Health
Nutracebo
(n.)
A food product or supplement whose main active ingredient is belief.
Her doctor stopped questioning the mushroom gummies once the nutracebo outperformed both prescriptions it replaced.
Does it ring true?
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Coinage notes
Nutra- + placebo, joining nocebo in the small family of -cebo words that name what belief does to a body, from the placebo effect. Nutraceutical is the word for a food elevated for its medicinal benefit, nutracebo is the word for a food elevated primarily by the belief that it will work.
There are 99 more where this came from.
Future Words: A Non-Obvious Glossary of Terms That Don’t Exist (But Soon Will) collects all 100, each with its example sentence and coinage notes, from the bestselling authors of The Future Normal. Hardcover, October 20, 2026.