Don't fall for health pseudoscience: watch me set the record straight
Arm yourself with the science to fight back against MAHA claims, miracle cures, and wellness influencers that thrive on misinformation.
Hello from Kanha, Madya Pradesh, India!
Yes, I am on my vacation—but also still doing science communication. This isn’t my job, it’s my passion, but spreading misinformation IS the job of those that do it. So while I am disconnecting as much as possible, I will be trying to get out at least one more newsletter before I return home in a week and a half.
If you want to live vicariously through me, here is MB-3, a 9-year old female Bengal Tiger that lives in the Mukki zone of Kanha National Park. Isn’t she incredible?
I cannot even put into words the awe of seeing these powerful creatures in the wild.
Similarly, it angers me and breaks my heart that humans drove them to near extinction because they thought it was fun to kill them. They aren’t fully recovered, but places like Kanha are putting in work to try to ensure they have a future.
My partner Josh and I try to take one big trip every year to a place that is on our bucket list—and also home to unique and/or endemic wildlife. More on India in a future article, probably. But let’s get into it.
Today is the inauguration of Trump for his second term, likely to be even more harmful for Americans, global society, and the planet than the first.
Why? Well, because the nominees for leadership roles in this administration are far more radical than the first.
Now, I’m not a political science or national security expert, but I do consider myself a bit of a governerd, and I can say that those nominees; Tulsi Gabbard, Pete Hegseth, etc., are INCREDIBLY concerning for the future of our country and global geopolitics.
My focus is on the science and health leadership nominees, since that is in my expertise. And the nominees for these roles: RFK Jr., Marty Makary, Jay Bhattacharya, Mehmet Oz, Dave Wheldon, and others are ALSO incredibly concerning. Nearly all of them have no experience running large agencies, many of them have no relevant experience within the agency they’ve been nominated for (for example, Makary is a GI surgeon, which does not remotely qualify him to head our key regulatory agency), and yes, some of them have ZERO science and health understanding.
Yes, science and health understanding. RFK Jr. does not understand basic science concepts. That itself should be completely disqualifying for the Secretary of Health and Human Services role. But alas, here we are. And grifters like Mark Hyman are lifting him up, claiming he is going to fix our “chronic illness” issues—but of course, this is because they have been friends for decades and profit of each other’s disinformation.
Why do I mention all of this? Because it means that we may not be able to actually trust anything coming from these institutions that our country relies on. The consequences can be dire, read one piece on this topic here:
The Trump Administration Could Become The Wellness Industry’s Dangerous Ally
Note: the majority of this piece was written by me and Dr. Katie Suleta and originally published in MedPage Today - I’ve added a few additional excerpts here, specifically related to Dave Wheldon and Marty Makary.
Credible science communication is more critical than ever.
Wellness influencers make millions upon millions of dollars spreading falsehoods, causing health anxiety, misrepresenting scientific data they don’t understand, and outright lying to people in order to sell snakeoil.
I have been committed to addressing science and health misinformation for decades and I will continue to do so, even as our foundational institutions are being eroded.
Even as a kid, I was committed to educating my fellow classmates on topics that related to individual and public health (I actually found some old VHS videos of my “class projects” that I am working on restoring, so stay tuned on that).
So I was thrilled when WIRED wanted to have me serve as an expert on their YouTube series Tech Support again. A week and a half ago, part 2 of PSEUDOSCIENCE SUPPORT went live—and the timing couldn’t be better.
Watch me fact-check health claims—again.
You’ve got questions?
I’ve got answers.
Biomedical scientist Dr. Andrea Love returns to WIRED to answer a new slate of the internet's burning questions about pseudosciences, health fads, and false wellness claims. What common household chemicals are definitely worth avoiding? Is there really arsenic and lead in tampons? Are probiotics helpful or not? What's the concern with consuming raw milk? Are GMOs and synthetic foods harmful? Why do the dangers of vaccines get blown out of proportion? Dr. Love answers these questions and many more on Pseudoscience Support Part Two!
In 36 minutes, we managed to cover a LOT of ground.
Granted, we filmed for a total of 4 hours, because if you know me, you *also* know that I have a lot to say about topics. That’s mostly because I always want to be as thorough as possible. For short videos though, content (and context) has to get cut. But I am really pleased with the final product.
