I was also doing fitness competitions and researching and taking every healthy supplement out there. Thank you dear sister. So why are we talking about all this? Well you might have seen a program on Netflix called Apple Cider Vinegar.

私はフィットネスの大会にも出ていたし、世の中にあるあらゆる健康サプリメントを研究して飲んでいた。ありがとう。では、なぜこのような話をしているのでしょうか？Netflixでアップルサイダービネガーという番組を見たかもしれない。

It's a dramatization of a wellness influencer who lied about having terminal brain cancer and she claimed that she had cured herself through alternative therapies. That got us thinking about the wellness industry. So on this episode we're gonna peer behind the curtain to find out what it's all about. Are terms like self-care and wellness just sexier ways of saying health? And are people using those terms to sell us things that we don't really need? We're gonna find out. Plus we're gonna tell you how you can identify online wellness scams. I'm William Lee Adams and this is What in the World from the BBC World Service. I'm in the studio with Jackie Wakefield. She's a reporter with our global disinformation unit. Jackie hi. Hey. So before we dive into online wellness scams, and there are a lot of them, I'm hoping we can look at the big picture. How big is the global wellness industry? So the global wellness industry is massive. It's bigger than the pharmaceutical industry. It's worth 6.3 trillion dollars worldwide and it's growing year-on-year with more and more people jumping on the trend trying to cash in. So I can picture what the profile of a fitness influencer might look like. Abs for days, spandex, exercise routines. But what does the profile of a wellness influencer look like? It's really tough because I think this changes year-on-year depending on the trends. But I think typically the profile is normally women, normally younger, normally looking quite thin, fit, have some form of aspirational life that followers might want to copy or get part of that magic that they seem to have.

あるウェルネス・インフルエンサーが末期の脳腫瘍であると嘘をつき、代替療法で完治したと主張するドラマだ。このドラマをきっかけに、私たちはウェルネス業界について考えるようになった。そこでこのエピソードでは、ウェルネス業界の実態を探るべく、カーテンの裏側を覗いてみようと思う。セルフケアやウェルネスといった言葉は、単に健康のセクシーな言い方なのだろうか？そして、私たちが本当に必要としていないものを売るために、人々はそのような言葉を使っているのでしょうか？その真相に迫る。さらに、オンライン・ウェルネス詐欺の見分け方

It's really difficult to say though because we sort of associated that like wellness influencer, like the young beautiful woman who was vegan and did everything right in her lifestyle. But now it's really starting to shift to become anyone really. Anyone can partake in these trends and anyone can spread misinformation and profit off them. And anyone, that includes you as well if I'm not mistaken, could you tell us about a time in your life you maybe latched on to one of these? Yeah, so I am notorious for latching on to these trends on occasion, which is ironic given my job title. So one that I jumped on, so any

というのも、私たちはウェルネス・インフルエンサーのような、菜食主義でライフスタイルがすべて正しい若くて美しい女性を連想していたからです。でも今は、本当に誰でもそうなり始めている。誰でもこのようなトレンドに乗ることができ、誰でも間違った情報を広め、利益を得ることができる。間違っていなければ、誰でも、それはあなたも同じです。あなたの人生の中で、このような流行に乗った時期について教えてください。ええ、私は時折こういったトレンドに引っかかることで悪名高いのですが、私の肩書きを考えると皮肉なものです。だから、私が飛

Aussies might know this, was so she was really big when I was in high school, so around 2013-2014. And her thing was eating 40 bananas a day. You say 40 for zero. 40 for zero. And that was pretty much all she ate. She was stunning, she was frugivorian, which is like vegetarian but only eat fruit, abs for days as you said. And I looked at this woman, I was like 40 bananas is a lot, I'm gonna be really full, I like bananas, let's try it. My mum, when I asked to buy 120 bananas at the supermarket, did not love this request. But she bought me 10, fair start. I ate three the next day, never did it again. Mother was mothering.

オーストラリア人は知っているかもしれないけど、僕が高校生の頃、つまり2013年から2014年頃、彼女は本当に大きかったんだ。彼女は1日に40本のバナナを食べていたんだ。40本でゼロって言うんだ。40本でゼロ。それしか食べなかった。ベジタリアンだけど、果物だけは食べるというフルギボリアンだった。私はこの女性を見て、40本のバナナは多いな、お腹いっぱいになりそうだな、バナナは好きだから食べてみよう、と思ったの。私の母は、私がスーパーで120本のバナナを買いたいと言ったとき、この要求を気に入らなかった。でも10

We should point out, if you eat too many bananas you can get constipated, you can have too much potassium in your system which has hard effects, and indeed you can rot your teeth because it's not good for you. Well, moving steadily along, what makes these trends go viral? What is it that pushes people to click, click, follow?

