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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

Cancer TutorHealth & medicine

Herceptin can be a targeted therapy for breast cancer.

Publisher’s rating: Despite the possible occurrences of adverse side effects, clinical evidence has shown that Herceptin is well-tolerated. It also has been approved as the standard treatment in treating HER2-positive cancers along with other chemotherapeutic agents due to the increased disease-free, progression-free, as well as overall survival rates of this drug.

台灣事實查核中心Health & medicine

媒體報導「哈佛研究：垃圾食物危害精蟲」、「男人若常吃垃圾食物，可能會造成精蟲生產『不可挽回的傷害』」？

Publisher’s rating: 部分錯誤

The review finds that the media reports did refer to a real study, presented orally at the 2019 European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology meeting. It says the study had not yet released a full paper, and identifies its first author as Feiby Nassan, a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The review describes its checks as searching the meeting website for an abstract titled “Male fertility, epigenetics, the environment and lifestyle” and examining the research-team information. The study examined 2,935 Danish men using military medical-examination data and questionnaire responses. Researchers grouped participants by reported dietary pattern—Western, balanced, “cold,” or vegetarian—and analyzed sperm counts and hormone concentrations. The Western-diet group had the lowest sperm count, while the balanced-diet group had the highest. The review says the Western pattern included items such as pizza, chips, processed red meat, snacks, and energy drinks. These findings support an association in the studied sample, not proof that eating fast food caused reduced fertility. The decisive limitation was that the study was cross-sectional and relied on a single semen analysis and questionnaire. The review cites experts who said these data could not establish a causal link between diet and sperm count or semen quality. It therefore concludes that the study did not demonstrate permanent or irreversible sperm damage, or infertility; those claims went beyond the reported findings. The review also notes that the study’s own limitations stated it could not determine causation.

International Centre for Investigative ReportingHealth & medicine

Touching, Staring at women’s breasts make men live longer, healthier — Study

Publisher’s rating: A 20-year-old hoax suggesting that staring at female breasts has the effect of promoting longevity in men has been circulated by the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, the government-controlled news wire service. “No such study was ever published in the New England Journal of Medicine,” wrote David Emery, an internet folklore expert and debunker of urban legends, hoaxes, and popular misconceptions.

台灣事實查核中心Health & medicine

網傳「木瓜是百藥之王，美國農業部公布，日後腫瘤的新治療方法」？

Publisher’s rating: 錯誤

The claim combined several assertions: that the U.S. Department of Agriculture had announced papaya as a new tumor treatment, that WHO had repeatedly selected papaya as the most nutritious fruit, and that changing diet to affect blood-vessel growth could cure tumors. The Taiwan FactCheck Center reports that it searched the USDA and WHO websites using the claim’s keywords and found neither organization had published the described statements. It also says the claim’s nutrition comparisons could not be verified against a clear basis and included questionable figures. The attached video did not substantiate the papaya claim. The review identifies it as a Chinese-language version of a TED talk published in 2012, based on a talk by William Li, co-founder of the Angiogenesis Foundation, titled “Can we eat to starve cancer?” The talk concerned anti-angiogenesis diets, but the review says it did not mention papaya. Thus the video’s discussion of diet and cancer was presented alongside a papaya claim that the video itself did not make. The review’s medical discussion was more qualified than the viral “cure” framing. A physician cited in the report said papaya contains nutrients and can be beneficial in moderation, but noted that fruit-nutrient comparisons are of limited meaning and that some figures in the message appeared exaggerated. The report also cites experts’ cautions about excessive intake, including carotenodermia and elevated blood sugar and triglycerides. Its conclusion was that the circulating message was erroneous.

