Episode 85
Radium to Cleanses: Why We Still Fall for Bad Science
A Shocking Health Trend from the Past
Today, you might see ads for detox teas, liver cleanses, and even hydrogen water. These products promise energy, better health, and a longer life.
But strange health trends are nothing new.
In the 1920s and 1930s, people paid good money to drink radioactive water. They believed it gave them energy, cured pain, and even helped them live longer. One brand, called Radithor, was sold as “perpetual sunshine in a bottle.”
Yes—people drank water mixed with radium, the same element now used in cancer treatments and nuclear reactors.
Why Did People Think It Worked?
At first, radium looked like a miracle. It glowed in the dark, and doctors were just beginning to understand radiation. Companies saw a chance to make money. So they started selling radium in toothpaste, face cream, chocolate, and, yes, bottled water.
One famous product, Radithor, was sold as a cure for everything from tiredness to “low manhood energy.”
People believed it worked. Why? Because it came from science. It looked exciting. And it was easy to believe a glowing bottle held glowing health.
Even doctors promoted it, just like some do with today’s wellness fads.
Read more on Radithor from the Oak Ridge Associated Universities
Meet the Tragic Case of Eben Byers
One man named Eben Byers became the face of this trend. He was rich, well-known, and loved Radithor. He drank it every day—three bottles a day for years.
For years, he said he felt great. But soon, the side effects started.
- His teeth fell out.
- Then his jaw crumbled.
- Finally, bones weakened and broke.
Eventually, his body became so radioactive that they had to bury him in a lead coffin. It took years for this to take effect. But during the years he was drinking his deadly potion, he claimed improved health and vitality.
This helped end Radithor, but the public didn’t learn the bigger lesson.
Fast Forward to Today
Even though we know better, we still fall for bad science with a shiny label.
Let’s look at a few modern examples:
- Gary Brekka sells hydrogen water as a health hack, even though there’s little proof it helps anyone.
- Döse Liver Cleanse is a product that doesn’t actually cleanse your liver.
- And of course, Goop keeps offering “natural” cures like jade eggs and bee-sting facials, with no solid research to back them up.
These trends all follow the Radithor formula:
- Make a wild claim
- Add buzzwords like “cleanse,” “cellular,” or “bioavailable”
- Skip the actual science
- Sell it fast before the truth catches up
What’s the Real Risk?
Most modern products won’t melt your jaw. But they can waste your money, give false hope, or delay real care.
Worse, they can make people distrust doctors and trust influencers instead.
Just like Radithor, these products often look scientific, but they skip important steps—like peer review, clinical trials, and safety data.
If you need a liver cleanse, your body already has one.
It’s called your liver. And it works 24/7—no powdered beetroot or milk thistle needed.
What Should You Do Instead?
Instead of chasing magic drinks or secret pills:
- Eat whole foods
- Move your body regularly
- Sleep well
- See real medical professionals
- Ask for evidence—not just stories
If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Especially if it comes from someone selling supplements, not science.
Final Thought
We like to believe we’re smarter than the past. But we still fall for the same trick, just with different packaging.
So next time you see a glowing promise in a bottle, ask yourself:
Is this progress… or just Radithor with better lighting?
Transcript
>> Dr. Terry Simpson: There is a long unfortunate history of
Speaker:people drinking things they absolutely shouldn't.
Speaker:From bleach to celery juice, from
Speaker:detox teas to silver colloids.
Speaker:It all started maybe a hundred years ago
Speaker:when the hottest wellness trend was
Speaker:radioactive water. Yep,
Speaker:people paid good money to drink radium
Speaker:and it was sold as a cure for fatigue,
Speaker:sexual dysfunction, aging, you name it.
Speaker:I'm Dr. Terri Simpson, your chief medical
Speaker:explanationist and this is Fork you
Speaker:fork University, where we make sense of the madness,
Speaker:bust myths wide open and shine a
Speaker:clinical spotlight on medical history's biggest
Speaker:mistakes. Today we're talking about glowing
Speaker:urine, crumbling jaws and the
Speaker:radioactive energy drink that almost got away with
Speaker:it.
Speaker:In the early 1900s, Murray and Pierre Curie
Speaker:discovered radium. At first it was hailed
Speaker:as a scientific miracle. It could shrink tumors,
Speaker:it could power machines, it glowed in the dark.
Speaker:What could go wrong? Naturally, the public
Speaker:didn't wait for peer reviewed studies. Radium
Speaker:quickly became the next big health fading.
Speaker:Companies bottled radium infused water
Speaker:claiming it could boost energy, stimulate
Speaker:digestion, cure arthritis and even
Speaker:enhance, well, let's say vitality in
Speaker:the bedroom. One of the most famous products was
Speaker:Radiodhor. It came in a sleek glass
Speaker:vial and promised perpetual
Speaker:sunshine. Each dose contained
Speaker:radium 226 and radium 228
Speaker:in actual drinkable doses.
