VICE (2013) s06e24 Episode Script
Voodoo Wrestling and Big Placebo
1 SHANE SMITH: This week on Vice: The voodoo wrestlers of the Congo.
(MISS MARTH SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE) (BAND PLAYING) DEXTER THOMAS: Is that an eel? I have no idea what's happening right now.
SMITH: And then, the booming industry surrounding wellness.
CHARLET DUBOC: Is this just seawater? - Pretty much.
- (LAUGHTER) - DUBOC: Pretty much or yes? - Yes.
NINA SHAPIRO: The placebo effect is real, and it's very powerful, and that keeps people shopping.
(THEME MUSIC PLAYING) (CROWD SHOUTING) They're saying that right now, it's time for change.
(INDISTINCT SHOUTING) For decades, the Democratic Republic of Congo has been crippled by poverty, dictatorship and a festering civil war.
But in the middle of all that chaos, one of the most unique combat sports in the world has become wildly popular.
The sport is roughly translated as voodoo wrestling, and while it's been facing blowback, because of its often brutal use of mystic rituals, it's also been a rare source of hope, and in recent months, change, as the sport draws in a new demographic: female fighters.
(RHYTHMIC PERCUSSION PLAYING) Congo That's what it is, Congo Congo Hey! (CHEERING) - Hey! You! - Funky Come on Yeah! Woo! Come on Yeah, baby Congo We're in the Masina neighborhood of Kinshasa right now.
We're following a massive procession of wrestlers over to the ring.
We're about to watch some catch fétiche.
Catch is what locals call professional wrestling.
Fétiche is, basically, what we would call voodoo.
So, it's pretty much professional wrestling with voodoo attached.
Here in the DRC, if you're gonna watch sports on TV, or sports period, you're gonna watch one of two things: soccer or catch fétiche.
And right now, catch fétiche is what's blowing up.
- (CHEERING) - (ANNOUNCER SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY) - (THUDS) - (CROWD GROANS) (CROWD GROANING) - (SLAPS) - (CROWD CHEERING) THOMAS: Most people translate catch fétiche as voodoo wrestling, but even that doesn't really capture it.
Being in a catch fétiche event is like watching a WWF match, combined with a religious festival, combined with a block party.
A lot of the wrestlers are in the army, and the military shows up in full force.
(SPEAKING FRENCH) THOMAS: Fighters use anything to win: hammers, knives, - and even live animals.
- Is that an eel? MAN: Yeah! I have no idea what's happening right now.
(BAND PLAYING) THOMAS: My man put smoke onto Lit the chicken on fire! Holy fucking shit! Whoa! Okay, I did not see that happening.
Wow! - What? Shit! - (ANNOUNCER YELLING INDISTINCTLY) Yo, that chicken is still alive! Oh! (LAUGHS) Okay, that is not a joke.
That was all supposed to happen.
Wow! (BAND PLAYING) Wow! THOMAS: After decades of civil war, some of Congo's major cities have recently seen relative stability, which has made room for catch fétiche to grow in popularity.
But the sport itself has been around since the 1970s, thanks to Edingwe Moto, who some call the godfather of catch fétiche.
(MOTO SPEAKING FRENCH) So, you saw that, and did you think, "Okay, I wanna be like this guy.
I wanna be like Hulk"? (LAUGHS) (MOTO SPEAKING FRENCH) THOMAS: When did you start bringing in the fétiche into your catch style? THOMAS: Embracing fétiche and traditional ancestor worship, was one of the effects of the early reign of President Mobutu, who made an official government policy of rejecting colonial Western influence and returning to what he called the country's authentic culture.
That official policy was mostly abandoned, as Mobutu's government became more and more corrupt.
But the attachment to fétiche and its use in wrestling never went away.
Catch fétiche matches happen mostly in the streets of major cities, like Kinshasa, but there are also bigger events held in arenas, and the profile of the sport is rising, partly thanks to people like Mpinda Frank.
He's a professional wrestler, but he mostly focuses on promoting the sport, both inside and outside the Congo.
(ANNOUNCER SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY) This is part of our culture.
It used to be the way of life.
When the Western came with colonization, they bring religion.
So, they make everybody forgt - about the culture.
- (BELL RINGING) And now it's time for people, they are free.
They are going back.
They call it (SPEAKS FRENCH) So back to the roots.
(SINGING) THOMAS: But for Congo's powerful religious authorities, this is not a return to Congolese roots or an opportunity to improve the country.
It's blasphemy.
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) (SPEAKING FRENCH) (RHYTHMIC RATTLING) THOMAS: This opposition has made it hard for the sport to grow.
It's even harder on the wrestlers.
That includes Shakira, one of a growing number of women who are entering catch fétiche.
