Don’t fall for pseudoscience: watch me fact-check MAHA myths & misinformation

RFK Jr, wellness influencers, and MAHA rhetoric are steering the national conversation away from reality and undermining science and health.

After RFK Jr’s attack on mRNA vaccine technology research programs last week, I had big plans of multiple articles I was in process of writing (since I literally work in this field). Unfortunately, life had different plans.

I ended up bringing one of my rescue cats Maxwell to the vet last week as he had been experiencing a concerning array of symptoms (including weight loss, low appetite, diarrhea) and just wasn’t himself (and if you know Max, you know what I’m talking about). Horrifyingly, the vet felt a hard object in his abdomen just on physical exam. X-rays, bloodwork, ultrasound, needle aspirate, and cytology led to the heartbreaking diagnosis: aggressive large-cell lymphoma, with a focal mass in his jejunum.

The diagnosis came on my late brother’s would-be 40th birthday. And since life is nothing if not ironic, his oncologist appointment will be this Wednesday, my birthday (and the same day in 2020 that Walrus had to be euthanized after congestive heart failure developed from cholangiocarcinoma — a different cancer).

My goal with the oncologist is to see if he is candidate for oncologic interventions that would give HIM meaningful quality and quantity of life. I’m hoping, given his pattern of defeating odds that he may be one of the ~ 38% of cats who exceed 2-year survival following a large cell lymphoma diagnosis.

I’m sure you can all understand I’ve been a bit preoccupied.

That being said, I do plan to finish those articles, but in the meantime, the [somewhat] long-anticipated Part 3 of my WIRED Tech Support pseudoscience smackdown is LIVE.

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This time? I tackle MAHA claims that are being adopted as Federal health and science policy — and then some.

Why should you watch?

Because when science disinformation is adopted as Federal policy, all of us are put in harms’ way.

I cover it all: grocery store fear campaigns to lies about novel biomedical innovation.

We’ve got the “Dirty Dozen” list—EWG’s annual clickbait ranking that ignores toxicology—and detour through wellness influencer obsessions like Red Dye 40 panic, seed oil paranoia, and hormones in milk.

Then we’ve got heavy hitters: MAHA’s infiltration of federal health policy, RFK Jr.’s aversion to evidence, Calley and Casey Means’ profitable grifts with a side of medical conspiracism, and the weaponization of vaccine misinformation from mRNA to hepatitis B.

Along the way, I cover cancer misinformation like high-dose vitamin C for cancer (spoiler: nope), fluoride freakouts, germ theory denialism, and the growing popularity of “drip bars” that promise IV wellness in a bag. I even cover the science on glucose spikes and continuous glucose monitors, eating at night, and whether lion’s mane actually improves cognitive function.

The common thread? Pseudoscience succeeds on emotional appeal, cherry-picked studies, and distrust in institutions.

And right now, those same myths are not just in influencer feeds: they’re being adopted as Federal policy. That’s not just frustrating—it’s dangerous. And it will cause more preventable illness and death.

So let’s discuss what the science actually says because credible science communication, while not profitable, is more critical than ever.

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Watch me fact-check health claims—again.

You’ve got questions? I’ve got [more] answers.

Biomedical scientist Dr. Andrea Love returns to WIRED to answer a new slate of the internet's burning questions about pseudoscience, health fads, and false wellness claims.

How can someone avoid falling into the trap of pseudoscience? Why do people swear by lion’s mane mushroom as a supplement? Does acupuncture do anything? Is it really that bad for your body to eat late at night? Do more children have diabetes today than in the past? Answers to these questions and many more await on this brand-new third edition of WIRED Pseudoscience Support.

Tune in for:

• Should you really avoid ingredients you can’t pronounce? No, this is called chemophobia

• The (Dubious) Dirty Dozen

• Calley Means doesn’t know anything about cancer

• Red Dye 40

• MAHA: what it means in RFK Jr’s world versus what it should mean

• High dose vitamin C for cancer?

• Is fluoride in water really harming us all?

• Hormones in milk

• mRNA vaccines are NOT causing health issues

• Diabetes in kids

• RFK Jr’s ignorance is all of our problem now

• How to avoid the traps of pseudoscience?

• Glucose spikes, continuous glucose monitors, and the grifters that profit

• No, humans weren’t healthier ‘back in the day’

• Germ theory denialism

• IV lounges and Drip Bars

• How to convince your family that vaccines are safe

• Acupuncture

• Beef tallow vs. Seed oils

• Chlorine Dioxide (ClO2) aka Bleach aka Miracle Mineral Solution

• The Hepatitis B vaccine

• Lion's mane

• Is it really that bad to eat at night?

• Quick advice to navigate the infodemic and world of wellness disinformation

Watch the full video here:

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I have written MUCH more on these topics, so please make sure to check out my full newsletters (examples of each are linked below if you haven’t read them yet):

• RFK Jr. and how he profits off vaccine disinformation

• The Dirty Dozen scares people about safe and healthy foods

• RFK Jr. and how he profits off food misinformation

• RFK Jr’s HHS is eroding health, not making us healthier

• The MAHA movement is the opposite of promoting health

• Whether you can pronounce a chemical name means nothing about its potential harm or safety.

• mRNA vaccines aren’t gene therapy — or harmful

• Hepatitis B vaccines save lives—and prevent cancer

• Viruses ARE real, no matter what Joe Rogan and RFK Jr say.

• Food dyes aren’t banned in other countries or causing health issues

• Vitamin C isn’t a magical cure-all

• Preventing infectious diseases ALSO prevents chronic illnesses.

• Fluoride prevents tooth decay and improves health

• Dietary supplements aren’t regulated, thanks to politicians

• Alternative cancer treatments are unproven and endanger people

• No, Calley Means, you don’t understand cancer at all.

• The appeal to nature fallacy — the false belief that natural substances are safe and superior

• Chemophobia is the unreasonable fear of chemicals

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If you missed my previous appearances on Tech Support, find them below!

Pseudoscience Support 1, from last spring:

And accompanying newsletter with more data and references:

I am the expert for this week's WIRED Tech Support: Pseudoscience Support

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Pseudoscience Support 2, from January this year:

And the accompanying newsletter, with more data and references:

Don't fall for health pseudoscience: watch me set the record straight

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Today is a short newsletter since your homework is to watch the WIRED video instead. As we live in a society where objective reality is now being cast aside for outright falsehoods, the more factual information is out there, the better.

Please share it widely, especially for your friends and family who prefer short video clips debunking misinformation. Each topic is less than 3 minutes long.

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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

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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: