All Health News Is Not Equal

How to find islands of reality in a sea of misinformation

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The internet and social media have allowed breaking news to travel at warp speed and given a voice to professionals to share their expert commentary. But these new avenues of communication have become littered with potholes. The pressure to accelerate reporting often compromises accuracy, and the choir of experts has been dwarfed by a circus of uninformed commentators, con artists, and influencers who are more interested in followers and advertising revenue than the truth. As a consequence, we are awash in misinformation.

Combating this surge of misinformation has proven to be extremely challenging. As the burden of sorting fact from fiction largely falls on the shoulders of individuals, it is important that everyone learn how to critically analyze stories about health and medicine. During my career as a biomedical scientist and writer, I constantly need to evaluate heath claims and their sources. Here are some of the strategies I find most helpful when assessing the validity of health information.

1. Evaluate the source

There isn’t enough time to wade through the vast amount of information we encounter, so the quickest way to sort the wheat from the chaff is to make sure the individual making the claim is a reputable…