What would you say is the most meaningful thing for you here? (SHAKIRA SPEAKING FRENCH) Do you think you could win without coming in here and talking to Papa John? (SHAKIRA SPEAKING) (RATTLING) (SHAKIRA SPEAKING) (BAND PLAYING) THOMAS: When you step into the ring, what are you feeling, what's happening in your head? (SHAKIRA SPEAKING FRENCH) THOMAS: Do you prefer fighting against women or men? (SPEAKING FRENCH) (ANNOUNCER YELLS) (ANNOUNCER SPEAKING) (WHISTLE TRILLS) (SHAKIRA SPEAKING FRENCH) What fight are you the most proud of? (CHUCKLES SOFTLY) (SPEAKING FRENCH) (FLUTE PLAYING) (MAN SHOUTING INSTRUCTIONS) THOMAS: Catch isn't just helping people grapple with the past.
A whole new generation is using it to prepare for the future.
We're in the Masina neighborhood in Kinshasa right now, and we're at Club 6600 Volts, which is Ninja's club, and you can see Ninja right there, and he's training people.
Three times a week, he's here training men, but also young boys.
You can see a bunch of boys here, getting trained for free.
What made you wanna train people? You could just be a fighter yourself.
(SPEAKING FRENCH) (GRUNTS, SHOUTS INDISTINCTLY) You think this is a good influence for the kids you're training? (SPEAKING FRENCH) (CHATTERING) We're in kind of a makeshift gym, and from what I'm hearing, this is actually one of the better ones.
It is a little bit rare, from what I'm hearing, to have things like running machines and the bicycles.
But if you look at this, this is not your normal set of weights here.
This is actually car brakes.
I mean, it's also kind of wild 'cause you see people here working out in whatever they've got on with whatever kind of materials they can use.
I mean, my man here's got jeans on.
I got my man in the back with some Balenciagas.
It's hot.
It's sweaty.
It's dark, and this is where you get it in.
For a lot of people in the Congo, wrestling is a way out of extreme poverty.
But it hasn't only been good for men.
Along with Shakira, a rising class of women wrestlers are becoming empowered through the sport.
For them, it provides a source of income and respect.
Why is it that you wanna do catch instead of something els? (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) THOMAS: Do you think it's more difficut for a young woman to get involved in catch than it is for guys? THOMAS: These young women train here e because of their coach, Miss Marth.
Miss Marth was one of the first female wrestlers to come on the scene in the DRC.
She's won multiple championship titles, and now, she also coaches other women who wanna follow in her footsteps.
But the Congo is a difficult place to be a woman.
Aside from the years of conflict, there are alarming rates of rape and violence against women and one of the widest gender gaps in the world.
(MISS MARTH SPEAKING) (CHATTERING) (TV PLAYING INDISTINCTLY) MPINDA: I believe in fétiche.
It promotes your culture, and we don't want that culture to disappear.
I want to promote this style, Congolese style, around the world.
I want to take it from ghetto, to the international media.
I want people to discover the talent and the skill of these young people.
Listen To my voice sing (MISS MARTH SPEAKING) (MISS MARTH SPEAKING) (WHISTLE TRILLS) Need a little chicken Need a little rice (ANNOUNCER SPEAKING) (ANNOUNCER SHOUTS) THOMAS: When people talk about your career, 50, 60 years from now, what do you think they'll say? (SHAKIRA SPEAKING) (ANNOUNCER SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY) (AUDIENCE CHEERS) (WHISTLE TRILLS) (CHEERING) (MISS MARTH SPEAKING) Wellness is an umbrella term, representing everything from yoga, to vitamins, to aromatherapy.
It's also a multi-billion dollar business in the US alone, and over a trillion-dollar business globally.
And as it booms, marketers are slapping this label on all types of products, including dietary supplements, many of which claim farfetched health benefits.
So, we sent Charlet Duboc to explore this rapidly growing industry.
Hi.
I think we only have 30 seconds, I've never done this before.
I'm Charlet.
We're in Lauryn's kitchen.
She's about to teach us how to make a delicious smoothie, - which is great.
- That was perfect.
(LAUGHTER) Hey, guys, it's Lauryn.
Welcome back to my channel.
DUBOC: Lauryn Bosstick is the creator of online lifestyle brand the Skinny Confidential, with a website, a YouTube channel, a popular podcast, and more than 700,000 followers on Instagram.
LAURYN: We're gonna throw Beauty Dust in here.
It has ashwagandha in it, which helps with anxiety.
And this also has pearl extract.
Love pearl extract.
(WHIRRING) So, it's really ugly.
It doesn't taste absolutely amazing - (SPITS) - (LAUGHING) DUBOC: Other than, you know, the obvious foods in here, we're adding in these newer supplementary ingredients.
How did you find out about them? With me, I just really try to just weed through all the information and figure out what's really working, and present it in a easy, fun, cheeky way.
DUBOC: She took us to her go-to wellness spot, Earthbar, in West Hollywood, a celebrity favorite.
LAURYN: These are minerals, raw ocean minerals.
There's potassium, magnesium Mm-mm.
Is this just seawater? - Pretty much.
- (LAUGHS) - Pretty much or yes? - Yes.
(LAUGHING) LAURYN: These are herbs that have been around for thousands of years.
This one is going to give you mental power, sexual energy, and muscle tone.
That's how simple wellness could be.