Tune in for:
What’s real about raw milk
Artificial sweeteners and cancer
Joe Rogan, RFK Jr., and profitable anti-vaccine lies
The appeal to nature fallacy and GMOs
Probiotics: are these full of shit?
The most harmful pseudoscience
Ozone therapy
Sweating isn’t for detoxing
Alkaline water
Astrology and Alzheimer’s?
Supplements and their lack of regulation
Sugar doesn’t feed cancer
No, your receipts aren’t disrupting your hormones
What household items I personally avoid
Sunscreen
Arsenic in tampons
Mercury in vaccines
Alternative cancer treatments
Cancer rates in young people
Citric acid and black mold
Chronic Lyme disease
Parabens in your deodorant
Leaky gut
High fructose corn syrup versus cane sugar
EMF and radiation
Bras and breast cancer
Carnivore diet
Watch the full video here:
I have written MUCH more on these topics, so please make sure to check out my full newsletters (each are linked below if you haven’t read them yet):
Raw milk is not safe and doesn’t have health benefits
RFK Jr. and how he profits off vaccine disinformation
RFK Jr. and how he profits off food misinformation
Aspartame isn’t causing cancer
Probiotics aren’t regulated and don’t have evidence to support their use
Chronic Lyme disease: fact versus fiction
Vaccines don’t contain mercury
Dietary supplements aren’t regulated, thanks to politicians
Sunscreens are safe and protect against skin cancer
Alternative cancer treatments are unproven and endanger people
Are cancer rates skyrocketing in young people?
Bras don’t cause breast cancer
Parabens do not cause cancer or disrupt your hormones
Aluminum salts in anti-perspirants are safe
The appeal to nature fallacy — the false belief that natural substances are safe and superior
Chemophobia is the unreasonable fear of chemicals
And if you missed the first edition, which I filmed with WIRED last Spring, watch that one here:
And find the accompanying newsletter with links to more detail on those topics:
Today is going to be a short and sweet newsletter, because the WIRED video speaks for itself. Please feel free to share it widely, especially for your friends and family who prefer short video clips debunking misinformation. Each topic is less than 3 minutes long.
Now, more than ever, we all must join in the fight for science.
Thank you for supporting evidence-based science communication. With outbreaks of preventable diseases, refusal of evidence-based medical interventions, propagation of pseudoscience by prominent public “personalities”, it’s needed now more than ever.
More science education, less disinformation.
- Andrea
ImmunoLogic is written by Dr. Andrea Love, PhD - immunologist and microbiologist. She works full-time in life sciences biotech and has had a lifelong passion for closing the science literacy gap and combating pseudoscience and health misinformation as far back as her childhood. This newsletter and her science communication on her social media pages are born from that passion. Follow on Instagram, Threads, Twitter, and Facebook, or support the newsletter by subscribing below:
Thank you! I look forward to watching both of these videos while I am on my spin cycle today spinning out the crazies (i.e., the disbelief that we are back here again). Like you, I don’t believe this will be a repeat of Trump’s first term. He’s had 4 years to disseminate false information and surround himself with rabid and incompetent people. This could be far more dangerous. In response to people like RFK Jr, I’ve heard people say, “well, if he can clean up our food supply, I’m all for it.” NO!! First, his idea of cleaning up the food supply isn’t based on empirical data, it’s based on crazy schemes that have made him wealthy. And second, he has absolutely no qualifications that would make him an appropriate choice for anything in public health. Even if some of T’s picks are physicians, that doesn’t make them qualified for those posts. A parallel I use is that, if I needed bypass surgery to remedy CAD, I probably wouldn’t ask my OB/GYN to do it. Thanks for taking time out of your vacation to write to all of us! It’s a ray of sunshine on a difficult day. For the record…I have a few cats who believe they are channeling MB-3. (We won’t disillusion them.) What a stunning creature!
You should maybe stick to addressing science and health misinformation...you're really good at that... and not address politics. There was clearly enough science and health misinformation coming out of the Biden administration to prevent anyone concerned from standing on any kind of moral high ground. You risk your credibility with who knows how many of your readers by implying that Fauci & company were distributing evidenced-based science/health recommendations to the general public. So much for our respected national institutions.