| Posted 16 February 2026 Red light therapy has gone from dermatology clinics to the wellness world, promising everything from younger-looking skin and thicker hair to weight loss, pain relief, better sleep, and even improved mood. It’s sleek, futuristic, and marketed as an effortless biohack. But when one product claims to fix everything, skepticism is the healthiest response — the consumer marketplace is flooded with underpowered gadgets, exaggerated claims, and claims that race far ahead of the science. Continue reading at American Council of Science and Health … Read the rest Posted 03 September 2025 Craig Jackson: Professor of Occupational Health Psychology, Birmingham City University The Conversation They have been promoted as a remedy for anxiety and sleeplessness, with celebrities and influencers swearing by their calming effects. Weighted blankets – heavy throws filled with glass beads or plastic pellets – have gone from a niche therapeutic tool to a mainstream wellness must-have, promising better sleep and reduced stress for anyone struggling to unwind. But do they deliver on these bold claims, or are we simply paying premium prices for an expensive placebo? Occupational therapists have used weighted blankets since the 1970s to help children with autism and adults with sensory processing disorders. They became commercially available in the 1990s, but remained largely within special needs communities. That changed dramatically in recent years when companies began targeting what they call the “casually anxious” – essentially, anyone struggling with modern life’s stresses. The … Read the rest Posted 14 Jan 2024 The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has received reports of adverse reactions to fat-dissolving injections that are not FDA-approved. The reactions have included permanent scars, serious infections, skin deformities, cysts, and deep, painful muscle knots. In addition, improper or unsafe injection practices by unlicensed personnel can increase the risk of scarring and skin infections. The safe and effective uses of these products depend on the correct number and location of injections, proper needle placement, and proper administration technique. Some consumers received the injections at clinics or medical spas by personnel who might not have been properly licensed to give the injections. Some consumers who reported complications purchased the drugs online and injected it themselves. Consumers should not purchase ingredients for unapproved fat-dissolving injections or inject the drugs themselves. Unapproved fat-dissolving injections are being marketed online under brand names such as Aqualyx, Lipodissolve, Lipo Lab, Kabelline, … Read the rest Posted 19 April 2023 CoolSculpting is among the most popular fixes for unwanted bulges. But the risk of a serious side effect appears to be higher than previously known. More than a dozen years ago, a medical device hit the market with a tantalizing promise: It could freeze away stubborn pockets of fat quickly, painlessly and without surgery. The device, called CoolSculpting, was entering an already-crowded beauty industry selling flatter stomachs and tauter jaw lines, but it had an advantage: a vaunted scientific pedigree. The research behind its development came from a lab at Harvard Medical School’s primary teaching hospital, a detail noted routinely in news features and talk show segments. The pitch worked. CoolSculpting machines are now common in dermatology and plastic surgery offices and medical spas, and the technology has generated more than $2 billion in revenue. Cryolipolysis, the … Read the rest Posted 12 July 2021 An UK TV ad for Slendertone, a toning belt, seen in January and February 2019. A voice-over stated, “Meet Slendertone, your personal body toner, who firms and tones your abs, helps shape your waistline and easily fits in with your lifestyle. Clinically proven with results from four weeks. Look and feel amazing.” This product is similar to the advert shown on DSTV for Neotex Hot Belt. The UK ASA concluded: “We concluded that the impression given by the ad, that the product was able to affect the size of the waist by visibly firming and toning the abdominal muscles, had not been substantiated and that the ad was therefore misleading.” ASA Ruling on Bio-Medical Research Ltd t/a SlendertoneBackgroundSummary of Council decision: Two issues were investigated, one of which was Upheld. The other was informally resolved after the advertiser agreed to … Read the rest Posted 11 November 2020 The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it is sending 70,142 checks and PayPal payments totaling $3,864,824 to consumers nationwide who bought Quell, a wearable device claimed to treat chronic pain throughout the body when placed below the knee.
Reference: FTC refunds almost $3.9 million to purchasers of deceptively advertised Quell wearable pain-relief device. FTC press release, Sept 8, 2020 Massachusetts-based NeuroMetrix, Inc. and its CEO, Shai Gozani, touted Quell—a transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation device—as “clinically proven” and “FDA cleared” for widespread chronic pain relief, but the FTC charged that the marketers lacked scientific evidence to support chronic pain-relief claims, and their claims about clinical proof and the scope of FDA clearance for this use were false. Under an order settling the FTC’s charges, NeuroMetrix, Inc. and its CEO agreed to to stop making such claims and to pay $4 million to the … Read the rest Posted 14 September 2020 Blue light from our electronics is said to be harmful, and “blue blocking” glasses are touted as a panacea to numerous health issues. Is there any evidence to substantiate these claims? Like a lot of people, I’ve been spending a lot more time staring at a computer screen lately. I have been working from home since March, and what used to be face-to-face meetings are now Zoom/Teams/GoToMeeting video calls. With videoconferences and related work, I’m easily spending several more hours per week staring at a computer screen. Afternoon headaches became a common occurrence shortly after this started, which I attributed to screen time and poor ergonomics. School for both of my kids has been transformed to an online environment too, with even more hours per day (above the baseline) spent staring at electronic devices. Recently my daughter told me she … Read the rest Posted 14 September 2020 13 SEPTEMBER 2020 Health products, like detox teas and mood-boosting waters, rely on a lack of neuroscientific knowledge to make their claims. Some of these claims are unsubstantiated, while others are completely made up. My doctoral research investigates visual processing, but when I look at the big picture, I realize that what I’m really studying are fundamental aspects of brain anatomy, connectivity and communication. One specific function of the visual system that I have studied during my degree is the blue-light detecting molecule, melanopsin. In humans, melanopsin is seemingly restricted to a group of neurons in the eye, which preferentially target a structure in the brain called the suprachiasmatic nucleus — the body’s clock. Circadian rhythmsThis is where the (true) idea that blue light affects our sleep-wake cycle or circadian rhythm originates from. And also why many corrective lens … Read the rest Posted 26 August 2019 For the attention of healthcare practitioners & other healthcare stakeholders SAMED’s ability to enforce the Medical Device Code and contribute to raising the levels of ethics in the South African medical technology sector entered a new era on 15 August 2019. This is when its anonymous whistle-blowing hotline for reporting contraventions of the Medical Device Code of Ethical Marketing and Business Practice became operational. SAMED has decided to add to its complaint-lodging approach and allow for anonymous complaints – through an independently managed service – in order to overcome concerns that many potential whistle-blowers, including healthcare professionals, have due to fears of damaging relationships with colleagues, suppliers and other industry role-players, or of risking a disciplinary procedure or dismissal. Known as the Medical Device Code ethics hotline, the mechanism is part of Deloitte’s global service which the company introduced in 1999 and which is ISO certified … Read the rest Posted 18 August 2019 In May 2019, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA – Australia) commenced work on a sector-wide compliance activity relating to the advertising of ‘bioresonance’ devices, which are sometimes mistakenly promoted as ‘biofeedback’ devices. This sector has been identified as having a high rate of advertising non-compliance, with widespread advertising. The advertising of bioresonance has been the subject of previous regulatory compliance actions. (Editor: Beamer, Scio and Quantum SCIO-EPFX devices are included in this category) Bioresonance is based on the belief that human beings emit electromagnetic waves, which can only be measured by bioresonance devices. Advertisers claim these devices can measure these waves to detect illness in the human body as well as sending ‘rehabilitated bad’ waves to the patient to alleviate illness. The TGA is currently investigating the scientific credibility relating to the diagnostic and therapeutic use of these devices. The TGA is also working … Read the rest | |