# The Nocebo Effect **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [January 28, 2000, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nocebo-effect/1494 "2000-01-28T16:39:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![David\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@David\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_B)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2000, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nocebo-effect/1494/1 "2000-01-28T16:39:00Z")
Yeah, it’s probably bad form to start a thread on my own Mailbag item, but Ed threw a question in there I wanted to answer: > [@](#): > > STSTAFF Ed comments: > > So David, Mr. Skeptic, if you know zinc lozenges taste bad, I guess that means you’ve been trying them, huh? ## I have, indeed, tried them a couple times. A good skeptic tries things out, after all. Besides, I had a sore throat and my mother forced them on me when I was visiting (that’s also how I was able to note what the directions on the bag say). If we’d had hard candy, I’d have sucked on that instead (and gotten the same result, but without the metal flavoring). [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mnocebo.html#update](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mnocebo.html#update) Ignorance is Bliss. Reality is Better. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2000, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nocebo-effect/1494/2 "2000-01-28T20:28:00Z")
Let me just ad that David deserves a kudo/kudos (let’s NOT get into THAT thread again! 🙂 ) for that very thorough and enjoyable answer. 🙂 I wonder if anyone ever does double-blind _nocebo_ studies? That is, take an unproven remedy and see if it works better than the results of a sugar pill described as a harmful medication. ---
**Author:** ![Henry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/df705f/32.png) [@Henry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Henry)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2000, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nocebo-effect/1494/3 "2000-01-29T00:58:00Z")
I thought the opposite of the placebo effect was called the tomato effect. Has anyone else heard of this expression? ---
**Author:** ![JillGat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc29f/32.png) [@JillGat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JillGat)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2000, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nocebo-effect/1494/4 "2000-01-29T04:02:00Z")
I have a lot more respect for David now that I know he took zinc lozenges _because his mother made him do it_. ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2000, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nocebo-effect/1494/5 "2000-01-29T05:58:00Z")
I think I read the Michael Fumento article which mentioned “nocebo”, because as soon as I read the Mailbag question I immediately came up with this word and thought of Mr. Fumento’s article. As I recall, it was about a case that’s even more interesting than the ones David cites in his answer - Olestra. It seems that people who are given regular full-fat chips to eat, but believe that they might be Olestra instead, have a much greater chance of suffering stomach upset. This is because of negative press that the Olestra opponents have diseminated. ---
**Author:** ![David\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@David\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_B)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2000, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nocebo-effect/1494/6 "2000-01-29T14:16:00Z")
Jill, if you knew my mother, you’d know that sometimes it’s just easier to go along with her. It’s not like it hurt anything (other than the tinny taste in my mouth). And now I can continually point out to her that it didn’t _do_ anything. 🙂 (She was really mad when my father brought up the FCC action against them.) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2000, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nocebo-effect/1494/7 "2000-01-30T10:27:00Z")
Yesterday, I looked at the labels of some zinc lozenges: they all have Vitamin C in them. ---
**Author:** ![David\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@David\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_B)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2000, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nocebo-effect/1494/8 "2000-01-31T19:40:00Z")
The bag I snuck from my parents’ house about a year ago (kept it for research and info purposes) doesn’t show any Vitamin C in the ingredients. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2000, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nocebo-effect/1494/9 "2000-01-31T20:14:00Z")
“I thought the opposite of the placebo effect was called the tomato effect. Has anyone else heard of this expression?” No, but my WAG is that it has to do with the fact that tomatoes were considered to be poisonous until the 1800s. They are related to the nightshade (also called the deadly nightshade), which IS poisonous, and so people presumed they too were poisonous. Therefore, I would guess that the “tomato effect” came from the pyschosomatic response someone would have had if you surreptitiously fed them a tomato and then pointed out to them that there had been a tomato in their food. Tomatoes aren’t poisonous, but the person believing that they were would have started gagging and having other physical reactions upon discovering they ate one. ---
**Author:** ![David\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@David\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_B)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2000, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nocebo-effect/1494/10 "2000-01-31T21:52:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Tomatoes aren’t poisonous, but the person believing that they were would have started gagging and having other physical reactions upon discovering they ate one. Well, I know tomatoes aren’t technically poisonous, but that’s about the reaction I would have if somebody tried to make me eat one! :eek: