Mind, Body, Wallet: A Field Trip Through the Wellness Industry

In this special field-trip episode of On the Mones, pharmacist Kate Thomas heads to the Mind, Body, Spirit Festival in Sydney to explore one of the most fascinating corners of the modern wellness economy.

Between handmade pottery and beeswax candles are stalls offering:

• EMF harmonisers

• orgone energy devices

• pet psychics

• “structured” frequency water

• cannabinoid oils

• crystal healing

Some of it is beautiful.

Some of it is harmless fun.

And some of it makes some very ambitious claims about biology and physics.

In this episode we wander the aisles together and ask the question we always ask:

Prescribe… or Pass?

Along the way we unpack:

• the strange history of orgone energy and why scientists rejected it

• why structured water can’t store “molecular memory”

• what rouleaux formation actually means in real haematology

• the science behind β-caryophyllene and CB2 receptors

• and why the endocannabinoid system — a very real biological system — is so often misunderstood in wellness marketing

We also discuss new calls from the RACGP for national reform of medicinal cannabis prescribing, and use that as a springboard to explain how THC, CBD and the endocannabinoid system actually work in the body.

Because somewhere between laboratory research and Instagram captions…

the nuance often disappears.

And sometimes the best way to understand the wellness industry

is simply to walk through it.

Plus: crystals, a pet psychic, and possibly the most anatomically accurate granite sculpture you’ll ever see at a health expo.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

We're listening to On the Moon, where we have conversations about Hollow midlife, and the moments that make us wonder is it just me? I am Kate, and I am a 48-year-old monarchist in a newly muted hairy menopause all over here. This is where we talk openly about the changes we aren't prepared for, so we never have to feel alone in them again. I acknowledge the Camaragle people of the Eyora Nation, the traditional custodians of the land which I am recording today. I pay my respects to elders past and present, and I extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples listening. Always was and always will be Aboriginal Land. Hello friends. Today's episode is a little different. Normally we sit down and talk together about hormones and pharmacology and the occasional outrageous wellness claim. But today we're on a field trip. I'm walking through the Mind Body Spirit Festival in Sydney's Darling Harbour. It is a lovely, albeit quite warm day, and I've walked from the station to the convention center, past the huge screen where many gathered last night to watch the poor Matildas endure a narrow defeat to Japan at the final of the Asian Cup. Past Dance Alley, where there is a long wall of mirrors and groups of people performing coordinated dance routines, up a long escalator and into the cool, quiet of the convention hall. Lots of people, mainly women, of course, because wellness is unashamedly marketed and targeted to women. It smells like a wellness festival, as in it smells like incense, which is very pleasant. Scattered between the beeswax candles and handmade ceramics, there are also some fairly ambitious interpretations of biology and physics. Hypnotherapy, aura photography, medicinal herbs, colonics, chiropractors, lots and lots of psychics and tarot readings, iridology, palmistry, astrology, red light machines, Cemos, you get the idea. Let's wander the aisles together and ask the question we always ask. First stall. Reich believed there is a cosmic biological energy present everywhere in nature. This energy powered life, sexuality, emotions, and health. Blocked or disturbed organ energy supposedly caused physical and psychological illness. The idea evolved out of Reich's early work on libido and psychoanalysis. He gradually moved away from mainstream psychology and towards a theory that sexual energy was a literal physical force in the universe. Reich believed organ energy could be collected and concentrated. He invented devices called organ accumulators, which are essentially boxes large enough for a person to sit inside, built from alternating layers of organic material, so wood, and metal. He claimed these boxes could absorb organ energy from the environment, concentrate it inside the box, and improve health when people sat inside them. Reich even proposed using organ accumulators to treat cancer and other diseases. Now, unsurprisingly, scientists could not detect or measure orgon energy using any known physical method. Experiments attempting to replicate Reich's claims consistently failed. And as a result, organ is considered pseudoscience by the scientific community. No credible evidence supports its existence. In the 1950s, the US Food and Drug Administration investigated Reich's devices because he was selling them with medical claims. The FDA concluded organ accumulators had no scientific basis. Marketing them for medical treatment was fraudulent. Reich's books mentioning organ energy to be banned from distribution. This led to one of the most unusual events in U.S. scientific history. Thousands of copies of Reich's books were burned by court order in 1956. Reich was later imprisoned for violating the injunction and died in prison in 1957. Although rejected by science, the idea survives in parts of the New Age and alternative wellness world. Modern products sometimes claim to use organ energy, including organ pyramids, organ pendants, organite resin devices, energy balancing tools. These products are based on Rike's original concept but lack scientific evidence. But like many ideas in the wellness world, it never really disappeared, it just got better packaging. The GeoCleanse Home and Workplace Harmoniser is the only harmoniser in the world to neutralise over 30 noxious EMF fields in buildings. The GeoCleanse Home and Workplace Harmoniser protects you and your loved ones where it matters most. Your homes and offices. It effectively neutralises harmful electromagnetic fields emanating from 5G Wi-Fi TVs, electrical appliances, and other sources around us 24-7. It begs the obvious question: how can I access your webpage to buy this amazing product if I need 5G to get on the internet? Ethernet cable, maybe? Dial-up? Mobile phone and Wi-Fi harmoniser. Regular price,$38. Made from Orgon Effects exclusive Orgonium process, the mobile phone harmoniser creates a healthy negative charged energy field that neutralizes the harmful positive charged energy field emitted from mobile phones, laptops, Bluetooth headphones, and other Wi-Fi enabled devices. So again, my question. This seems to negate all the functionality of my phone, so why not just not have a phone? Since if this harmonizer actually does what it says it will do, my phone won't work anyway.