Science and Pseudoscience in Sport and Exercise with Nick Tiller

If you’ve ever tried a diet or a supplement, been to the gym or a spinning class, had physiotherapy or acupuncture, then you’re a consumer in the worldwide health and wellness industry worth an estimated $4 trillion.

Exercise and physical activity improve health and prolong life, but lax regulations on the products and practices we’re sold have led to an industry founded on strong claims and weak evidence. Science has become subordinate to marketing campaigns that exploit our scientific ignorance and ingrained biases and, as a result, the health and wellness industry is a breeding ground for pseudoscience. This may have profound implications for science-based medicine and population health.

In this talk, Dr. Nick Tiller lifts the lid on the commercial health and wellness industry and reframes it through the lens of scientific skepticism. From cupping to k-tape, Tiller confronts commercial health claims and points the spotlight on athletes who are pioneering mainstream trends in alternative medicine while the general population becomes increasingly obese. Tiller also discusses the erroneous processes by which we make our health and fitness decisions and what we can do about them.
 
Nick Tiller is a researcher in Applied Physiology at Harbor-UCLA and author of ‘The Skeptic’s Guide to Sports Science: confronting myths of the health and fitness industry’ which was reviewed in the May/June 2021 issue of Skeptical Inquirer. In his two decades as a physiologist, Tiller has supported Olympic performance programs in the UK and taught kinesiology and critical thinking as an Associate Professor. He is a science writer and skeptical activist with work featured in The Washington Post, BBC News, and Inside Science, among others.

This talk took place on September 16, 2021, as part of Skeptical Inquirer Presents. Learn more at skepticalinquirer.org/presents.