‘Nature’s Hidden Cures’

A video currently circulating online opens with a dramatic warning:

Everything you’re about to hear, while extremely controversial, is completely true. However, due to powerful parties that have great interest in keeping this information hidden, this video presentation could be wiped from the internet at any time.

Over the next 40 minutes, the video, which was sent in by a TINA.org reader, refers to a number of at-home remedies that “powerful parties” like Big Pharma and others in the medical establishment allegedly don’t want the public to know about. Among them:

• A drink that can supposedly “flush out” cancer.
• A “holiday spice” that allegedly sinks blood sugar in two weeks.
• Other purported “science-backed underground disease therapies.”

Viewers are told that all of these secrets are revealed in a book called “Nature’s Hidden Cures: Over 101 Natural Healing Secrets,” which is touted as “an encyclopedia of cures” that is “absolutely free” and available to order today.

But that’s not the whole story.

The Book Isn’t Really Free

Despite repeated references to the book being “free,” consumers are not told until late in the video that in order to receive it, they must sign up for a paid subscription to Natural Health Response, a monthly newsletter primarily aimed at seniors.

Nor does the book include any remedies backed by competent and reliable scientific evidence.

Extraordinary Claims, Weak Evidence

The book (which we obtained by purchasing a six-month subscription for $74) reveals that the “cancer flush” treatment consists of drinking a “lightweight water” called “deuterium-depleted water,” or DDW, which can be purchased online. According to the book, drinking DDW has been shown to destroy cancer cells, decrease the size of tumors and even cure cancer completely.

The book cites (but never names) studies involving cancer patients, but in each case, patients drank DDW in addition to undergoing conventional cancer treatments, such as chemotherapy. So while the video claims that you can “avoid chemotherapy altogether” with the “cancer flush,” its supporting studies do not support such a claim.

Notably, the book does not mention a 2024 scientific review that concluded that “more randomized clinical trials are necessary to measure the effects of different concentrations of DDW on cancer treatments in patients.”

In other words, the science is far from settled.

As for the “holiday spice” that purportedly sinks blood sugar in two weeks, the book goes even further, claiming it also “reverses type 2 diabetes.” The miracle spice? Cinnamon.

The book claims that studies have shown that diabetics who take cinnamon experience lower blood sugar levels. But it later acknowledges that “[n]ot all studies on cinnamon have shown impressive benefits like the ones mentioned above – but when it comes to natural treatments, that’s to be expected.”

As part of our order, we also signed up to receive a bonus report called “Fight Diabetes in 7 Weeks” that claimed to reveal “the revolutionary tips that are changing (and saving) lives.” The physical report never arrived in the mail but a digital version was immediately available after subscribing to Natural Health Response. And the “revolutionary protocol”? It simply amounts to following a low-carb diet.

The Publishing Giant Behind the Pitch

The use of fear-based and conspiratorial messaging, coupled with miracle health claims and “free” offers that require paid subscriptions, are all part of the Agora playbook. The publishing giant’s multifaceted marketing machine consists of more than 80 different entities but its pitches can often be summed up in three words: Scare and sell.

In 2021, TINA.org found Agora using deceptive marketing tactics similar to those described above to trick seniors into purchasing products and programs in violation of an FTC settlement order approved earlier in the year. That order was the result of a lawsuit the FTC filed against Agora in 2019 alleging it targeted seniors with a phony diabetes cure and money-making schemes involving “congressional checks.”

Among those barred from making unsubstantiated health claims under the settlement order, in addition to Agora, is Dr. Richard Gerhauser, the editor of the Natural Health Response newsletter and the author of “Nature’s Hidden Cures.”

The Bottom Line

“Nature’s Hidden Cures” is being deceptively marketed as a secret path to healing. And behind the dramatic warnings and bold claims is a familiar business model from a company with a troubling track record that is prohibited from making these specific types of unsubstantiated health claims.

Find more of our coverage on Agora.