$42 for a plastic wristband and$78 for Harmony Wear Cubic Zirconia Faceted Heart Pendant. I don't know about you, but I'm calling bullshit on this one. Prescribe or pass? It's a hard pass. Next door. Lots of crystals, lots of carved stones. Amethyst, quartz, granite, and ooh, what have we here? Some of the granite rocks have been carved into penises. Great detail, very factually accurate. Shall I ask if they have any that are bigger? Or blacker? Okay, stand by. Shame. Oh well. Maybe we'll find an adult toy stall here later on. Surely there are dildos. It's a mind-body spirit festival after all. Now crystals are often marketed as being able to balance energy, align chakras, heal emotional trauma, and improve physical health. But again, there is no credible evidence that crystals alter human physiology. That said, they can be beautiful objects. And if a carved granite penis brings someone joy, well, who am I to stand in between someone and their granite penis? Imagine a granite penis covered in crystals. Now we're talking. Medically speaking though, crystal healing, pass. Decorative rock, perfectly acceptable. Ah, now this is something. For those unfamiliar with the concept, pet psychics claim to communicate telepathically with animals. Sometimes living animals, sometimes deceased ones. This lady is also claiming to be a pet detective. Now, animals absolutely communicate, but they do so through behavior, vocalization, scent, and body language. Not telepathically with their humans. There is no scientific evidence that humans can access an animal's thoughts through psychic communication. However, I do have enormous sympathy for people who love their pets. And when someone loses an animal, that grief can be so very real. So what's being sold here is not really animal communication. It's comfort, and I don't know about preying on someone's grief and vulnerability and emotional connection to a loved one, any loved one, be they human or pet, and claiming to be able to speak to them. That seems like grifting in the worst possible way to me. Although I have often wondered what in the world is going on in my dog's tiny mind, I don't need a pet psychic to tell me it's a combination of what's that smell? What are the chickens doing? When will she feed me? Walkies? Pet psychic services. Pass. And just across the aisle here we have awake water. What is energized or structured water? Another very good question. This is mineral water that has apparently been infused with frequencies? Hang on. Now, if you've been listening to this podcast for a while, you'll know something about me. I love a good mechanism. Tell me the receptor, tell me the enzyme, tell me the pathway. But frequency-infused water raises a few questions. This is from their website. Water has a capability to form various structures through hydrogen bonds. These bonds or clusters serve as memory cells. The molecules of water constantly interchange, but the general shape of the cell stays the same. The interior of the cell can arrange itself in hundreds of thousands of ways, and these individual cells can interact with other cells in countless ways. Structured water uses. Structured water is used extensively in irrigation and food processing, where fruits have been shown to ripen faster and require up to 20% less water. Really? Top bakers use structured water to improve texture of bread whilst decreasing the amount of yeast needed. Factories use structured water for cooling purposes as it produces less corrosion. Ruleau formation of cells. Drinking structured water has also been shown to reverse the Ruleau formation of cells, which has been shown to be a non-specific indication that some form of illness is present. Repel. Structured water can charge the cells, allowing them to repel each other. This gives the cells the ability to carry more oxygen and changes their pH from an anaerobic one to a more positive aerobic one. Okay, let's debunk. Claim one, hydrogen bonds create memory cells in water. What they are describing is a misinterpretation of hydrogen bonding in liquid water. In real chemistry, water molecules form temporary hydrogen bonds with neighbouring molecules. These bonds form and break extremely quickly. Hydrogen bonds rearrange roughly every picosecond. That's one trillionth of a second. That means the structure of water is constantly changing. There are no stable clusters acting like memory storage. The idea that water retains a structural memory is a concept that originated in homeopathy and has never been demonstrated experimentally. Claim two, structured water. Structured water is a marketing term, not a scientific one. Sometimes companies claim their process restructures water molecules, aligns molecular clusters, energizes water, and restores natural structure. But in liquid water, the hydrogen bond network is dynamic, the structure changes continuously, and any imposed arrangement disappears almost immediately. The only places water forms stable structures are ice, crystalline lattices, and very specific surfaces in lab experiments. None of that survives in a water bottle. Claim 3. Ruleau formation. This one is particularly wild because they've borrowed a real hematology term. Ruleau refers to red blood cells stacking together like coins. It can occur in conditions where blood proteins increase, such as inflammation, infection, multiple myeloma, autoimmune diseases. It is something seen under a microscope in blood samples. It is not something caused or reversed by drinking special water. And more importantly, once water enters your body, it is absorbed in the gut and becomes part of the plasma, which is tightly regulated. Your blood composition is controlled by kidneys, electrolytes, plasma proteins, and osmotic balance. Drinking structured water cannot rearrange blood cell morphology. Claim 4. Cells repel each other and carry more oxygen. This is a mashup of misunderstandings. Red blood cells already repel each other because of their negative surface charge, called the zeta potential. This charge is determined by membrane proteins, plasma chemistry, and ionic environment. It is not altered by the structure of drinking water. An oxygen carrying capacity depends on hemoglobin concentration, hemoglobin saturation, long oxygen exchange, not on how water molecules are arranged. Claim 5. Changes their pH from anaerobic to aerobic. This sentence is basically scientific word salad. Problems. Cells do not have anaerobic pH. Oxygen use, aerobic versus anaerobic metabolism, is not determined by drinking water, and blood pH is extremely tightly