In the past month, I’ve written a few articles that have triggered mostly positive responses.

If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, reference my articles “Are the Media Gaslighting Americans about All Things Health” and “How The Election Could Affect Your Health.”

These articles were my attempt to point out that there are glaring faults in the TOTAL American health system.

When I say total, I mean from hospital care to the tables of millions of Americans, from the farms to the advertisements.

Healthcare is not just a system of doctors and nurses (though that’s how most Americans perceive it). Healthcare is the beginning and end of all things that contribute to health.

Perhaps that’s a paradigm shift our nation needs to adopt in the coming years: learning how to look at health through a different lens. But it’s not what I’m writing about today.

Instead, piggybacking on the article Are the Media Gaslighting Americans About All Things Health, I wanted to write an article that helps you sift the truth out of a complicated web of half-truths and confusion.

There are a ton of factors at play when it comes to the truth being obfuscated. Almost all comes down to people looking to get paid, so I’m offering you a way to help get the best answers you can get.

The FrameWork for Getting the Best Answers Related to Health

As long as people have been alive, questions about improving health and ending sickness have abounded.

We all want to live longer, healthier, more enjoyable lives.

All a person could do for millennia was talk to the local “medicine man” or traveling “physician.” Only in the past century and a half have people been able to seek out answers from multiple sources or, even worse (or better), been assaulted with a barrage of “facts” from hundreds of sources daily.

That’s what’s become so difficult: trying to get the right information with all the noise.

One thing I can say for certain is  there’s little doubt that a profit motive is often at play when you’re hearing one thing is “100% the truth” or “100% false.”

Everyone, absolutely everyone on the planet who is saying something (including me), speaks with a self-interested bias.  The motivations may be many: pride, profit, and power, but this is just a function of the hierarchy of human needs.

That being said, asking good questions when reviewing health info is essential.

This list is not meant to be definitive. It’s merely meant to give you guidelines.

I’ll also be breaking it down into different purveyors of information. Like I said above, people used to get their health information from 1 or 2 sources. Now, there are myriads.

I’ll tackle each and then provide general questions you can ask yourself when sussing out the validity of health claims.

1 – Mainstream Media:

The mainstream media are institutions like over-the-air news, newspapers, syndicated print media, and the radio. Consider these as the names of companies you are familiar with and have been for 30 + years.

2 – Doctors/Healthcare System:

Often regarded as a “trusted source” of information, these would consist of hospitals, clinics, medical schools, and anything that generates a profit from providing patient care.

3 – The Internet At Large:

The Internet at large is just that. Whatever you find searching on Google or by heading to a blog (like mine). I’d say that this source is part of the mainstream media, as well as the next one, but it’s the big bucket of what you’d find online.

4 – Social Media Influencers: 

This source is very specific because thousands of people promote certain things using platforms like Facebook/Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and more to talk about health. If you click on it to “learn more” and the ultimate destination is “buy now” or an affiliate link that pays them, that’s profit-driven information.

5 – Books:

Pretty obvious one here…haha. They’re all over the place and are a wellspring of information.

6- Podcasts:

A newer form of media, I’d argue they’re one of the more powerful means of spreading health news globally.

7  – Friends and Family:

Arguably, this is the most powerful source of health information. Generally speaking, friends and family take in information from the other six sources, then assimilate and pass it on to you.

We tend to trust friends and family more than we should because we trust them broadly and unquestioningly.

Now that you understand the different sources, here are some questions you may consider asking.

8 Questions to Ask to Create More Clarity

1 – Will they get fired if they said the opposite of what they said?

If the institution or person you’re listening to stands to lose their job by offering their opinion or statement of fact opposing the advice, then there’s a good chance that the statement is worth further investigation.

This is one of the best questions to ask to help clear the air around health claims.

2 – Did someone finance the opinion?

Similar to above, but not exactly the same. If the advice was created through some kind of institutional financing, it may be suspect. A perfect example is when the Sugar Research Association created studies to put sugar in a good light and dietary fat in a negative light.

3 – Is there a profit motive?

An extension of question number 2 above, does the advice benefit the purveyor financially? If so, you may need to do some more digging.

Remember that just because a profit motive is apparent doesn’t mean the advice is necessarily bad. Barely anything out there in the health world is truly free, so you have to pay for some things, sometimes.

4 – Are there studies to back up the claims?

Empty claims with thin and even non-existent research should be looked at with suspicion. However, just because evidence is thin or non-existent doesn’t mean this is a reason to dismiss the advice or claim outright.

Some treatments or advice are so new there might not be any studies.

5 – Who is responsible for the studies?

Pointing back to number 2, seeing who is behind studies is critical.

If only a handful of studies on a particular claim are aggregated around an industry, and the advice is overwhelmingly positive, it’s a cause for concern.

You may not realize this, but pharmaceutical companies are allowed to exclude negative data from research to engineer conclusions that make their hypothesis look better.

Vested interests behind studies can be a red flag, but not always.

6 – Why is the claim being made?

There are millions upon millions of health claims being made daily.

The question is, why?

Is a friend or family member making a claim because they had a positive experience with a treatment or by doing one thing or another?

Is the person/institution making the claim to achieve an enhanced reputation?

Are they making claims to induce fear?

The reason why a claim is being made is very, very important. 

7 – Are there conflicting points, studies, or opinions on this topic?

Imagine someone telling you that sleep is terrible for you. It’d be incredibly difficult to agree with that because there are very few if any, reputable points of conflict with this claim.

However, if a claim or advice can have holes poked in it, then more questions should be asked.

Essentially, when you hear anything, you can try verifying whether the claim is heavily contested.

Just because it is doesn’t mean the advice is bad, but you owe it to yourself to see why “the other side” of an argument is valid or not.

8 –  How much does the advice giver know about the subject?

This is a great question to ask, but likely not the only question to ask.

Think about it this way. Doctors are widely regarded as experts in all things health. And yet, we spend very little, if any, time learning about fundamental aspects of health.

So if a doctor tells you that based on their experience or opinion, you should do X, consider asking how much they know about the subject. Is this a personal opinion much like from friends or family?

For example, if a doctor tells you that herbicides are 100% safe, ask yourself, how much could they know about that from medical school? It could be difficult to get the answer, but there are a lot of times when experts make claims on subjects they no next-to-nothing about. As another example, consider that less than 10% of medical schools offer classes in nutrition but doctors make nutrition suggestions to their patients daily.

At The End of the Day – Ask Questions

One of the best ways to take control of your health is to ask questions.

This is how we operate at our practice, and I encourage patients and newsletter readers to handle their personal health. Only you are responsible for your best health. Take control of it on all levels.

I understand sometimes this can be daunting.

Other times, asking questions can lead to more questions and fewer answers.

But by and large, if you’re presented with advice or encounter claims you’re unsure about, asking questions like the ones I detailed above should help you get the best answers.