Fighting Health Misinformation: Tips to Stay Informed and Protect Your Health

Are you feeling overwhelmed by the sheer amount of health information available online? It's getting harder to tell what’s true and what’s not, especially with so much misinformation spreading like wildfire on social media and even through friends and family. This episode of "Your Checkup" will equip you with the tools you need to navigate the confusing world of medical information. We'll discuss what exactly misinformation is, why it spreads so quickly, and, most importantly, what steps you can take to protect yourself and your loved ones from the harmful effects of false health claims. Join us to become a savvy consumer of health information and make informed decisions about your well-being.

Takeaways

• Health misinformation is false or misleading information about health.
• The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the spread of misinformation.
• Social media amplifies emotional responses, making misinformation more engaging.
• Misinformation can lead to serious health consequences.
• Trust in medical professionals is crucial for effective health communication.
• Not all medical journals are credible; critical evaluation is necessary.
• Conversations about misinformation require empathy and understanding.
• Misinformation can become part of a person's identity.
• Avoid sharing information unless you are certain of its accuracy.
• Together, we can work towards a healthier information environment.

Key Words: health misinformation, social media, health advice, wellness influencers, medical education, public health, misinformation consequences, health communication, patient education, health literacy

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome and Introduction
• 2:59 The Impact of Misinformation in Health
• 6:08 Understanding Health Misinformation
• 9:05 The Role of Social Media in Misinformation
• 12:01 Consequences of Health Misinformation
• 15:05 Recognizing Misinformation and Its Sources
• 17:58 Navigating Conversations About Misinformation
• 21:04 Building a Healthier Information Environment

Transcript

Nicole Aruffo, RN (00:07)
Hi, welcome to Your checkup. are the Patient Education Podcast, where we bring conversations from the doctor's office to your ears. On this podcast, we try to bring medicine closer to its patients. I'm Ed Delesky, a family medicine resident in the Philadelphia area. And we are so excited you were able to join us here again today.

Ed Delesky, MD (00:21)
I'm Nicole Aruffo, I'm a nurse.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (00:27)
So what are you drinking over there?

Ed Delesky, MD (00:29)
I'm drinking some tea. Ginger turmeric tea from TJ's.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (00:35)
Yeah, we do love a TJ. So I went there yesterday to get you some of your favorite oranges to the season for oranges here. You made this garlic chicken. It was like a garlic honey chicken this week with some soy sauce and rice. And it was delicious. I try to like, you you like are so nice to pack me lunch to go to work.

Ed Delesky, MD (01:01)
Well, if I don't pack your lunch, apparently you don't eat, so...

Nicole Aruffo, RN (01:05)
Well, in like a true health care fashion, I would have a diet coke for lunch and try to suppress the appetite. But what ends up happening is that like Nikki's food is so delicious that I hesitate to bring food that she makes at home and bring it to work.

Ed Delesky, MD (01:22)
I just don't want to make everyone jealous is what you're saying.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (01:25)
Well,

there's that. It happens. It happens. But there's also like a degree of like when I take a bite of your food, I yell.

Ed Delesky, MD (01:34)
Yeah.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (01:35)
It's an uncontrollable urge that happens. I just shout. Yeah. And I usually like, I just run around the house and I like, stomp around and I'm just like, I'm just spare your ears. I won't yell here, but like,

Ed Delesky, MD (01:39)
involuntary movement.

I have a good one on deck for this week.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (01:53)
Really? Is it a surprise? my, my.

Ed Delesky, MD (01:58)
And well, it's going to be like, because on Thursday it's going to snow. Yeah. So it's going to be a good like snow day, cozy dinner. I think I've never made it before. So hopefully it'll be good.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (02:10)
Okay. You'll have to tune in next week to be able to figure out like what we had. And I guess like in our little run up here, I want to just take a moment to recognize that we welcome all of our listeners from abroad. Last episode we had someone from Turkey who tuned in. And then a couple of episodes prior to that, we had people from France, Japan. Let me see. Let me pull it up here because I don't want to leave anyone out.

But it was so cool that they came by to learn about health for themselves, a loved one or a French.

Ed Delesky, MD (02:44)
The neighbor.

International neighbor.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (02:48)
international neighbor. Here, let me pull it up here real quick just to see. Let's see, locations.

It was really cool. So the list goes Japan, France, Ireland, Ukraine, Australia, and Turkey. And that's just so cool. Yeah, they all. But if you haven't had a chance, check out our last episode. It's titled cholesterol treatments, medication, and lifestyle. But really, it's a big conversation about statins is what it ends up being. But that's not what we're going to talk about today. What are we going to talk about today,

Ed Delesky, MD (03:27)
Let's have a little talk, okay?

Nicole Aruffo, RN (03:28)
Up front? Yeah. No, definitely not. We definitely don't have to end it there.

Ed Delesky, MD (03:37)
I'm just making sure we've recapped everything. Talk about things that people don't ask about, but we tell them anyway. we didn't talk about apple cider vinegar, which actually is perfect for this episode.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (03:40)
Well, we've done some wine.

that's a huge, that's a perfect lead in. Okay. So we were, we were watching biggest loser. We're catching, we're all caught up on the traders, you know, desperate housewives is kind of like fading slightly for us. It still exists there for us, but we needed like something that was like short on compass saying to watch and we found what on Netflix.

Ed Delesky, MD (04:13)
We found Apple cider vinegar on Netflix. It's new. And if you haven't watched it, it's only six episodes, I think. And if you haven't watched it, you should go watch it because it's really, really good and crazy. And you've probably seen like TikToks and stuff circulating from that girl, Belle, that was in it now that like this series came out and then like people are talking about it more and what happened.

It was crazy. And if you don't know the story, not to like spoil anything, but it's based on this girl, Belle Gibson, who was real and had this like app in this book and it was called the whole pantry and her whole shtick, this like lie that she ran with and like made a whole empire on in like the, I don't know, 2010s ish.

She claimed that she healed herself from a grade four glioblastoma, which if you're fortunate enough to not have any idea what that means, it's not very good. Probably not healing yourself with food, which is what she claimed to do, that she like didn't do any treatment, didn't do any surgery, yada, yada, yada. I also thought it was weird that she said that she was diagnosed with that and she.

like never got surgery and like a biopsy and like pathology that came back to say that, but what do I know? Yeah, anyway, so I don't know if what I just said, any kind of sense, she claimed to heal herself from like a very rare and aggressive brain cancer with just like eating food and whole food, which is very relevant to what we're going to talk about today. But then like she made this whole thing and like this whole brand and

was online and had these people with actual cancer who were kind of like sipping her Kool-Aid and thinking that like they didn't have to go to get chemo or to get surgery or you know, whatever. So it was about her and then like peripherally the other like quote unquote wellness influencers of that time who were kind of like doing the same thing. Like one character was loosely based off of another girl who actually did have cancer and

tried to do this whole like, like alternative healing thing, she ended up passing away because she didn't try to get medical treatment until the end.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (06:50)
Yeah. Yeah. It was a shame. It was very entertaining. It was dramatic. Created a lot of, for me personally, a lot of tension on the inside about how they were going. It's like, think I was watching it with a tight gripped fist throughout the entire experience. But it took us about like two days to two evenings to get through it all. Yeah. Really interesting. I would say like it doesn't sensationalize it or make it seem like greater than it is.

Ed Delesky, MD (07:00)
Yeah.

It's still, mean, maybe not like specifically with cancer, but that concept is just still so relevant today.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (07:26)
yeah. Well, this seems like a perfect transition perhaps into exactly what our topic is today. Why don't you tell us a little bit about what we're talking about today?

