Tag Archive for: fake news

Pop Quiz on Fake Health News

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In last week’s posts, I gave you six questions to evaluate fake health news. Did I forget to say there’d be a quiz?

Below are three stories that you’ve sent me to check out. If you click on the link, it will take you to the story. As I take the rest of the week off to work on other projects, I want you to use what you learned last week, then send me an email about what you’ve found.

Here are the stories:

I know that some of you would not use any of these products, but choose one anyway. I want you to take out the emotion and just look at the facts you find.

I hope you’re healthy and well during Easter and Passover. I’ll be back with more health news next Tuesday.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

 

The Bottom Line on Fake Health News

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The final questions about checking fake health news completely depend on you—what you know and what your gut tells you. Let’s take a look:

5. Does it match your prior knowledge?
We all come to the table with a certain amount of knowledge. When it comes to health, it may be from a high school health class, listening to a lecture by a doctor, or other ways you’ve learned reliable health facts. Does what you’re reading seem to agree or conflict with that? Science changes as we get newer technology to examine things we couldn’t before, but it should still line up with what you’ve learned.

6. The final question is the simplest: does it make any sense?
What does your gut tell you? Is it reasonable that someone with no training in the sciences could discover something millions of trained scientists couldn’t? Sure, there’s always the exception, but it still should seem reasonable.

Those questions, along with the ones from Tuesday and Thursday, are what I ask every time I see something that promises too much. You know the old saying: if something seems too good to be true, it often is.

Keep in mind, too, that fake news is often click bait, and sometimes the owners of the site don’t just want to get paid for your click—they want to plant something harmful on your computer. It gives a whole new meaning to the term “breaking news.” If it doesn’t ring true, don’t even click it.

 

The Bottom Line

I thought the California teacher did his students a great service. If you read the article, you know they now fact-check him as well. I welcome you to do the same thing to me. That’s why I provide references for what I write. My goal is to always be one of those reliable sources. I gladly submit to anyone who wants to fact-check me—and now you know how to do it.

What about things that are complicated? Two that come to mind are soy and artificial sweeteners such as sucralose. In both cases, I’ve examined the research that Internet authors have used to say that they’re bad for us and given you what the research really says. Because they’re in a form you can reprint and give to your clients, your doctor, or your know-it-all cousin, they’re for sale on my website. All Bottom Line PDFs contain all the references I used to verify the facts, as do the zip files for the MP3 versions, and now all Bottom Lines are available as MP3s. Check them out today.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

 

Reference: http://bit.ly/2ozc2kC

 

When and Who: Spotting Fake Health News

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Let’s continue our look at how to check health news that you aren’t sure is real or fake. I hope you’ve had a chance to read the article by Stephen Hedley; if not, click the reference below to see what he taught his fifth grade class. One of my readers said he passed the article along to his niece, and I think that’s a great idea. Our kids are living in a world of fake news, and anything we can do to help them learn to spot it will make them savvier citizens and consumers, but as Mr. Hedley warned, prepare to be fact-checked.

Let’s continue with questions three and four:

3. When was the news story published?
That seems simple enough but many fake health articles don’t have a date. In one article I recently checked, the author published it as though it were her own. The problem was that it just seemed way too familiar. Way at the bottom, it was something she had found on the Internet and reposted. I recognized it from 15 years ago. Dates also apply to research citations. Research should stand the test of time but if an author uses a single study from 20 years ago on a topic such as supplements or a disease, that’s a warning they may be picking research to suit the message.

4. This one’s a big deal: what is the author’s expertise and background with the subject?
That’s a big problem on the Internet. People lose weight or find a diet that “heals” their irritable bowel disease, they start a blog, and are now “experts.” Even if they do seem to have some credentials, are they talking about something within their area of expertise? Do they have the training in statistics and research methods to understand the research they’re using? I may be getting beyond what you can do, but you can check someone’s education, training, and resume online in places such as Linked-In. Be suspicious if you find nothing there or elsewhere.

One thing: you don’t have to do these in the order that I’ve presented them. Sometimes, it’s easier to check the date something was posted or do a quick search on the author. We’ll finish it up on Saturday.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

 

Reference: http://bit.ly/2ozc2kC

 

Spotting Fake Health News

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Would you like to know whether a health news story is fake? Should you be worried and stop eating the deadly food they’ve identified? On the other hand, should you be excited? You know, if you do this one thing, you can lose your belly fat, or this exotic fruit prevents Alzheimer’s disease!

This week I’m going to adapt what a teacher taught his fifth graders on how to spot fake news. He developed seven questions that his students should answer, but I think I can do it in six. He tells them that it won’t guarantee something is true, but it can eliminate the “fakiest” news. I’ll give you two questions per day and explain how to look for answers with the same goal in mind.

1. Can you verify what’s being said from multiple sources?
Fake health news is often passed from one fake website to another, so it’s a little more complicated. Check the bottom of the article to see if this was an author from the website posting the information or whether it was taken from somewhere else. Keep drilling down until you can find the source. That allows you to see whether the originator may be credible or not. Another way is to check it on Snopes or some other fact-checking website.

2. Is the source of the information credible?
Every legitimate article related to health should have references. The references may be scientific journals or press releases from journals; yes, there are fake journals, but they’re rare. Fake press releases exist, but you can check their source as well. The important point is that you can find and read the original sources. Sites such as WebMD and PubMed are almost always reliable, but check whether it’s a research report or just someone’s opinion. Government sites such as the National Institutes of Health publish legitimate health stories as do major organizations such as the American Heart Association.

That’s enough to get started. More on Thursday.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

 

Reference: http://bit.ly/2ozc2kC