notevidence.
But when people get excitedabout these ways of solving

(04:10):
whatever the problem is, theyoften waste money, they delay a
chance to get real treatmentsand, in I said, it really hurts
me when I see folks chasing thelatest shiny longevity object

(04:31):
and there are a lot of them andthey keep changing and we keep
chasing them.
As I've shared before, my careerreally focused on what does and
doesn't work in healthcarefocused on what does and doesn't
work in healthcare, and Ipublish about 180 papers or so

(04:51):
on this topic, and so it's beena lifelong passion.
My hope is that you, mylisteners, can begin to spot
these claims and by all meansbring some to me.
Send them through my websiteclaims and by all means bring
some to me.
Send them through my website,drbobbylivelongandwellcom.
I'd love to hear from you whenyou do it that way then I can

(05:17):
respond to you.
Also, I listen to a lot ofhealth podcasts.
I want to find out what's beingsaid, how it's being said, and
it's really frequent that what Ihear is the experts will start
with areas with some rigor tothem and some evidence to
support it, but then theyquickly push way beyond it or,
as the saying goes, over theirskis.

(05:38):
I want you to be able to seewhen that occurs and question it
.
Well, let me add a trueconfession, which is I did this
episode on evidence issues andnow I'm doing another one, and,
yes, it's an important separatetopic, but related.

(06:00):
But it's a nerdy area for meand I don't know if it's
something you guys are excitedabout, and as a podcaster, I
always fear of boring myaudience, losing my audience,
and so, just so you know, thisis my issue, I'll deal with it,
but if you actually enjoy thesetype of explorations,

(06:21):
specifically around evidence andclaims about it, let me know
what you think.
Well, our plan for today, partone I'm going to provide some
motivation with a bunch ofexamples that this phenomenon of
being over our skis, of sharingideas about what will help you,
when maybe one use has evidencebut a whole bunch of them don't

(06:45):
that it's pretty darn common.
Second, we're going to talk abit about why does this occur,
why does this occur so often?
And then, third and veryimportantly, some action items
that might help you combat this.
Well, here's one action item.
I'm about to do a series onhealthcare costs.

(07:07):
Everybody knows healthcare canbe really expensive in general,
for society and for usindividually.
Let me know what aspects ofthis issue you might want me to
discuss.
This has been a part of mycareer for decades and so it's
an area I care passionatelyabout.

(07:28):
I just haven't spoken about itwith you.
So, again, send me a notethrough my website.
Action item number two docontinue to tell others about
the podcast.
It makes me very happy when Isee new subscribers.
All right, let's dive in Partone, some examples, and I'm
going to begin with a fewhistorical examples and then

(07:52):
bring it to present day.
Well, back in the 1600s toabout the 1800s, scurvy was a
really big deal, especiallyamong sailors, because they had
a very restricted amount of foodwhen they were traveling across
long distances at sea.
And it was found that vitamin Cwell, they didn't really know

(08:15):
it was vitamin C, but thatlemons and lime and citrus
fruits, which have vitamin C,could stop the problem from
happening.
Fast forward to the 1970s,nobel Prize winner in chemistry,
linus Pauling, promoted the useof vitamin C to prevent colds.
So we knew it had a veryimportant use for scurvy.

(08:38):
But now we have somebodypushing it for something really
different like preventing colds.
Oh, by the way, that has beencompletely debunked.
Now today you still hearvitamin C helps our immune
system and it may give us aboost of that immune system.
So the issues still remain.

(08:59):
Okay, a couple of years ago,ivermectin.
Ivermectin is an important drugfor worm infestations,
parasites, and it cures riverblindness, which is a huge cause
of blindness in third worldcountries, especially in Africa.
But then people started pushingit for COVID and pushing it,

(09:25):
and pushing it and pushing itand ultimately it was clear that
there wasn't evidence that itactually helped people.
Well, here are some currentones that you'll see in the
social media when you're drivingdown the street.
How about hyperbaric oxygen?
These chambers where you go inand they bombard you with high

(09:49):
amounts of oxygen under pressure.
Now it's absolutely critical.
Hyperbaric oxygen chambers arelife-saving for carbon monoxide
poisoning.
If you've been a part of a fireor if you're a scuba diver and
you came up too fast and youhave the nitrogen bends and it's
been f FDA approved and reallywell studied for hard to heal

(10:13):
wounds Like you have a diabeticfoot ulcer or radiation induced
tissue injury.
Studies show hyperbaric oxygenreally works for this wound
healing under thesecircumstances and obviously for
carbon monoxide poisoning andnitrogen poisoning.
That's where there's evidenceand the belief is that the

(10:36):
hyperbaric oxygen increasesoxygen in your tissues and might
help the repair process indothelial cells might do better
and that evidence supports thatthis could work.
But that's not why hyperbaricchambers are used most of the

(10:57):
time.
You get all of these claims.
Well, they'll help you againstaging, it will help your fatigue
, it will help your migraine,headache, sports injuries or
depression.
None of these uses have solidclinical support.
There are some risks associatedwith it.

