Peer-reviewed literature establishes that the original Chinese snake oil was rich in omega-3 fatty acids and was believed to decrease arthritis pain, functioning effectively as a traditional medicine before fraudulent western imitations co-opted the term.
Snake oil originally was a Chinese medication rich in omega-3 fatty acids which was made from the Chinese water snake. It was believed to decrease the pain of arthritis. The Hopi medicine men had used rattlesnake oil as an antiinflammatory. Rattlesnake oil has a lower concentration of omega-3 fatty acids. Towards the end of the 19th century Clark Stanley started selling rattlesnake oil as a cure for all diseases. The fact that this snake oil did not work led to the use of the term “snake oil” for substances of questionable efficacy that were sold with extravagant claims. Long before “snake oil” human beings had sought the “fountain of youth” and immortality. The first documented quest for immortality was that of Gilgamesh. He went searching for a wise man, Utnapishtim (“The Faraway”), who sent him to find an herb at the bottom of the ocean which would endow him with longevity. Unfortunately, while Gilgamesh slept a snake ate the herb. Immediately after eating it, the snake shed its skin and thus was rejuvenated (1). Over the centuries numerous explorers and scientists have searched for the elusive “fountain of youth” without success. In 1961, Leonard Hayflick demonstrated that as cells age they reach a stage where replication slows (“senescence”) before they stop dividing (2). When young cells are injured they undergo apoptosis, display phosphatidylserine on their cell surface which attracts macrophages leading to their elimination from tissue. In contrast, senescence cells behave like ‘zombies’, not being appropriately cleared and become toxic to their environment. Senescent cells lose the ability to repair cell damage and they produce inflammatory cytokines, chemokines and protein degrading molecules (3). Thus, these cells develop a senescence associated secretory phenotype (SASP) (4). In the latter part of the 20th century the focus for delaying aging and many chronic diseases was related to lifestyle factors, e.g., exercise, environmental pollution, dietary factors, smoking, infectious agents and reversing cellular toxicity e.g., DNA damage, oxidative stress, proteotoxic stress and telomere damage. In the 21st century the scientific focus has shifted to inhibition of SASP, enhancing survival pathways and increasing immune mediated clearance of senescent cells (5). A number of biochemical pathways have emerged as playing a key role in the aging process. These include insulin/insulinlike growth factor-1, target of rapamycin mechanistic mTOR, adenosine monophosphate activated protein kinase (AMPK) and the nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) – dependent sirtuin deacyclases (6). It is important to recognize that these pathways also play a key role in multiple other functions in the body, e.g., mTOR is essential for protein synthesis to develop muscle (7). These discoveries have led to scientists developing molecules to modulate these systems, some of which have been shown to extend lifespan in rodents (8, 9). Senolytics are drugs that extend lifespan by having general positive effects throughout the body, rather than focusing on one disease. This has led some scientists to suggest that aging should be recognized as a disease, thus making senolytics into legitimate main stream drugs. The concept is that the focus of medical research should be on curing aging rather than increasing lifeand health-span by focusing on individual diseases or even the geriatric syndromes. A major problem here is that showing in humans that a drug increases lifespan would theoretically need it to be administered from 50 or more years. To get around this, they suggest that showing an aging marker can be improved should be sufficient for regulatory agencies to approve it. The senolytic combination of Dasatinib (atyrosinase kinase inhibitor) and Quercetin (targeting BCL-2 and insulin/IGF-1 systems) (DQ) causes apoptosis of senescent compared to nonsenescent cells in human tissue and extends lifespan in mice (10). A 3-week study in 14 subjects with i
as "snake oil liniment", making claims about its efficacy as a panacea. Patent medicines that claimed to be panaceas were extremely common from the 18th
"Snake oil" is a term used to describe deceptive marketing, health care fraud, or a scam. Similarly, snake oil salesman is a common label used to describe someone who sells, promotes, or is a general proponent of some valueless or fraudulent cure, remedy, or solution. The term comes from the "snake oil" that was sold as a cure-all elixir for many kinds of physiological problems. Many 18th-century
"Snake oil" is a term used to describe deceptive marketing, health care fraud, or a scam. Similarly, snake oil salesman is a common label used to describe someone who sells, promotes, or is a general proponent of some valueless or fraudulent cure, remedy, or solution. The term comes from the "snake oil" that was sold as a cure-all elixir for many kinds of physiological problems. Many 18th-century European and 19th-century United States entrepreneurs advertised and sold mineral oil (often mixed with various active and inactive household herbs, spices, drugs, and compounds, but containing no snake-derived substances whatsoever) as "snake oil liniment", making claims about its efficacy as a panacea. Patent medicines that claimed to be panaceas were extremely common from the 18th century until the 20th century, particularly among vendors masking addictive drugs such as cocaine, amphetamine, alcohol, and opium-based…
The creation of the Food and Drug Administration in the 1930s, and the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906, is largely credited with the downfall of the snake oil salesman, and patent medicine industries in the United States. The Pure Food and Drug act "prohibited the sale of misbranded or adulterated food and drugs in interstate commerce and laid a foundation for the nation’s first consumer protection agency, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)".
False health products described by medical experts as "snake oil" continue to be marketed during the 21st century, including herbal medicines, dietary supplements, products such as Tibetan singing bowls (when used for healing) and treatments such as vaginal steaming. Companies such as Goop have been accused of selling snake oil in some of their health products and recommendations.
Everything we examined (2)
This check searched the claim as stated. It did not run a separate search for evidence against it.