regulated by lungs and kidneys. It varies only between about 7.35 to 7.45. If drinking water changed that significantly, you would be critically unwell. Shall we taste it? Let's taste it. Hi. Yeah, yeah, I'd love to try some taste. Tastes like water. Frequency water? Solid pass. Next stall, Canner oils. Now this is actually a little bit more complicated. Cannabis-derived products can contain compounds like CBD or THC, which interact with the endocannabinoid system. That system does exist, and there is legitimate research into cannabinoids for conditions like epilepsy, chronic pain, and nausea. And they are prescription-only medications prescribed by licensed prescribers only. So what have we here? BPC. BPC is a terpen. Terpenes are aromatic compounds found in many plants and responsible for smells such as cloves, black pepper, hops, cannabis, and rosemary. BCP is particularly abundant in clove oil and black pepper. BCP has been shown in laboratory studies to act as a selective agonist at the CB2 receptor. The CB2 receptor is part of the endocannabinoid system, which includes CB1 receptors mostly in the brain, and CB2 receptors mostly in immune cells and peripheral tissue. CB2 activation is associated with anti-inflammatory signalling, modulation of immune response and pain signalling pathways. BCP is unusual because it's a dietary terpene that can interact with CB2 receptors. This was first described in a 2008 paper. So the claim that it can activate CB2 receptors is not invalid. But here's where the marketing jumps ahead of the science. Most of the evidence for BCP's effects comes from cell studies, animal studies, and very small human studies. What we do not have is strong clinical evidence that BCP oils treat disease, improve health outcomes, have meaningful pharmacological effects when taken as supplements. And we definitely don't have any evidence that a few drops of clove-derived BCP oil will produce significant CB2-mediated therapeutic effects in humans. Another important point, dose. Receptor activation depends on concentration at the receptor site. Even though BCP can bind to CB2 receptors in lab experiments, the question is: does orally consumed terpene reach sufficient concentrations in human tissues to matter? That is still unclear. Many plant compounds interact with receptors in vitro but do nothing clinically at dietary doses. BCP is also known as a CB2 oil. This is pure marketing language. Scientists would never call something a CB2 oil. It's simply a terpene that can act as a CB2 agonist under certain conditions. A fair statement would be: BCP is a terpene found in many plants. It can bind to CB2 receptors in laboratory studies. This suggests possible anti-inflammatory effects. However, there is very limited clinical evidence that BCP supplements produce meaningful therapeutic effects in humans. This is a classic wellness maneuver. Start with a real receptor, add a plant compound, sprinkle in the word cannabinoid, and suddenly your clove oil sounds like a pharmaceutical. So this one is not a full pass, but it's definitely a proceed with caution. Next stall, Happy Science, which is actually a religious movement founded in Japan in the 1980s. It blends elements of Buddhism, New Age spirituality, and teachings from its founder who claims to channel spiritual entities. It's a spiritual belief system, so from a medical perspective, there's nothing to prescribe, but there's also nothing to evaluate scientifically. However, I am interested in how someone starts a religion. Do you just say, hey, I'm starting this religion? Who's with me? Because if that's the case, I would like to announce that I am starting one. What about Because if that's the case, I would like to announce that I am starting one. What about the Church of Evidence? And followers can be called the peer reviewers, or the randomized controlled. I like it. Or the order of the sacred mechanism. Followers are called the enlightened pathway seekers or the pharmacokinetics. Ooh, or the church of the holy pub med. Our core belief. Truth shall be revealed through indexed journals. Their sacred ritual, the daily literature search. How about the order of the pharmacological enlightenment? All things can be understood through receptors, ligands, and half-lives. Followers are called the bioavailable. May first pass metabolism be with you and also with you. This one wins my personal favorite stall name of the day. Root and Rise. Spelt R-W-O-T. As in rooted in nature, rising in ritual. Which is lovely. But also, unfortunately for them, sounds like something you might discuss with your GP. Or as many people in my TikTok commented, surely it's rise then root. Or as my husband suggested, wouldn't root and relax be better? Not entirely sure if the branding department thought that one through. Well, we've now wandered up and down the aisles. I've done a full lap of the Mind Body Spirit Festival. And I have to say, I've actually come away with a couple of lovely things. A very delightful handmade pottery mug that will be perfect for my morning coffee, and a very nice glossy lip balm that I'm also extremely happy with. Now, a lot of what's here is actually quite normal stuff. Olive, salami, skincare, pottery, but rebranded with a light dusting of woo to fit the theme of the day. There are also a lot of psychics, which I suppose is harmless fun as long as you don't take what they say too seriously, and there are certainly plenty of opportunities to spend your money here, which is why, for the purposes of today's episode, I've been calling it Mind Body Wallet. But look, for the six Dollars the ticket cost me and the hour I spent wandering around, it's actually been quite interesting because it gives you a little glimpse, just a small window, into the many different ways people think about their health and their wellness. And that, if nothing else, is always fascinating.

