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in movies and TV crime shows. Since the Watergate scandals and the Vietnam War, a large majority of Americans who once trusted government to do the right thing now say they believe it is controlled by special interests and not run for the common benefit. Public trust of drug companies is particularly low. But that shouldn’t be a reason to fall for the unsupported claims of a convicted felon and incorrigible huckster who’s making millions selling books about bogus “natural cures.” And anyone who tries using those “cures” instead of seeking competent medical advice is putting his or her health and even life at risk.

So we say cynicism can kill you. But you can save money, and maybe your life, if you are skeptical about claims like those made by Trudeau and the many others like him. Always look for real evidence.

Conclusion

Staying unSpun

STAYING UNSPUN REALLY BOILS DOWN TO FOLLOWING A FEW PRINCIPLES that we’ve been talking about throughout this book. When confronted with a claim, keep an open mind, ask questions, cross-check, look for the best information, and then weigh the evidence.

CASE STUDY: Hoodia Hoodoo

TO SHOW HOW TO PUT THESE SIMPLE BUT POWERFUL MENTAL HABITS into practice, let’s walk through a quick factchecking of a real-life claim you may already have encountered. Let’s say you have seen on the CBS News website a snippet of a 60 Minutes program in which correspondent Lesley Stahl is telling you about the next big thing in dieting: a rare South African cactus called Gordon’s Hoodia (or Hoodia gordonii). Stahl is in the Kalahari Desert, where she says the native San tribes-people eat Hoodia to suppress their appetite on hunting trips. “Scientists say it fools the brain by making you think you’re full, even if you’ve just eaten a morsel.” A weight-loss pill may soon be on the market. The Web version of the story carries the headline “African Plant May Help Fight Fat: Lesley Stahl Reports on Newest Weapon in War on Obesity.”

Hoodia gordonii, the rare South African cactus purported to suppress appetite naturally

This is no late-night infomercial huckster talking; this is a tough reporter who once covered President Richard Nixon’s Watergate scandal. Stahl reports that after eating a piece of the plant she went all day without feeling hungry, and that she experienced no aftereffects either. “I’d have to say it did work,” she reports.

Wow! Where can I get this stuff? You quickly search the Internet for “hoodia,” and find a cyber-bazaar of merchants hawking “Pure Hoodia,” “Pure Hoodia Plus,” “Hoodia Supreme,” “Desert Burn” Hoodia, and any number of other brands. You also see websites offering advice on finding the “best” Hoodia products among all the clamoring competitors. Several provide a link to a video clip from the 60 Minutes program on the CBS News website. They feature testimonials—for example, one from “Sarah” of Los Angeles, who says, “I used to always have cravings at night, but those cravings went away.” This is sounding better and better.

But before you send off $149.95 for a five-month supply of this magical substance, take a few minutes to ask questions. How do I know this works, and is it safe? Just because Lesley Stahl swears by the freshly cut cactus she nibbled in the Kalahari Desert doesn’t mean the capsules you buy from an Internet merchant will have the same effect, or even came from the same plant. And we had better dismiss those Internet testimonials: they’re anecdotes at best, and they could be fabricated for all we know. Where are the scientific test results?

A bit of cross-checking turns up more information. Our Internet search has also brought up a 2003 story from a BBC reporter, Tom Mangold, who sampled the “Kalahari diet” even before Stahl. After eating a piece of cactus about half the size of a banana, Mangold reported that he and his cameraman “did not even think about food” for the four-hour drive back to Cape Town. “Dinnertime came and went. We reached our hotel at about midnight and went to bed without food. And the next day, neither of us wanted nor ate breakfast.