Evidence based risk reduction in dementia is a crucial part of our battle against dementia. I don’t often use military metaphors but today I’m feeling the need to fight. I’m grateful to @WheelerSimon who on Twitter commented on some reporting about the “link” between chocolate and dementia. Simon said,

What’s Simon’s problem? Like @ProfRobHoward on Twitter, he was commenting on a misleading interpretation of a report that dietary consumption of flavonols might have beneficial effect. As there are flavonols in chocolate people start to run away with the idea that chocolate can prevent dementia. The splendid word “nutribollocks” has been used before now by an NHS doctor and his book was described as “A voice of reason in a field of fake news.”

Nutribollocks defined by Dr Joshua Wolrich

Thank you Simon. I’m doing to add chocolate to a disgraceful list. I don’t even want to repeat that list of reported and promoted dietary supplements that are advertised or hyped up in pseudo reporting in popular media. They are often expensive and they’ll be purchased by desperate people who do not realise that even dietary supplements, supposed health foods, can cause harm. It is sometimes argued that many of the nutritional supplements at least do no harm and taking them gives people with dementia and their families a bit of hope. But it is just not true. And false hope is not benign.

I might be more charitable about it if all the profits made by those promoting or selling the snake oil were given to real research about real treatments or spent on benefits and support for people with dementia and their carers. But they aren’t. They line their pockets by selling their newspapers and using their clickbait to create advertising revenue and they don’t care about anyone else.

It’s time to stop tolerating the lies that play with the emotions of people who live with a progressive, serious, life threatening and disabling condition, especially when the lies are promulgated purely for profit. I salute Simon and Prof Howard for speaking out because, to be honest, when you prick any of these balloons, there are those who will attack you on the basis that you are crushing someone’s spirit.

At least now we can kill it with one word when talking to journalists, but the amount of time spent by clinicians explaining to families and patients why the latest snake oil news story is a false dawn is part of what is adding to waiting times and pressure in the system. It must be fought against.