SPEAKER_01 22:19

Interesting.

SPEAKER_00 22:22

The RACGP has just called for national reform of medical cannabis prescribing in Australia, raising concerns about the rapid growth of online cannabis clinics and telehealth prescribing. Over the past few years, there's been a huge increase in medicinal cannabis prescriptions, many issued through private telehealth services operating outside traditional GP care. And because these products aren't on the PBS, the whole system largely sits outside the usual guardrails of Medicare-funded primary care. GP leaders are worried about inconsistent regulations between states, potential conflicts of interest where companies both sell the cannabis and employ the doctors prescribing it, and the risk that vulnerable patients, particularly those with substance abuse issues, may not be getting appropriate oversight. So, in light of all of that, I thought it might be a good time to take a step back and talk about something that gets mentioned consistently in wellness marketing but rarely explained properly. The endocannabinoid system. What is it, why it exists, and what THC and CBD are actually doing in the body. First, the endocannabinoid system is real. This is not a woo concept. The endocannabinoid system, ECS, is a legitimate biological signalling system that exists in all vertebrates. It was discovered in the 1990s when scientists were trying to understand how THC, the psychoactive compound in cannabis, works in the brain. What they discovered was surprising. Humans already have receptors designed to interact with molecules that look chemically similar to THC, meaning the body already has a system in place. Which raised a fascinating question, if we have receptors for cannabinoids, what molecules are they meant to be binding to? And the answer is our own internally produced cannabinoids, which is why they are called endocannabinoids, endo meaning made within the body. The three parts of the endocannabinoid system. Firstly, receptors. There are two main cannabinoid receptors, CBD1 receptors, these are found mostly in the brain and central nervous system. They influence things like mood, memory, appetite, pain, perception, and coordination. These are particularly dense in areas like the hippocampus, basal ganglia, and cerebellum, which explains a lot about what cannabis does. CB2 receptors, these are found mostly in the immune system and peripheral tissues, they play roles in immune signaling, inflammation, immune cell regulation. Secondly, endocannabinoids. The body produces its own signalling molecules that activate these receptors. The two most studied are anandomide, sometimes nicknamed the bliss molecule. Fun fact, the name comes from the Sanskrit word ananda, meaning bliss. Anandamide influences mood, stress response, appetite, and pain perception. And 2AG, which I'm not even going to attempt to pronounce, this one is present at much higher concentrations in the body and is involved in immune regulation, inflammation, and synaptic signaling in the brain. And thirdly, enzymes. Endocannabinoids don't hang around forever. They are broken down by enzymes once their signal has been delivered. For example, Faah fatty acid amide hydrolase breaks down the enandamide. This helps keep the system tightly regulated. The endocannabinoid system is primarily a homeostasis system. Its job is to help keep the body in balance. Think of it as a fine-tuning mechanism. It modulates things like pain signaling, appetite, stress response, immune activity, sleep cycles, and memory processing. But it doesn't run these systems directly. Instead, it acts more like a dimmer switch, adjusting the intensity of signals rather than turning things fully on or off. Now enter cannabis. Cannabis contains phytocannabinoids, plant-derived cannabinoids. The two most famous are THC and CBD, but they behave very differently in the body. THC, the psychoactive cannabinoid. THC, tetrahydrocannabinoid, acts as a partial agonist at the CB1 receptors in the brain, meaning it activates those receptors. Because CB1 receptors are dense in areas involved in memory coordination, reward, and perception, THC produces the classic cannabis effects euphoria, altered perception of time, increased appetite, impaired memory, reduced nausea, analgesia. But CB1 receptors also exist in the motor coordination centers of the brain, which is why THC can affect reaction time and coordination. Which is also why driving and THC do not mix well. CBD, the confusing one. CBD behaves very differently. It does not strongly activate CB1 or CB2 receptors. Instead, it acts in several more subtle ways. For example, it can modulate CB1 receptor activity indirectly. It may inhibit FAAH, which increases the levels of anandamide. It interacts with serotonin receptors, particularly 5HT1A. And it influences TRPV1 receptors, which are involved in pain signaling. So CBD works more like a signal modulator than a direct activator. This is why CBD does not produce intoxication. Here's the part that often gets lost in wellness marketing. Just because a system exists does not mean adding plant cannabinoids automatically improves health. The endocannabinoid system is already finely regulated by the body. And like any biological system, artificially manipulating it can produce both beneficial and unwanted effects. For example, THC can help with chemotherapy-induced nausea, certain chronic pain states, appetite stimulation, but it can also produce anxiety, impaired cognition, and dependence in some users. CBD shows promise in specific areas, particularly certain rare seizure disorders, but many of the broader claims around sleep, anxiety, inflammation, and general wellness are still very mixed in the evidence. One final interesting fact: endocannabinoids are not stored in vesicles in the way many neurotransmitters are. They are actually produced on demand from lipid precursors in cell membranes, which means the body generates them exactly when they're needed. Another example of how beautifully regulated this system already is. The takeaway, the endocannabinoid system is real, it's fascinating, and it plays a role in many physiological processes. But like many biological systems, that gets discovered by science, it has been enthusiastically adopted by the wellness industry. And somewhere between the laboratory and the Instagram caption, the nuance sometimes disappears. And that's our field trip of the Mind Body Wallet Festival. People go to these events for lots of reasons: curiosity, community, hope, sometimes just for a nice handmade mug. But when it comes to health claims, it's worth remembering something simple. If something genuinely treats disease, improves symptoms, or changes physiology, it doesn't stay in a market stall forever. Eventually it gets tested, measured, studied, and if it works, it becomes medicine. And if it doesn't, well, it stays here, next to the granite penuses. I'll look forward to your company next time we get on the moons. Until then, follow me on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook at Prescribe OrPal. Bye bye.