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Smart Skepticism, Not Cynicism The gut health supplement and functional beverage market isn’t pure snake oil — there’s real science behind probiotics and prebiotics, and real consumers need driving the trend.—Sara Braun, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 22 Dec. 2025 The cinnamon version of snake oil falls into this category.—Paul Cappiello, Louisville Courier Journal, 12 Dec. 2025 In the late 19th century, traveling salesmen hawked concoctions of snake oil, uranium, or anything vaguely iridescent and passed it off as a youth tonic to unsuspecting customers.—Air Mail, 25 Oct. 2025 The door for misinformation and marketing ploys, pseudoscience, and snake oils is basically left wide open.—Sophia Panych, Allure, 16 Sep. 2025 See All Example Sentences for snake oil
: any of various substances or mixtures sold (as by a traveling medicine show) as medicine usually without having had the claims of their medical worth or properties substantiated by scientific tests
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