DUBOC: Lauryn is part of a new wave of wellness influencers, who are often not licensed medical professionals, but can make huge sums of money endorsing, so-called, natural products and supplements.
Today, the US supplements market generates between $35-40 billion annually.
But with this explosion in the popularity of supplements, many Americans are looking to them as alternatives to more conventional healthcare treatments.
We're in Boonville, Indiana, to meet a woman with a chronic illness who's been experimenting with dietary supplements to try to alleviate some of her symptoms.
I mean, like, I wanted to be back to myself.
DUBOC: Ten years ago, schoolteacher Andi Waters developed hemiplegic migraines, leaving her largely housebound and unable to work.
If I have a migraine, basically what happens is my body behaves as if it's had a stroke.
You know, my face will lose feeling.
My speech gets real thick and slurred.
My right leg'll go out.
I can wake up and be feeling fine, and in the span of 10 minutes, be laying on the couch, fully incapacitated.
DUBOC: Even with a daily cocktail of prescription drugs, her medical doctors have told her that her symptoms may never go away.
At that point, you get so desperate.
So, I ended up going to a naturopath here in town, and they gave me vitamins that were literally, like, $60 a week.
And once you get there and you're paying for it, and you're paying for it, and you're paying for it, and they're telling you, the whole time you're paying for it, "This is gonna In three months, you're gonna feel so much bet in three months.
" Then, inevitably, it doesn't work, and you watch your bank account just kind of dwindle, as, you know, you've paid for your stupidity, and, uh, you pick yourself up and you move on, - and for some people, it's to the next cure-all.
- Mm-hmm.
And for me, it was just bitterness and anger.
DUBOC: And it's not just the chronically ill pinning their hopes and money on supplements.
We met with Dr.
Nina Shapiro, a surgeon and author of the book, "Hype, A Doctor's Guide to Medical Myths, Exaggerated Claims, and Bad Advice," to discuss what makes alternative medicines so appealing.
People who need to take a vitamin or a supplement are people who are deficient in those vitamins or supplements, which is an extremely small percent of the human population.
It's very tricky, and it's very enticing, and the labeling is great.
The marketing is phenomenal.
These are next to regulated medications often, whether it's in a pharmacy or in a grocery store, and it is really deceptive for the consumer.
And if many of these products or therapies haven't been proven to work, why are they allowed to be sold with claims which suggest that they do work? Claims are tricky because, you know, again, that's marketing any product.
You can say that any product works.
It certainly can, and a lot of why these products can get away with it and why people continue to buy them is the placebo effect.
And the placebo effect is real and it's very powerful, and that keeps people shopping.
DUBOC: Dr.
Tor Wager is one of the leading researchers studying the powerful effects placebos have on the body.
Getting a placebo treatment can have surprisingly large effects on depression, and anxiety, and even some neurological disorders, like Parkinson's disease.
We are studying placebo effects to understand the brain mechanisms that allow that kind of response to work.
DUBOC: The test he's doing on me today is based on pain sensitivity, via a device that will safely burn my skin.
Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow! Stop, stop, stop! Three separate spots on my arm were covered in cream.
I was told the center one was painkilling lidocaine, while the outer two were merely moisturizer.
All three spots were then burned, and I was asked to rate the pain level of each.
- The first one was the most painful.
- Mm-hmm.
The last one was the second most painful, and the middle one, with the lidocaine, was the least painful.
The thing is because you knew this was a placebo study, - we double-crossed you.
- (LAUGHING) - So, these were both moisturizer cream.
- (GASPS) So, in this case, you had a little bit less pain with the placebo than with the actual lidocaine.
And that's in part because you expected it to be lower.
So, why did that happen? Placebo treatments can activate the brain systems in the prefrontal cortex, that are really important for assignment of meaning.
In addition, we're seeing activation of pathways that connect the frontal cortex to the brainstem.
And so, what we're finding is that a placebo treatment can tap into that system, and can activate natural pain-relieving chemicals in your brain.
Can you give some examples of ways that placebo works in alternative medicine? A big part, I think, of how people progress over time with illness is their narrative for what that illness is.
What caused it? What's gonna help me? Is there help? Is there hope? I think, to the degree that alternative medicine treatments work that don't have any real physiological mechanisms, they work by helping people to change that narrative.
And if people feel better after taking some substance, that could be caused by the placebo effect, in which case, it's not the thing that you're taking that's helping you.
It's you helping you.
DUBOC: And, as it turns out, helping people help themselves is a pretty lucrative busines.
We're at the third annual Goop Summit, Goop being the wellness brand that was started by Gwyneth Paltrow.
It was once fringe, but as you can see, from the steady stream of well-turned out, mostly white women, some of whom have paid up to $4,500 to be here this weekend, wellness is booming.
What began as a weekly lifestyle newsletter in 2008, is now valued at an estimated $250 million.
- Whoa! - WOMAN: It's bright.
It's bright.
DUBOC: So, why the syringe? Instead of going to a doctor and taking a shot with them come take a shot with us.