Speaker:This wasn't microdosing. This was a one
Speaker:way ticket to your local radiation ward
Speaker:and people drank it by the gallon.
Speaker:Let's talk about Eben Byers. Wealthy
Speaker:Ivy league athlete,
Speaker:industrialist, socialite. After
Speaker:an arm injury, his doctor prescribed Radiathor to help
Speaker:with his general weakness. He loved it.
Speaker:He claimed it gave him energy, boosted his
Speaker:performance and improved his overall health.
Speaker:So he started taking three bottles a day
Speaker:for years. But then something
Speaker:started to happen. His teeth began to fall
Speaker:out, his jaw deteriorated,
Speaker:his bones turned brittle and started breaking
Speaker:and his skull developed holes.
Speaker:When the Federal Trade Commission finally got involved, he was
Speaker:literally falling apart. A reporter from
Speaker:the Wall Street Journal visited him and said the
Speaker:radium water worked fine until his jaw
Speaker:came off. By the time of his
Speaker:death in 1932, his body was
Speaker:so radioactive he had to be buried in a lead
Speaker:lined coffin. So what does that have
Speaker:to do with today? Well, let's look at the formula.
Speaker:Take a new scientific discovery,
Speaker:mix in vague health promises, add a
Speaker:dash of trust in personal testimonials,
Speaker:skip all the clinical testing, package it with
Speaker:buzzwords and celebrity hype. Sound
Speaker:familiar? Today we see the same
Speaker:cycle play out. Colloidal silver touted as a
Speaker:cure all even Though it turns people blue.
Speaker:Alkaline water, which ignores
Speaker:basic human physiology. Detox
Speaker:teas, which actually have no detoxifying
Speaker:ingredients. AI generated
Speaker:liver scams that paste my face on bottles and
Speaker:falsely claim that I endorse them. Yes, someone
Speaker:used my photo to market a fake liver detox
Speaker:supplement. By the way, they're all fake and claimed
Speaker:I supported it. I didn't. And it doesn't
Speaker:actually work because liver cleanses don't
Speaker:work. Your liver cleanses all by
Speaker:itself. So Radiothor may be
Speaker:gone and obvious that it was a problem,
Speaker:but the con and the basis of the con
Speaker:lives on. Just now it glows with
Speaker:artificial intelligence. Instead of radium, we have
Speaker:people calling themselves like the human biologist
Speaker:Dr. Gary Breca, who isn't a doctor
Speaker:who never graduated anything more than a bachelor's in
Speaker:biology degree and claims he can
Speaker:predict your actual date of death.
Speaker:So how did Radiothor get pulled off the market?
Speaker:Only after Eben buyers died and made headlines did the
Speaker:US government step in. The Federal Trade
Speaker:Commission began investigating the so called radioactive
Speaker:tonics and eventually new regulations from the
Speaker:FDA started banning untested radioactive
Speaker:health products. From that point on,
Speaker:radiation exposure limits became part of public
Speaker:health policy. And Radiothorpe, it became
Speaker:a cautionary tale in medical schools and law
Speaker:books. The irony? Radium does
Speaker:have real medical uses, like in cancer
Speaker:treatment, but it's carefully dosed,
Speaker:precisely targeted and medically
Speaker:supervised. Radium wasn't the
Speaker:villain. The villain was selling science without
Speaker:evidence and letting the public figure out the side
Speaker:effects one jaw at a time.
Speaker:We're still doing this. We're still buying
Speaker:natural products with no testing.
Speaker:We're still trusting influencers over
Speaker:physicians. We're still skipping the science
Speaker:for the story. So the next time someone
Speaker:says this tonic gave me energy, ask
Speaker:was it the product or was it Radiothor
Speaker:all over again?
Speaker:This episode was researched and written by me, Dr. Terry
Speaker:Simpson. You can find the blog posts and
Speaker:references@yourdoctorsorders.com and
Speaker:4Q com and while I am a doubly
Speaker:board certified physician, I am not your
Speaker:physician. If you're tempted by a supplement,
Speaker:a tonic or an AI generated detox ad using
Speaker:my face, talk to a real doctor and
Speaker:a registered dietitian. Not your chiropractor,
Speaker:not a celebrity with a skincare line, and
Speaker:definitely not a bottle that cool glows in the dark.
Speaker:The episode was produced, distributed and all things
Speaker:audio by Simpler media and the pod got
Speaker:himself my good friend Mr. Evo
Speaker:Terra have a bright good
Speaker:but hopefully not radioactive week.
Speaker:Hey Evo. If a TikTok guru told you to drink
Speaker:radioactive water for gut health, Would you wash it down with
Speaker:a detox tea or just sign up for the next
Speaker:goop cleanse?
Speaker:>> Speaker B: Yeah, I'm gonna go none of the above. Uh, on that one?
Speaker:I think so. Oh, also, very fun and
Speaker:entertaining episode. Good.
