Michael Fishman built a business on the promise that the right supplement can fix what ails you.
His company, 1Twentyfour, sells wellness products with names that sound like they were workshopped by a marketing team fluent in both biochemistry and Instagram.
The pitch is seductive: science-backed, conveniently packaged, and endorsed by the kind of influencers whose skin appears to have never encountered a fluorescent light.
That pitch has made him a very wealthy man.
The Federal Trade Commission has taken a dim view of the wellness industry's habit of implying that a capsule can do what a prescription cannot.
Companies in this space have faced warnings, fines, and consent orders requiring them to dial back claims.
Fishman's operation has drawn scrutiny from regulators and skepticism from physicians who argue that the line between "supplement" and "treatment" has been blurred into meaninglessness.
What makes the story bigger than one entrepreneur is what it reveals about the rest of us.
Americans spend billions each year on dietary supplements, much of it driven by social media testimonials rather than clinical trials.
We want to believe that vitality comes in a scoop.
And an entire cottage industry has risen to meet that want, dressed in the language of peer-reviewed science but accountable to almost no one.
The regulatory vacuum is the real scandal.
Unlike pharmaceuticals, supplements are not required to prove efficacy before hitting shelves.
The FDA can act only after a product is already in the market and already in someone's bloodstream.
That means the burden falls on consumers to decode labels, spot inflated claims, and resist the polished confidence of a founder who has mastered the art of sounding certain.
When wellness becomes an identity, questioning a product can feel like questioning a person's values.
Critics get dismissed as cynical or unhealthy.
That's a difficult environment in which to have an honest conversation about what actually works.
None of this means every supplement is snake oil, or that Fishman is a villain.
It means the incentives are misaligned, and the guardrails are thin.
In a country already struggling with trust in institutions, adding an unregulated marketplace of health promises only deepens the confusion.
Final Thoughts
The deeper issue is that we've outsourced our sense of well-being to people selling something.