Everyone associated with Goop and Gwyneth has just this power to them, and you really trust them.
So, I'm gonna play the bowl for you.
(RINGING) Allow your imagination to just take you to a place called Mongolia.
So, what's emerging is you were a king.
Who knew? Mongolian king.
DUBOC: I'm scared, I'm scared.
Oh my God, oh my God.
I'm gonna be sick.
I'm gonna throw up.
(GASPS) So, you should feel the effects about an hour or two.
And what should I feel? Energy, mental clarity.
Why aren't doctors prescribing this in a more mainstream medical sense? When you're in medical school, no one talks about vitamin therapy.
It's not taught in the curriculum.
Everyone talks about antibiotics, and trying to cure disease through antibiotics, not through vitamins.
- Thank you so much.
- Yeah, thank you for coming by.
I'm sorry I was such a baby! - No, you were great.
- (LAUGHS) DUBOC: Many attendees find inspiration in Goop's message that more conventional medicine isn't your only option.
For me, personally, Western medicine failed me.
In one appointment, he was like, "Oh, you have this.
Here's this prescription.
" And tried to send me on my way.
I was like, no! I know there's something deeper going on, and I know it's not just this one thing that you labeled me under, which is so common, which is IBS.
I'm like, I'm sorry, but that's BS because no.
And it ended up being leaky gut, and Hashimoto's, and I lost my period.
So, that's why I've turned to functional medicine because it's helped me so much more.
DUBOC: But for all the faith Goop devotees have in the brand, it is has been a target of harsh criticism for the promotion of certain products.
The non-profit organization, Truth in Advertising, filed a complaint with several California district attorneys, alleging Goop made 51 deceptive health claims about the products it promote.
We wanted to ask Goop about the ethics of playing health guru to thousands of women.
So, we went straight to Gwyneth Paltrow herself.
- Hi! - Thank you.
I know you're tired.
I've had my B-12 shot, so So did I, and it's fucking not working.
(GROWLS) So, we're here at the Goop Summit, and wellness is booming.
What do you think it has to say about society in America? Well, I think that the idea of wellness really starts to resonate with people when either they, or someone that they love very much, is in some kind of a health crisis, and the answers are not effective.
- Mm-hmm.
- It's not about throwing out Western medicine, but it really is about understanding that the consumer, especially women in America who aren't feeling well, and who are feeling unheard, people really want now to have autonomy in their wellness journey, and so the consumer is starting to shape the way all of this is happening.
Yeah, we've been hearing that all day.
Women are finding themselves feeling dismissed by conventional routes.
They want more options.
But, I mean, here you do offer products and practices that are accepted by the medical consensus - that have peer-reviewed scientific studies.
- Right.
But then, you offer things that haven't, - but they're all under the same roof.
- Right.
Well, I think, the idea is that science is always changing, and theories are always changing, and, of course, evidence is key.
But, sometimes, evidence is anecdotal for people.
So, these debates spark where, you know, as something is emerging and as ideas are shifting, - there's always a lot of resistance - Yeah.
by the status quo, and that's okay.
And we're always saying, take everything with a grain of salt.
Take everything your conventional doctor says with a grain of salt, and take everything your healer's saying with a grain of salt.
But what's resonant for you? (WOMAN SPEAKING) Okay, fine.
So, lastly, we're in this kind of terrifying age of misinformation, and science itself is, sort of, under attack.
Why not be the vanguard and, you know, help women know what is really, peer-reviewed and evidence-based science, and what isn't? We do! We tag our contents if something is evidence-based, peer-reviewed science, then it's tagged as such.
And if it's an emerging modality, we tag it as such.
So, we're very clear about what is what.
But not in the way that conventional medicine says, "this works, and this doesn't.
" - What do you mean? - So, so for example, if something doesn't work, you're not saying that.
- If something doesn't work? - Yeah.
For example, meditation, science says it works, whereas some of the other things you offer, like vitamin pills, are proven not to work in the way that Goop says they do.
Well, I think that, you know, for example, with vitamins, if you are deficient in a vitamin, then a supplement really does work, and there's a lot of data behind that.
But, apparently, we're not deficient (WOMAN SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY) Okay.
All right.
Fine.
Thank you so much.
- We've had an amazing time.
Thank you.
- Good! DUBOC: While we didn't get a chance to discuss the Truth in Advertising claims, the district attorneys took action.
And recently, the company settled a lawsuit with California's Food, Drug, and Medical Device Task Force, for, "misrepresentations about the effects, efficacy, or attributes" of some of their products, including their infamous vagina eggs.
Goop released a statement calling it, an "honest disagreement," thanking the task force for its, "guidance," as the brand moves from a "pioneer in this space to an established wellness authority.
" Goop denies liability, and is still selling the eggs.
All it did was reword the product description on the website.
With limited government oversight, Goop's and other companies' products are left to be regulated by consumer complaints and the marketplace.
And celebrities and social media influencers continue to be the driving force behind the wellness industry, even when the products and health claims they make are called into question.