Ed Delesky, MD (07:35)
Today we're talking about misinformation.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (07:38)
Have you ever come across a piece of health advice online that didn't maybe just sit right with you? Maybe it sounded too good to be true, or maybe it completely contradicted what your doctor told you and you wouldn't be alone. And today we're going to take a healthy amount of time that you can listen in on our conversation about health misinformation and disinformation. And this conversation is also based on the US Surgeon General's release of about an advisory about health misinformation.

and specifically highlighting just how serious of a problem it is. Before we rev Nikki's engines, because she is the one who is like horrible passionate about it, but she is fiery about this. I just want to define health misinformation first. So we're all using the same language. Health misinformation is information that is false, inaccurate or misleading according to the best available evidence at the time. And I'll just highlight at the time is a very

key thing because science is ever changing and information that is always coming out is changing. And so that is the definition, the working definition we are going to use today. And we really see this everywhere. I mean, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization and the United Nations used the word infodemic to describe the actual amount of information, both good and bad, that was spreading. And it's led to the like the world to.

be where we are today and everyone is navigating it all at the same time. Why do you think it's so hard to avoid misinformation these days?

Ed Delesky, MD (09:15)
Because it's everywhere.

And like, you have these people on social media who...

don't have any knowledge or formal training or education on whatever ex health topic and who are like misinformed themselves and then they're taking whatever misinformation that they like read on PubMed or something and then they're construing that in whatever way and then disseminating that out into the internet, especially if it's someone who has like

larger following and then people take that and run with it and then it's just a whole game of telephone and none of it's correct. And for some reason it's easier like I think for these people who are doing this for them to take like it's easier for someone to like sit on the internet and say we'll just use the example of statins to sit on the internet and say statins are bad because they cause X Y and Z.

without if you didn't listen to our last episode, we talk about all about the side effects and the risks of statins and kind of like break that down and debunk that. But it's so much easier for someone to sit on the internet and say this, you know, crazy thing of like, statins are bad. They cause X, Y, and Z. And for some reason, it's easier for just like the person consuming that to take that and be like.

this is like this crazy thing. Like this is true. I'm going to like, it's easier for them to like absorb it and consume it rather than take actual like information from their doctor or, you know, any other legitimate source, like this random girl on Tik TOK.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (11:04)
Yeah.

Think about the posts that catch your eye. They're often the ones that make you angry. They're the ones that make you sad or scared. And to be completely honest, that is not an accident. And so like you were kind of getting misinformation, like a lot of times uses our emotions to get our attention. And then from there, make you share it. I mean, we were even in a conversation with your mom and like the there's this

who high lady out there who's like she's everywhere and it's like, statins aren't good. They're the devil. Don't do this. Don't take them. And she's standing in front of some weird chalkboard with no credentialing.

Ed Delesky, MD (11:34)
She's awful.

Yeah,

her, you go to her profile, she markets herself as like an alternative health, what does she say? Provider or whatever. Like she's a quack to be honest.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (12:00)
And sometimes it's what people want to hear. Like I think people, to our credit and like a lot of our other conversations that we've had, people can be in denial about their health. And like when health is knocking on the door and you have a conversation about risk and it's time to make a change, people can be in denial about that. I feel like almost like a stage of grief where they're like, you're not as healthy as you maybe once thought you were. And looking at like any other thing.

Like I saw an ad today that was advertising a sauna. Like these pop-up saunas are coming up all over the place, like an in-home sauna. And in the bio was scientifically proven to reduce the chance of you getting hypertension. And treat your diabetes. Treat your obesity. Treat your high blood pressure with this sauna. Throw away the licinopril.

Like that's where this stuff is like, it's not even just trying to disseminate information. Now we're using it as advertising and we'll try to stay as organized as possible because this episode was always going to be like organized chaos for us.

Ed Delesky, MD (13:07)
Well,

and it's not even to say like there like there isn't room for those things and like if you want to do something like quote unquote, like more holistic, like a sauna or I think like the food and like the whole food park comes into it a lot. Like, yeah, get a sauna, go in the sauna. No one's saying that sauna is bad for your health, you know, unless you have certain conditions, blah, blah, blah. But like take your blood pressure medicine.

unless otherwise directed by your doctor. And it's also like, I see the whole food thing a lot, which we're not sitting here saying it's a bad idea to have a diet that's rich in whole foods. That's good. We've talked about this specifically in the obesity episodes where there have been scientific studies showing that whole foods are better than processed foods for various reasons. We're not saying that.

