Everyday Canvas

Health and Fitness Claims on the Web

Prompt: Health and Fitness
Can you think of any common mistakes or misunderstandings about health or fitness? What myths or half-truths do you find yourself hearing again and again on the web?

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One may think, 'it tastes good so it must be good for me.' Well, not always. I can think of a few poisons that can be sugar-coated or made to taste very good in very many ways.

Added to our own such biases about health, the vast expanse of the internet offers a lot of wrong information based on half-truths and baseless claims. When we make decisions about our well-being based on inaccurate or unfounded information, a lot can go wrong.

I think detox diets top the list if I were to make a list of bad information on the web. Our bodies have their own way of detoxifying through the liver and the kidneys. If something is not working, educated medical advice from a professional could work better, not that the doctors and hospitals are always right either. Should anyone start a detox diet on their own, the least they can do is to start small and watch very carefully how their bodies react.

Then, there's that vaccine misinformation. A cousin of mine, in Netherlands, passed away from Covid last year because he believed in the false claims linking Covid vaccines to various health issues. Maybe vaccines have side effects but, frequently, they do save lives.

Related to vaccine misinformation are the conspiracy theories that push forth claims about secret government or medical agendas. These can encourage mistrust in established healthcare and can lead people to decide about the health issues based on fake fears.

Another area that the web is guilty of messing with our health has to do with superfoods and supplements and miracle cures. Not only do they exaggerate the benefits of certain cures, foods, and supplements, they also warn people from eating what's in fact good for them. An advice about not eating several foods if one has arthritis comes to mind. I am really tempted to give links to these false advices, but I could be sued and so can WdC. But you know what I mean and please, do be careful about whose advice to take. And do fact-check these and all other flimsy claims on the web.


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