台灣事實查核中心Health & medicine

網傳「一個檸檬、二塊薑、三個大蒜、一瓶陳醋500c.c...吃上一個月後...發現血管乾乾淨淨，堵塞的地方已經全通了」？

Publisher’s rating: 錯誤

The claim says that taking a mixture of one lemon, two pieces of ginger, three cloves of garlic, and 500 cc of aged vinegar for a month will clear blood-vessel blockages. The review describes versions of this message circulating on messaging apps and social media, including versions that attribute the recipe to a traditional healer and frame it as a personal recovery story. It reports that the message had circulated online since 2013. To assess the medical claim, the review describes consulting physicians: Yeh Rui-ru of the family medicine department at Shuang Ho Hospital and Chang Chao-chien, director of the cardiac intensive care unit at Cathay General Hospital. The review explains that common cardiovascular obstructions involve clots or arterial plaque; plaque can narrow vessels, and a clot may form when platelets activate the clotting process. It says that accumulated plaque cannot be removed by changing diet or routine, though lifestyle adjustments may help prevent worsening. The physicians’ explanations do not support the recipe as treatment. Yeh said it cannot treat cardiovascular blockage and warned that the ingredients may irritate the mouth and digestive tract; consuming too much could cause stomach ulcers. Chang noted that lemon and garlic have antioxidant components and may have health benefits, but said those benefits do not treat an already blocked vessel. The review describes treatment for blockage as medication to dissolve a clot or catheter-based intervention to open the vessel. Thus, the claimed month-long dietary remedy is not a substitute for those treatments.

Boatos.orgHealth & medicine

Bom dia, beleza pessoal. Deixa eu dar só um esclarecimento sobre a cerveja. Talvez alguns acham bacana, outros não mas ok, faz parte. Eu tenho um cliente que é o engenheiro químico da Ambev. Esse cara mora nos Estados Unidos. Ele é muito requisitado no mundo inteiro que é o maior Laboratorial de Cervejaria do mundo é dele. […] Conversando com ele, outro dia ele falou para mim o seguinte: Robner é claro que toda cerveja maravilhosa e etc. Quanto mais perto da data de fabricação de engarrafamento da cerveja que você compre e toma. Mais saudável a é. Cerveja acima de 5 meses já começa a fazer mal para saúde seja qual for a marca não importa seja Heineken, seja Skol, seja Brahma, seja Itaipava… não interessa Por que o conservante que a cerveja que é usado no Brasil nas cervejas ele tem prazo de validade de 6 meses, porém a nossa fiscalização, que é corrupta, ela segura para 12 meses uma cerveja na prateleira de uma loja de um supermercado. Por que é máfia. Mas, a partir do sexto mês já começa a fazer mal. Ela já é meio suspeita tá então tanto que não fora do Brasil nenhuma cerveja vendida após 6 meses de engarrafamento. [...] Pessoalmente aí acima de 45 anos aí que gosta de tomar uma cervejinha ele deu uma dica aí: ele falou “procura não tomar Ambev porque conservante da AMBEV para quem já tem um pouco mais de idade acima dos 45/50 anos ela detona próstata tá”. Muitos problemas que muita gente que tem problema de próstata aí próstata inchada, câncer de próstata venha acontecer futuramente, o maior causador disso, que não é divulgado é a cerveja e a cerveja da Ambev principalmente Ambev. […]

Publisher’s rating: Falso

Scoliosis Care CentersHealth & medicine

the curve rapidly worsens once the brace is removed

Publisher’s rating: FALSE: The effects of bracing have been shown by numerous scientific studies to last after the brace is removed, even 15-20+ years later.

The review examines whether scoliosis bracing’s benefits disappear after a patient stops wearing a brace. It identifies the claim at issue as the idea that the curve rapidly worsens after brace removal, quoting that wording from ScoliSmart. Its conclusion rejects that claim and says studies have found effects can last after bracing ends, including for 15–20 or more years. The review’s reasoning is that an untreated curve can progress, including after skeletal maturity, and that progression risk depends on curve size and skeletal immaturity. It argues that progression in an untreated patient should not be confused with evidence that a brace’s benefits are quickly reversed once use stops. The supplied excerpt says the review relies on scientific and medical research, but it does not provide the specific study results or methods supporting its long-term claim, so those details cannot be assessed from this excerpt alone. The review also notes that some research supports non-brace treatment for small curves, while emphasizing that its argument concerns curves of 25 degrees or more, particularly in growing children and teens. It describes websites making claims that bracing benefits reverse, but the excerpt does not establish that all patients retain improvement or that results are identical across curve sizes and circumstances.