Expensive Pee ‪?‬

Expensive Urine?

The Truth About Vitamins, Powders and the Billion-Dollar Health Business



Vitamin D for the winter, magnesium for cramps, collagen for the skin, ashwagandha for stress – and by the end of the month a shopping cart full of tubs costing 63 euros. Millions of people take dietary supplements every day. But how much of it actually reaches the body – and how much just ends up in the sewage plant?



Heinz Siegfried Pestner tells the story of vitamins from the scurvy-ridden crews of Magellan's fleet to the longevity capsules of today's influencers: gripping, dryly funny and never preachy. He shows what the big studies have really found, who genuinely needs what, and where the benefit ends and the marketing begins.



The book answers the questions everyone asks in front of the shelf:



• Which supplements make sense for which deficiency – and which are just a money machine?

• Are expensive brands really better than no-name products from the drugstore or discounter?

• Do I have to buy everything at the pharmacy?

• When does too much become dangerous, and which interactions with medication should I know about?

• How does the global billion-dollar business work – and the illegal black market in fake and contaminated pills?



Plus an A-to-Z guide to the key vitamins, minerals and trend substances, a traffic-light system for a quick overview, sample labels to practise on, the twenty most popular vitamin myths put to the test, and checklists for your own bathroom cabinet – including the legal situation in Austria and Germany.



A guide to read and to look things up in, for anyone who wants to spend less on pills and know more about their health.



From the author of the provocative guide "The Honest Egoist: Why Good People Lose" – once again uncomfortable, once again honest, this time looking inside your bathroom cabinet.