#618: How Wellness & Optimisation Culture Can Commodify Science – Nick Tiller, PhD

Wellness and optimisation culture increasingly presents itself as "science-based". But citing studies, using technical language, or having scientific credentials does not guarantee that the underlying evidence is being represented accurately. In this episode, exercise science researcher Dr. Nick Tiller, discusses how science can be selectively packaged, overstated, and used to support commercially attractive health claims. It explores the difference between science communication and science commodification, why scientific scepticism is distinct from cynicism, how anecdotes and mechanistic explanations can mislead, and why a single peer-reviewed study should never be treated as definitive evidence. The conversation also looks further upstream at problems within science itself, including low statistical power, p-hacking, publication bias, questionable research practices, and academic incentives that may favour novelty and positive findings. These issues can then be amplified through media, social platforms, and the wellness industry until tentative findings become confident recommendations. Timestamps: [03:14] Interview start [06:22] The health and wellness "lie" [08:38] Optimization and the illusion of control [11:14] Science communicators vs commodifiers [14:21] Vitamin D hype case study [20:54] Spotting misinformation online [24:50] Skepticism not cynicism [28:47] Guidelines for debunking [33:46] Spotting the grift pattern [41:25] Bad science in academia [54:47] Key ideas segment (Premium-only) Episode Resources: Go to episode page Join the Sigma newsletter for free Subscribe to Sigma Nutrition Premium Enroll in the next cohort of our Applied Nutrition Literacy course Dr. Tiller's website Tiller & Phillips, 2023 – How Skepticism (not Cynicism) Can Raise Scientific Standards and Reform the Health and Wellness Industry Tiller et al., 2024 – The Nontechnical Summary: A New Initiative to Enhance the Translation of Sports Science Research and Reduce the Spread of Misinformation