バナナを食べ過ぎると便秘になったり、カリウムを摂り過ぎて体に悪い影響を与えたり、歯が腐ったりする。さて、着々と話を進めるとして、こうしたトレンドが流行するのはなぜだろう？何が人々をクリック、クリック、フォローへと駆り立てるのだろうか？

I think there's a few things that adds to like a viral trend, right? So the first is, is it something simple? Can people remember it? Is it grabby? Like what a strange trend, what is it? Like the bananas, how odd, like you're gonna remember that.

バイラルなトレンドにはいくつかの要素があると思うんだ。まず1つ目は、それが単純なことなのか？人々に覚えてもらえるか？掴みどころがあるか？奇妙なトレンドって何だろう？バナナのように、なんと奇妙な、あなたがそれを覚えているような。

They tend to be something that you wouldn't be doing in your ordinary life.

普段の生活ではしないようなことをする傾向がある。

So it's kind of easy to say like, oh drink more water or eat a more balanced meal, but a lot of people have kind of tried this before or are already doing it in their life, so it doesn't kind of seem like something you can really easily latch on to. Whereas when you say cut out all carbs, that's like a new thing that you can bring into your life that feels like you're really changing something. So trends tend to be something that's new, kind of strange sounding, and something that you can easily latch on to that people think may improve their life. Now we should point out that in terms of the wellness industry, not everything is a scam. As you said up top, it's a massive industry and there are indeed products that are backed by scientific evidence. My question for you is this though, where is the line? When does it become problematic? It's really tough to draw that line sometimes because you've got most of the trends that I see tend to be kind of in this middle area where they don't work, but they don't cost you money, so it's not really an issue if people want to try them. It may lead to something, it may make you happier in some way, but it kind of is this middle ground where, oh it is a lie, but at least there's no direct harm being caused. And then you have the next step, which is selling a product that may not have any harms, costs a lot of money, but also doesn't work. So that's actually ripping people off. Then you've got the next step where someone tries a wellness trend or believes in these products so much that they don't then seek mainstream medical care. That's really problematic because it delays treatment, it can delay prevention, which is really the most important point in medical care, and it can cause people to have a bit of distrust in mainstream medicine and think that this maybe natural solution that an influence is selling is better than a pharmaceutical or doctor recommended treatment. And then there's the last step where influencers recommend products or regimes that are actively harmful. So this is when they recommend disordered eating habits or a product that has a high concentration of some chemical or some, I don't know, byproducts that can actually cause harm. Now I think it's easy for people to watch this and say, oh how could people fall for these scams? But the fact is there are a lot of vulnerable people. Perhaps they have consulted a doctor, they haven't found a solution, and they sincerely want that solution. Do you think that plays in to this becoming so popular, this trend taking off? It's so easy to be swept up when you're seeing video after video after video from these beautiful influencers who've changed their lives and look at that and be like, wow, I want to feel like, I want my gut to be healthy, I want my hormones to be balanced. These terms are meaningless and gut health, for example, is so complex. An influencer on TikTok is not going to know how to solve it. We talked about aspiration, we talked about people seeking a solution. Are there any other reasons that these online trends go viral, that they're so effective for the influencer in promoting themselves? I think one thing that these viral trends tend to do really well for influencers is to be a successful influencer, you need to have a story, you need to have a character arc. These wellness trends are a really easy way to create a character arc for yourself. You could say, come with me on my journey to heal my cortisol levels. It's one of those things where, okay, well now I'm going to tune in and see if this influencer does heal their cortisol. Even if they're doing completely separate things. One trend that people may have seen is cortisol face, which is when there's just like a bit of fat in your face.

だから、もっと水を飲むとか、もっとバランスの取れた食事をするとか、言うのは簡単なんだけど、多くの人は以前にも試したことがあったり、すでに生活の中で実践していたりするから、簡単に取り入れることはできないんだ。一方、炭水化物をすべて抜くというのは、自分の生活に新しいことを取り入れることができ、何かを本当に変えているように感じられる。だから、トレンドというのは、新しくて、ちょっと奇妙な響きがあって、人々が自分の生活を向上させるかもしれないと思うような、簡単に取り入れることができるものになりがちなのだ。ウェルネス

Everyone has fat in their face, don't worry. But influencers have kind of tacked on to this insecurity that a lot of people have to sell regimes or programs to like get rid of your cortisol. In reality, it's not a problem.

