Skip to main content

PeakMetrics / Fact Checks

Health & medicine fact checks

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

13,669 published reviews in this topic

FACTLYHealth & medicine

Video made by Bangalore Robotics Science and Research Centre on how to identify adulterated foods.

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a video showing tests purportedly used to identify fake or adulterated foods, which was shared as a production of the Bangalore Robotics Science and Research Centre. FACTLY reports that its searches did not find a research centre by that name. It also says it traced the full-length video to a post by the Blossom account, rather than to the named centre. The review describes how it checked the video’s origin and the tests themselves. After searching for the organisation, FACTLY says it found the full video on Blossom’s Twitter account and then looked for evaluations of the food tests. It identifies a debunking video by Ann Reardon, whom it describes as a qualified food scientist and dietician, and says Snopes, BBC and Forbes also published articles exposing the tests as hoaxes. FACTLY’s conclusion is that the attribution was false and that the tests were not reliable: it reports that experts and media outlets found most of them “either false or misleading.” The review further says Blossom removed the video from its official YouTube and Facebook channels. Thus, the source addresses both parts of the claim: it disputes the existence of the named organisation and identifies Blossom as the video’s source, while reporting that the demonstrations themselves were misleading.

FACTLYHealth & medicine

Drinking a mixture of tamarind and plum soaked in water cures fatty liver disease and liver fibrosis

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

FACTLY’s review examines a social-media video in which a man says that juice made by soaking tamarind and plum in water cures fatty liver disease and liver fibrosis. The review says it searched online using relevant terms for research on that mixture, but found studies about the ingredients separately rather than evidence testing the mixture as a treatment for the two named diseases.

dpaHealth & medicine

Joe Biden eigenlijk een grote tattoo op zijn linkerarm, die opeens verdwenen is als hij zijn vaccin krijgt.

Publisher’s rating: De afbeelding met een getatoeëerde Biden is het resultaat van een fotoshop van de Amerikaanse satirische website The Onion. In het echte leven kreeg Biden meerdere prikken van het coronavaccin en was er nooit een tatoeage te zien.

The claim presents two images as evidence that Joe Biden had a large tattoo on his left upper arm which disappeared when he received a COVID-19 vaccine. Dpa examined the images behind that comparison and found they came from different contexts, rather than showing a tattoo that vanished between vaccination appointments. The image depicting Biden with a tattoo was a manipulated image originating with the satirical website The Onion; dpa reports that it dates to 2009, when Biden was vice-president. Dpa describes using a reverse image search to identify the tattoo image’s provenance. It also identifies the other image as one taken in September 2021, when Biden received a booster in front of cameras. The article points to his black mask, light-blue shirt and blue-and-white tie as features identifying that vaccination photo. The two images therefore do not document a change in Biden’s appearance at the time of vaccination. The article adds that no tattoo was visible when Biden received his first vaccine dose either, and states that he had no tattooed arms. Its account supports the conclusion that the apparent before-and-after evidence was created by comparing a manipulated satirical image with genuine vaccination photographs—not by showing a tattoo disappearing after a shot.

THIP MediaHealth & medicine

yoni pearls can cleanse the vagina

Publisher’s rating: False

Related reporting addresses the claim that yoni pearls can cleanse the vagina. It describes detox pearls as herbal products inserted vaginally and promoted for cleansing or other intimate-health benefits. The reporting says there is no established scientific evidence that these pearls remove toxins or cleanse the reproductive system, so the claimed cleansing effect is not supported by the evidence presented. (S3) The reporting also explains why inserting these products may be harmful: they can irritate or damage vaginal tissue, interfere with the natural bacterial balance, and potentially increase infection risk. This matters because a product marketed as a cleanser is not shown to improve vaginal health and may disrupt the vagina’s normal environment. (S3) Separate related reporting places yoni pearls among vaginal and uterine detox products that aim to cleanse women of discharge or natural scent. It notes that the vagina is self-cleaning and warns that synthetic products can cause irritation or infection by disrupting pH balance. These points support rejecting the idea that the vagina needs pearls to cleanse it. (S1)

Deutsche Presse-AgenturHealth & medicine

Die Corona-Impfung wirkt nicht. Masken bieten keinen Schutz.

Publisher’s rating: Die in dem Vortrag aufgestellten Behauptungen sind teilweise durch Anpassung der untersuchten Daten irreführend, an anderen Stellen ganz falsch. Es ist weder eine eindeutige Gefährdung durch eine Corona-Impfung erkennbar, noch existiert ein nachvollziehbarer Zusammenhang zwischen Impfung und Sterblichkeitsrate. Masken schützen - sofern richtig getragen - nachweislich vor einer Ansteckung.

The DPA review addresses a YouTube lecture that challenged the effectiveness and safety of corona vaccination and denied the usefulness of masks. It assesses those claims by examining the lecture’s stated comparisons and the data and qualifications described in the excerpt. The review says the lecture’s claims are misleading in part because of how data were selected or adjusted, and are wholly wrong in other respects. It also notes that the evidence discussed does not establish a clear vaccination-related danger or a discernible link between vaccination and mortality. On masks, the lecture reportedly argued that they could not protect because their openings were larger than the virus or airborne aerosols. The review counters this by describing the European standard for FFP masks: they must filter particles between 0.004 and 1.2 micrometres, a range that includes the stated coronavirus size of 0.08–0.14 micrometres. It also reports the minimum aerosol-filtration requirements for FFP2 and FFP3 masks. The review’s qualification is that masks protect when worn correctly. For vaccination effectiveness, the lecture inferred that higher booster rates meant higher infection rates by comparing selected states. The review acknowledges that the cited mid-June comparison fit that pattern, but says it was not representative. It compares 31 March and 15 September 2022 as well: Schleswig-Holstein had a higher booster rate than Saxony on both dates, while Saxony had the higher incidence. On safety, the review says the cited UK deaths do not show whether deaths were caused by vaccination, and that the age groups in the cited mortality data and other data were not the same. It also says Denmark and England had not banned vaccination for children and adolescents, but had stopped offering it universally.

Sunanda NaikHealth & medicine

A slice of onion canbe used as a natural air purifier can keep cold, flu and sickness away

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The review examines an Instagram reel advocating onion slices around the home as a way to clean the air and prevent illness. It describes the reel’s specific advice: place slices in room corners to “detoxify” the home and keep flu viruses away. The question the article investigates is whether onion placed indoors can purify air or stop people from getting sick. To assess the claim, the article reports consulting the US National Onion Association, Best Food Facts, and Healthline. It says the Onion Association traced the belief to an old wives’ tale about cut onion protecting people from bubonic plague, and noted that the proposed air-purifying effect was anecdotal. The review also reports that a physician quoted by Best Food Facts rejected the idea that onions absorb bacteria, while Healthline found no experimental evidence for placing onions in socks or elsewhere on the body. The decisive evidence presented is the absence of evidence for the claimed air-cleaning mechanism or health protection: the article quotes the Onion Association saying that cut raw onion does not absorb germs or remove airborne toxins, and that cold and flu viruses spread by contact rather than floating in the air for onion to attract or destroy. The review concludes that onion has no demonstrated air-purifying or detoxifying properties. Its discussion of onion remedies more broadly does not establish that onions prevent airborne infection; it says their effectiveness for medical purposes is not significant.