Resisting Health Misinformation
The S.H.I.F.T. Method
What is health misinformation?
Health misinformation refers to false information that is spread, usually unintentionally, related to human health.
Human health includes topics like nutrition, exercise, medicine, public health, supplements, etc.
Social media platforms allow health misinformation to spread rapidly to many people in a short amount of time.
Platforms that suffer from health misinformation include Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Tik Tok, Pinterest, and more.
These social media platforms are often the epicenter for health misinformation to proliferate as fake news spreads faster than the news that is true. This contemporary issue is increasingly important as more social media users get their news from social media.
Why should I care?
Many companies and influencers make false promises in order to sell you on products and services.
Ex. “Buy these fat burner pills to lose a TON of weight.”
Knowing how to spot health misinformation allows you to save time, money, and energy on useless products/services. On a personal level being immune to health misinformation really saves you the hassle, confusion, and wastefulness associated with the online health space. So many people make so many claims that often contradict, it’s often hard to know who to believe.
On a larger level, health misinformation can lead to a tragedy like we are seeing with current world events. So, not only does health misinformation affect you but also other people. The WHO labels misinformation online related to the current COVID-19 pandemic as an “infodemic”.
Misinformation online is becoming such a threat it can undermine global efforts related to health. It’s important now more than ever to fortify ourselves against this seemingly increasing threat… we can do that with the S.H.I.F.T. Method.
The S.H.I.F.T. Method
This concept was inspired by Michael Caulfield’s SIFT method.
S.H.I.F.T. stands for:
Stop
Humble yourself
Investigate source
Find warning signs
Trace claims
Stop
Before you share any article, share a post, retweet, buy any product, or sign up for any service related to health… STOP!
Ask yourself these questions:
Do you understand what the claim is?
If you don’t understand the topic in discussion or what the person is saying it makes no sense to share it, buy it, or sign up right away.
Do you know if these claims are true or not?
Don’t accept something at face value. People lie all the time online and anyone can post almost anything claiming almost anything.
Does this source or influencer look legit?
Experts usually have relevant credentials, can cite research in the field, and are known in their respective fields. Organizations usually have reputable members, transparent backgrounds, and relevancy in the respective field.
What do I have to gain or lose?
Sharing misinformation can be damaging because it spreads false ideas about health to others. Spending money on shady products and services can be financially wasteful.
Humble Yourself
If you don’t understand the topic or claims then don’t share it, sell it, or buy it.
Not everyone is a scientist, coach, dietitian, etc. So, it’s okay not to understand every topic related to health. We all have busy lives and lack the ability to look into every claim everyone makes. This is understandable, so we often have to use our time wisely. Wise time management includes saving mental energy trying to understand complex but unnecessary topics or claims. If it sounds too good to be true, it most likely is.
This is a good time to refer to experts, reputable organizations, and expert consensus. If something is outside our scope of knowledge it’s only right we refer out to those who are actually knowledgeable in the subject.
We all have our biases. If you don’t understand something ask someone who does, walk away from it, or look into it more… That's what the rest of S.H.I.F.T. is for.
Investigate Source
Assuming you want to look deeper into a topic you should investigate the source.
Look at who is saying what. What organization, website, person, or influencer are making these claims? I’m typically not an advocate for googling everything but this is an instance where Google can be helpful. If a person, website, or organization isn’t popping up on google or other search engines or the results are particularly shady… that can be a potential warning sign but more on that later.
Are these people reputable? Meaning they’re well known, have proper credentials, give good information, and aren’t obviously biased.
For example, The “paleo chiropractor” on Instagram might not be an objective source of nutrition information to follow up with. Chiropractors typically do not have extensive training in nutrition, this person might be biased towards the paleo diet, and they can be well known for making BS nutrition/health claims.
However, it is hard to know who is reputable and who isn’t outside of speculation. This leads to the next part.
Find Warning Signs
Experts making claims usually have proper credentials, balanced information, careful language, and can cite relevant evidence.
As a juxtaposition to my first example, a person with a Ph.D. in nutrition probably understands nutritional science better than most. If this person can cite relevant evidence for claims made, avoids extreme stances/claims, and talks about the strengths and limitations of the research… This person is probably a more trustworthy source.
Use the Sagan Standard, “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.”
When people make big claims like “broccoli causes cancer”, they would need strong evidence supporting the notion broccoli indeed causes cancer. The bigger the claim the bigger the evidence required to back up that claim. Weak forms of evidence such as blogs, youtube videos, or testimonials are not sufficient to back up the claim that broccoli causes cancer. Stronger forms of evidence such as many peer-reviewed scientific research papers would be needed.
Be wary of words like “all”, “always”, “causes”, “never”, “avoid”, “good”, “clean”, “dirty”, and “bad”.
Rarely does someone who knows what they’re talking about use absolute certainty when discussing health-related topics. Experts also rarely set up a false dichotomy between “good” and “bad” related to food, exercise, etc…
Be careful with overly complicated jargon being used.
It’s in my experience people typically oversimplify health topics or over-complicate them. Unnecessary jargon can be utilized to confuse people into buying into a product, service, or idea by giving it the appearance of being legitimate. However, rarely are topics like nutrition so simple, there are always considerations and exceptions which is something an expert can convey.
The burden of proof.
When a person makes a claim it is their burden of proof to back that claim up with evidence. It’s not your job to disprove their claim if they provide no evidence. What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.
Trace Claims
When possible find the original source for claims being made.
In the health space, many people mention research. Traceback to the actual research they’re talking about.
Ask yourself these questions:
Is this study about associations or causation?
An association or relationship between two or more variables does not mean one CAUSED the other. Observational studies usually show associations and rarely show causation. Randomized control trials (RCTs) in humans are studies that can better show cause and effect but no ONE study is perfect. We need to look at multiple studies to showcase a cause and effect dynamic.
How many participants are in the study?
A typical rule of thumb is the more participants in a study the stronger it is. Typically studies with a low number of participants are less statistically powerful and can suffer from type 2 statistical error. However, some studies require there to be a low number of participants because the study is tightly controlled (eg. metabolic ward studies).
Was this study done on humans or animals?
Humans aren’t rats so it’s fair to assume there are differences between the two. Animal studies are great for testing interventions and hypotheses but are limited in application to humans. Focus on human trials when discussing research.
Does this study back up what they’re claiming?
People and organizations typically quote studies out of context. Actually, look to see if the studies cited backs up what the person/organization is saying. DON’T just read the abstract look at the methods, results, introduction, and discussion.
Conclusions & Resources
Health misinformation is pervasive now more than ever. It hurts not only the individual but societies and the world at large. The S.H.I.F.T. method is a way of combating the ever-growing threat of health misinformation. By understanding this method the way you interact with health information online can shift.
Here are some awesome resources for more accurate health information:
Obviously my social media account. (shameless plug)
Debunkingdenialism.com- scientific literacy & critical thinking
Thelogicofscience.com- logical reasoning & critical thinking
Examine.com- supplement & nutrition information
Barbellmedicine.com- strength training, pain science, & nutrition information
Strongerbyscience.com- strength training & supplement information
Sigmanutrition.com- general nutrition information
Cochrane library- medical science information