Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for February 14, 2021

I’m all for placebos as long as they are FDA approved.

It’s great to see Kim again.

Unless she’s been in the strip recently and I just forgot. Did I take my Prevagen? I don’t remember.

There are actual studies out there looking at the artificial jellyfish “supplement”. No statistically valid positive (or negative) effect. But, hey, your body’s different, so this placebo may work for you!

I work in the neuro field, so I feel obligated to call out Prevagen whenever it comes up.

That said, you’ve gotta admit that it’s a pretty advanced placebo to come with side effects. At what point are they just considered extremely unhealthy, expensive and bad-tasting candies?

If those gummies are bear shaped, maybe do some more research.

I don’t know how Trudeau expects not to get sued.

Thanks, I was beginning to get beaten down by those commercials.

You’re bombarded with all its benefits, but nobody talks about the downside!!

Like me, they are in a state that sells gummies.

Good grief it is actually real?

I thought Trudeau was just taking the generic piss.

But then if it sells, then that goes a long way to explaining Trump.

I was on a jury for a class action against Prevagen. It is, at best, a placebo. It is impossible for it to work as claimed.

This is weird but true. There have been real scientific studies that show some people who take placebos and know they are taking a placebo still get some relief from whatever ails them. Maybe not a whole lot of relief but if things are bad enough, I guess a little beats none.

The mind/body connection is really quite amazing. One of the strangest studies I read about in connection with this was quite a few years ago. People who had plantars warts (warts on the bottom of your feet) on both feet were hypnotized and given a post-hypnotic suggestion to get rid of the warts on say the right foot. And oddly enough, the warts on that foot went away. The mind can do a lot for or to the body.

Is that what the “Republican” Senators suffered from [memory loss] when they couldn’t remember their oath to be impartial?

Hear, hear, Kim!

I’m down with gummies to, but I’m Canadian, gummies mean something a bit different up here now. LOL

I kinda love how we’re all avoiding the ostensible content of the strip…short-attention span memory loss? I know I’m experiencing it…

Stimulate denial? Of what?

I use yellow sticky notes to remember things, unless I forget.

Ever notice that when these two talk to each other, they hardly ever are looking at each other at the time? Looking elsewhere…

“Down with”? KIm, you are not street!

This is what Trudeau did with cigarettes. When he senses a product is going down, his knives come out.

People have been selling us snake oil for so long we sort of like it. I mean really, everything is bad for us eventually. The best we can hope for is to live long enough to get in on the law suit.

Everyone knows jellyfish are great thinkers.

I thought sure this would have something to do with Valentine’s Day, the international day of love. At least we saw a lovely couple. Oh well. So sad for many today. Also, the impeachment decision yesterday was a joke, but not unexpected. However, if Trump thinks his legal troubles are over, he is in for a rude awakening…

Do they make you see colors?

Too much money to be made in supplements to regulate them. Thank you Orin Hatch.

I’m really surprised that he used an actual product in this. He must feel fairly safe from legal action.

I fell out of the habit of watching TV years and thus similarly fell out of the habit of watching commercials so this strip means little to me. Fortunately, there’s more stuff after this. :-)

I take a lot of supplements many of which I assume do nothing. But my doctor says I’m the healthiest 65 year old he’s ever had as a patient and don’t change a thing.

For a loving couple, they both seem to have consistently unhappy expressions on their faces this Valentine’s Day.

Placebos do have the least side effects on any anecdotally effective drug. If the fine print says, “not intended to treat or cure any condition”, why are you paying for it?

I got tired of having to take one placebo for memory, one for clarity, one for the kidney stones, and so on. Now I get it all in one place: PANACEBO, the miracle for all reasons! New Hyper-Strength Panacebo is the only supplement consistently rumored to cure hypochondria itself!

Panacebo uses only oil from free-range, cruelty-free snakes.

Between his debts, money-losing properties (which seem to be almost all of them) and criminal exposure, Donnie Five Chins’ future looks cloudy.

I had to laugh because soon after reading this comic I noticed an ad for “TheraBreath” a product to stop mask breath. You just can’t make this stuff up.

I see a lawsuit fom Premagen coming.

My gummies are red and shaped like a fish… But they make me feel better so there must be something in them!

Placebos…. I don’t have an opinion about it.

Thanks for doing something that’s not Trump-related, Gary. It’s quite refreshing.

If the majority can’t impeach Trump then he wasn’t guilty. The majority is still acting like losers and failing to govern.

Always nice to see Kim

… the jellyfish things makes me laugh so much… “Here.. eat these capsules made out of creature that has no brain to make your memory better”… uh wat?

It occurs to me that one explanation for some of the trolls on GoComics is that they’re taking placebos instead of their meds……

I hear they also work for COVID-19 and grow hair. It must be true, I saw it in a Facebook ad. {:-)

The 57 who voted were in the majority, and thank goodness they are now turning the page on the last 4 years. Impeachment doesn’t require a simple majority, but at least 2/3 majority of the Senate, at least 67 votes, rather difficult to obtain. However, other measures may be taken, such as invoking the 14th amendment section 3, which involves disqualifying those who take part in insurrection and this would be a simple majority vote.

For the record, I am not down with gummies. The texture of them isn’t to my liking.

Apoaequorin, the protein portion of aequorin, is an ingredient in the dietary supplement Prevagen. The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has charged the maker with false advertising for its memory improvement claims.

I got sucked in and took Prevagen for several months before I realized that even the placebo effect part was ineffective.

And, if you doubt their claims, they have the names of All Four Pharmacists on file with their lawyers.

https://www.gocomics.com/tomthedancingbug/2021/02/05

i’m game for anything that says ‘whole-food’ on the label.

“Researchers have discovered that chocolate produces some of the same reactions in the brain as marijuana. The researchers also discovered other similarities between the two, but can’t remember what they are.” —Matt Lauer, NBC’s Today show

Nice to see this recycled.