But people are saying that that's the one and only thing. yeah, it's really great. I know people use it a lot with the whole hormone things, which really just grinds my gears. people will blame, which I'm not saying that in certain cases. guess, whatever. Everyone's different. But the large majority of what I'm seeing it on,

And social media is like, are being like, like I kept gaining weight. My hormones were all out of whack. My hormones weren't balanced. I started eating all these whole foods and I quote unquote healed my hormones and lost weight. When, you know, in reality you started, you know, cleaning up your diet, eating really well, eating whole foods, which are all great. And then you lost weight. That's in reality, what probably happened. And

like the hormones, which I like said this to you before, these people don't even can't even name like a handful of hormones in our bodies or what they do or like what being balanced means and like what those levels are. And they claim that they, you know, have, I feel like they speak, speak as if they have this actual, you know, like diagnosis of a hormonal imbalance or problem when they don't even know.

what these supposed hormones do in their body that's apparently causing all these issues when they have no idea. honestly, if you are someone who has some sort of hormonal issue, probably are very well acquainted with an endocrinologist.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (15:58)
And this base to the point that social media is designed to keep us engaged. It gives you more of what you've liked or what you've commented on. And it doesn't necessarily prioritize the truth. It prioritizes engagement, because that's their business model. They want you on that app as long as they can. And within that business model are subdivisions of influencers who want you to listen to them.

They want you to consume their product, which is their content that they're giving you. And it's not balanced. It is very much one-sided, very often times. And sometimes it's more blatantly obvious. Sometimes it's more subtle and dangerous. And we're going to talk about that today too. I mean, this even speaks to like, have you ever, if you've ever noticed that you start seeing one piece of certain kind of content, like we talked about like, Polar Express and the.

hot chocolate thing yesterday and it popped up on the phone today. And you see one type of content and then you see it more. That's how these algorithms work. And then, especially when it comes to misinformation, it traps you in this bubble where you are in this circle of misinformation if you really aren't careful. And especially in the world that we live in today, you see how passionate we're getting here. We're both shaking with energy here. But when we live in a society that has so much division,

so much animosity and distrust. This is literally the perfect environment for misinformation and disinformation to thrive. And that's exactly where we are today. And so we kind of were teasing at it, but let's take it to our next section. What are the harmful effects of health misinformation? And I mean, think there are several here because misinformation isn't harmless.

It can lead to real health consequences. I mean, even watch that movie. Watch that show. Apple cider vinegar.

Ed Delesky, MD (17:58)
One

time, it's just, what am I trying to say? The harmful piece, I think, comes from when people try to just like fully discount actual, like, science and medical knowledge or education or whatever, and they're kind of just like totally discounting that, and they want to try to do something without any, you know,

studied and proven medical intervention because for some reason, like they think that they know better. again, this is not to say like there isn't room for both or like in addition to and like, you know, you want to like do all these other things that really probably in the long run are only going to benefit you. But it's that's not the one and only thing. And I think a lot about like, for example, one time this like kid with Crohn's.

where there's kind of a whole, you know, a little bit of like a spectrum on how severe that can be for someone. And sometimes people can kind of like watch what they eat and have like more specific diet to like, quote unquote, like control, control their symptoms, not even quote unquote. Like that's what it does. Like this diet and blah, blah. And like that kind of helps them. But then if it's a little more severe, you need more medicine. And I mean, the medicine isn't, you know, it's not like taking an Advil, like it's kind of like an intense medicine, but.

I remember this mom one time, her kid had like very severe Crohn's and she was refusing for the medication and she only wanted like diet and oils and like all this other stuff. And like the doctors ended up calling CPS because she was just like, he was like very, very ill and sick. And like, she just was like hard and she was like, no, like I will never forget this. was so crazy. She to the GI attending.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (19:44)
Wow.

Ed Delesky, MD (19:55)
who has four years in medical school, four years or whatever, however many years of residency, fellowship, was now attending years and years of knowledge and specialized in this one condition really. And this mom coming to her and being like, these studies show that this med causes da, da, da, da, da, da. And she didn't even make sense at all. just things like that. And it's dangerous because she fully

believed and trusted these like fake PubMed articles, which like we'll talk about versus the person who has years of education and training and knowledge and like treats patients all the time with this medication and it helps.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (20:40)
It almost sounds like she like selectively picked out which information she wanted to find. Right. Like it wasn't just from like a website.