(11:18):
So it's not a completely benignprocedure and also it's
expensive.
Each session in a hyperbaricchamber might be $200 to $1,200
or so and you might need many,many sessions.
You might need three sessions,you might need 10 sessions, you
might need 20 sessions.
That's a lot of money.

(11:40):
So that's one Narrow uses,absolutely important.
But then people are like well,I got this chamber, maybe
there's other uses I can chargefor, and that's what you see,
okay, well, it's not unique tohyperbaric chambers.
How about vitamin B12?

(12:01):
Well, vitamin B12 deficiency isa real problem.
Now, it's not very commonnowadays, but it can cause
anemia because your blood cellsneed it to multiply and grow,
and if it's really bad, it cancause significant brain issues,

(12:21):
cognitive impairment.
Now, if you are deficient inB12, taking a supplement will
correct that deficit, and if youhave one of these uncommon
problems, it can reverse it.
But, just like hyperbarictreatments, it's over-promoted

(12:42):
for unproven uses.
You'll hear vitamin B12 canprevent dementia.
It can improve your mood andyour heart health and enhance
athletic performance, none ofwhich has evidence to support it
.
So, just like the hyperbaric,it's absolutely helpful in some

(13:03):
conditions, but those areuncommon.
And it's being promoted for ahuge number of other things, and
you've probably seen these IVtherapy clinics that give
vitamin B12 and other things.
Well, there's a local company.
I went on internet and lookedto see what's being pushed in my

(13:24):
local area in Texas.
Well, there's one place thathas the Myers cocktail.
For $335, they'll hook up an IVand if you have a hangover, a
cold, a flu, anxiety, fatigue,muscle aches, allergies,
headaches, they claim it'sperfect for you.
Of course, there's no evidenceto support that.

(13:47):
What do these things contain?
They contain saline, meaningsalt water.
They contain vitamin B12 thatwe just talked about.
They contain vitamin C, maycontain magnesium or maybe some
zinc.
They might tout an immune IVpackage or a health, skin and
nail package, or, for an extra$100, you can get NAD plus added

(14:13):
.
This all sounds healthy.
These are things that could begood for our body and beneficial
, but for somebody who isbasically able to eat and drink,
there is absolutely no benefitfor a typical person with these
types of infusions.
Frankly, you can absorb all ofthis if you drink Gatorade and

(14:41):
maybe take a multivitamin.
There is no evidence to supportthat.
For a typical person with anyof those symptoms, giving those
things IV is anything other thana complete waste of money.
Now, if you're dehydrated,you're taken to the emergency
room and your blood pressure islow, Of course IV therapy is

(15:02):
important, but again, it justgets promoted way beyond where
the evidence takes us.
Well, how about a third one?
Detox your toxins Sounds good.
You got these bad things insideyou and I talked about it in
episode 29,.

(15:22):
There are real reasons to dodetox treatments If you have
heavy metal poisoning like leador mercury.
Now, this is pretty uncommontoday, but when it occurs, this
can be very damaging, and thisis, of course, at high doses of
these heavy metals, and youmight need chelation agents

(15:47):
which attach to these heavymetals and they remove it from
your body.
Okay, so evidence supports itfor these uncommon uses, but
it's marketed for so much more.
Heart disease, it'll cure yourautism in your child cancer.
All of this lets detoxify ourbody, again without proof.

(16:13):
So uses for some thingsuncommonly great evidence.
But yet the world of marketingpushes it way beyond that.
One more example stem celltherapy.
Stem cell therapy is a reallyimportant modality for certain
blood disorders leukemia,lymphoma, other kinds of bone

(16:37):
marrow disorders, other kinds ofbone marrow disorders.
Stem cells then go to the bonemarrow, help repopulate the
cells there and help solve thosediseases along with other
therapies that are adjunctive toit.
Great, good evidence, reallyimportant.
There's a little bit ofevidence for patients with

(16:59):
osteoarthritis injecting it intothe knee.
Maybe it helps pain.
A little bit of evidence forpatients with osteoarthritis
injecting it into the knee.
Maybe it helps pain a littlebit, maybe it helps function a
little bit.
But there's no evidence that itrebuilds your cartilage as
people claim.
So again, we're starting topush over our skis beyond what's
known.
But you're also seeing claimsfor stem cells to help dementia

(17:24):
or COPD or spinal cord injury.
Gosh, I wish it would workthere.
Maybe in the future it will.
Or heart disease.
So there may be some earlyanimal studies in some of these
areas, but there is no rigorousproof in people.
So, once again, stem cells,like these other therapies,

(17:46):
great evidence for some uses,but then you see it extrapolated
for so many others.
Stem cells are expensive.
They're about $4,000 pertreatment and you may need many
of these treatments.
So without evidence, spending alot of money doesn't seem good.
All right, let's turn to parttwo.

