The Truth Behind "The Wellness Industry Makes 5x More than Big Pharma"
A breakdown of the numbers, the psyop, and why both industries are working together—not against each other
The other day on threads, I came across a post which stated:
I commented, saying that this was a perfect example of why discernment was needed because both were true. Big Pharma brainwashes Doctors, and you shouldn’t trust a guy on a podcast pushing a vitamin.
My comment was met with the phrase, “The wellness industry makes 5x what the pharma industry does.”
Now, this was the second time in the past month or so that I’ve seen that statement, and the first time I saw it, I thought it was interesting. This statement, in a sense, suggests that “Big Pharma is the good guy—and the wellness industry are the bad ones.”
This statement is almost a “we need big pharma” marketing ploy—because they make our vaccines and weight loss drugs.
It puts Big Pharma in a good light.
I responded to that comment with a brief breakdown of the statement, so it’s only appropriate that I share it here as well. To do so, we’ll cover the following three points:
We’ll break down just what constitutes the “Wellness Industry”
We’ll compare Apples to Apples between Big Pharma and the Wellness Industry
Lastly, we’ll show how Big Pharma profits from the Wellness Industry.
The main value of this article is that the reader realizes that they must have an active role in their health and not rely on big pharma or wellness to take care of them. They must also develop an ability to discern false narratives and propaganda ploys.
Without further ado, let’s dive into the article.
A Breakdown of the Wellness Industry
As I investigated the origins of this statement, I found that a report by The Global Wellness Institute (GWI) may be the culprit here. In 2023, they reported that the Global Wellness Economy was currently worth $5.6 trillion and is projected to hit $8.5 trillion by 20271.
This report appears to be the most significant aspect of this phrase. It seems that this report was circulated, but only recently—in the past six months or so—did it start to gain traction in the phrase “wellness makes 5x more than pharma.”
This phrase was spread by those interested in biohacking, podcasters like Rogan, and “natural influencers.”
What’s interesting is that when we say, “Big Pharma,” we know exactly what we’re talking about: drugs.
However, when the phrase “wellness industry” is thrown around, the idea is that we’re referring to “supplements”—but that’s the sleight of hand here. When we refer to the wellness industry, we’re discussing everything, including supplements.
These include personal care, fitness and mind-body health, healthy eating and weight loss, wellness tourism, the spa industry, and many others. They are all grouped into the ‘wellness industry.’
And as far as the numbers compared to Big Pharma, in 2023, according to Statista, Big Pharma recorded $1.6 trillion. So, on face value, it’s easy to see why “hey, the wellness industry with all supplements makes up 5x more than Big Pharma!”
But here at Unorthodoxy, we don’t go by face value; we dive deeper. And so, if the idea is that wellness supplements are equivalent to pharma drugs, let’s compare apples to apples.
Big Pharma Drugs vs Wellness Supplements
Since Pharma is drugs, let’s compare the ‘wellness drugs’, aka supplements. According to the most recent market research, the global supplement market is expected to reach approximately $177 billion by 2023. These supplements include everything from vitamins and minerals to sports nutrition.
Compare that again with Big Pharma’s $1.6 trillion dollar year in 2023, and we can see that Big Pharma is the juggernaut here.
Just as the wellness industry encompasses aspects beyond supplements, the Pharmaceutical Industry is primarily driven by drugs, but it also includes vaccines and biotech therapies—along the lines of what RFK wants to promote.
Vaccines are also a money maker. Another narrative is that vaccines don’t generate many profits, but that’s from a narrow perspective. In 2022, Pfizer generated $100 billion—half of which came from COVID vaccines alone.
Individual doses of the vaccines may be cheap, but when you take a step back and consider mandates, health policies, and the large-scale rollout across the country, as well as the government’s purchases, this equates to billions in guaranteed revenue.
When you compare solely podcast supplements to pharmaceutical drugs, they don’t even come close. Pharma is still the big behemoth that it’s made out to be.
But wait, there’s more. What if I told you that Pharma actually owns the supplement industry?
Pharma’s Ties to the Supplement Industry
In my recent article, The Truth About Vitamins, I explain how Rockefeller Pharma eliminated nutritional and herbal medicine. After eliminating it, they created their own brand of “alternative medicine” that they could control, and that’s how we got vitamins.
Just as I mentioned in the article that “Synthetic vitamins then became mass-market commodities in the 1930s and 1940s, with companies like Roche, Merck, and Abbott profiting heavily”—so too do we see that playing a role in the supplement industry.
From Pfizer owning Centrum (the best-selling multivitamin line globally), to Bayer owning One A Day and Flintstones Vitamins, to even Nestlé Health Science owning Nature’s Bounty, Pharma has its hand in the wellness industry.
Even probiotics are tied to biotech supply chains.
It’s all one big circle of revenue.
While there’s no exact public breakdown of how much of the $177 billion global supplement market is controlled by Big Pharma and Big Food, analysts estimate that 30% to 50% of global supplement sales go through large multinational firms like Pfizer, Bayer, Nestlé, and Unilever.
In the U.S., over half of vitamin and mineral supplement sales come from brands owned by pharma-adjacent companies.
The truth of the matter is that Big Pharma makes up a massive part of the Wellness industry, but this narrative helps both parties:
It allows for “natural influencers” to draw people to their products,
It enables Big Pharma to seem as if it’s a minor player, focused solely on science
All the while, we give our health over to outside entities to take care of our bodies—the very institutions that created the disease in the first place.
Closing Thoughts
This analysis shows how Big Pharma and the wellness industry are one and the same. Even though narratives may depict them as different, upon further examination, we can see they’re more connected than we know.
This revelation builds upon the article I recently penned, Modern Medicine as Poison. Ultimately, what we’re seeing is the marketing of petroleum-based chemicals to the public as “healthy alternatives.”
Marketing is one of the biggest forms of occult magic we encounter in our daily lives, so it behooves us to develop our spirit of discernment and see through the fallacies in our path. I’ll be writing about this here shortly as well.
Most importantly, we need to realize that our health is our sole responsibility. We must take an active role in maintaining our temple in its most pristine condition.
To close, many forces look to steal your health—and your dollars—to do so. By being diligent, sifting through the narratives, and prioritizing your health, you can ensure that you come out on top.
As always, thank you for the time and attention. Have a great rest of your day.
Ashe,
Franklin O’Kanu
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Notes and References
https://globalwellnessinstitute.org/press-room/press-releases/globalwellnesseconomymonitor2023/
Interesting. It seems you can find big industry wherever there is money to be made. Most big organic food companies are now owned by the mega corporations. Same with many renewable energy companies being owned by big oil or electric. They try to own and control the competition
Dude, I feel like we're becoming buddies here...I am a former health coach. Well, sort of former. I was a weight loss coach in one of the biggest diet MLMs disguised as creating health...and when their plan started unaliving me...well, let's just say I have been forging my own path as a healer, because when I turned to Nature...it's a whole new world. There is a place for money because in this matrix we rely on some form of energy exchange and until we all decide to stop playing the game, there will be that. In my own life, I fired all of my doctors, ditched all the scripts, and have been learning - slowly but surely - that my body has all the wisdom I need for health and wholeness. BTW - I just ordered your book.