Ed Delesky, MD (20:48)
Yeah,

she wanted to feed him all this stuff, which, great, feed your kid a healthy diet, but that's not going to fix this issue that he has right now. That's getting worse and he's very sick.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (21:04)
That's such a great example. going to actually. Yeah, and while we're talking about examples here, because like that, I mean, you were taking care of this kid? this was during case management times?

Ed Delesky, MD (21:17)
Yeah.

No, I was taking care of him.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (21:22)
How did that make you feel?

Ed Delesky, MD (21:25)
I mean, I like, I, you know, stayed neutral for the 12 hours because I had to be in there for 12 hours, but like, and the attending was just like so great because like she sat down and she spent so much time with her, like explaining why and, you know, trying to talk with her and the mom, she just like, it's like she already like bought into something.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (21:55)
Mmm.

Ed Delesky, MD (21:56)
that

wasn't real and, or I don't know, maybe like read like, you know, the diet for Crohn's and like how that can help and like thought that, you know, instead of just like managing, you know, like a less severe case and this can help and yada yada. Like he was already, and maybe she was like in a little bit of denial. Cause I mean that I think Crohn's like, I like would not wish Crohn's on my worst enemy. Just like watching all those kids go through it. I think it's awful.

And maybe there was like a little bit of that denial and that's really upsetting, but it's like she didn't even want to hear what they had to say.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (22:36)
That sounds frustrating, especially to be seen. it sounds like the attending was open, at least, to hear her side, but that wasn't necessarily reciprocated on both sides. Probably some mistrust.

Ed Delesky, MD (22:51)
Yeah, which is fine. you know, no one says you can't go get a second opinion and like see what another doctor says. And you're entitled to that, you know? And you're entitled to doing your own research. you have to know, is part of the reason why we're here now is that you have to, it's important to know what research you're looking at is valid and what isn't.

And if you don't know how to look at a medical article or whatever, you're just finding, I keep throwing PubMed under the bus and I don't care because it's, PubMed is like, I feel like anyone can just go on Google and type in whatever. And the first thing that'll pop up is an article on the database that's PubMed. And that's all it is.

And I feel like people think that PubMed is like an organization, an accredited organization, like doing all of these studies. And it's not, it's essentially just like a Google for any article that I'm pretty sure like anyone can upload anything onto. And maybe not anyone, but like, you know.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (24:11)
I think it's usually from the journal. that's a large conversation which we might dive into today or maybe even right here that scientific journals themselves are not all created equally in terms of credibility and validity. Yeah, you have the New England Journal of Medicine. You have the Lancet. have like these. Good job, Sam. That like you have these organizations that have rigorous.

Ed Delesky, MD (24:30)
nature.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (24:41)
rigorous protocols for taking, like accepting a paper and the review process is like incredible. And people go back and forth and back and forth and there are strict guidelines about how to perform science and then how to report the science and the research that you found alert. Not all of them are like that. And like you have some of these like janky medical journals or scientific journals that are out here.

that are just taking advantage of someone who's doing research or working collaboratively with people doing research for money and saying like, yeah, give me $3,000. I will publish your article. And now because you have this journal that's published online and maybe the review process was really light, boom, you just made $3,000 because someone gave you their scientific, like their intellectual property. That happens. And so there's

inherent mistrust. This was a great example and I bring up the mistrust because I really, it's not in the outline, but it's coming up here in the conversation. Our society has given people reasons to have mistrust and it's existed. I'm specifically thinking of the Tuskegee experiments where they took African-American men and without informed consent, the experimenters in this Tuskegee experiment observed the

people in the experiment to see the natural history of syphilis and did so knowing that there was a widespread available treatment in penicillin and knowing that they still continued to study for all of those years that it ran for. Again, without the people in the experiment actually knowing that this was happening, all the while never getting appropriate treatment. This experiment ran from 1932 to 1972.

and how wildly unethical our society hasn't necessarily given. There have been major, major things that have happened to give a decent amount of mistrust in the medical system. And so it would take a lot for anyone to sit here and think, yeah, let me full on throw everything I have when this stuff has happened in our backyard here on American soil.

