AROUND three weeks ago, several editors in New Scientist’s London office received large and enticing-looking packages through the post. They came from a PR firm and contained free samples of a new food supplement, along with a glossy brochure touting the health-giving properties of its main ingredient – a plant extract that shall remain nameless.
Far be it for us to dispute the claims of the PR company, though a search of the medical literature failed to turn up any randomised, placebo-controlled trial of the supplement’s effectiveness, so we cannot say whether it works or not. There was, however, a certain…