WOMAN: We want something that will lift us up, so really finding that connection with the mind, finding that connection with the soul, we will rise up to a higher level of, like, vibration and and enjoyment in life.
(MISS MARTH SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE) (BAND PLAYING) DEXTER THOMAS: Is that an eel? I have no idea what's happening right now.
SMITH: And then, the booming industry surrounding wellness.
CHARLET DUBOC: Is this just seawater? - Pretty much.
- (LAUGHTER) - DUBOC: Pretty much or yes? - Yes.
NINA SHAPIRO: The placebo effect is real, and it's very powerful, and that keeps people shopping.
(THEME MUSIC PLAYING) (CROWD SHOUTING) They're saying that right now, it's time for change.
(INDISTINCT SHOUTING) For decades, the Democratic Republic of Congo has been crippled by poverty, dictatorship and a festering civil war.
But in the middle of all that chaos, one of the most unique combat sports in the world has become wildly popular.
The sport is roughly translated as voodoo wrestling, and while it's been facing blowback, because of its often brutal use of mystic rituals, it's also been a rare source of hope, and in recent months, change, as the sport draws in a new demographic: female fighters.
(RHYTHMIC PERCUSSION PLAYING) Congo That's what it is, Congo Congo Hey! (CHEERING) - Hey! You! - Funky Come on Yeah! Woo! Come on Yeah, baby Congo We're in the Masina neighborhood of Kinshasa right now.
We're following a massive procession of wrestlers over to the ring.
We're about to watch some catch fétiche.
Catch is what locals call professional wrestling.
Fétiche is, basically, what we would call voodoo.
So, it's pretty much professional wrestling with voodoo attached.
Here in the DRC, if you're gonna watch sports on TV, or sports period, you're gonna watch one of two things: soccer or catch fétiche.
And right now, catch fétiche is what's blowing up.
- (CHEERING) - (ANNOUNCER SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY) - (THUDS) - (CROWD GROANS) (CROWD GROANING) - (SLAPS) - (CROWD CHEERING) THOMAS: Most people translate catch fétiche as voodoo wrestling, but even that doesn't really capture it.
Being in a catch fétiche event is like watching a WWF match, combined with a religious festival, combined with a block party.
A lot of the wrestlers are in the army, and the military shows up in full force.
(SPEAKING FRENCH) THOMAS: Fighters use anything to win: hammers, knives, - and even live animals.
- Is that an eel? MAN: Yeah! I have no idea what's happening right now.
(BAND PLAYING) THOMAS: My man put smoke onto Lit the chicken on fire! Holy fucking shit! Whoa! Okay, I did not see that happening.
Wow! - What? Shit! - (ANNOUNCER YELLING INDISTINCTLY) Yo, that chicken is still alive! Oh! (LAUGHS) Okay, that is not a joke.
That was all supposed to happen.
Wow! (BAND PLAYING) Wow! THOMAS: After decades of civil war, some of Congo's major cities have recently seen relative stability, which has made room for catch fétiche to grow in popularity.
But the sport itself has been around since the 1970s, thanks to Edingwe Moto, who some call the godfather of catch fétiche.
(MOTO SPEAKING FRENCH) So, you saw that, and did you think, "Okay, I wanna be like this guy.
I wanna be like Hulk"? (LAUGHS) (MOTO SPEAKING FRENCH) THOMAS: When did you start bringing in the fétiche into your catch style? THOMAS: Embracing fétiche and traditional ancestor worship, was one of the effects of the early reign of President Mobutu, who made an official government policy of rejecting colonial Western influence and returning to what he called the country's authentic culture.
That official policy was mostly abandoned, as Mobutu's government became more and more corrupt.
But the attachment to fétiche and its use in wrestling never went away.
Catch fétiche matches happen mostly in the streets of major cities, like Kinshasa, but there are also bigger events held in arenas, and the profile of the sport is rising, partly thanks to people like Mpinda Frank.
He's a professional wrestler, but he mostly focuses on promoting the sport, both inside and outside the Congo.
(ANNOUNCER SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY) This is part of our culture.
It used to be the way of life.
When the Western came with colonization, they bring religion.
So, they make everybody forgt - about the culture.
- (BELL RINGING) And now it's time for people, they are free.
They are going back.
They call it (SPEAKS FRENCH) So back to the roots.
(SINGING) THOMAS: But for Congo's powerful religious authorities, this is not a return to Congolese roots or an opportunity to improve the country.
It's blasphemy.
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) (SPEAKING FRENCH) (RHYTHMIC RATTLING) THOMAS: This opposition has made it hard for the sport to grow.
It's even harder on the wrestlers.
That includes Shakira, one of a growing number of women who are entering catch fétiche.