Ed Delesky, MD (27:06)
Like that actually happened over the course of how many.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (27:10)
And not that long ago.

Ed Delesky, MD (27:12)
Yeah, like, crazy.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (27:16)
And right in here, United States Public Health Service and the Centers for Disease Control. I mean, even what we're seeing today, where the CDC websites are being scrubbed of information with LGBTQIA plus and transgender health and HIV care. So in the theme of today's episode, finding health misinformation may even be more difficult to sort out in today's world.

when where can you look? And this might not be the most positive message, but I just wanted to bring, I wanted to highlight that because I mean, this, happened. There's no turning, there's no looking away from it. think people often forget about it. So while we were in this section, we were talking about like the harms of health misinformation. And I mean, this happened not too long ago in 2020 when several

people all over the place who are making false claims about the COVID-19 vaccine. And that very clearly made some people hesitant to get the vaccine. And we've seen how much that affected the spread of the virus. And we saw that not too long ago. But in a very charged way, this is not the first time and it's not the last time that something like this has happened. Decades ago, I mean, people probably heard this. I hope they've heard this, is that

Decades ago, a retracted study falsely claimed that measles mumps rubella vaccine caused autism. And since then, that misinformation has contributed to lower immunization rates, and they still impact today. We're in the news. You'll hear about measles outbreaks. And there have been a number of high quality studies that have been put out there to refute this specific point.

Ed Delesky, MD (29:00)
Yeah.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (29:10)
and in this falsely claimed study. That's just another example, and that happened decades ago. Especially when it comes to vaccines, this misinformation is out there.

Ed Delesky, MD (29:20)
and like still going strong still. I don't...

Nicole Aruffo, RN (29:24)
Vaccines do not cause autism.

Ed Delesky, MD (29:27)
to something to blame,

Nicole Aruffo, RN (29:29)
Yeah, there's probably a whole world, a whole series on vaccine hesitancy here.

Ed Delesky, MD (29:34)
I mean, also like, you know, specifically with COVID, the COVID vaccine, anything that's new, people are hesitant about. It doesn't just stop there. And then it turns into a whole thing. Like when, like Gardasil was new, I know people remember, and I know people were like really hesitant about that. You know, that was a thing for a little bit, I think.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (30:03)
Well, and I think there's a nuance here where being hesitant, because we just had a conversation about Tuskegee, right? So if we're going to be fair, to be hesitant is one thing. To spread misinformation and participate in that is related, but it's a different point, I would say. This, I might cut this out, but like this is a curious thing. Like how do we ask people to be so bought in on these?

like on new treatments and Tuskegee happened.

Ed Delesky, MD (30:38)
I mean, that just wouldn't happen now.

but people don't know that.

Like people wouldn't unknowingly be in this experiment.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (30:54)
Yeah, like people don't know about IRBs and how, like there are so many human protections.

Ed Delesky, MD (31:00)
Like everything that has to happen even before you get to the, you know, experiment part. Right.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (31:08)
We mentioned a lot about Tuskegee and these days there were so many litigation changes and protocol changes to prevent that from happening and the creation of institutional review boards which specifically look at human protections and human rights during experiments to protect first the autonomy and health of the person which didn't exist seemingly prior to.

Ed Delesky, MD (31:09)
So that's reassuring.

Yeah. And like, there's a lot of things that happen before you get, like, if you're someone who's ever been enrolled in any kind of experiment or, you know, a new experimental drug, like there are so many things that happen before you get to act that drug in your hand and, you know, lots of paperwork to fill out and like all the things like you are very well aware of what's happening. Yeah, because there are like rules in place now, which

Nicole Aruffo, RN (32:00)
Not too long ago there weren't.

Ed Delesky, MD (32:02)
here.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (32:04)
What other sorts of harmful effects are there about health misinformation?

