30th March 2026

Newsletter Monday

Hello Reader,

I have to talk about what I keep seeing.

Not a single headline this week.

Just a pattern that keeps repeating until you can’t unsee it.

There’s a term for it: audience capture.

It’s what happens when someone builds trust by being clear, sensible and evidence-based…

and then slowly starts shaping their message around what that audience wants to hear — or what will sell.

And it’s not just influencers.

I’m seeing it more and more with med-influencers.

Scientists.

People who absolutely know better.

And if I’m honest, I’m finding it genuinely disappointing.

Let’s take the current trend: gut-washing.

We’ve seen this playbook before.

Green-washing: companies exaggerating their environmental credentials.

Meno-washing: suddenly everything is “for menopause,” including pyjamas that, last time I checked, are just… pyjamas.

And the current flavour of the moment is about your gut.

Your skin? Gut.

Your mood? Gut.

Your immune system? Gut.

Your fatigue? Gut.

Your eczema? Apparently also gut, if you scroll far enough.

What’s changed isn’t the science.

It’s the messaging.

I watched someone this weekend — a gut health scientist whose content I’ve genuinely respected — who started out with:

“Here are some simple things to add to your weekly shop.”

Reasonable. Grounded. Helpful.

And within months:

– Expanded claims about what gut health “causes”

– A casual product mention

– Then a paid collaboration

– Then a branded food endorsement

All very neatly done.

Almost invisible if you’re not looking for it.

And that’s the bit I find uncomfortable.

Because this wasn’t someone shouting nonsense from day one.

This was someone people started to trust.

I don’t expect perfection. But I do expect a line.

Before you call me a hypocrite.

You might ask, what’s wrong with that?

People have to earn a living.

I sell coaching. Am I any different?

I don’t think so.

Because there’s a ceiling to what I do.

I can’t promise results without effort.

I can’t scale myself infinitely.

And if someone doesn’t follow through, nothing happens.

Coaching has friction.

Products don’t.

Especially when the outcome is vague.

“Better gut health”

“Improved vitality”

“Supporting your microbiome”

These aren’t things you can measure, complete, and move on from.

So they become subscriptions.

Habits.

Identity.

And that’s where the money is.

There’s a story doing the rounds at the moment about Huel being valued at around a billion Euros.​

That tells you everything you need to know.

We don’t need Huel.

We didn’t suddenly lose the ability to feed ourselves properly.

But we have created a market for convenient, branded “solutions” to problems that didn’t used to exist in this form.

We’ve been here before.

Low-fat everything.

Detox teas.

Fad diets that came and went.

Now it’s your gut.

To be clear — gut health research is interesting.

There are real links between the gut microbiome and aspects of our health, including the immune system.

But we are nowhere near being able to say:

“This condition is caused by your gut.”

or

“This product will fix it.”

That leap — from association to certainty — is where the problem starts.

So if you find yourself being told your symptoms are “a gut issue”…

Pause.

And if there’s not a product attached yet?

Give it time.

There usually is.

If you want to support your gut in ways that are actually grounded:

Not sexy. Not new. Not monetisable.

But still doing the heavy lifting.

If this is the kind of thing you like having picked apart properly, you can always forward this to a friend who’s just been told their skin, mood and life direction are all a yoghurt away from being fixed.