What would you say is the most meaningful thing for you here? (SHAKIRA SPEAKING FRENCH) Do you think you could win without coming in here and talking to Papa John? (SHAKIRA SPEAKING) (RATTLING) (SHAKIRA SPEAKING) (BAND PLAYING) THOMAS: When you step into the ring, what are you feeling, what's happening in your head? (SHAKIRA SPEAKING FRENCH) THOMAS: Do you prefer fighting against women or men? (SPEAKING FRENCH) (ANNOUNCER YELLS) (ANNOUNCER SPEAKING) (WHISTLE TRILLS) (SHAKIRA SPEAKING FRENCH) What fight are you the most proud of? (CHUCKLES SOFTLY) (SPEAKING FRENCH) (FLUTE PLAYING) (MAN SHOUTING INSTRUCTIONS) THOMAS: Catch isn't just helping people grapple with the past.
A whole new generation is using it to prepare for the future.
We're in the Masina neighborhood in Kinshasa right now, and we're at Club 6600 Volts, which is Ninja's club, and you can see Ninja right there, and he's training people.
Three times a week, he's here training men, but also young boys.
You can see a bunch of boys here, getting trained for free.
What made you wanna train people? You could just be a fighter yourself.
(SPEAKING FRENCH) (GRUNTS, SHOUTS INDISTINCTLY) You think this is a good influence for the kids you're training? (SPEAKING FRENCH) (CHATTERING) We're in kind of a makeshift gym, and from what I'm hearing, this is actually one of the better ones.
It is a little bit rare, from what I'm hearing, to have things like running machines and the bicycles.
But if you look at this, this is not your normal set of weights here.
This is actually car brakes.
I mean, it's also kind of wild 'cause you see people here working out in whatever they've got on with whatever kind of materials they can use.
I mean, my man here's got jeans on.
I got my man in the back with some Balenciagas.
It's hot.
It's sweaty.
It's dark, and this is where you get it in.
For a lot of people in the Congo, wrestling is a way out of extreme poverty.
But it hasn't only been good for men.
Along with Shakira, a rising class of women wrestlers are becoming empowered through the sport.
For them, it provides a source of income and respect.
Why is it that you wanna do catch instead of something els? (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) THOMAS: Do you think it's more difficut for a young woman to get involved in catch than it is for guys? THOMAS: These young women train here e because of their coach, Miss Marth.
Miss Marth was one of the first female wrestlers to come on the scene in the DRC.
She's won multiple championship titles, and now, she also coaches other women who wanna follow in her footsteps.
But the Congo is a difficult place to be a woman.
Aside from the years of conflict, there are alarming rates of rape and violence against women and one of the widest gender gaps in the world.
(MISS MARTH SPEAKING) (CHATTERING) (TV PLAYING INDISTINCTLY) MPINDA: I believe in fétiche.
It promotes your culture, and we don't want that culture to disappear.
I want to promote this style, Congolese style, around the world.
I want to take it from ghetto, to the international media.
I want people to discover the talent and the skill of these young people.
Listen To my voice sing (MISS MARTH SPEAKING) (MISS MARTH SPEAKING) (WHISTLE TRILLS) Need a little chicken Need a little rice (ANNOUNCER SPEAKING) (ANNOUNCER SHOUTS) THOMAS: When people talk about your career, 50, 60 years from now, what do you think they'll say? (SHAKIRA SPEAKING) (ANNOUNCER SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY) (AUDIENCE CHEERS) (WHISTLE TRILLS) (CHEERING) (MISS MARTH SPEAKING) Wellness is an umbrella term, representing everything from yoga, to vitamins, to aromatherapy.
It's also a multi-billion dollar business in the US alone, and over a trillion-dollar business globally.
And as it booms, marketers are slapping this label on all types of products, including dietary supplements, many of which claim farfetched health benefits.
So, we sent Charlet Duboc to explore this rapidly growing industry.
Hi.
I think we only have 30 seconds, I've never done this before.
I'm Charlet.
We're in Lauryn's kitchen.
She's about to teach us how to make a delicious smoothie, - which is great.
- That was perfect.
(LAUGHTER) Hey, guys, it's Lauryn.
Welcome back to my channel.
DUBOC: Lauryn Bosstick is the creator of online lifestyle brand the Skinny Confidential, with a website, a YouTube channel, a popular podcast, and more than 700,000 followers on Instagram.
LAURYN: We're gonna throw Beauty Dust in here.
It has ashwagandha in it, which helps with anxiety.
And this also has pearl extract.
Love pearl extract.
(WHIRRING) So, it's really ugly.
It doesn't taste absolutely amazing - (SPITS) - (LAUGHING) DUBOC: Other than, you know, the obvious foods in here, we're adding in these newer supplementary ingredients.
How did you find out about them? With me, I just really try to just weed through all the information and figure out what's really working, and present it in a easy, fun, cheeky way.
DUBOC: She took us to her go-to wellness spot, Earthbar, in West Hollywood, a celebrity favorite.
LAURYN: These are minerals, raw ocean minerals.
There's potassium, magnesium Mm-mm.
Is this just seawater? - Pretty much.
- (LAUGHS) - Pretty much or yes? - Yes.
(LAUGHING) LAURYN: These are herbs that have been around for thousands of years.
This one is going to give you mental power, sexual energy, and muscle tone.
That's how simple wellness could be.
DUBOC: Lauryn is part of a new wave of wellness influencers, who are often not licensed medical professionals, but can make huge sums of money endorsing, so-called, natural products and supplements.