Ed Delesky, MD (32:07)
I think most dangerously are the people who kind of like the nurses or the doctors on social media who would otherwise like maybe have your trust when they're talking about some sort of health and misinformation I should say. But really like what they're saying just isn't true. Yeah. So it's like OK now I have this person with a license who like

maybe should know what they're talking about or at least be talking about something that's correct. And, you know, maybe they're taking something again. I'm just, the whole foods thing is just like what I'm being served a lot. So that's what I'm going to talk about. like, you know, taking that and running with it and saying like, you can, you know, fix X, and Z by eating this way and kind of making it be like that. And only that

When really, you know, there are space for both things. You can eat healthy and eat your whole foods and that's all really great. But if there's any kind of other medical information that your personal doctor has suggested you take or do, rather than this person on the internet who like, you're also, also when you're, you know, absorbing this information from people, you have to be aware that

This person that's telling you something doesn't know you, doesn't know a single thing about you, your medical history, your current medical issue. Like, they don't know that. So they're kind of just like speaking generally and very broadly. And they're not speaking to you to do anything specific and personal to you.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (34:00)
For whatever motivation they have, think those people are the most dangerous. Especially when there's an ulterior motive.

Ed Delesky, MD (34:09)
And I think a thing to kind of like, like pick up on when you're kind of trying to tease out, is this person real or quack is I think if they're very hard and fast on this one quote unquote, like alternative way, like if they're saying that this is the one and only thing and you don't need anything else, you don't need any kind of science backed intervention for whatever the ailment is. And you can just, you know,

rub some lavender oil on it or eat three papayas a day or you know whatever it is like that's definitely a red flag. Yeah you should look more into this.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (34:43)
Yeah.

This sounds like a great opportunity to transition into our, like, how do you recognize misinformation and what tactics do we have? We just got one from you right there looking for like this definitive language. Like this thing is the one that you need. All the people I know.

Ed Delesky, MD (35:06)
only this and like, I mean, it's the same thing. Like, I'm just kind of thinking when you're like taking like a test or like a multiple choice test, if one of the answers is only like, that's not the answer. And that applies here too. Only or never.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (35:22)
There are so many ways to...

But there so many ways to treat different things. And it's all on probability.

Ed Delesky, MD (35:32)
Yeah, even like in medicine, you know, if you're talking to someone with high blood pressure, there's not one and only way to treat it. There are a lot of different things. if I mean, that would be a red flag if I was a patient and you were saying this is what this is the one and only way that we're going to treat your high blood pressure. Like that would be a red flag.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (35:49)
Exactly. And also in today's world, people are just thirsty and interested in the simplicity of one answer. And when it comes to your health, it's not that easy. It tends to be not that easy as much as we try to break it down here. And so recognizing this definitive dichotomous language, that's one thing. I think it's also important to recognize that people who share misinformation

aren't always doing it on purpose. You identify a group of people who may have an ulterior motive. They may have licensure. But there also may just be people out there who are hitting the share button. And they're just trying to figure it out. Like you are listening, or like you sitting here with me, or like anyone who's out here listening for themselves, a loved one, or. And so.

Ed Delesky, MD (36:33)
Yeah.

a neighbor.

Or like if something, like if you're watching something or reading something and you're like, wow, this is too good to be true. Like this one thing cured X, Y, and Z, like it probably is too good to be true.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (36:57)
Right. Exactly. And to your point earlier that you made, misinformation often uses selective data, personal stories, or frankly, conspiracy theories to sound convincing because this lines up in the theme of how information travels quickly, how social media prioritizes engagement over truth. And it's just important to remember that just because something sounds plausible doesn't make it true. It can sound convincing.

Ed Delesky, MD (37:25)
Yeah.

And it's important to push again that can get a little hairy, but looking at like who, like the person that is providing this information and what they're saying, you know, like if someone isn't a doctor and maybe someone's a lawyer and they have all of these things to say about whatever and they sound so convincing and they're just saying the opposite of years and years and years of.

medical advancement.

