Ho-ho Hokum?

Some holiday gifts speak volumes about the giver. Are you the type who would fill a stocking with vitamins or fitness gadgets? If so, you're obviously concerned about the well-being of the people around you. You're also a bit of a risk-taker. When it comes to health products, it's all too easy to end up gift-wrapping a package of nothing. Even the best items may not work for every person every time. And some are pretty much guaranteed to disappoint.

This season -- and every season, really -- you'll need an abundance of skepticism to go along with your holiday cheer if you truly want to give the gift of health. Consider the following five real-life products that are vying for a place in Santa's bag.

The whole package would cost more than $400. Their actual value is another matter entirely.

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Salt lamps

These functioning electric lamps enclosed in a chunk of salt have been adding their pleasant glow to health fairs and mall kiosks for years. Unlike most light fixtures, illumination isn't their main selling point. Salt lamps are touted as a natural source of "negative ions" that supposedly improve the health of anyone nearby.

Shopping over the Internet, you can quickly find salt lamps in many shapes, including pyramids, angels and, appropriately enough for the season, Christmas trees. A 10-inch-tall, tree-shaped lamp from Toronto-based Gamma International costs about $50.

The claims: According to the Gamma International website, the negative ions released by salt lamps will relieve stress and "clean ambient air." The cleansing power of the lamps supposedly makes them "especially helpful for relieving the symptoms of allergies and asthma." The site also claims that the lamp's soft orange color can boost mood and improve the focus of children with attention deficit disorder. Other sites claim that salt lamps can treat migraines, insomnia, depression, sinusitis and viral infections.

Bottom line: If glowing crystals fit the home decor of your friends and family, salt lamps might be a good present. But experts see two basic flaws behind the claim that users will ionize their way to good health. First, it's not possible for a chunk of salt to release a significant amount of negative ions, says Victor Stenger, a professor emeritus of physics and astronomy at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu. There isn't nearly enough energy in a lamp to break up the ionic bonds between the sodium and chlorine in salt. "If that were true, we'd have chlorine gas coming out our salt shakers."