誰だって顔に脂肪がついている。でも、インフルエンサーたちは、多くの人が抱えているこの不安感を、コルチゾールを取り除くような治療法やプログラムを売り込むために利用したんだ。実際には、それは問題ではない。

You're allowed to have fat in your face and the influencer can just lose weight and say, oh I no longer have cortisol face. We've talked about a lot of wellness scams that target women, but we should be clear, men are also following these trends and indeed creating them. Yeah, so women have been really invested in the health and wellness space, but in the last couple of years we've really seen men being targeted more and more. What I'm seeing in particular is male influencers who have previously been really gym content or self improvement, self-help, business style men have slowly been moving to the health and wellness space. I think there's kind of two reasons for that. One, it's a kind of natural fit as men and their audience becoming more and more interested in self-improvement, not only in the financial sense, but also in the looks and beauty sense. And the second one is there's a lot of money to be made.

顔に脂肪がついていても許されるし、インフルエンサーはただ痩せて、ああ、私はもうコルチゾール顔ではありませんと言えばいいのだ。女性をターゲットにしたウェルネス詐欺についてたくさん話してきましたが、はっきりさせておきたいのは、男性もこうしたトレンドを追いかけ、実際に作り出しているということです。そう、女性は健康とウェルネスの分野にとても投資してきましたが、ここ2、3年、男性がターゲットにされることが本当に増えています。特に私が見ているのは、以前はジムのコンテンツや自己啓発、自己啓発、ビジネススタイルの男性イン

It's a huge untapped market. As I said at the start, it's a massive industry wellness and there's so much money to be made, but men haven't really been targeted yet. So we're seeing more and more male influencers selling wellness protein powders, supplements, wellness regimes, and really kind of finding a new market with men. Now Jackie, I want to pause for a second because we've been talking a lot about Western societies, but these wellness trends they're not unique to any part of the world. In fact, we've reached out to our

未開拓の巨大市場です。最初に言ったように、ウェルネス産業は巨大な産業であり、儲かるものがたくさんありますが、男性はまだターゲットにされていません。だから、ウェルネス・プロテイン・パウダーやサプリメント、ウェルネス・レジームなどを販売する男性インフルエンサーがどんどん増えてきている。ジャッキー、少し立ち止まって、西洋社会についてたくさん話してきましたが、このようなウェルネスのトレンドは、世界のどの地域にも特有のものではありません。実際、私たちはこのようなトレンドに注目している。

BBC colleagues around the world to find out the situation where they are. Our first stop is Nigeria. This is Makawachi Okafor. He's a BBC reporter covering health in the Lagos Bureau. Health and wellness scams are very popular in Nigeria. You know, on the streets you see lots of posters and signages advertising and announcing this product. And there are also lots of celebrities and influencers and people who have large following who peddle these messages. For example, you see lots of slimming tea, which experts and health experts have really said that these things don't really help you slim down.

BBCの同僚が世界各地の状況を取材した。最初の取材地はナイジェリア。マカワチ・オカフォーだ。ラゴス支局で健康を担当するBBCレポーターだ。ナイジェリアでは健康詐欺が流行っています。街角には、この商品を宣伝・告知するポスターや看板がたくさんありますよね。また、有名人やインフルエンサー、多くのファンを持つ人々が、こうしたメッセージを売り込んでいます。例えば、痩せるお茶をたくさん見かけますが、専門家や健康専門家は、これらのものは本当に痩せる助けにはならないと本当に言っています。

They tell you, once you take a cup of this tea every morning for say one month you're going to lose weight. And there's also things like herbal cure-it-alls, you know, lots of mixtures of herbs which they claim, oh this can cure HIV, this can cure cancer, this can cure sickle cell anemia. And there are lots of messages from health experts, even state regulatory bodies, saying, oh these things do not work. We do not have any evidence that these things will offer you the value that this will promise, that it offers. And then there are also things like unregulated fertility and aphrodisiac products. You know, people and lots of messages online will tell you, oh once you take this or you apply this topically, you're going to get better in the other room. You know, you're going to be better, your performance is going to be great, it's going to offer you this and that. Part of the reasons why this happens in a country like Nigeria is currently, Nigeria is facing very tough economic times and this has affected the cost of drugs. Most people can no longer afford medical products, so they are turning to alternative means, unorthodox means, and they're looking for ways to take care of their health while they can still, you know, keep the little money that they have. Then things like the cultural background of Nigeria and the religious background, Nigeria being a very conservative country, conversations around sex and fertility and reproductive health isn't what you ideally hear people talk about in the open. So that means, because it's very hush-hush, people seek for very secret ways to address their needs in that sphere. And lastly, here is our What in the World colleague, Maria Clara Montoya.