I don't know. Maybe there's a chapter in the textbook to study for the bar exam about medicine that we don't know about. yeah.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (38:18)
Yeah. So in addition to looking and seeing where the information is coming from, who is giving you that information, but also check sources. We talked about selective data. You brought up great points earlier that not every single piece on PubMed is created equal. Not every medical journal is created equal. And you might be going to some ho-hum website that someone made which has attempted medical information on it. Or you could be reading.

a blog post from someone that like is in like is invented by other people.

Ed Delesky, MD (38:54)
You

could be reading a blog post from some girl in Australia who claims to cure her cancer with food.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (39:00)
And like, think in terms of being proactive about how to stand up to misinformation, there's a couple things that we can do. One thing I'm thinking of is that if you're not 100 % sure about something, the very bare minimum thing you can do is just don't share it. Don't send it around and contribute to the problem. Any thoughts on that or just you were cool with that?

Ed Delesky, MD (39:29)
I was cool with that.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (39:31)
The next thing I'm thinking of is just because a post is popular doesn't mean that it's accurate. You have to separate those two things in your mind. And just because misinformation may it doesn't just spread online, it can be a part of our personal conversations as well with friends and family members, which I think a lot of people were a part of those conversations back in 2020 and probably every day since then is what I've seen a lot.

In terms of the structure of a conversation that you may have with a loved one or a family member, we could probably look to that GI attending who you talked about earlier, who really sat down with this mom and seemed to have an open mind and an open heart to listen to her perspective and see where she was coming from. And there were themes of like listening and education and just a trying to understand where she was coming from. And I think those themes are helpful overall when you're

having a conversation with someone because when someone's misinformed, sometimes they really believe it too and they make it a part of their identity.

Ed Delesky, MD (40:39)
Yeah, that's a big part of it.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (40:45)
Well, I also think it comes into someone's, they take it personally. If they've put their stock into something and they put their belief in something, and then it almost seems like if you're coming at them and you're telling them something different, that it's like an attack on their intellect. I think the people who would approach those conversations are challenging someone's judgment. And then if you flip it, and someone who's being approached,

to have their belief or their understanding of information challenged, they perceive it as their intellect is being challenged. I think that is a common pitfall where people get really emotional about this and that's where people lose each other all the time because it's no longer about data, it's no longer about science, it's about like my brain versus your brain and who's smarter and that's where it comes down and breaks down and then it becomes this horrific argument which...

doesn't go anywhere. But all that to say, in conclusion, we want to recognize that this is a serious problem. But there's good news in that if we all work together, there can be some positive change. Certainly becoming more careful about what we consume and maybe even more than that, how we share it, we can really help create a healthier information environment that we're consuming.

And so hopefully this episode has made you feel empowered to find the best health information for you, your family, or your loved ones or.

Ed Delesky, MD (42:17)
a misinformed neighbor.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (42:19)
Because really together we can work to build a healthier and more connected world. And so thank you for coming back to another episode of your checkup. We hope that you come back next week for another episode. And today, hopefully you were able to learn something for yourself, a loved one, or... Please send us an email, send us some fan mail, check out our Instagram, check out our TikTok website, but most importantly, stay healthy, my friends.

Ed Delesky, MD (42:36)
I'm leaving.

Nicole Aruffo, RN (42:49)
Until next time, I'm Ed Daleski. Thank you and goodbye. Bye.

Ed Delesky, MD (42:51)
I'm Nicole Aruffo

Nicole Aruffo, RN (42:57)
This information may provide a brief overview of diagnosis, treatment, and medications. It's not exhaustive and is a tool to help you understand potential options about your health. It doesn't cover all details about conditions, treatments, or medications for a specific person. This is not medical advice or an attempt to substitute medical advice. You should contact a healthcare provider for personalized guidance based on your unique circumstances. We explicitly disclaim any liability relating to the information given or its use.

This content doesn't endorse any treatments or medications for a specific patient. Always talk to your healthcare provider for a complete information tailored to you. In short, I'm not your doctor. I am not your And make sure you go get your own checkup with your own personal doctor.

Ed Delesky, MD (43:34)
I'm not your nurse.