Today, the US supplements market generates between $35-40 billion annually.
But with this explosion in the popularity of supplements, many Americans are looking to them as alternatives to more conventional healthcare treatments.
We're in Boonville, Indiana, to meet a woman with a chronic illness who's been experimenting with dietary supplements to try to alleviate some of her symptoms.
I mean, like, I wanted to be back to myself.
DUBOC: Ten years ago, schoolteacher Andi Waters developed hemiplegic migraines, leaving her largely housebound and unable to work.
If I have a migraine, basically what happens is my body behaves as if it's had a stroke.
You know, my face will lose feeling.
My speech gets real thick and slurred.
My right leg'll go out.
I can wake up and be feeling fine, and in the span of 10 minutes, be laying on the couch, fully incapacitated.
DUBOC: Even with a daily cocktail of prescription drugs, her medical doctors have told her that her symptoms may never go away.
At that point, you get so desperate.
So, I ended up going to a naturopath here in town, and they gave me vitamins that were literally, like, $60 a week.
And once you get there and you're paying for it, and you're paying for it, and you're paying for it, and they're telling you, the whole time you're paying for it, "This is gonna In three months, you're gonna feel so much bet in three months.
" Then, inevitably, it doesn't work, and you watch your bank account just kind of dwindle, as, you know, you've paid for your stupidity, and, uh, you pick yourself up and you move on, - and for some people, it's to the next cure-all.
- Mm-hmm.
And for me, it was just bitterness and anger.
DUBOC: And it's not just the chronically ill pinning their hopes and money on supplements.
We met with Dr.
Nina Shapiro, a surgeon and author of the book, "Hype, A Doctor's Guide to Medical Myths, Exaggerated Claims, and Bad Advice," to discuss what makes alternative medicines so appealing.
People who need to take a vitamin or a supplement are people who are deficient in those vitamins or supplements, which is an extremely small percent of the human population.
It's very tricky, and it's very enticing, and the labeling is great.
The marketing is phenomenal.
These are next to regulated medications often, whether it's in a pharmacy or in a grocery store, and it is really deceptive for the consumer.
And if many of these products or therapies haven't been proven to work, why are they allowed to be sold with claims which suggest that they do work? Claims are tricky because, you know, again, that's marketing any product.
You can say that any product works.
It certainly can, and a lot of why these products can get away with it and why people continue to buy them is the placebo effect.
And the placebo effect is real and it's very powerful, and that keeps people shopping.
DUBOC: Dr.
Tor Wager is one of the leading researchers studying the powerful effects placebos have on the body.
Getting a placebo treatment can have surprisingly large effects on depression, and anxiety, and even some neurological disorders, like Parkinson's disease.
We are studying placebo effects to understand the brain mechanisms that allow that kind of response to work.
DUBOC: The test he's doing on me today is based on pain sensitivity, via a device that will safely burn my skin.
Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow! Stop, stop, stop! Three separate spots on my arm were covered in cream.
I was told the center one was painkilling lidocaine, while the outer two were merely moisturizer.
All three spots were then burned, and I was asked to rate the pain level of each.
- The first one was the most painful.
- Mm-hmm.
The last one was the second most painful, and the middle one, with the lidocaine, was the least painful.
The thing is because you knew this was a placebo study, - we double-crossed you.
- (LAUGHING) - So, these were both moisturizer cream.
- (GASPS) So, in this case, you had a little bit less pain with the placebo than with the actual lidocaine.
And that's in part because you expected it to be lower.
So, why did that happen? Placebo treatments can activate the brain systems in the prefrontal cortex, that are really important for assignment of meaning.
In addition, we're seeing activation of pathways that connect the frontal cortex to the brainstem.
And so, what we're finding is that a placebo treatment can tap into that system, and can activate natural pain-relieving chemicals in your brain.
Can you give some examples of ways that placebo works in alternative medicine? A big part, I think, of how people progress over time with illness is their narrative for what that illness is.
What caused it? What's gonna help me? Is there help? Is there hope? I think, to the degree that alternative medicine treatments work that don't have any real physiological mechanisms, they work by helping people to change that narrative.
And if people feel better after taking some substance, that could be caused by the placebo effect, in which case, it's not the thing that you're taking that's helping you.
It's you helping you.
DUBOC: And, as it turns out, helping people help themselves is a pretty lucrative busines.
We're at the third annual Goop Summit, Goop being the wellness brand that was started by Gwyneth Paltrow.
It was once fringe, but as you can see, from the steady stream of well-turned out, mostly white women, some of whom have paid up to $4,500 to be here this weekend, wellness is booming.
What began as a weekly lifestyle newsletter in 2008, is now valued at an estimated $250 million.
- Whoa! - WOMAN: It's bright.
It's bright.
DUBOC: So, why the syringe? Instead of going to a doctor and taking a shot with them come take a shot with us.
Everyone associated with Goop and Gwyneth has just this power to them, and you really trust them.
So, I'm gonna play the bowl for you.
