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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.

13,677 published reviews in this topic

ComprovaHealth & medicine

A cura para a covid-19 foi encontrada e é bem simples: uma mistura de limão com bicarbonato de sódio

Publisher’s rating: FALSO: Ao contrário do que afirma a corrente, o Ministério da Saúde diz que ainda não existe vitamina, terapia alternativa ou remédio licenciado capaz de evitar o contágio ou tratar a doença. Especialistas informam que ingerir a mistura em excesso pode causar prejuízos à saúde. O sódio presente no bicarbonato pode ser prejudicial para pessoas que apresentam problemas cardiovasculares, além de poder aumentar a pressão arterial em indivíduos saudáveis

NewtralHealth & medicine

Beber leche provoca enfermedades y la caseína que contiene es tóxica para los humanos

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The claim under review came from a viral image asking what is in a glass of milk. It asserted that milk legally contains “135” pus cells and that casein is directly responsible for a list of conditions, including eczema, asthma, arthritis, Crohn’s disease and breast and prostate cancer. Newtral rejects the claims about both pus and disease; the article explains that the image’s figures and allegations do not establish that ordinary milk consumption causes those illnesses. For the “pus” allegation, the review consulted dietitian-nutritionist Charlotte Vidal Hiscock and food technologist and dietitian Beatriz Robles. They explained that mastitis can cause inflammation in an animal’s mammary glands and that somatic cells can be present in milk, but those cells are not themselves pus. The review says that milk from an animal being treated for mastitis is not used for human consumption while the infection lasts. It also cites a regulatory limit of 400,000 somatic cells per millilitre, above which the milk would be excluded from the market. That is materially different from the image’s claim about 135 cells in a glass. On casein, the article says milk contains A1 and A2 types and reports that the European Food Safety Authority found no scientific evidence establishing that either is harmful to health. The experts interviewed also said somatic cells do not cause infection because they are not bacteria, viruses or parasites, and that rigorous studies do not establish milk as the cause of the listed diseases. The review notes milk’s nutritional contribution, while adding that it is not indispensable: people who do not consume it can obtain its nutrients from other foods.

ComprovaHealth & medicine

De 23 de março a 3 de abril o Brasil estará na etapa máxima de infecção

Publisher’s rating: FALSO: Segundo especialistas, o Brasil ainda está no início da curva de crescimento da covid-19. E não está proibido sair de casa, o Ministério da Saúde só recomenda que as pessoas evitem ao máximo sair de casa. Cada Estado brasileiro está adotando medidas próprias de quarentena, como o fechamento de serviços não essenciais

BR24 FaktenfuchsHealth & medicine

Im Tweet heißt es, der schwarze Mann werde trotz einer Corona-Erkrankung in einem italienischen Krankenhaus nicht behandelt. Auf dem Video in dem Tweet ist zu hören, wie ihn mutmaßlich das medizinische Personal rassistisch beleidigt und ihm sogar den Tod wünscht.

Publisher’s rating: Falsch. Das Video ist mehr als ein Jahr alt. Es zeigt den jungen Ivorer Souleymane Rachidi, der am 24. Februar 2019 wegen Brustschmerzen in das Krankenhaus von Salerno eingeliefert worden war. Damals berichteten mehrere lokale Medien darüber, dass Rachidi rassistisch beleidigt wurde

Divya ChandraHealth & medicine

Consumption of alkaline foods can cure novel coronavirus

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The review addresses a circulating message that attributed a pH range of 5.5 to 8.5 to the novel coronavirus and advised eating foods with higher pH. Although the message was framed as advice to prevent the virus’s spread, the review also directly considers the cure claim: it reports that a physician found no evidence that eating alkaline foods could cure the novel coronavirus. The review traces the message’s purported scientific basis to a 1991 Journal of Virology study titled “Alteration of the pH Dependence of Coronavirus-Induced Cell Fusion: Effect of Mutations in the Spike Glycoprotein.” It says the study concerned mouse hepatitis virus type 4 (MHV4), not the virus causing COVID-19, and quotes its abstract as describing cell fusion in infected mouse cells at pHs from 5.5 to 8.5. The review notes that COVID-19 was a new strain unknown in the 1990s, so the study’s pH range does not establish a pH value for the novel coronavirus. The review also reports two further objections to the message. Virologist Shaheed Jameel said viruses do not have pH values, making the proposed comparison with food pH baseless. And the message’s stated food values included avocado at 15.6 and dandelion at 22.7, despite the review explaining that the pH scale ranges from 0 to 14. Separately, internal-medicine consultant Suranjit Chatterjee said there was no definite proof or data that alkaline foods cure coronavirus. These points address both the message’s asserted rationale and its proposed cure, without claiming that the cited study tested alkaline foods as a treatment.