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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.

13,672 published reviews in this topic

Fact Crescendo Sri LankaHealth & medicine

අපේක්ෂා පිළිකා රෝහලේ ක්ෂණික නූඩ්ල්ස් වාට්ටුවක් තියෙනවද?

Publisher’s rating: Misleading

The claim concerned a supposed instant-noodles ward at Apeksha Cancer Hospital in Maharagama, allegedly occupied by patients whose cancers resulted from eating instant noodles. Fact Crescendo says it investigated whether the hospital had a ward specifically for such patients, rather than treating the social-media post as evidence that one existed. The post it examined described a separate ward that was supposedly always full of people who had eaten only instant noodles and developed cancer.

Factcrescendo Sri LankaHealth & medicine

WHO revealed 7 brain damaging habits !!

Publisher’s rating: Misleading

The review examines a viral social-media poster circulated among Sri Lankan WhatsApp users and elsewhere. It attributed to the World Health Organization (WHO) a list of seven “biggest” brain-damaging habits, linking them to stroke: missing breakfast, sleeping late, high sugar consumption, sleeping more in the morning, eating while watching a screen, wearing a cap, scarf or socks in bed, and holding urine. The key question was whether WHO had issued that list—not whether every listed behavior was harmless. To check the attribution, the investigators say they looked for an official WHO publication of the graphic or its contents. They report finding no specific WHO reference to such a list and cite reports of local WHO officers denying the claim in the Philippines and Nigeria. Their conclusion is that WHO did not declare the seven habits as a list of brain-damage causes. The review also distinguishes that false attribution from the possibility that some habits may affect health or brain activity. The article discusses the items individually, noting, for example, that evidence did not show a direct link between sleeping more in the morning and brain damage, or between eating in front of a screen and brain damage. It says screen-time eating may instead reduce awareness of fullness and contribute to overeating. For other items, it describes potential concerns: inadequate sleep may harm brain health, high blood glucose can affect cognitive function, and routinely holding urine may affect bladder muscles. Its overall finding is therefore about the unsupported WHO list, not a claim that all seven habits have no health effects.

FACTLYHealth & medicine

Consuming Apple Cider Vinegar Gummies burns fat

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The review addresses a social-media claim that taking one apple cider vinegar gummy daily for two weeks burns fat. It identifies the product as Apple Cider Vinegar Gummies, rather than treating evidence about vinegar in general as direct proof of the gummy claim. The review reports that it looked for relevant scientific studies and found no scientific evidence demonstrating that the gummies aid weight loss. To assess the broader evidence, the review cites a study evaluating apple vinegar’s effects on metabolic measures and body weight in humans, which concluded that evidence for health effects was insufficient because high-quality research was inadequate. It also quotes Harvard Health Publishing’s Robert H. Shmerling, who said evidence that vinegar is a reliable long-term way to lose excess weight is not compelling, and Mayo Clinic’s Katherine Zeratsky, who said apple cider vinegar is unlikely to be effective for weight loss and that studies have not consistently shown significant, sustainable loss across diverse groups. The review further quotes nutrition professor Carol S. Johnston saying research does not show a weight-loss benefit in humans. It notes that a review of human and animal studies found insufficient credible evidence to determine whether apple cider vinegar has beneficial effects on weight loss. The review also reports that a dietitian cited animal studies as the source of many weight-loss claims and said there was no peer-reviewed research on apple cider vinegar gummies. Together, these points support the review’s conclusion about the lack of evidence for the claimed gummy-based fat loss; they do not establish that every possible formulation or use has been tested.

dpaHealth & medicine

Door een WOB-verzoek onthuld: Covid-19 is een biowapen en Anthony Fauci kreeg het recept in maart 2020 via e-mail toegestuurd.

Publisher’s rating: De bewering is onjuist en misleidend. Het screenshot is van een echte e-mail aan Fauci, maar toont geen recept voor een virus. De tekst is gekopieerd uit een oud (2005) onderzoek naar een potentiële behandeling tegen infecties met coronavirussen. Fauci had de e-mail ontvangen van een dubieuze bron, die dat onderzoek op zijn minst verkeerd heeft geïnterpreteerd.

BR24 #FaktenfuchsHealth & medicine

In den sozialen Medien trendet #8Mäuse - Impfgegner verbreiten damit die Behauptung, der erwartete, auf Omikron angepasste Impfstoff in Deutschland sei nicht ausreichend getestet worden.

Publisher’s rating: Das stimmt nicht. In den USA hat ein Omikron-Impfstoff gegen BA.4/BA.5 eine Notzulassung bekommen, für den es bisher (Stand 01.09.2022) tatsächlich nur Daten von acht Mäusen gibt. Das ist aber nicht der Impfstoff gegen BA.1, der jetzt für Deutschland von der EMA zugelassen wurde. Für diesen gibt es auch Tests an Menschen.