このお茶を毎朝1杯、例えば1ヶ月間飲み続ければ、体重が減るというのだ。また、ハーブの万能薬のようなものもあり、たくさんのハーブを混ぜて、これはHIVに効く、これはガンに効く、これは鎌状赤血球貧血に効く、と主張する。そして、健康専門家や州の規制機関でさえ、「これらは効きません。私たちは、これらのものがあなたに約束された価値を提供するという証拠を持っていません。さらに、規制されていない不妊治療薬や媚薬のようなものもあります。ネット上では、これを飲んだら、あるいはこれを外用したら、他の部屋でもうまくいくようにな

She's originally from Colombia and she's been looking into wellness trends in

彼女はコロンビアの出身で、コロンビアにおけるウェルネスのトレンドを調べている。

Latin America. Many of the things that we have been looking at in Latin America are focused on well-being, positivity, manifesting, fitness, and financial freedom. There is an infamous case in Brazil where things took a darker path.

ラテンアメリカ私たちがラテンアメリカで注目していることの多くは、幸福、ポジティブ、マニフェスト、フィットネス、経済的自由に焦点を当てたものだ。ブラジルで起こった悪名高い事件がある。

Former model Cat Torres turned wellness influencer and self-help guru. Through her platforms, she promised love, money, and the self-esteem that you always dreamed of. Her audience consisted of mainly women keen on achieving all these goals, but last year she was sentenced to eight years in prison in Brazil for subjecting a woman to human trafficking and slave labor, and more than 20 women reported being scammed or exploited by her. Thank you, Maria Clara. So that leads us to a big question. How do you spot online wellness scams? So there's a few things that I like to look for. So the first is, are they giving you a problem that you don't actually have? I think the cortisol vase is such a good example of that. This is not a real issue. Is it something that you've never thought of before? The next is, is their solution too simple? Is it just cutting out carbs? Is it just taking a gut health drink? Is it just taking a couple vitamins? If so, why?

元モデルのキャット・トーレスは、ウェルネス・インフルエンサーであり、自己啓発の第一人者に転身した。彼女はプラットフォームを通じて、愛とお金、そしてあなたがいつも夢見ていた自尊心を約束した。彼女の視聴者は、これらすべての目標達成に熱心な女性を中心に構成されていたが、昨年、彼女はブラジルで女性を人身売買と奴隷労働に服させた罪で懲役8年の判決を受け、20人以上の女性が彼女に詐欺や搾取されたと報告した。ありがとう、マリア・クララ。それでは、大きな質問に移ります。どうやってオンライン・ウェルネス詐欺を見分けるのか？

It would be much more popular than it is, first of all. Your doctor would recommend it. Usually if it's a really simple solution, it doesn't tend to be something that works. The last thing I really like to look out for is a lot of wellness influencers will say things like, your doctor doesn't want you to know this, or they're hiding this from you. It's when you get into those sort of like conspiratorial ways of thinking that, once again, it doesn't tend to be true.

まず第一に、今よりもずっと人気があるだろう。主治医はそれを勧めるだろう。通常、それが本当に簡単な解決策であれば、効果があるものにはなりにくい。最後に、私が本当に気をつけたいのは、多くのウェルネス・インフルエンサーが、「主治医はあなたにこれを知られたくないのです」とか、「主治医はあなたにこれを隠しているのです」というようなことを言うことです。そのような陰謀論的な考え方に陥ると、またしても真実ではなくなるのです。

Your doctor isn't hiding the cure from you. They want you to get better. So it's just something to look out for. And then the last one is, are they making money from it? Are they selling you a product? If so, just think about that conflict of interest. Jackie Wakefield, thank you so much for explaining that. I have some bananas for you out back. Oh, thank you so much. And thank you for watching this episode of What in the World from the BBC World Service. If you liked it, please do subscribe. There are more than 1 million subscribers on the BBC World

主治医は治療法を隠しているわけではない。彼らはあなたが良くなることを望んでいるのです。だから、気をつけるべきことなんだ。そして最後の1つは、それでお金を儲けているかどうかということです。彼らはあなたに製品を売っているのでしょうか？もしそうなら、利益相反について考えてみてください。ジャッキー・ウェイクフィールド、説明してくれてありがとう。裏にバナナがありますよ。ありがとうございました。BBCワールドサービスの「What in the World」、ご覧いただきありがとうございました。もし気に入っていただけた

Service YouTube account. We'd love you to be one of them. We'll see you next time.

サービスYouTubeアカウント。ぜひあなたもその一員になってください。それではまた次回。

Bye.

さようなら。