Separating the best from the rest
What to look for when looking for health advice online
If you’re a human who is even vaguely interested your health or tuned into almost any media outlet ( if neither of those things are true I’m confused about how you landed here…), you have probably ended up overwhelmed by information overload surrounding health advice on the internet.
Seemingly everyone has conflicting advice to give. Take this supplement, no that one; coffee will kill you, actually that second cup is good for your heart; add third contradiction. Somehow, these claims are supported by research but conflict the other claims that are also backed by different research. To make things more complicated, the line between targeted marketing and pure content has been blurred into non-existence on the internet.
Between the hundreds of articles and the masked marketing, it feels like you need a PhD just to figure out which sources you can count on. Next time you’re wading through the information overflow, try these guidelines to help you decipher what you can trust from what you can skip.
1) Headlines are the start, not the sum of articles
The average internet reader’s attention span is 15 seconds and with millions of pieces of content being created each day, writers need to make headlines as appealing as possible — even if it means they are only half true. While this isn’t a huge burden when you see the 10 Super Powers Your Cat Probably Has, it is when headlines are taken for health prescriptions.
Publications can write headlines that say, “Six bars of chocolate a week could cut risk of common heart condition.” Taken at face value, the chocolate lovers among us might be happily upping our chocolate consumption. But farther into the article, it explains that the study’s results were based on figures after an average of 13.5 years of follow up that didn’t consider whether the participants’ chocolate consumption had changed since the beginning of the study. Aside from the limitations of the study, this headline also doesn’t mention the various negative consequences of eating six bars of chocolate, like weight gain, that can end up leading to other health problems.
Beware that headlines were written to grab you. When it comes to finding health advice on the internet, it’s fine to look at interesting headlines, but make sure you look at what stands behind them.
What to do: When I’m in a rush to get to the meat of an article, I read the first paragraph then I ⌘F search for words like ‘limitations’ or ‘results’ then decide how much stock to put in the article’s claims.
2) The Bigger the Better?
One of the limitations to keep an eye out for is the size of the study. For a variety of funding and logistical reasons, study sizes vary. Sample size is tricky because it doesn’t come with a hard and fast rule for the perfect size. Too small and results can’t be fully understood, too big and differences in results may be over emphasized.
What to do: If you’re just perusing through the article, look at the sample size used and make a judgment call as to whether you want to fully trust the study’s findings. If you’re reading a study in an area you look into frequently, or are making health related choices based on that study, poke around the field and get a feel for the sample size norm.
3) Newer is not always better
Newer always seems better. If it is newer there’s a tendency to think that it must have been improved since the last go around. This isn’t always the case with scientific findings though.
It is true that, in the long term, science is finding more ultimate truths, but not every new study’s results end up being accurate. Many studies reach one conclusion only to be disproved by a number of follow up studies. Stanford epidemiologist John Ionannidis firmly argues this in his paper “Why Most Published Research Findings are False”. This isn’t to say that all scientific findings are #fakenews. Rather, that due to faults in the scientific process, it is not uncommon for researchers to draw conclusions that cannot be replicated.
What to do: Look for solutions that are supported by a sizable body of research and meta-analysis, not a single study. When reading anything that says, “A new study suggests…” be warned that another new study might come along and disprove it entirely.
4) Funding matters
Scientific studies are expensive to run and the people funding those studies are often not doing so out of the goodness of their hearts. Similar to the point above, there are a number of ways in which studies can be crafted or skewed to push incomplete, or plain wrong, truths.
For example, it was recently revealed by the New York Times that Coca-Cola paid researchers to push the message that exercise was more effective for weight loss than cutting down on calories and created a non-profit to promote the idea. It was revealed that the company spent $132.8M on promoting the notion so that people would no cut its sugary drinks in an attempt to lose weight.
What to do: When you see a study referenced (particularly if a study advocates for a specific food), do some digging and see who funded that study and ask yourself why they might have funded the study. Studies funded by universities are less likely to be biased than ones funded by major food distributers like the Nestlé company.
5/6) Know your blogger
Ahh the health blog, a seemingly never-ending source of health related inspiration with new recipes and well-lit pictures. It’s encouraging to read about people who’ve made healthy living a central part of their life, but keep two things in mind as you scroll things:
Popular blogger ≠ health professional
The blessing and curse of the internet is that anyone can gain fame on it. While the communities of people sharing their wellness stories are invaluable, open access also means that anyone can be taken for an expert. Before you start making changes to your lifestyle based on what a certain blogger says worked for them, look at their background. How closely you decide to follow their advice might change depending on whether their background is in marketing or meditation.
Money has to come from somewhere
Another blessing and curse of the internet is that information is generally free. With so much information at our fingertips, we can make more informed choices than ever before. The down side to this is that we are, effectively always being marketed to whether we know it or not. It’s easy enough to spot the ads on the side of the blog for what they are, but important to remember that the content written by the blogger might also be a subtler ad. It’s not uncommon for blogs to partner with companies that sell products readers might be interested in. Sometimes partners just send samples to bloggers, sometimes bloggers are paid to write positively for them.
What to do: Fortunately for both of the issues, the Federal Trade Commission wrote guidelines specifically to try to clear up any vagueness. All major health bloggers are required to state what their background is in and what their nature their relationships with partners is like in a ‘Disclaimer’ page. The link to the disclaimer is typically placed discretely on the bottom of the site, near the ‘Privacy Policy’ and ‘Terms of Service.’ Give the disclaimer and about pages a read. Ones like Wellness Mama’s give a full picture of exactly what happens behind the scenes of the blog, and how that might relate to you.
There isn’t necessarily a right choice to make with the information you find about your blog of choice, just make sure that when you make a choice, it’s an informed one.
7) Do research on the claims then do research on yourself
The last thing to remember is that no matter how well proven health advise is, it might not be the right advice for you. Do research, do research about that research, and then use yourself as the test subject. I know that I’m not giving you the silver bullet to the best medical advice, but the harsh reality of working on your healthiest self is that it’s just that, work.
Hopefully, these tips help you sort through the sea of health advice out there, let me know if there are any tricks you love that I’ve left out. At the end of the day, I’m just like you, looking for the best advice to get me living my life to the fullest and healthiest.
