Information, be it truthful or false, is coming at us fast and furious these days. Whether coming from the political arena, social media sources or just information passed on from a friend, it’s becoming harder and harder to verify the accuracy of what you’re hearing and reading. It’s one thing if you read celebrity gossip that turns out to be full of untruths. But it’s another if you watch a video espousing a new “natural” cancer therapy or read about new “data” that undermines the benefits of available vaccines, and you wonder whether you should follow this advice. And while you may hold out hope that “expert” advice will lead you to make good choices, exactly who has expertise in what areas of health is now itself coming into question. Those in charge of health institutions may not always be the best sources of health information. So it’s useful to have some guidelines to help you divide the wheat from the chaff, so to speak.

First, let’s consider some areas where misinformation or untrustworthy information is rampant in the healthcare arena. It’s well documented that in the area of nutrition, there can be distortion of information to promote a particular agenda or the cherry-picking of information to suggest a particular outcome is possible. As it is, research on food or beverages can often be inconclusive or even contradictory, given that the effects may depend on everything from your genetic makeup to the amount you have ingested. This may be especially true when it comes to supplements, which we’ve previously made clear are not regulated by the FDA and may not always contain the ingredients they promote. There are similar concerns about trustworthiness when it comes to information online or on social media pertaining to cancer treatments and therapies. Research has indicated that a substantial amount of misinformation exists on social media. Such misinformation can not only do psychological damage (increasing your stress or causing self-doubt about the course of treatment you are on) but could lead to more substantial physical harm if you are lured away from recommended treatments into the realm of unsubstantiated or even outright harmful “therapies.” At a recent Harvard conference examining cancer misinformation on social media and the internet, experts found that 1 in 3 articles on cancer care contained dangerous misinformation and often the worst quality information received more engagement than information that was scientifically verified.

So why do we find ourselves falling for untrustworthy information or believing recommendations that may not be based on evidence or scientific expertise? The “pseudoscience” that many fall for on social media often offers a level of certainty and comfort that can’t be found in the more disciplined arena of hard science. In particular, it’s known that people often come to the information with already set ideas and tend to then believe what it is they want to hear, rather than what’s objectively the truth. Lack of trust in mainstream science can fuel the rise of pseudoscience and conspiracy theories in the health arena, as patients come to the topic already holding views that are distrustful of expertise and institutions. This is a big concern, as a recent consumer survey found that more than ½ of those polled said they gather health information from social media and ⅓ polled said they relied on health information from family, friends, or colleagues. That may make sense, given that people tend to accept and trust information from those in their “tribe” (it gives you a sense of belonging) and more generally, people are more likely to accept information from people with whom they culturally identify. 

But if you’re willing to hold out for truthful, accurate health information, what are the ways to find it? There are numerous recommendations and sources of assistance. Here are a few basic tips you should always keep in mind as you are reading online or watching something on social media: First, what is the source of the information? Is it someone with validated expertise and credentials on the topic? Is the source reputable and respected by others in the field? Next, is there outside information to back up what you are reading or hearing? Are there additional reputable sources for that same information? Can you find the original source/study of the information or find other references to it in the health literature from reliable sources? Also, what is the reason the person is sharing the information with you? Do they stand to gain financially in some way? More generally, there is a strategy called the “SIFT” method,  in which you slowly and carefully evaluate health information and investigate health claims you are hearing by looking to reliable sites and tracing the information back to its original sources. Just remember, it’s easy to believe what you want to believe and hope is true- but whether that is actually so requires putting emotions aside, and being open to exploring the factual foundations and reputable sources of what has actually been verified to be true.