A few weeks ago Peter wrote about the Acai Berry Scam, and reader izzlecanoe made an interesting comment:
But I do find it annoying that alongside your posts are advertisements
for the very products you are exposing. Can science blogs be persuaded
not to allow advertising from such woo pushers.
She was seconded by Jim Purdy:
Those phony ads are infuriating. And it's even more disappointing when
they appear often on many of my favorite news sites. When a news site
carries lying advertisements, it takes away from the credibility of
their news stories.
Annoying and infuriating indeed. Peter…
gimmick
Photo by Todd Huffman.
One of the great things about this site is that people often bring products or research to our attention that we otherwise might have missed. This occurred yesterday in the comments section of Peter's recent post on Acai berry scams, when one of our readers brought up the use of Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (HCG) in the treatment of obesity. The website that we were provided smacks of weight loss gimmickry - notably the promise of an obesity "cure" and "near 100% success rate", but we thought it best to review the evidence before making a judgement one way or…