Natural Cure Claims on Social Media and Online: How to Check Them

The claim, as it is often marketed

"A natural cure doctors do not want you to know about." "This herb cured my illness." "Safe because it is all natural." This page checks that kind of claim. It does not review any named product or influencer.

What the evidence is

Proper evidence not found for the idea that a single natural product cures a wide range of diseases. We searched the FDA's health-fraud pages and NCCIH's guidance on supplements and found no supporting evidence; the FDA says such miracle cures do not exist. [1]

What the sources do say about proof:

• A personal "success" story is not scientific evidence. The FDA says such stories are easy to make up and not a substitute for scientific evidence, and that reviews on online marketplaces and social media can be fake. [1]


• The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) guidance for health-product marketers says anecdotes about individual consumers' experiences "are never sufficient to substantiate claims about the effects of a health product". [2]


• Tradition does not exempt a claim. In that same guidance the FTC says marketers should not make claims about traditional use for the treatment or cure of serious medical conditions. [2] Traditional use is a record of how people have used something, not a test of whether it works.


• NCCIH says strong evidence to back up claims made for dietary supplements is often lacking. [3]

What regulators say

• FDA (US). A health product is fraudulent, the FDA says, if it is deceptively promoted as effective against a disease but not scientifically proven safe and effective for that purpose. [1] This is from an FDA consumer update (content current as of March 2021).
• Supplement labels. NCCIH says labels on dietary supplements cannot claim that a product can diagnose, treat, cure, mitigate or prevent any disease. [3] Other kinds of claims, about the structure or function of the body, can appear with a disclaimer. [3] This is a rule about labels, and the FDA's description of fraud covers wider marketing.
• FDA and review before sale. The FDA is not authorized to approve dietary supplements for safety and effectiveness before they are marketed. [4] See How supplements are regulated.
• FTC (US). The FTC says health claims need "competent and reliable scientific evidence". [2]
• Claims in the real world. NCCIH reports a US government study of 127 supplements marketed for weight loss or immune support in which 20 percent made illegal claims. [3] That study is from 2012 and is not about social media specifically. Proper evidence not found: we looked for a source on how common false natural-cure claims are on social media and did not find a usable one.

Warning signs the FDA lists

The FDA's "6 Tip-offs to Rip-offs" names these: [1]

The FDA also says health fraud scams run rampant on social media sites and closed messaging apps. [1]

Risks

• Hidden drugs. The FDA says it has found "all-natural" cures that contain hidden and dangerously high doses of prescription drug ingredients or other active pharmaceutical ingredients. [1] NCCIH also notes that the FDA has found prescription drugs, including warfarin and phenytoin, in products sold as supplements. [3] See Unsafe products and warnings.
• Delay of proper care. The FDA says fraudulent products can waste money and delay potentially life-saving diagnosis and tested treatments. [1] For cancer, it says bogus "treatments" often advertised as natural, sometimes falsely labeled as supplements, may harm by delaying or interfering with proven treatments. [5]
• Not being what the label says. NCCIH says "standardized", "verified" or "certified" does not necessarily guarantee product quality or consistency. [3]
• Interactions. A product can still interact with your medicines even if the claim is false; see How interactions work.

What a reader can safely do

1. Pause before buying or sharing. The FDA's rule of thumb is to ask whether it sounds too good to be true. [6]
2. Check who is making the claim and what they are selling. The FTC guidance says disclosure in social media should be unavoidable, which is a standard for marketers, not a guarantee you will see one. [2]
3. Ask a doctor or pharmacist before using an unproven product. The FDA says to check with a doctor or other health care professional first if tempted by a product with questionable claims. [1]
4. Check the label and the product's quality. See Reading supplement labels and Quality testing and certifications.
5. Report a bad reaction. The FDA invites consumers to report adverse events and unlawful online sales of medical products through its online forms. [1] See Side effects and reporting.

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 (US). For a severe reaction call 911. For possible poisoning call Poison Help at 1-800-222-1222 (US). Cancer, diabetes and other serious conditions need a licensed clinician; no natural remedy replaces treatment.