(18:07):
Hopefully, with part one, yourealize that this actually
happens a lot and that you maybe running across these uses
beyond what the evidencesupports.
So why does it happen?
Probably, first and foremost,patients want relief.
If you have a problem, a pain,fatigue, headaches that regular

(18:31):
medicine isn't helping, it'snatural to want to find relief
anywhere you can find it andthere is a power of taking
control.
Well, I know maybe these IVtherapies won't work, but it's
something I'm doing onWednesdays and maybe it will
help me.
So that's really important tofeel you are empowered.

(18:54):
And, as we've talked about in aprior episode on placebo,
placebos are real.
But I'm not sure I want to bespending money and my time if
it's really just about placebo,all right.
Second reason why this occursfinancial incentives, absolutely
Seems like.
Almost everywhere you turn,everyone is selling something.

(19:17):
As I said, I listen to a lot ofpodcasts and almost all of
these podcasts have advertisersor the people have financial
stakes in the companies that arerelated to this.
I heard a great descriptionWe've heard about big pharma and

(19:38):
the power they have, or big ag,big agriculture and the power
they have.
I heard something recently andit really struck me, and they
said big wellness, that thewellness and the longevity space
has grown into a huge industrywith billions and billions and

(20:00):
billions and billions of dollarsbeing spent on it 150 billion,
300 billion a tremendous amountand as this happens, people who
are making money have power totry to promote it and influence,
perhaps, public policy andother kinds of things.
So, big wellness interestingway to put it.

(20:21):
And the other reason that thishas become a big issue is
because of social media.
All of us have, to some extent,fomo, fear of missing out.
I have that.
I suspect maybe you do too, butwhen you hear about something
on social media.
Well, I tried this and I lostweight.

(20:42):
I tried this and my headaches,which I'd had for decades, went
away.
I tried this and my fatigue,which was so problematic, got
better, and this is what I didto solve this problem.
Might've been a supplement,might have been a red light
therapy or something else, andwe have a fear of missing out.

(21:04):
It's like, oh my God, it helpedthem, but again, was there
evidence to support it?
Let's now turn to part three.
What can we do about all this?
Like before, ask yourself, askthe practitioner who's pushing
it?
Is this really theory or is itbased on evidence?

(21:29):
And remember to me a theorylike allergies are the key to
all your problems.
You need this supplement ordiet or whatever.
So a theory of what is wrongplus an anecdote well, sarah did
really well plus an expertpushing it does not equal

(21:51):
evidence.
So keep that in mind.
So, specifically, some actionitems here.
What questions might you askwhen you run across one of these
therapies?
Not a broad question has thisbeen proven to work?
But has it been proven to workin my condition, whatever that

(22:13):
is?
Or is it primarily an anecdote?
Yes, it's been proven for thatcondition, but has it been
proven in my condition?
Has there been rigorous studiesin people for the exact problem
I have?
What are the risks associatedwith doing this?
What are the costs associatedwith doing this?

(22:36):
What's the impact if you delaya routine treatment to try these
and are the ones promoting thisnew approach, financially
benefiting or benefiting in someother way?
And ultimately, like the titleof this podcast episode, are the

(22:58):
experts over their evidentiaryskis.
Action item number three foryou.
Send me examples of what you'reseeing around town or in social
media.
Maybe we can do a follow-upbased on your examples.
Well, we've come to the end, sowe need to wrap up.

(23:18):
As always, let's try to beopen-minded skeptic Not just
skeptical of everything, butopen-minded, curious skeptics.
I always hope you will livelong and well, based upon real
human evidence, not hype.
Until next time, goodbye.

(23:41):
Thanks so much for listening toLive Long and Well with Dr
Bobby.
If you liked this episode,please provide a review on Apple
or Spotify or wherever youlisten.
If you want to continue thisjourney or want to receive my
newsletter on practical andscientific ways to improve your

(24:04):
health and longevity, pleasevisit me at
drbobbilivelongandwellcom.
That's, doctor, as in D-R Bobby.
Live long and wellcom.