'Staggering' number of people believe unproven health claims
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Re: 'Staggering' number of people believe unproven health claims
#2No health claim is ever proven. Even with overwhelming evidence for a claim we can't really say it's proven. At best we can say we have very high confidence, supported by a lot of data.
Further, what exactly are we supposed to believe? Should we read the NY Times or Nature and just accept that what gets published there is the absolute truth? As we know, many paradigms have been overturned over the years- sometimes requiring heroic efforts to change the status quo. Many of the health claims about cholesterol, fat intake, and other diet/nutrition have turned out to be less important that originally believed.
There are a few exceptions and even then I wouldn't call them "proof". For example, smoking causes cancer- we have enough evidence to safely conclude actual causality (multiple replicated double-blind experiments).
Re: 'Staggering' number of people believe unproven health claims
#3maybe medical professionals shouldn't have discredited themselves through rent seeking and playing politics
Re: 'Staggering' number of people believe unproven health claims
#4They really picked a strange set of claims to ask people about.
- For the protein one, it's too general of a question. Some plant proteins aren't complete proteins while others are, and animal proteins can range from super-healthy oily fish to less-healthy bacon.
- The next three are more standard "almost certainly false" claims that would make sense to ask in a survey like this.
- The acetaminophen/autism thing was in headlines recently with lots of people either hyping it up or trying to discredit it. It's hard to say anything is clear either way, but it isn't completely outrageous to believe this one.
- Finally, "vaccines are used for population control" is just an outright conspiracy theory and not even mainstream for "false health claims."
Lumping different types of questions together like this is like saying "more than 70% of people believe that butter isn't as bad as we thought or that the moon landing was faked."
Re: 'Staggering' number of people believe unproven health claims
#5They really picked a strange set of claims to ask people about. - For the protein one, it's too general of a question. Some plant proteins aren't complete proteins while others are, and animal proteins can range from super-healthy oily fish to less-healthy bacon. - The next three are more standard "almost certainly false" claims that would make sense to ask in a survey like this. - The acetaminophen/autism thing was…
In the first three questions asked I could see reasonable people argue either way, with legitimate papers backing their "side", so I'm happy to at least see an even split.
For the autism question I agree with you, people simply believing their government is reasonable.
But I am quite worried about the last question. That 25% of people believe vaccines are used for population control is worrisome, no matter how you spin it.
Re: 'Staggering' number of people believe unproven health claims
#6>People disagree on a bunch of extremely politicized topics within the realm of nutrition and health which is famously complex and hard to understand even for experts in the field.
Yup, I'm "staggered".
Re: 'Staggering' number of people believe unproven health claims
#7Table of question vs country (page 42): https://www.edelman.com/sites/g/files/aatuss191/files/2026-0...
Recent small discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47876068 (13 points | 11 days ago | 6 comments)
Re: 'Staggering' number of people believe unproven health claims
#8One thing that would help, and that I don't see addressed here is "avoid taking public positions on divisive issues that are not absolutely clear and directly linked to your area of expertise."
Avoid politics like Codex avoids goblins.
Re: 'Staggering' number of people believe unproven health claims
#9maybe medical professionals shouldn't have discredited themselves through rent seeking and playing politics
Or perhaps “journalists” shouldn’t wildly and sensationally extrapolate from the most nuanced of findings in research to create unrealistic and unjustified expectations, especially when there exists other research drawing somewhat different conclusions.
Maybe people need a better education in science, the scientific method, logic, and reasoning.
Re: 'Staggering' number of people believe unproven health claims
#10They really picked a strange set of claims to ask people about. - For the protein one, it's too general of a question. Some plant proteins aren't complete proteins while others are, and animal proteins can range from super-healthy oily fish to less-healthy bacon. - The next three are more standard "almost certainly false" claims that would make sense to ask in a survey like this. - The acetaminophen/autism thing was…
"vaccines are used for population control" in practice might as well be "do you extremely dislike and distrust the medical industry." It gives people an opportunity to express hostility at the cost of strawmaning their own disorganized opinions.