When they advertise some stuff on TV and claim that it “supports” prostate health, liver function, brain function…etc., does it mean that the stuff is basically snake oil? We know that vitamins, fish oil, etc. are good for us…but when such stuff is advertised, is this pretty much just a worthless placebo?
Yes, of course they are all worthless.
Supports is a meaningless word that sounds good and cannot be construed as an actual medical claim, which is prosecutable.
Emerging science suggests that it supports bodily functions.
When taken as part of a healthy lifestyle.
Yes. They’re weaseling because it’s marginally easier not to get sued or shut down by the FDA if their claims are un-falsifiable.
Regards,
Shodan
The FDA prohibits people from putting health claims (“reduces prostate inflammation”, “treats benign prostate hyperplasia”) on the label unless the company has gone through the testing and approval process and follows manufacturing standards for pharmaceutical drugs. This puts people marketing traditional remedies or other un-FDA approved formulations in the position of *having *to be vague (“supports urinary health”).
Is it an indication that it doesn’t work? No. It may work, it may not work. It is an indication that they haven’t paid for the studies and gone through the approval process to *prove *that it works.
Before statins, there was red yeast rice and Aspergillus that people took to lower their cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart attacks (those are two health claims, unable to be listed on supplement labels.) Did it work? Yep, because the active ingredient in statins is naturally occurring in great enough quantity that you can conceivably take enough of them to lower your cholesterol. Was it tested and approved? Nope. Then Merck extracted mevinolin from Aspergillus, paid for the testing and approval process and was able to sell it with health claims as Lipitor.
It means that they get out to cheer for bodily functions:
Hooray for liver
he’s our man
if he can’t do it
no one can.
One Super Beta Prostate ad has more support than 600 saw palmetto supplement tablet ads.
Super Beta Prostate.
I tried Saw Palmetto for about a month and it really seemed to help. I say seemed because I’m only up a couple times a night to pee, instead of 5 or 6 before I started taking the pills. I’ve stopped them, and am waiting to see if I return to my previous pee state. Or not. 
Or as part of this complete, balanced breakfast.
Water supports bodily functions.
It shows up at all the liver’s baseball games and tells him to stick with it when he can’t handle debate team practice.
How about all these 'erectile dysfunction" medicines-are they all mostly crap?
Supplements support the bank accounts of supplement manufacturers.
It’s like the old saw about chiropractic., attributed to B.J. Palmer. He said something like “The purpose of the spine is to support the muscles, and the organs. And to support the chiropractor.”
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. They are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any scams.
Are you talking about medicines, or “supplements” (Extenze, Studmix, etc.)?
Yes, I am talking about the supplements-pills that you can buy that "support"healthy erections!
Pretty much junk. Some of them have valerian and/or passionflower in them, which are moderately effective at reducing anxiety, and often they have caffeine or some other stimulant in them which make people feel a little more energetic. But none of them actually treat any of the physiological mechanisms known to cause ED.
The exception may be “Horny Goat Weed,” (Epimedium) which has a chemical in it which seems to act as an phosphodiesterase inhibitor. It also has the pesky side effects like irregular heartbeat, low blood pressure, nosebleeds, mood changes, spasms and respiratory failure. http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-and-supplements/lifestyle-guide-11/horny-goat-weed-epimedium
Some other erection supplements may sometimes work - because they’ve got ED drugs in them illegally. But those tend to come from shady Chinese manufacturers, and vary a lot from batch to batch depending on what they got ahold of to put in that batch run, and are just generally not a good idea.