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PeakMetrics / Fact Checks

Health & medicine fact checks

Explore claims publishers have checked about health & medicine. Read their original ratings and follow the evidence.

13,668 published reviews in this topic

THIP MediaHealth & medicine

banana peels can whiten teeth effectively

Publisher’s rating: Mostly False

Related reporting gives conflicting-sounding claims about banana peels, but the more specific discussion of the alleged whitening mechanism does not establish that banana peel works effectively. One article says the minerals in scraped banana peel are not scientifically shown to remove intrinsic stains or penetrate enamel. It also distinguishes removing some surface discoloration from actually changing tooth colour. Its assessment concerns a social-media recipe combining scraped banana peel with salt, lemon juice, and toothpaste, so it should not be read as a test of banana peel alone. Other supplied reporting asserts that banana peels whiten teeth naturally, but the excerpts do not provide study details or evidence demonstrating that effect. One repeats the claim that fruit peels can be rubbed on teeth and cautions that acids may aggravate gums or wear down enamel. Its reference to a 2010 study concerns extracts from orange-family peels—especially tangerine—and stains associated with tea drinking and smoking; the excerpt does not say that this study tested banana peel. Thus, that study reference does not substantiate the banana-peel claim. Overall, the excerpts do not establish that banana peels effectively whiten teeth. The most direct evidence provided says scientific support for the proposed minerals-based mechanism is lacking, while the affirmative claims are not accompanied here by evidence specific to banana peel. The excerpts also do not show a controlled test of banana peel alone, so they cannot establish the size or reliability of any effect.

Fact Crescendo CambodiaHealth & medicine

ពូជ​ថ្មី​នៃ​វីរុស​កូវីដ-១៩​បំប្លែង​ខ្លួន​អូមីក្រុង​មាន​លក្ខណៈ​កាច​សាហាវ ហើយ​គេ​មិន​អាច​តេស្ត​ដឹង​ការ​ឆ្លង​មេរោគ​កូវីដ-១៩​តាម​រយៈ​ការ​ប្រើ​ឧបករណ៍​តេស្ត​រហ័ស​នោះ​ឡើយ។

Publisher’s rating: Misleading

dpaHealth & medicine

Zwitserland gaat patiënten voorzien van "veilige bloedtransfusies" van ongevaccineerde pure bloods.

Publisher’s rating: Er wordt in Zwitserland, en ook elders in de wereld, geen onderscheid gemaakt tussen bloed van mensen die wel of niet gevaccineerd zijn tegen COVID-19. De Zwitserse organisatie Safe Blood Donation, die zegt ‘ongevaccineerd bloed’ te willen aanbieden, heeft daar geen bevoegdheid voor. Hun redenen hiervoor zijn bovendien gebaseerd op desinformatie over de coronavaccins. Een transfusie met bloed van iemand die is gevaccineerd tegen COVID-19 is veilig.

Deutsche Presse-AgenturHealth & medicine

Auf einem offiziellen Plakat der irischen Behörden wird vor dem plötzlichen Tod als Nebenwirkung der Corona-Impfung gewarnt.

Publisher’s rating: Das Plakat stammt nicht von den irischen Behörden.

The claim concerns a poster shared on Facebook as an official notice from Irish authorities warning that COVID-19 vaccination could cause side effects, including “sudden death.” The review says the Irish medicines regulator did not list sudden death as a vaccine side effect in its public information: its regular safety updates, published through 19 May 2022, did not mention “sudden death.” The review also reports that a spokesperson for the Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) told the Associated Press the poster was fake, and ruled out publication by either the HPRA or the health ministry. Although the poster used the HPRA website as a contact address and displayed an official-looking government COVID symbol, the wording in its lower-right corner was “People of Ireland,” rather than the usual “Government of Ireland.” The investigation further compared the image with publicly available posters issued by Irish authorities during the pandemic. It found no similar warning among them. The review therefore distinguishes an image that may look official and may have been physically displayed in Dublin from a poster actually issued by the Irish authorities.

Fact Crescendo Sri LankaHealth & medicine

රංගන ශිල්පී ඕෂදී හේවා මද්දුමගේට මුහුණ පෑමට වූයේ එන්නත්කරණයේ අතුරු ප්‍රතිඵලයක් ද?

Publisher’s rating: Misleading

The review investigated a social-media post claiming that actress Oshadi Hewamadduma had become ill and developed marks on her body after receiving excess injections to lighten her skin. It describes the accompanying image as misleadingly suggesting that this was the cause of her illness. The review’s conclusion was that the image had been edited, rather than being evidence of an injection-related reaction. (The article describes the claim as: “සුදු වෙන්න වැඩිපුර එන්නත් ලබාගැනීම හේතුවෙන් අසනීප තත්ත්වයෙන් පසුවන බවත්, ඇයගේ සිරුරේ කැළැල් ස්වරූපයක් ඇති වී ඇති බවත් හඟවමින් සමාජ මාධ්‍ය ඔස්සේ ඡායාරූප සටහනක් සංසරණය වූයේ මෙලෙසින්.”)

Vera FilesHealth & medicine

XBB is 5 times more toxic than Delta variant and has a higher mortality rate

Publisher’s rating: False

Research from related reporting addresses the same warning: a message presented as public-health guidance claimed that the XBB variant was “five times more toxic” than Delta and had a higher mortality rate. The reporting says the message was investigated by AFP, Reuters and News24, and that all three rejected those claims. This directly contradicts the warning’s assertions, rather than establishing that XBB is more dangerous than Delta. The excerpt gives two specific pieces of evidence. AFP cited Dr. Thira Woratanarat, an associate professor of preventive medicine at Thailand’s Chulalongkorn University, who said no change in clinical severity had been observed. It also describes a preprint study examining Omicron infections in India: the study’s stated conclusion was that XBB was causing mild disease there. These findings do not support the message’s broad claim of greater toxicity and mortality; the excerpt provides no evidence that XBB had either a fivefold toxicity increase or a higher mortality rate. The source also supplies relevant provenance: it says the warning was framed as official guidance but was not actually authored by an official public-health body. It reports that similar posts circulated on social media in August 2023 and that the message had been investigated earlier. The excerpt does not provide underlying comparative mortality figures or the full study, so the conclusion here is limited to what the reporting and quoted evidence establish.

El Detector / Univision NoticiasHealth & medicine

Un médico de la Sociedad Mexicana de Oftalmología descubrió un medicamento para restaurar la visión a cualquier edad sin cirugía.

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The claim concerns a Facebook video that attributed a vision-restoring medicine to a doctor of the Sociedad Mexicana de Oftalmología (SMO). The review describes the video as published on January 1, 2023, and says it showed Jesús Jiménez Román, identified as the SMO’s president. Its audio claimed that a method worked at any age and required no surgery, while also saying the offer was exclusive to Mexico residents. The investigation checked the allegation with both the institution and Jiménez Román. SMO public-relations representative Diana de la Vega called the post’s claim false. Jiménez Román denied developing a medicine to cure eye conditions and said the viral video’s audio was not his voice, although his image and name were authentic. These statements address the specific person and alleged discovery in the video, rather than a general claim about eye treatments. The review also compared the viral clip with an SMO video posted on the society’s official Facebook account on January 18, 2022. It reports that Jiménez Román appears in the same position and clothing in both recordings, but that the original video discusses the SMO’s 2022 work plan and does not mention a medicine or vision-restoration method. The review also notes changes to the viral version, including added text and a logo absent from the original. Together, the direct denials and the comparison of the recordings support the review’s conclusion that the viral clip misrepresented the president and the original footage.