Does the Wellness Industry have a Lying Problem?

It wasn’t a singular moment, but rather a series of what felt like endless scrolls that tipped me over the edge with the “wellness” industry. From the relentless jargon of influencers pushing products (I’m certain they aren’t actually taking themselves) to the stacks of peptide shots and guys telling us to bask in freezing pools of water to live forever. The endless showcase of supplements, daily routines, eat this not that, don’t do this, okay wait do this, metformin, stop!

I’m exhausted.

I’m obsessive by nature when it comes to certain things in my life. Business, family, loyalty… and facts. So when Ajay introduced me to the biohacking world, I decidedly kept my distance — until he invited me to his gym and started training me. Something I now understand to be coveted, but have decided is his duty to me as my partner.

I started fondly (and jokingly) calling our sessions “Body by Ajay”… or bba. And I also started asking a lot more questions about wellness and biohacking. Suddenly — but also like clockwork — my Instagram feed was full of not only New York’s best restaurants, but now the “biohackers” and “fitness gurus” making vast claims on what I should be buying, stacking, taking, and doing. Hitting the “cortisol crisis” was the final straw.

I called Ajay and said we have a problem. Wellness isn’t just noisy. It’s structurally broken.

Follow the Money

The wellness industry is worth over $5 trillion globally. And the supplement market alone is a $481 billion business. When there’s that much money on the table, the incentives get weird fast.

Here’s how it typically works: an influencer builds an audience by sharing content about health, fitness, hormones, or nutrition. They look relatable. They talk like your friend. They post from their kitchen. And at some point — sometimes immediately, sometimes gradually — the recommendations start arriving. A supplement brand. A detox kit. A protein powder. Often with a discount code.

What’s rarely disclosed is the financial relationship behind the recommendation. Research has shown that the majority of wellness influencers promoting supplements on platforms like TikTok and Instagram don’t have relevant credentials. A study of German influencers found that roughly two-thirds of the supplements they promoted exceeded recommended maximum daily doses — and almost none of them mentioned overdose warnings. The FTC has repeatedly warned influencers about failing to disclose paid sponsorships, including registered dietitians who were being paid by the food industry.

This isn’t a few bad actors. It’s the business model.

The playbook is simple: erode trust in traditional medicine (”Big Pharma is keeping you sick”), position yourself as the honest alternative, and then sell products with less regulation, less scrutiny, and higher margins than the pharmaceuticals you told your audience to distrust.

As one scientist puts it: “They are purposefully eroding trust in science, so you only trust them, so they can sell you products.”

The Misinformation Greatest Hits

If you spend any time in wellness spaces online, you’ll recognize these patterns. They cycle through the algorithm like seasons:

The cortisol panic. An entire cottage industry has emerged around the idea that your cortisol is too high and that specific foods, supplements, or “protocols” can fix it. The hashtag #CortisolTok has accumulated over 800 million views. Meanwhile, endocrinologists are fielding requests from patients who want cortisol testing based on what they saw in a 60-second video — tests that are only designed to diagnose rare conditions and that can produce misleading results if taken at the wrong time of day.

Adrenal fatigue. This is the idea that chronic stress exhausts your adrenal glands, causing a cascade of symptoms. It sounds plausible. It’s also not supported by evidence. A systematic review found no substantive scientific backing for adrenal fatigue as a legitimate condition. But it’s a perfect wellness narrative: vague enough to match almost anyone’s symptoms, and conveniently treatable with products the person diagnosing you happens to sell.

The “miracle hack” cycle. Every few months, a new substance gets the treatment: methylene blue (a textile dye from the 1800s that biohackers claim slows aging — preliminary human studies show no significant benefit in healthy people, and it carries real risks including serotonin toxicity), beef tallow skincare (part of a broader anti-synthetic-ingredient movement that skips over the part where it can worsen acne), raw milk, borax, turpentine. The format is always the same: a bold claim, a vague appeal to “what’s natural,” and zero acknowledgment of the risks.

The morning routine industrial complex. These are the videos that look like lifestyle content but are actually product placement stacked end to end. Wake up, take this supplement, drink this, use this skincare, do this workout — each with a tagged brand or affiliate link. They’re commercials disguised as someone’s life.

The “women’s health” supplement funnel. As women’s health — finally — gets more attention, a wave of products has emerged to fill the gap. Hormone balance supplements, cycle-syncing protocols, fertility blends. Some of this is grounded in real science. A lot of it isn’t. And the marketing often exploits legitimate frustration with a medical system that has historically dismissed women’s symptoms.

What We Deserve Instead

After many months of training with Ajay, I feel stronger and better than I ever have. Not in the way wellness content tells you to measure it — not a before-and-after, not a number on a scale. I mean I feel good. Present in my body. Able to show up and perform as a human at whatever feels subjectively optimal for my mind and my body.

But I went through a lot to get here. And some of it, I shouldn’t have.

I cold plunged until my system froze — once so badly I couldn’t get warm for six hours after. I tried to keep up with Ajay’s programming when my hormones and my body were begging me to stop. I pushed through tendonitis. Popped blood vessels. There were days I became so exhausted I could cry. He had no idea. And what I didn’t realize then was something the wellness industry rarely says out loud: we are actually different. Men and women move differently, recover differently, respond to stress differently. And nuance isn’t weakness — it’s intelligence.

When I finally told Ajay what I’d been pushing through, he didn’t hesitate. We agreed: we needed to try and fix this problem. Not just for me, but for everyone navigating a space that treats one-size-fits-all as gospel and sells confidence where there should be honesty.

That’s what Body by Ajay is. A space that isn’t rooted in influencing or sponsored ads, but in two real people sorting through real life to the best of our knowledge and ability. Expert-backed products, workouts, and routines. An understanding that men and women are different — and the willingness to make space for dialogue and privacy around it.

Imagine: honest information, backed by real expertise, delivered without a hidden financial agenda.

Our Promise at bba:

No sponsorships. No affiliate deals. No paid placements. When we recommend something, it’s because we would use it ourselves — not because someone is paying us to say so.

Expert-backed, not influencer-approved. Real credentials, not good lighting.

Honest about what we don’t know. The wellness industry’s biggest lie isn’t any single claim — it’s the tone of certainty. We’re going to tell you the truth, even when the truth is “we’re not sure yet” or “go talk to your doctor.”

And we’re building an AI companion trained on real expertise — not optimized to keep you anxious enough to buy something. Thoughtful, personalized guidance that used to be locked behind expensive practitioners. It will never sell you anything.

Why This Is Personal

I’m also the co-founder of an AI company rooted in empowering humanity rather than extorting it. At everle (parent Co of Blob AI), we build technology that puts people first — not their data, not their attention, and not their insecurities.

Building in both wellness and AI has shown me that these industries share the same disease: they exploit the gap between what people need and what they can easily access. In AI, that gap gets filled with surveillance and data harvesting. In wellness, it gets filled with misinformation and affiliate links.

BBA exists because we both believe there’s a third option. One where you get honest information from people who actually know what they’re talking about, delivered through technology that respects you.

The wellness industry doesn’t need another influencer. It needs integrity.

That’s what we’re attempting to build. We hope you will join us.

Body by Ajay is a wellness platform rooted in real products, real expertise, and zero sponsorships. Follow along as we build something the wellness space has been missing: honesty.

— Tessa (& Ajay)