(RINGING) Allow your imagination to just take you to a place called Mongolia.
So, what's emerging is you were a king.
Who knew? Mongolian king.
DUBOC: I'm scared, I'm scared.
Oh my God, oh my God.
I'm gonna be sick.
I'm gonna throw up.
(GASPS) So, you should feel the effects about an hour or two.
And what should I feel? Energy, mental clarity.
Why aren't doctors prescribing this in a more mainstream medical sense? When you're in medical school, no one talks about vitamin therapy.
It's not taught in the curriculum.
Everyone talks about antibiotics, and trying to cure disease through antibiotics, not through vitamins.
- Thank you so much.
- Yeah, thank you for coming by.
I'm sorry I was such a baby! - No, you were great.
- (LAUGHS) DUBOC: Many attendees find inspiration in Goop's message that more conventional medicine isn't your only option.
For me, personally, Western medicine failed me.
In one appointment, he was like, "Oh, you have this.
Here's this prescription.
" And tried to send me on my way.
I was like, no! I know there's something deeper going on, and I know it's not just this one thing that you labeled me under, which is so common, which is IBS.
I'm like, I'm sorry, but that's BS because no.
And it ended up being leaky gut, and Hashimoto's, and I lost my period.
So, that's why I've turned to functional medicine because it's helped me so much more.
DUBOC: But for all the faith Goop devotees have in the brand, it is has been a target of harsh criticism for the promotion of certain products.
The non-profit organization, Truth in Advertising, filed a complaint with several California district attorneys, alleging Goop made 51 deceptive health claims about the products it promote.
We wanted to ask Goop about the ethics of playing health guru to thousands of women.
So, we went straight to Gwyneth Paltrow herself.
- Hi! - Thank you.
I know you're tired.
I've had my B-12 shot, so So did I, and it's fucking not working.
(GROWLS) So, we're here at the Goop Summit, and wellness is booming.
What do you think it has to say about society in America? Well, I think that the idea of wellness really starts to resonate with people when either they, or someone that they love very much, is in some kind of a health crisis, and the answers are not effective.
- Mm-hmm.
- It's not about throwing out Western medicine, but it really is about understanding that the consumer, especially women in America who aren't feeling well, and who are feeling unheard, people really want now to have autonomy in their wellness journey, and so the consumer is starting to shape the way all of this is happening.
Yeah, we've been hearing that all day.
Women are finding themselves feeling dismissed by conventional routes.
They want more options.
But, I mean, here you do offer products and practices that are accepted by the medical consensus - that have peer-reviewed scientific studies.
- Right.
But then, you offer things that haven't, - but they're all under the same roof.
- Right.
Well, I think, the idea is that science is always changing, and theories are always changing, and, of course, evidence is key.
But, sometimes, evidence is anecdotal for people.
So, these debates spark where, you know, as something is emerging and as ideas are shifting, - there's always a lot of resistance - Yeah.
by the status quo, and that's okay.
And we're always saying, take everything with a grain of salt.
Take everything your conventional doctor says with a grain of salt, and take everything your healer's saying with a grain of salt.
But what's resonant for you? (WOMAN SPEAKING) Okay, fine.
So, lastly, we're in this kind of terrifying age of misinformation, and science itself is, sort of, under attack.
Why not be the vanguard and, you know, help women know what is really, peer-reviewed and evidence-based science, and what isn't? We do! We tag our contents if something is evidence-based, peer-reviewed science, then it's tagged as such.
And if it's an emerging modality, we tag it as such.
So, we're very clear about what is what.
But not in the way that conventional medicine says, "this works, and this doesn't.
" - What do you mean? - So, so for example, if something doesn't work, you're not saying that.
- If something doesn't work? - Yeah.
For example, meditation, science says it works, whereas some of the other things you offer, like vitamin pills, are proven not to work in the way that Goop says they do.
Well, I think that, you know, for example, with vitamins, if you are deficient in a vitamin, then a supplement really does work, and there's a lot of data behind that.
But, apparently, we're not deficient (WOMAN SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY) Okay.
All right.
Fine.
Thank you so much.
- We've had an amazing time.
Thank you.
- Good! DUBOC: While we didn't get a chance to discuss the Truth in Advertising claims, the district attorneys took action.
And recently, the company settled a lawsuit with California's Food, Drug, and Medical Device Task Force, for, "misrepresentations about the effects, efficacy, or attributes" of some of their products, including their infamous vagina eggs.
Goop released a statement calling it, an "honest disagreement," thanking the task force for its, "guidance," as the brand moves from a "pioneer in this space to an established wellness authority.
" Goop denies liability, and is still selling the eggs.
All it did was reword the product description on the website.
With limited government oversight, Goop's and other companies' products are left to be regulated by consumer complaints and the marketplace.
And celebrities and social media influencers continue to be the driving force behind the wellness industry, even when the products and health claims they make are called into question.
WOMAN: We want something that will lift us up, so really finding that connection with the mind, finding that connection with the soul, we will rise up to a higher level of, like, vibration and and enjoyment in life.